Page 278 - Showsight March 2013

A Dozen Questions On Judging
THE PYRENEAN SHEPHERD
By Patricia Princehouse I ts origins lost in the mists of
time, the Pyrenean Shepherd
has abided for thousands of
years in near isolation in the
Pyrenees Mountains, what is
today known as the border of
southwest France and northern Spain—
a remote region that contains the highest
mountain in France, and Europe’s south-
ern-most glaciers. They shared their lives
with the Great Pyrenees—whose presence
as a large predator control dog allowed the
little Pyr Shep to specialize for herding
alone, including the small size needed to
scramble quickly over the rocky landscape.
The Pyr Shep is a very lean, light-boned,
highly athletic dog, whose nature makes
them extremely (even excessively) devoted
to their owners, often to the exclusion of
all other people.
To understand the form and function
of this heterogeneous breed, one must
realize that they had a heterogeneous job.
While most herding breeds are farm dogs
(and the Pyr Shep can do fine on farms)
their primary use was in the true wilder-
ness—far from farms, roads, enclosed pas-
tures or crops. The terrain varies widely. It
is rocky, very uneven and with small grassy
valleys divided by sharp cliffs and expanses
of glacial rubble with a few strips of grass
among the rocks. The dogs lived day to
day as semi-nomads with the human shep-
herd—who himself camped every night in
the open or in casket-like wood boxes car-
ried from place to place by sturdy donkeys
or in small stone huts or caves that were
occasionally available. In the valleys, the
very large flocks spread out over the rocky
landscape to take advantage of the mea-
ger grass. The sure-footed mountain sheep
were moved from valley to valley as graz-
ing ran out. This form of herding is known
as transhumance.
This unusual job called for an extremely
nimble dog that was nearly cat-like. And
with anatomy that allowed them to per-
form different jobs at different points in
the season and over widely varying terrain.
The Pyrenees are a fairly small region
and the breed is quite inbred. And yet
the shepherds valued great phenotypic
diversity—partly because no peasant
can afford to keep any more dogs than
strictly needed and greater inbreeding in
local areas tended to set slightly different
styles, and partly because local conditions
vary greatly so that dogs of rather differ-
ent morphology were useful in different
conditions. Thus, the unusual genetic
complement that produces the discrete
varieties in the same litter was preserved
by the mountain shepherds. The squarer,
more upstanding Smooth-Faced pups in
the litter might often be chosen by folks
working most in the lower valleys while
their Rough-Faced littermates would
sometimes be favored by those working in
the higher mountains. The longest-haired
Rough-Faced dogs were especially val-
ued in the highest mountain areas since
their longer backs and well-arched loins
allowed quick bursts of speed and excel-
lent scrambling ability over talus slopes
and their heavier coats helped them
resist the cold nights. These dogs’ coats
tended to form thick quasi cords called
“matelotes” or “cadenettes” that shed
the cold rain. Yet, they were not too hot
in warmer seasons because each spring
they would tear off all their matelotes by
vigorously rolling and rubbing against
rocks and trees until the thick mats were
scraped off. The demi-long Rough-Faced
dogs didn’t need to go to such lengths!
And the demi-longs frequently have the
best coat texture—called “goat-haired”
by the shepherds. One could say that the
breed taken in its entirety is adapted to
controlled heterogeneity. But in all cases
what each individual needed above all
was extreme athleticism, intense drive
and profound heart.
Their athleticism is so pronounced
that, although only recently introduced
to competitive agility, it has allowed the
breed to dominate the midi competi-
tion at the World Agility Champion-
ships. With less than a dozen Pyr Sheps
among hundreds of competitors in this
278 • ShowSight Magazine, March 2013