The Ultimate Obedience Training Program for Pet Great Pyrenees and Other LGD Breeds: Brain Training for Dogs
This post contains affiliate links to the super duper, better-than-ice-cream dog training program, Brain Training for Dogs (which also happens to be my pooch’s favorite pastime!).
So you’ve got a Great Pyrenees, and suddenly it dawns on you – this dog is going to be HUGE and overpowering! How am I supposed to train this notoriously stubborn breed?!?
Calm down and take a breath – I’ve got you covered… Or rather, world renowned professional dog trainer, Adrienne Farricelli, has got you covered!
What is the best way to train a Great Pyrenees or other LGD breed? The best way to train a Great Pyrenees is through the use of positive reinforcement for wanted behaviors. Great Pyrenees have historically been bred to work as partners to shepherds, and therefore respond best to positive training methods, such as those promoted by renowned dog trainer, Adrienne Farricelli.
If you are feeling lost on how to train your Great Pyrenees, read on to learn why you absolutely must train your Pyr and why trainer Adrienne Farricelli’s positive training methods are by far the best way to go for both very effective and very fun training. Your HUGE, all-powerful canine will be better behaved and well-mannered than any pooch at the dog park! You’ll get to be that obnoxious parent who brags about her “honor student.”
Please note that I’ve written this article for people who are keeping Great Pyrenees or other LGD breeds as pets. If you are keeping an LGD breed as a livestock guardian for your farm, please read this post instead.
Great Pyrenees and Other Livestock Guardian Dog Breeds
This post actually applies to all livestock guardian breed dogs. You’ll just see me referring to Great Pyrs a lot because I have the most experience with the breed (until I get my Spanish Mastiff pups later this year!). This is also the most common LGD breed in the United States by far.
However, LGD breeds share many similarities in history and temperament (and some breeds are very closely related), so everything I’ve written here also applies to these other breeds. The most commonly found breeds of LGD are:
Akbash
Anatolian Shepherd
Bukovina Shepherd
Carpathian Shepherd
Great Pyrenees
Kangal
Komondor
Kuvasz
Maremma Sheepdog
Tibetan Mastiff
Tornjak
Why Train Your Great Pyrenees
There are three main reasons why you absolutely need to train your Great Pyrenees or other LGD breed:
Large size (safety and manners)
Bonding/relationship (forming a partnership)
Mental stimulation (LGDs need jobs to do)
How Big is a Livestock Guardian Dog?
I’ve actually written an article on this very topic – you can read it here for more specifics. Below is a chart of LGD sizes:
| Breed | Male Height (in) | Female Height (in) | Male Weight (lbs) | Female Weight (lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akbash | 28-31 | 27-39 | 90-130 | 75-100 |
| Anatolian Shepherd | 29-32 | 27-31 | 110-145 | 85-120 |
| Armenian Gampr | 25+ | 23+ | 120 (average) | 110 (average) |
| Bukovina Shepherd | 27-31 | slightly shorter | 75-99 | slightly lighter |
| Carpathian Shepherd | 26 | slightly shorter | up to 110 | slightly lighter |
| Caucasian Ovcharka | 27-32 | 25-28 | 100-150 | slightly lighter |
| Central Asian Shepherd | 27-31 | 22-29 | 110-145 | 88-125 |
| Estrela Mountain Dog | 24-30 | 23-28 | 80-115 | 80-95 |
| Great Pyrenees | 27-32 | 25-29 | 100-140 | 85-110 |
| Kangal | 30-32 | 28-30 | 110-145 | 90-120 |
| Karakachan | 26-30 | 25-28 | 99-135 | 88-125 |
| Komondor | 27.5-31.5 | 25.5-27.5 | 100-130 | 80-110 |
| Kuvasz | 28-30 | 26-28 | 100-115 | 70-90 |
| Maremma Sheepdog | 25.5-28.5 | 25.5-27 | 77-99 | 66-88 |
| Polish Tatra Sheepdog | 26-28 | 24-26 | 80-130 | slightly lighter |
| Pyrenean Mastiff | 30.5+ | 28.5+ | 120-150+ | slightly lighter |
| Sarplaninac | 24+ | 22.5+ | 77-99 | 66-88 |
| Slovensky Cuvac | 24-27.5 | 23-25.5 | 80-97 | 68-82 |
| Spanish Mastiff | 30.5+ | 28.5+ | 185-220+ | 145-170 |
| Tibetan Mastiff | 26-29 | 24-27 | 90-150 | 70-120 |
| Tornjak | 26-27.5 | 24-26 | 77-110 | slightly lighter |
You’ll notice the smallest breeds of livestock guardian dogs (Sarplaninacs and Maremmas) are still a whopping ~65-100 lbs. The largest, the Spanish Mastiff, can be well over 200 pounds – holy moly! The Great Pyrenees, somewhere in the middle, weighs in between ~85-140 lbs.
Now imagine you have one of these breeds and he isn’t trained. What happens when he jumps up on somebody who doesn’t want to be jumped on? Or what if he jumps up on somebody and injures them? I’ve been jumped on by a full grown Great Pyr male, and believe me, they will knock you over. This dog just wanted attention – he was excited to see me (and me, him!).
Now take it one step further and imagine you have one of these breeds of dog and your dog is reactive or aggressive to humans or other animals. Wow, now you really have a problem if your dog isn’t trained. So many people end up dumping these animals at shelters when all they needed was a little patience, understanding, and positive training.
Aside from safety concerns, you’re also going to want your large or giant dog breed to have good manners. Great Pyrenees are known to jump up on counter tops, smack people with their paws, and pull on leashes during walks. None of these things poses a safety threat, but you’ll be much happier if you can work with your dog to break (or better yet, prevent) these kinds of habits.
Dog Training: The Fastest Way to a Beautiful Friendship
Bonding is another huge perk of training your Great Pyrenees with positive training methods. This type of obedience training is fun. You teach your dog to do things not because he’s told to do them, but because he wants to do them. He may want to do them because he associates them with a positive reward (a treat, belly rub, praise, tug-of-war, or whatever his favorite training reward is). Alternatively, because you’ve built such a strong bond through fun training sessions, he may want to do them just to please you.
You really get to know your dog when you train with him consistently, and he really gets to know you. Training is really a two-way street – you learn how to communicate with each other, how to negotiate with each other, and how to form an unbreakable partnership. He teaches you as much as you teach him.
Mental Stimulation for Livestock Guardian Dog Breeds
Great Pyrenees and other LGD breeds were bred to do a job, basically 24/7. They did work in packs and would take turns sleeping, but for the most part, they were always either on patrol or spending time with their charges. This has resulted in dog breeds that are incredibly smart and who need mental stimulation for health and well being.
As a Great Pyrenees owner, you will need to provide that mental stimulation through walks, play, and cuddles. Most LGDs will also appreciate having children and other animals in the family that they feel like they can protect.
But perhaps the very best way to provide your dogs with stimulation is through training: first through basic obedience training and then through Brain Training. Brain Training is teaching your dog to follow fun commands (like weaving through your legs or doing tricks). It’s much more complex than obedience training, and provides the kind of stimulation and partnership work that Great Pyrenees absolutely love! You will be his shepherd!
As a quick aside, while I’m on the topic of mental stimulation for Great Pyrs, I also highly recommend puzzle feeder toys - check them out in my article here.
Why You Should Train Your Great Pyrenees with Positive Training Methods
Three easy reasons:
It’s kind – positive training is fun for your dog rather than scary, demoralizing, painful, or stressful. Other types of training that rely on pain (shock collars, spanking) or shame (scolding, yelling) are disrespectful to your dog and are harmful both to his well being and your bond with him.
It’s effective – the whole basis of positive training is to get your dog to want to follow commands. When your dog wants to do what you say, training can’t get more effective than that.
It’s partnership (rather than domination) training, which is a good match for a Great Pyr temperament – Great Pyrenees are rumored to be hard to train. Part of this is because they don’t like to be bossed around. These dogs are easy going and like to do what they like to do. Using force is not an effective method for these dogs (unless you want to also traumatize them, which of course, none of us do). Instead, you’ve got to get your dogs to like instructions. This is what positive training is all about!
While the meme below always makes me laugh, it’s just not true. Every Great Pyr is trainable.
Let’s break this training myth, and start working with our Great Pyrs! Who’s up for giving them the respect they deserve?
Brain Training for Dogs: How to Do It Step-by-Step
Here’s where my pitch comes in. If you are knowledgeable in positive training already, then you can easily train your Great Pyrenees. If you’re not, I highly, highly, highly recommend famous professional dog trainer Adrienne Farricelli’s online program, Brain Training for Dogs.
I used Brain Training for Dogs on my farm puppy, Sage, an English Shepherd, and I’ll be using it later this year on my new Spanish Mastiff puppies. Sage responded amazingly to this program and there isn’t really anything she enjoys more than training sessions. Sage isn’t food motivated – she is solely motivated by praise, so training is extra easy.
Many Great Pyrenees are also known not to be food motivated – some people use this as an excuse for why they “can’t” train them – but many of these dogs are praise oriented. When I worked with an adult Great Pyrenees, his motivation was tummy rubs. That’s all he wanted in the world. Find what your dog wants, and apply it to this training program. Every dog loves something!
Brain Training for Dogs is a step-by-step training program that really teaches everything you need to know about obedience training (and later Brain Training) through positive methods. This program is thorough and detailed, and membership is lifetime rather than annual – a major plus!
Through this program, you can learn how to prevent or eliminate any behavior problems you might come across. The program includes a full library of information on essentially every behavior problem you can think of (from “excessive” barking and digging to fear issues and aggression problems).
Adrienne (pictured with her dog, Einstein) always emphasizes how important it is for dogs to be mentally stimulated (and this goes double or triple or quadruple for livestock guardian dog breeds). She says that in her many years of experience, she’s found that so many times, dog behavior problems stem from the dog’s boredom, and can be solved through consistent mental stimulation.
She says:
“With the right mental stimulation and training... (That you will get in my program), your dog’s brain will become more open and receptive to learning new information.
Your dog will listen to you and better understand what you are telling him to do.
When this happens - your dog’s bad behaviors simply fade away as more desirable ones appear in their place.”
- Adrienne Farricelli, CPDT-KA certified dog trainer, Brain Training for Dogs
The Very Best Thing About Brain Training for Dogs
When I first purchased Brain Training for Dogs and signed into the membership site, I was thrilled to find out that Adrienne Farricelli herself, world renowned CPDT-KA certified dog trainer, didn’t just design the program for us, she actually actively answers everybody’s questions!
The program includes a members’ forum where people can ask any question they have about their dogs, and Adrienne answers. Let me make this clear what I mean: she doesn’t just give a couple line generic response, she answers. Her responses are long and detailed, and if you still need help, she’ll just keep troubleshooting with you over and over and over again until your problem is solved.
This is incredible! Access to a personal trainer at your fingertips, especially one of this caliber, is an incredibly expensive service. This kind of service can run hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on how often you are asking for help. But Adrienne includes it as a bonus in her extensive training program (a $47 program) and you have lifetime access!
I actually think the program should be marketed as access to Adrienne Farricelli with obedience training, Brain Training, and the extensive library as bonuses. Nowhere are you going to find such low cost access to a professional trainer.
I do want to point out here that this program is rather new, and I expect that once it gets to be really large, Adrienne will no longer be able to keep up with the questions. I don’t know what will happen at that point – maybe she will hire other trainers to help answer the questions, maybe not. All I know is right now she is super active and available, so take advantage of this while you can.
What I Don’t Like About Brain Training for Dogs
There is one major thing that I don’t like about the Brain Training for Dogs program, and I was actually pretty disappointed about this when I first signed up. The training courses, though very thorough and step-by-step, are written lessons rather than video lessons.
Adrienne does have a small training video archive and additional video case studies that show her illustrating some of her training commands and show her working with dogs who have particular problematic behaviors. Despite the poor filming quality (it has a real amateur feel to it), these videos are incredibly helpful.
I, however, just really wish the entire course was a video course. I learn so much better with video than I do through reading. My husband is the opposite, though, and he said he is so glad the course was written rather than video. So I guess it just depends on your particular learning style.
I still think Brain Training for Dogs is amazing – but this is the one thing I want to point out that I view as a real disadvantage.
What Price Is Brain Training for Dogs?
At the time of this writing, Brain Training for Dogs costs only $47.
How Do You Get Brain Training for Dogs?
Go to Adrienne Farricelli’s sales page here. There you will see a whole bunch of information about the program and what it includes. You will see that throughout the sales page are buttons that say “Instant Access.” Click on one of these buttons to get to the page where you give your payment information. After you enter your credit card details and submit, you will create a login and a password. From then on, the program is yours!
You May Also Be Interested in:
Train Your Great Pyr to Stop Barking: When You Don’t Want Fido to ‘Speak’
Grooming Great Pyrenees and Other LGD Breeds: The Ultimate Guide.
