Great Pyrenees vs. Coyote Pack

[KurtR]

My friend had a gp on the ranch. He would let you get to five feet but never let you pet him. Had to rope him to go to vet and once you got him he loved on you till you let him go again. We watched him square up a coyote once and holly shit you would have thought cujo and white fang had a love child that dog was vicious. He would drag the coyote up to the barn and leave them. Dog was scarred of guns you got out to go hunting he seen the gun and you would see him running a half mile away haha.

 

[TSAMP]

 

[Dos Perros]

Remember those eastern coyotes are a size smaller than out west.

Edited to add: I was wrong! Eastern coyotes are bigger.

 

[Dirtbag]

As someone who has been around a lot of great dogs and dogs that were used to hunt coyotes, lurchers etc. this story doesn't pass the sniff test. No wounds on or around the muzzle, it’s really only a pup (20 months) and 99% of dogs can’t run down a coyote and a GP definitely isn’t doing it. I want it to be true but it doesn’t add up, most of us know coyotes don’t wait around to fight it out with a dog 3x their size and definitely not 8x

I agree, I have been around a lot of Pyrenees and around even more coyotes. The pyrenees we had at one of my past jobs guarded alpacas against coyotes simply through intimidation and the coyotes never came close. I have alos hunted behind coyote hounds and dogs used for calling. It's very hard for even walker and plott hounds to keep up with coyotes to catch them let alone a pyrenees.

even when calling, you typically have a hard time getting coyotes to get very aggressive and territorial towards dogs to be willing to get in a fight to the death type interaction especially outside of the denning season when they do not have pups.

 

[Tod osier]

Remember those eastern coyotes are a size smaller than out west.

I think you have it backwards, Eastern coyotes are a good bit larger on average.

 

[BobbyMac]

Im just kinda stuck on the stats. I know its easy to count 8 dead coyotes. But who takes the time to actually count the live ones as they are swarming your dog and come up with a definitive number like 11. Theres just sumthin not adding up with the story. Even a WKR'er in training could sniff this one out I think.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

GPs are bad motherf###ers. Fearless dogs.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I would think the pack would have to be in pretty bad shape to hang around to be picked off like that but there is no doubt that dog could easily kill one.

Stranger things have happened and people have made up more believable tales.

 

[Reburn]

2 or 3 out of a pack that size. Sure that might be possible.
8 out of 11. Nah. Not unless the coyotes were caught behind a fence.
believe half of what you see and none of what you read.

 

[Rich M]

Knew a goat herder who had 2. Every now and again the neighbor’s pit bull would get out…

He told me the male was standing there looking thru a cattle fence at the most recent pit bull. Pit bull stuck his nose thru. GP grabbed it by the face, pulled it thru the cattle fence and shredded it.

Friendly dogs otherwise. Just guarding their goats against critters, not people.

 

[Dos Perros]

I think you have it backwards, Eastern coyotes are a good bit larger on average.

I was going off personal experience, but upon looking it up, you're right!

 

[bobinmi]

Cool story, I don't believe any of it, but at least someone is creative. @Dos Perros, I just want to recognize you for being one of the humans on the internet that will correct themselves. Much appreciated.

 

[bigv]

I think you have it backwards, Eastern coyotes are a good bit larger on average.

Northeastern are...I don't think southeastern though.

 

[JoedaMan]

As someone who has been around a lot of great dogs and dogs that were used to hunt coyotes, lurchers etc. this story doesn't pass the sniff test. No wounds on or around the muzzle, it’s really only a pup (20 months) and 99% of dogs can’t run down a coyote and a GP definitely isn’t doing it. I want it to be true but it doesn’t add up, most of us know coyotes don’t wait around to fight it out with a dog 3x their size and definitely not 8x

Great Pyrs are a whole different breed of dog. I never would have believed it, growing up in northern NM with big aggressive coyotes, but we got a Great Pyr for our place. That dog was amazing. When he was about 2 years old, mabye - one day we looked out our front window and we saw him and 3 coyotes in the field in front of our house. My first reaction was panic, even though he was already twice as big as them. I ran to grab my gun. When I got back the 4 of them were running in a big circle each chasing the other. I was afraid they were going to get behind him and tear him apart. Then I saw the magic!!! That dog just poured on the coals and tackled the first coyote and fur flew and it didnt get up. The other coyotes saw what was happening and they took off across the field. My dog turned and ran, caught up with the 2nd coyote, fur flew and it didnt get up, then my dog looked up saw the other coyote and ran it down. Took the full length of the field, but he caught it and killed it too. Whole thing played out in about 2 minutes from the moment my dog first decided he was done playing till the 3rd coyote was a distant memory. From then on we knew he had it handled. He passed this year at age 11, under his favorite tree. He kept the coyotes away right up till the end. RIP Joe, you are missed!!!

 

[JoedaMan]

Great Pyrs are a whole different breed of dog. I never would have believed it, growing up in northern NM with big aggressive coyotes, but we got a Great Pyr for our place. That dog was amazing. When he was about 2 years old, mabye - one day we looked out our front window and we saw him and 3 coyotes in the field in front of our house. My first reaction was panic, even though he was already twice as big as them. I ran to grab my gun. When I got back the 4 of them were running in a big circle each chasing the other. I was afraid they were going to get behind him and tear him apart. Then I saw the magic!!! That dog just poured on the coals and tackled the first coyote and fur flew and it didnt get up. The other coyotes saw what was happening and they took off across the field. My dog turned and ran, caught up with the 2nd coyote, fur flew and it didnt get up, then my dog looked up saw the other coyote and ran it down. Took the full length of the field, but he caught it and killed it too. Whole thing played out in about 2 minutes from the moment my dog first decided he was done playing till the 3rd coyote was a distant memory. From then on we knew he had it handled. He passed this year at age 11, under his favorite tree. He kept the coyotes away right up till the end. RIP Joe, you are missed!!!

oh, and I forgot - not a scratch on him. Coyotes never stood a chance. His head and teeth were massive.

 

[Rob960]

Northeastern are...I don't think southeastern though.

PA coyote's range from35 to 55#'s. Per PGC records the largest shot to date is 62#'s. I know I have seen really good sized ones in the woods.

 

[Rob960]

PA coyote's range from35 to 55#'s. Per PGC records the largest shot to date is 62#'s. I know I have seen really good sized ones in the woods.

Hang on, in reading some articles in Penn Live, I have found yotes tat have weighed in at 72 and 90#'s.

 

[Karakachan]

As someone who has been around a lot of great dogs and dogs that were used to hunt coyotes, lurchers etc. this story doesn't pass the sniff test. No wounds on or around the muzzle, it’s really only a pup (20 months) and 99% of dogs can’t run down a coyote and a GP definitely isn’t doing it. I want it to be true but it doesn’t add up, most of us know coyotes don’t wait around to fight it out with a dog 3x their size and definitely not 8x

Came across this comment & post from a few years back. I use Great Pyrenees & Karakachan Dogs to protect livestock & we live in a National Forest. Karakachan Dogs are very edgy and it would be about 90 seconds a coyote. I had a 90 lb Pyrenees I got between dogs. I watched her kill a couple of coyotes trying to team on her before I could run get a gun, she’d killed them. I could not find a mark on her. She didn’t even get a scratch. I have seen them fight big dogs too, pit bulls & tear those dogs up, but I found very few wounds. I used to have an Anatolians and one that I had, he could run down Coyotes. Karakachans I’ve been around a lot longer than any hunting dog (oldest dog breed in Europe). Pyrenees have been around about 3800 years. They guarded the Chateau Fort of Lourdes in the 15th century. Livestock Guardian dogs aren’t kennel club- consumer dogs. Over several thousand years, the skin, especially around their necks is very thick and resistant to tear. Coyote would not be able to get around a big muzzle, it would never get that chance. The Pyrenees and other livestock guardian dogs, a lot of them have a longer canines and bigger teeth. If you ever get a chance, compare the mouth and the teeth and the molars. If you’ve never done that between different breeds of dogs, you won’t know this. I can see why it wouldn’t pass your sniff test . I have owned a lot of of them over the decades. They’re not like other dogs. Individual Livestock Guardian Dogs have a light that switches on at a certain age that guardian instinct kicks in. I have seen some pups show the instinct to take down a threatening dog or coyote venturing near their charges at only about nine or 10 months old . By about 18 miles 24 months old, most of them could take on a small pack of coyotes. This passes my sniff test. I also know one of the game wardens who arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. I confirmed the story. This was the early investigatived. The coyotes must’ve turned on him when he chased him a little piece. At that point, he had to fight a bunch of them. They were grabbing them from behind and also trying to get him. He had a lot of advantages they didn’t have. He won.

 

[turbobrick]

They run sheep in the hills here for fuels abatement, and the herds have Pyrenees for protection. There was one that I saw for several season that looked like he tangled with a mountain lion or a bear, something with claws. He had huge, long scars all down both sides, and had basically no hair over his ribs. They were old, healed wounds, but you could tell he was stiff and carried some permanent damage. But he would wag and come up to people no problem, great dogs that are awesome at their job.