by the courtesy of Richard J. Crago, Australia
Several years ago I tried to get an impression of what Pyrs were like in
the 1800s andearlier by searching through books about the Pyrenees Mountains.
I thought at first thatperhaps artists might have appreciated the beauty of
the dogs and sketched them, but sadlythe grandure of the Cirque de Gavernie
and other places seems to have captured mostartistic minds and something as
prosaic as a dog guarding sheep does not rate even acareless scribble. However,
some visiters to the Pyrenees did describe the dogs, albeitbriefly.
For example: LETTER FROM THE PYRENEES, T.Clifton Paris (John Murray, London,
1843) (p104)
"The Pyrenees are famous for a race of dogs of great size and most noble
bearing,which protect the flocks and herds from bears and wolves: I saw them
here (the village ofGabas) for the first time , and the two specimens that lay
at the door of the aubergestruck me as very similar in their appearance to the
Newfoundland breed as known inEngland, being black and white and of about the
same size, with bushy tails, long silkycoats and magnificent heads"
(p143) "I had walked for about an hour through the darkness of this solitary
region(between Cauterets and Luz), when I found myself marching abruptly into
the midst of arecumbent flock of sheep. To be attacked by the dogs was the work
of a moment; and as theywere five in number, their assault soon wore a most
menacing aspect: at the criticalmoment, however, when the angry animals seemed
inclined to make a dash upon me, theshepherd came roaring from his cabane, and
order was immediately restored. Although in notranquil mood, I could not help
admiring the obedience and segacity of my nobleassailants: they walked quietly
away without any suppressed growl or skulking demeanour,seeming to say that
they attacked me with no particular malice, but for the purpose ofsummoning
their master, who would now inquire my business. The Pyrenean dog ranks amongthe
noblest of his kind, as is as remarkable for docility as for strength and courage:
heis not the drover of the flock, - to drive it here and there, or to keep it
together: onthe contrary, he walks in advance and leads it to the mountain side,
or toward evening tothe cabine of the shepherd. His principle duty, however,
is to defend his fleecy chargefrom the wolf or bear: and should either venture
to attack, he unhesitatingly gives battleand generally comes off the victor."
An English couple, Mr & Mrs Ellis, visited the Pyrenees in 1840 and wrote
of theirtravels in:
Summer and Winter in the Pyrenees, Mrs W.S.Ellis, (Fischer, London,
1847):
"The shepherds are always accompanied by a dog, of a kind peculiar to the
Pyrenees,as large as a Newfoundland dog, but more like a wolf in shape, and
always white, with amixture of buff, or wolfish gray. These dogs, though large
and powerful, have theappearance of being gentle and docile, from their being
thin, and badly fed; but they havea disposition to be otherwise, I can testify,
having been twice seized by them, and havingalso heard of many instances in
which they were the terror of the neighbourhood. Mr.Ellismet one day on the
same road we were travelling, with a very communicative priest, whotold him
that he always rode with pistols, to defend himself from thesedogs"..."Perhaps
the most singular feature in the character of the shepherd'sdog of the Pyrenees,
is, that like his master, he always leads, instead of driving thesheep. He is
brought up entirely amongst them, and sleeps in the same fold. It is acurious
sight to see the shepherd and his dog coming first out of a field, and the flockfollowing."..."The
first symptom of the approach of autumn, which, however, Iwas unable to believe
in at that time, had been the coming down of the flocks and herdsfrom the mountains...The
last flock we saw, was one of a hundred sheep and three goats,which came every
night from the adjoining mountain to lodge in a small pen, or parc, as itis
called, placed for them in one of the meadows of St.Paul. This pen was moved
everynight, and the shepherd received two france per day for lodging his sheep
there. I hadoften wondered why there was along with every flock, about the proportion
of three goatsto a hundred sheep; and we learned that the mountain dog, so important
to the shepherd,was fed while on the mountains, by the milk of these goats.
The dog belonging to thisflock, used to stay beside the pen all night, while
his master went away to sleep. Henever attempted to drive the sheep when they
went out, but always walked first with hismaster. I now discovered also, that
the sheep which appeared to be led so patriachally bylove for their master,
were in reality led by their love of the salt which he carried inhis pocket,
into which the goats often thrust their noses."
C.E. Acland-Troyte's "From the Pyrenees to the Channel in a Dogcart"(Swan
Sonnenschein, Lowry & Co., London, 1887)
(p164)".. the guardian of the flock...(the) shepherd-lad, whose life is
spent almostentirely alone with his charge: with no companion, save that faithful
one - his dog ...And having mentioned this latter noble animal, I may as well
say here what I have to sayabout him. The real thorough-bred Pyrenean sheep-dog
is perhaps one of the very finestspecimens of his genus. In size, as large as
the St.Bernard, his thick long coat of whitehair, marked about the head and
ears with tan-colour or brown and with occasionally apatch or two of thew same
hue on the back, makes him a conspicuous object far away on thehill-side where
he lies watching his charge. And he can see you quite as well as you cansee
him - whether you have a white coat or not - and down he comes, like King James
atFlodden, rushing from his mountain-home. Fortunately, most French horses are
so wellaccustomed to have every cur by the road-side springing out at them,
that they generallypreserve their equanimity under the most trying circumstances.
But one of these hugePyrenean dogs is a formidable assaillant: and were it not
that their bark is usually onlyfor show, and not accompanied by a bite, it might
go ill with the unprepared victim of theassault. One such attack we saw very
promptly met, this very afternoon on our drive here.As we came near the end
of our day's march, we passed a cottage by the road-side, in thegarden of which
were two dogs, one a very fine sheep-dog, the other not so well-bred, andscarcely
arrived at dog's estate. Both came rushing out at us, open mouthed, full voiced,"one
mutual cry", and having said their say, retired to wait for the nextpassers-by.
This happened to be two stalwart peasants, staff in hand; and as the dogsrushed
out, one of the men dealt the younger one such a blow on the back with his powerfularm,
that the poor brute dropped howling on the ground, and unable to rise again.
Hewrithed about in pain, poor fellow, and his howls went to my heart, and I
thought his lasthour had come, for he seemed unable to get to his legs. It was
quite touching to see theolder dog standing over him and comforting him; perhaps
receiving his last words and dyingwishes; and couldn't help saying rather angrily
to the man as he passed us (for we hadpulled up to see the result of the blow),
"Vous avez frappe trop fort, le chien vamourir." But with re- assuring
laugh he passed on; and looking back I saw that thepoor fellow had got to his
feet again, and was crawling home." (p176)"At Luz Isaw quite the finest
specimen of the Pyrenean sheep- dog that I have yet come across, bothas to size,
length and thickness of his white coat, and brown-markings on his head andears.
He was a most perfectly handsome dog, and I quite longed to carry him off;especially
as the price asked for him (120 francs) did not seem excessive. "Vic"[the
author's small dog] admired him as much as I did, and, in fact, lost her heart
to him- of which occurence he did not take much notice at first, probably because
it was such avery little one. But, I am sorry to say she is a most unblushing
little flirt, even inthese early days, and so forced her passion for him upon
his notice that he could nolonger be blind to the state of affairs. After this
they came to an understanding,resulting in a game of romps, which was very amusing
in the contrast as to size betweenthe playfellows."