A question of size

by Edmund Alprone
(New Jersey)

I consider myself pretty well read when it comes to my beloved bred the Great Pyrenees. One thing continues to be a little hard to understand. Every site gives a little different size range and none give any size close to my Beau. Also I notice many of the dogs are not as thick as my boy.

At 34" at the shoulder and 165 pounds he is very large, not only that he is very wide. He has huge hips and shoulders. At one time he was 180 but my doctor said to cut him back when we got to 165 my vet said this is where he should be. At this weight he has a lot of spring in his step and is surprisingly fast.

When he was 6 months old I adopted Beau and through a lot of research I found the breeder and he was surprised to find one of his dogs was rescued. He told me he screens very hard and most of his dogs are reserved before birth. He also told me he had Seamen sent from France to keep his breed very close to the original mountain breed. He contacted KC and got a name of a very good breeder and even had the lineage of the sire.

So I just wonder is Beau just extra large or is this somewhat normal for a large male? My female is 120 and also a rescue. Her hair is straighter while Beaus is thicker and wavy? You know I don't See a lot of Pyrenees