Long-haired Pyrenean Shepherd

The Pyrenean Shepherd refers to two breeds of dogs: the long-haired Pyrenean Shepherd and the smooth-faced Pyrenean Shepherd.

Although of ancient origins, the Pyrenean Shepherd is almost non-existent and unknown outside the Pyrenean valleys from which it originates. The attestations of its existence are therefore rare and late: if the illustration of the "shepherd's dog" for Buffon's Natural History evokes for some a shaven face, it was not until the middle of the 19th century to find, without question, the first illustration of the shepherd of the Pyrenees in a work by the Pau painter Alfred Dartiguenave, A family in Barèges. Pierre Mégnin mentions it during a conference in 1893 in the nomenclature of French shepherds and the Count of Bylandt gives a first approximate standard in 1897. It is truly to the War of 14-18 that the shepherd owes his beginnings of notoriety: recruited from 1916 by the war dog service for its olfactory qualities, it is used as a patrol companion or liaison dog (esafette). It is in this last use that it excels - its task of passing quickly at all costs while avoiding men - as J. Dhers, a former training officer in the war dog service, has pointed out: "[.. .] it is my duty to loudly proclaim that it is the breed of the little Pyrenean Shepherd which has provided the army with the most intelligent, cunning, quickest and most skilful liaison dogs” or again Paul Mégnin, non-commissioned officer of the same service: “The Pyrenean shepherds were very intelligent dogs who understood very quickly what was required of them, and became excellent, regular and reliable liaison dogs. ". But if the world conflict contributed to revealing the breed to the public, it paid a heavy price in return: "it has been rightly said that no other French breed has paid the ransom of blood more widely". After the war, the decimated herd was gradually reconstituted. Thus, at the beginning of the 1920s, two groups of amateurs began to take an interest in Pyrenean breeds. The first presents to the Société centrale canine in October 1921 a standard whose homologation is refused. Reunited again in July 1923 in Tarbes by Bernard Sénac-Lagrange, this same group founded the Meeting of Pyrenean Dog Lovers (RACP), the current breed club in France. At the same time, the Club français du berger des Pyrénées was created in 1921 by a second group of amateurs chaired by Colonel Tolet. The Club did not survive the death of its founder: in 1946, it merged with the RACP, still chaired by Sénac-Lagrange.