Perfect Pyr Pups: How to Train Your Great Pyrenees Puppy
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Great Pyrenees are the sweetest, most loyal, and completely affectionate pups. These dogs will make you laugh, and they’ll steal your heart. But aren’t they stubborn and resistant to training? The answer to this is a resounding, no! Despite this popular misconception, Great Pyrenees puppies are so fun to train! Once you learn how to train your pups with positive methods, your training sessions will feel like play and bonding time to both of you!
What training do you need to do for a Great Pyrenees? You will need to teach your Great Pyrenees puppies a set of basic commands to keep them safe (for example, “sit,” stay”, and “come”). You’ll also want to teach them good manners (so, for example, they don’t jump on your guests and knock them to the ground), and you’ll need to work on potty training, leash training, and possibly crate training. Great Pyrenees dogs respond best to positive training methods.
In this article, you will learn both how to train a Great Pyrenees and exactly what commands and skills you’ll need to train her. I’ve given detailed instructions and YouTube videos (where available) to make things as easy for you as possible. I’ve also included resources for other types of Great Pyrenees training and problems, such as for barking and yard escape.
If you need a super straightforward concise guide to training your puppy, check out my step-by-step training manual.
Want to jump straight to the training?
Why Train Your Great Pyrenees Puppy?
There are several reasons why you’ll want to train your Great Pyrenees puppy:
Maintain a peaceful household - Like with any puppy, life is easier and more peaceful when you and your puppy are both on the same page.
Necessary functions – Obviously potty training and leash training are a must for any dog living indoors and in an urban area.
Your dog’s size - Your puppy will grow to be a HUGE dog (possibly well over 100 pounds), so you definitely don’t want her to be an untrained adult, jumping on people, or knocking them over.
Your dog’s safety – Training your dog may save her life. If nothing else, please train your dog to have a good recall (i.e., the “come” command).
For an example of why the “come” command is so important, see the video below. This Great Pyrenees is taking on a bull moose. The entire family is calling him, but he clearly has not been trained to have a good recall. Thankfully, this dog didn’t get hurt, but he could very easily have lost his life.
If you live in an urban area, your Great Pyrenees may never take on a bull moose, but he could take on something just as dangerous, like a busy street or aggressive dog. Keep your fluffball safe and do recall training!
How to Train a “Stubborn” Great Pyrenees
“Stubborn” is not a useful term to put on your dog. Your Great Pyrenees could just as easily put it on you – “I keep telling Mama I don’t want to do her stupid tricks, but she stubbornly refuses to listen! How can I make it any more obvious? She never listens, and she only does what she wants to do!”
It’s important to realize that a relationship with your dog is a two-way street. You can’t just take what you want – you have to give. If your Great Pyrenees isn’t responding to your training methods, then you aren’t making it fun enough for her. The whole idea behind training with positive methods is that your dog follows your commands because she wants to, not because she has to due to fear, shame, or to avoid pain.
Training a Great Pyrenees (or any dog) requires a few different things:
High value rewards – this can be food, treats, a short play session with a favorite toy, or some kind of praise or attention from you, whatever your dog likes most. See my articles on Great Pyrenees food, treats and chews, and toys.
Exercise – you can’t expect to have successful training sessions if your dog is terribly wound up – she won’t be able to concentrate. Make sure she has had enough exercise that she can focus on a training session. Exercise can come in the form of walks or in the form of physical play – see my article here for toys that Great Pyrenees love!
Maturity – Great Pyrenees may take 2-3 years to mature. This means that they are babies (despite not looking like it) for a very long time and training will take a lot of time and patience.
Appropriate distractions – when training something new, you will need to start with no distractions. After perfecting the training with no distractions, you will need to gradually start adding in distractions and training until your dog gets it. For example, you’ll first want to train your commands in a quiet house. Then you may want to add a person or two around while training. Then you will want to teach those commands outside (seriously, sometimes this feels like starting over). Then train with someone walking by your yard or in a dog park, etc. Train until your dog listens in every single situation.
Time – training can take a very long time. Your dog might pick up on some commands quickly, and struggle with others. Some types of training, such as training your Pyr to stop barking all the time, may take a lot of time and effort because barking is so natural for her.
Consistency – you will need to do short training sessions (5-15 minutes) pretty much every day, and ideally, multiple times of day.
A quick but very important note – if you are using treats or food to train your dog, give her very tiny bites. You do not want your dog to become overweight as this is particularly hard on this breed’s health. For more on this topic, see my article on feeding a Great Pyrenees.
Training Commands Your Great Pyrenees Puppies Must Know
These are the commands your Great Pyrenees must learn for her own safety and for the safety of others when she gets to be a very large dog:
Sit/Stay – the “sit” command is very helpful as a calming command. If your dog is doing something you don’t want her to do or is overly excited, getting her into the “sit” position can be incredibly helpful. The “stay” command is absolutely vital. You may come across situations where you need your dog to stay, rather than pursue something that could be dangerous to her.
Leave it – this is an incredibly important command. If your dog is approaching something that could be dangerous to her or if she is bothering a person or another animal, “leave it” is the command you give for her to back off and leave the person or thing alone. “Leave it” is often followed by the “come” command.
Come – this command is, in my opinion, the most important command you’ll ever teach your dog. A good recall is the best thing out there to keep your dog safe.
Off – this is an important command that’s given to tell your dog not to jump on someone or something. Once a dog learns this command really well, the command will usually become obsolete.
There are so many other good and fun commands you can teach your puppy, but these four are the absolute most important.
For help on how to teach these commands using positive training methods, see the Great Pyrenees puppy training video below for an introduction:
If you want step-by-step instructions for every command in this article and many others, check out my training manual. I’ve made this guide as helpful and concise as possible - no fluff here!
How to Potty Train a Great Pyrenees Puppy
Step 1: Control Your Puppy’s Environment
The first thing you need to know about potty training your Great Pyrenees is that it may take several months. A lot of people think potty training happens in a week or two, and for some dogs, this is the case – I had a puppy like this once. But these dogs are the exception, not the rule. Most will take much longer than that, and you also might think they are trained, only to have them relapse and start peeing in the house. Totally normal – they’re just not there yet, and need some more help and patience.
The biggest secret to successful potty training is controlling your puppy’s environment. The easiest way to do this is to put your puppy on a harness and leash, and tie the leash to your belt or attach it to your belt buckle with a carabiner. This insures that your puppy’s environment is always controlled (she’s right next to you), and you can prevent bad habits from forming.
If you can’t have your puppy attached to you, you’ll want a puppy proofed area because you still need to control her environment as much as possible. This could be a room, like a kitchen or laundry room, or a corner of a room blocked off. A puppy gate can be a wonderful investment for keeping your puppy in a room while still allowing her to see or hear you around the house. I recommend a taller gate, like this one at Amazon.
When your puppy is very young and small, you could even keep her in a puppy pen, like this one at Amazon. I recommend attaching a couple of pens together to make it bigger or using a pen extension panel like this one. A crate is also an option – more on this in the next section!
Step 2: Teach Your Puppy Where to Go Potty
Puppies don’t know where they are supposed to go to the bathroom. It’s up to you to kindly teach them that “outside” is the place to go. The easiest way to do this is to prevent your puppy from going inside the house. You want her to associate going to the bathroom with being outside.
To make this association, you’ll need take your puppy outside every hour. If she’s active, you might want to take her out every half hour in order to prevent an accident. Stand outside with her and give her some time to sniff around. Initially, she won’t understand that you want her to go to the bathroom. Give her plenty of time to go. Sometimes she won’t need to go. And, yes, sometimes you’ll take her out for twenty minutes, and then she’ll go as soon as you bring her back in and set her on the carpet. We’ve all been there.
When your puppy does go outside, praise her. You don’t want to interrupt her going to the bathroom or stop her in the middle due to too much excitement, so do a gentle praise. You can use a word here – like “potty” – so she’ll start to associate the word with the action. I tell my puppies, “Good potty!” when they’re going and then I say it again when they’re done in a more excited voice. I give them a tiny treat immediately after they finish, while I am saying “Good potty!”
Below is a video of a woman taking her Great Pyrenees puppy out to go to go to the bathroom – this puppy is so cute!
I would not tell this puppy to “Go potty” the way the woman is, unless her puppy already knows what this means. You don’t want to give your dogs commands that they don’t understand. You want to initially say the command while your dog is going, and then again immediately after with a treat, until she learns. Then you can tell her “Go potty” later on, when she knows what you’re requesting.
The woman praises the puppy when she goes to the bathroom – both during and after – which is great, but she does not include the word “potty” in her praise. This dog will likely eventually learn what “potty” means, but it will take a whole lot longer than if she was trained the way I’ve outlined above.
Step 3: Learn Your Puppy’s Tells
It won’t be long until you start to see your dog’s “tells.” Dogs do certain things when they have to go. I had one puppy who scratched on a blanket right before she went on it. I learned quickly as soon as she started rearranging that blanket, she needed to go out. I had another puppy whine when he needed to go – he was super easy to train because he did this from the start and I knew to take him out.
The most dramatic “tell” I’ve ever seen has been from one of my older dogs, Doogie, when he was a puppy. Whenever he was about to have a bowel movement, he looked like he was having a seizure. He would throw his whole body around in the most bizarre way, and he would fling himself into walls. The first couple times, I was absolutely terrified, trying to figure out how to help this ½ pound puppy, thinking he might be dying or in serious trouble. He just had to go was all. I don’t think he knew what was happening to him, and this was his reaction. He outgrew this after a few weeks.
Step 4: Take Your Puppy Out During the Night
When your puppy is really young, you will have to take her out a few times at night – every three hours is a good rule of thumb. This is just because very young puppies don’t have bladder control yet, nor have they formed the habit of not going to the bathroom at night. I know this sounds incredibly stressful, but don’t worry – it’s short lived! You only need to do this for the first few weeks. If you have family living in the house with you, you can take turns. After the first few weeks, your puppy will be old enough to have better bladder control and she will learn the habit of holding it in all night.
This is about it for potty training. Potty training is actually very easy, but it does require a lot of patience and dedication. Crate training your puppy can really help expedite the time it takes to potty train her – more on that below.
Crate Training a Great Pyrenees Puppy
I need to start this section out by stressing that crate training isn’t for every dog. Some dogs will never be okay with being locked in a crate. If that’s your dog, you will need to figure something else out – a puppy proofed room with a gate or very large pen is a great alternative. Crate training, however, is always worth a try.
Crate training is useful for many reasons, including:
Controlling your puppy’s environment – you learned above how important this is for house training. Well, crate training makes this a lot easier to do. Puppies generally don’t want to go to the bathroom where they sleep, so crating them can prevent bad habits from starting. They’re much more likely to hold it!
Providing your pup a secure place to rest – puppies like having their own space. A crate often serves as a dog’s bedroom.
Giving you freedom – sometimes it’s hard having your puppy leashed to you at all times. You will eventually need to leave the house, for one thing! Crate training your dog also allows you to cook, sleep, clean house, etc. without having to worry about your puppy.
The key to successfully crate training a Great Pyrenees is to make the crate an incredibly fun and happy place for your dog to be. You want your dog to associate the crate with happy feelings. Your puppy needs to view the crate as her personal bedroom, not as a prison or cage.
Don’t leave your puppy in the crate for more than 4 hours at a time. If you work during the day, you will need to come home at lunch to exercise your dog. If that is not an option, find someone else to come over to help while you’re gone during the day. Most towns have plenty of dog walker services.
Step 1: Pick the Right Crate for Your Pyr
There are so many crates out there to choose from, but an ideal crate has a few special features:
Small enough your Pyr can treat it like a bed – this is so your dog doesn’t want to pee in the crate.
Big enough that you don’t need to keep buying new crates as your Pyr grows – otherwise this could get pricey very quickly!
Easily cleanable – if your Pyr does have an accident (bladder control does take time to develop), you don’t want to be messing around with constantly cleaning a crate with a fabric bottom or a crate where you have to crawl inside to clean it.
Roomy and easily accessible – you don’t want your dog feeling like she’s in a cage. She should never feel like she’s in time out. She should be in her happy place in her crate.
The only crate I’ve found so far that meets all of these recommendations is Midwest Homes Double Door Folding Metal Crate – you can see it here on Amazon. I recommend getting the largest size (48 inches) so your puppy can keep using it as she grows. In the meantime, the crate comes with a divider panel so you can make your puppy’s space as small as you want.
You’ll start out by putting the divider in the crate and starting your puppy’s crate space off small. This way she’ll feel like the crate is her home and bed, and she will try not to pee in it. You can later move the divider further from the crate wall to give your puppy more space as she grows, and once she learns that the crate is her bedroom, you can remove the divider altogether.
The Midwest Homes Crate also has a super durable tray as a floor so that if your puppy does pee, you can simply slide the tray out, quickly clean it, and slide it back in. Once your puppy has stopped peeing in the crate for awhile, I would suggest putting in a blanket or bed to make it more comfortable for her.
The crate has a one- and a two-door variety. I recommend the two-door variety because introducing your puppy to the crate will be easier – you can leave both doors open so the crate is an open and non-threatening space. The double doors also just makes it easier to get your puppy and other things in and out of the crate, and it’s easier to fit the crate in any space you might want to keep it – if one door is blocked, the other will still be available.
This Midwest Homes Crate comes already fully assembled. You just have to unfold it. It folds back down for very easy storage.
Now let’s get into the nitty gritty details of how to crate train your Great Pyrenees puppy!
Step 2: Exercise Your Pyr
To reduce anxiety, you will want to wear your dog out a bit with some good exercise before you introduce her to the crate. You want her to be relaxed and open to training. You don’t want her to be at her most hyper. Take her for a walk or play with her some - for toys recommended by dozens of Great Pyrenees owners, check out my article here.
Step 3: Introduce Your Pyr Very Slowly to the Crate
Remember, the key is to get your dog to LOVE her crate. Don’t pick up your dog and put her in the crate. That could be stressful for her. Just put the crate out and let your dog explore it on her own. Let her look at it, walk around it, and sniff it. Leave both of the crate doors wide open so she can see it is an open and inviting place.
Step 4: Make the Crate a Fun Place to Enter
Now you’re going to want her to associate the crate with fun. You can use toys, chews, or tiny pieces of treats or food for this step. For ideas on what to use for your puppy, see my articles on toys, chews and treats, and food.
Play with a toy with your dog for a minute and then toss the toy into the crate. Keep doing this to get her comfortable with going in and out of the crate. You can even reach in the crate while she’s in there and get her to play tug of war with you while she’s standing in the create. Throw some tiny bits of food or treats in there (be careful not to overfeed) to make the crate seem extra fun.
After she has had a bunch of fun in the crate, try closing just one of the two doors. Keep giving her tiny treats and playing with toys in and out of the crate, letting her get used to it with only one door open. When she seems happy and comfortable with this, try closing the other door.
Give her lots of treats, tug-of-war play, and/or praise. Just keep the crate closed for 10 or 20 seconds than open it again. You want to do all of this very slowly. You don’t ever want her to feel stressed or trapped in the crate. Always let her out immediately if she wants out.
You’ll need to keep repeating this training with your dog over time.
Step 5: Slowly Increase the Amount of Time Your Pyr Stays in the Crate
Once your dog is comfortable in the crate, put her in there during your relaxation time. Sit next to her while she’s in the crate and let her chew a bone in there or play with toys in there. Let her out when she wants out. She will slowly be okay spending more and more time in the crate. Eventually, you will be able to leave her in there without you around.
How long will that take? Your dog may love her crate in one training session, or it may take several weeks. And some dogs will never be okay with the crate.
Below is a video of exactly what you don’t want to do. This is a Great Pyrenees puppy who is locked in a crate and clearly stressed out by it.
If your dog cries, whines, or barks in her crate, let her out immediately! You need her to love being in the crate. I can’t stress enough how much you need to make sure this crate doesn’t seem like a punishment to your dog.
Below is a video by one of my favorite dog trainers ever, Zak George. This puppy is obviously not a Great Pyrenees, but Zak shows everything I’ve described in the training above. Look how easy you can make it!
How to Leash Train a Great Pyrenees Puppy
Just like with every other type of puppy training, you want leash training to be fun. Your puppy should never dread the leash or be stressed out by it in any way. The video below shows a perfect example of how you should first introduce a leash and harness to your new puppy:
Always use a harness and not a collar. You will need to train your dog not to pull, but in the meantime, you don’t want her to be uncomfortable or feel like she’s choking from the collar.
Make the first leash session light and playful. Drape the harness on your puppy first and see how she reacts (like in the video above). Slowly move to putting the harness on, giving treats often. Keep your dog distracted from the harness with treats, toys, and praise.
Then do the same with the leash – drape it on her, let her get used to it. Finally, you can attach the leash to the harness if she seems happy with that – continue with treats, toys, and praise. Do the sessions at least once a day until she’s totally familiar with the leash, and comfortable wearing it while you walk around the house.
When you’re ready to start walking your puppy outside on the leash, take it slow. The rule of thumb is 5 minutes of exercise for each month of age once or twice a day until the puppy is full grown. For example, if your puppy is two months old, you can walk her 10 minutes once or twice a day.
As your puppy gets older, she might start pulling on the leash. This is not a good habit to let slip by as your puppy will eventually be large enough that you may have trouble controlling her. See trainer Zak George’s video below on how to train your puppy to stop pulling on the leash:
You’ll want to start training with no distractions around and work up to a more and more distracting environment. You want to prevent your dog from pulling rather than correcting her after she pulls. So, you use treats (or whatever your dog’s preferred reward is). As soon as it seems like your dog might pull on the leash, you get her attention with the treat or the “look at me command,” which prevents her from pulling – then give her the treat. You really just do this over and over, which is very tedious at first, but gets easier and easier.
In the video above, Zak George adds in the distraction of another dog. The dog he’s training is very distracted by other dogs, lunges at them, and yanks her owner over to see them. If your dog has this problem (very likely), you’ll keep training her the same way. Keep getting her attention on you rather than the dog. Start with a “look at me” and then ask her to go into a “sit” or “down” position – reward, reward, reward.
If you are unable to get your dog’s attention, she’s not ready to be that close to another dog yet, so back up and start again. Go as far away as you need to in order to be able to get her attention, and then work up more closely to the dog. Once you’ve trained her to do that, you’ll want to add more distractions. You’ll train her around moving dogs, barking dogs, cats, people, whatever it is that your dog finds distracting.
Like all training, this may go quickly or it may seem to take forever. Consistency, patience, and never giving up are the keys to this type of training.
Special Training for Great Pyrenees Problems
Because Great Pyrenees are livestock guardian dogs, they are prone to very specific problems related to their guardian roots. I have a whole article on this topic that goes into great detail on all of these problems and tendencies here.
One example of this is that you might find your Great Pyrenees barks a lot, and I mean A LOT. Many will tell you that there’s nothing you can do to prevent this because it’s so natural for them, but that’s just not true. If you want to know how to reduce this barking, check out my article, Train Your Great Pyrenees to Stop Barking. The solution is training through positive methods. Surprised? I didn’t think so.
You also might find that your Great Pyrenees is an escape artist. These dogs instinctively want to roam, and therefore are very good at figuring out ways to escape your yard to do so. They may jump your fence, dig under it, or bowl right through it. There are two approaches you can take to prevent this – modifying your fence and/or training them to respect the fence as a boundary. I explain in great detail how to do both of these things in my article, How to Keep Your Pyr in the Yard or Pasture.
Always End Great Pyrenees Training Sessions on a Fun Note
No matter what type of training you’re doing with your dog, you always want to end it on a fun note. Usually this means with a reward – a treat, play, praise (I do them all at once!). You want her to feel good about the session, and this is a great way to reinforce those good feelings.
So, because you have made it through this entire blog training, I am going to end on a fun note with you and reward you (and me) with this adorable Great Pyrenees puppy compilation. Enjoy!
