Great Pyrenees

Great Pyrenees

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Not long ago, I had a discussion withTodd Grimm, state director for Wildlife Services, about wolves and their obvious supremacy over almost all other species. The discussion included livestock dogs. I asked Todd if dogs were at risk when guarding either cattle or sheep. His response was that “Whenever a dog runs into a wolf, the chances are pretty certain that the dog will come out on the losing end.” So it was with a sheep dog in April. Here is Todd: “We got a call that wolves had killed a dog that was accompanying a band of sheep in the Boise foothills. We went up and examined the carcass of the dog, we were expecting to see a guard dog but found out it was a herding dog, so it was a border collie instead and it was obviously killed by a wolf.”

Well it has happened again, but this time the dog is not as small as a border collie. In fact, it was a huge Great Pyrenees weighing 200 pounds. As I understand the story, his name was Chisholm. He was owned by cattle rancher Tom Blessinger. Mr. Blessinger was up in the mountains with Forest Service staff riding ATVs and looking at water tanks while Chisholm was tagging along in the rear as he normally did. When the crew stopped, Chisholm didn’t show up. His remains were found a few days later and it was confirmed that he had been killed by wolves.

Previous ReportSimpson and Western Priorities
Next ReportWater and Weeds