AN UNLIKELY GREAT PYRENEES

I had an auspicious meeting with a lady Great Pyrenees, a beauty of the breed with copper-gold ears. She has amber eyes, framed by blond eyelashes, and belongs to the class of live-stock guarding dogs who can defend a huge flock of sheep, first by a thunderous bark and then, ahem, by other means if necessary. An animal rescue found her in a gas station where she had, perhaps, been abandoned. There is the possibility, too, that she left the first place she called home and wandered far. No primary owner was found. 

Most unlike other Great Pyrenees that I know, she is timid and bashful. While she is shorter and smaller than most of her kind, it is not her stature that informs her shyness, rather it is like something happened in her early life that haunts her still. She doesn't bark very much, most unlike her fellows, but the owners described that a friend visited with young puppies, and this Great Pyrenees lady became hyper-protective and guarded them with fierce maternal intensity. Perhaps she is not so unlikely after all.