The National Pyr Blog

We know that calendars are popular–it seems like everyone is doing one.  We considered creating one before but held back because we wanted a theme that uniquely celebrates our rescue.  Because most of us don’t know the birthdays of our rescue dogs,  we celebrate the adoption day as our dog’s birthday.   So accordingly, NGPR’s 2010 calendar will  feature rescue dogs’ pictures in the month they were adopted.  Each month is divided into four sections and can accommodate four dogs for each of the 12 months. 

Pre-publication photo submissions and one calendar to be delivered in October are priced at $20.  More  information can be found at NGPR 2010 Calendar .

There will also be a  Top Dog contest to find the dog who will appear on  the cover of our 2010 calendar.  The cost is $5 to enter the cover contest.  Proceeds from both the contest and calendar will be used to support NGPR’s  rescue efforts on the front lines of rescue,  helping the dogs who need help most.

It’s summertime and the living is — worrisome. Rescuers struggle with a large number of dogs at the beginning of the summer, which coincidentally is also the time when adoptions slow down. People drop dogs off at shelters before going away and those who may be considering adopting a rescue dog put it off until later in the summer when they come back from vacation.

Muffin Before She Went to the Hospital

To top it off, the conditions are much worse for dogs in hot, crowded shelters. Diseases like the Parvo virus which affects young pups who haven’t had their vaccinations yet, spread faster among dogs crowded together in runs and cages. It’s a vicious cycle — enough to make rescuers on the front lines dread summer instead of enjoying it.

Angel When She Returned From the Hospital

Marcie Tepper of Michigan Great Pyrenees Rescue rescued three pups from a Kentucky shelter who arrived in Michigan on a Saturday. They were all dead of Parvo by Wednesday. Mary Nelson with National Pyr rescued two Pry pups from a Georgia shelter, Muffin and Angel. On June 19 Mary wrote, “I got Warren, AKA Muffin, who turned out to be a little lady… she is 9 weeks old, 9 lbs. She is a typical puppy, I don’t think she is very aware of anything much, she naps a lot and sometimes plays toys with the kids. They threw in Angel, a 6-8 month old female, for free, can you believe my good fortune? Angel was COVERED in ticks and fleas, and is currently at the vet’s for a medicated bath and a de-ticking. Every inch of her had ticks. It was awful. Otherwise, she appears healthy.”

Muffin and Angel got out of the Georgia shelter just in time. We heard later that 90% of the dogs in that shelter were euthanized — probably due to the Parvo virus infection that Muffin and Angel came home with. NGPR has spent close to $1500 on treating Muffin and Angel. They are the lucky ones who will survive, but at a tremendous cost to rescue.

Pyr rescuers need your help to continue pulling dogs and to combat the diseases that dogs are exposed to in crowded shelters. We are asking that you take a few dollars from your vacation fund this year and chip in to help pay a portion of the veterinary costs rescue shoulders. We thank you very much for your assistance, and for helping rescuers overcome the summertime blues by saving dogs like Angel and Muffin.