Overheard recently on the Great Pyrenees Discussion List, a privately owned Listserv, managed by members of the breed AKC club.
Question: “Why so many Pyrs in rescue?”
(O.K. somebody noticed. Good. There are 1,369 Pyrs and Pyr mixes listed on petfinder.com today and somebody noticed. Great. This is progress.)
Answer: (from Northern California Pyr Rescuer) “A major source the past twenty years has been farm-bred dogs.” O.K. I’ll buy that. “All we, as Pyr owners, can do to help stem this tide is to educate people about the breed BEFORE they get one”.
Really? Maybe we can do more. There are between 135 and 150 Pyrs from the South and Mid-West who need homes posted every week on the National Pyr website. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Go to the Northern California Pyr Rescuer’s site and you will see one dog listed. The other page for males says no males are available for adoption. You may wonder why some rescue groups have so many dogs listed and others have one or none. The reason: location, location, location.
Here’s the poop. Regionality is an important factor in dog rescue. The lack of spay/neuter is a problem for all breeds in the South. Even worse for farm dogs in the South/Midwest who are not spayed or neutered because the livestock they guard is not spayed or neutered. No spay/neuter = more dogs. The redistribution of dogs from kill shelters in the South and Mid-West, where there are so many dogs to place, to areas where there are virtually no dogs needing rescue to place, is critical to saving dogs’ lives.
Many Pyr rescue groups in the northern part of our country refuse to participate in this redistribution effort, saying it is not their problem. They converse about the problem knowledgeably and offer feel good non-solutions like “All we, as Pyr owners, can do to help stem this tide is to educate people, blah, blah, blah” when actually, they can do a lot more. They can save dogs’ lives.
As rescuers they can work with other rescuers in the redistribution of dogs from places where dogs die horrible, cruel deaths by gassing or heart stick in kill shelters.
This Pyr in a Springfield, MO shelter will die from a heart stick injection if not rescued. The MO Pyr rescue is full and cannot take more dogs.
These rescues can help move dogs from TN, KY, TX, GA, AL and MO to Northern California, the Northeast and other places in the Northern U.S. where Pyr rescue dogs are scarce. They can make more of these dogs available to people who want to adopt them. Just think–there could be 10 or 20 dogs listed for adoption on the Northern California Pyr Rescue site instead of one!
Don’t let anyone pull the Pyr fur over your eyes when it comes to rescue. Check out the dogs who are available on your closest rescue here. Let all Pyr rescue groups know they need to get with the solution and that having one or a couple of dogs listed for adoption is not acceptable. As a Pyr owner and lover of this breed you can do something more. Rescue involves the active participation of those who can foster dogs, help with transport or donate to this worthy cause. Don’t be fooled by the biggest lie. There is a way to save more Pyrs; we know how to do it and it involves the participation of all Pyr rescue groups North, South, East and West to help redistribute these dogs. Stand up for the dogs we love. RESCUE NOW!
Reaching Boston was the achievement of a very specific goal for Luke. In a similar way, reaching Boston was the realization of a goal for National Pyr, too. We are an online rescue group—no physical offices or shelter location. Most of what we do is on the internet, which gives us very little opportunity to meet each other face to face. After three years of working together, some of us would meet for the first time in Boston and it was a day to savor. We have great 
Now, almost a month later, the problems of summer have really hit. We haven’t seen the full-blown parvo epidemics of last year yet, but the sheer number of dogs out there is staggering. Everyone is struggling. In addition to the large number of dogs in kill shelters, new forms for owner surrenders come in every day. Even when rescues can afford to board dogs, boarding kennels are full. We know more people are on the move in summer but otherwise it doesn’t make a lot of sense as to why rescue is so much more difficult—it just is. The need and the urgency for RESCUE NOW is real. Back from vacation? Adopters and fosters are needed to help with the overflow. Going on a trip? Maybe you can help transport a dog. If you’ve ever thought of rescuing a dog—the time is now! More ideas and our volunteer form can be found