Audrey

Well, I've done it again. I know better than to say things like "always" and "never". As in I will never again try to rehabilitate an adult Great Pyrenees. Two weeks ago we got a call from a nice lady who had mistakenly been told we were associated with Great Pyrenees rescue (!). She had taken an adult female Pyrenees from a shelter in Virginia because she was scheduled to be euthanized the next day and was now looking for an appropriate home for her. We went to look at her the next day and, as they say, the rest is history. (That "just going to look" gets me in trouble every time!)

Audrey came with enough issues to cause most sane people to say "sorry, but no thanks". The story is that she was on the loose for several months and was finally brought in to the shelter nearly starving. When we brought her home with us, we discovered that she was pregnant and had far too much interest in our chickens. I admit that the first few days she was here, I had doubts that I could manage her. She was keenly interested in the chickens and when I took her out with the sheep, she worked the fields like a bird dog on the trail on something exciting, though not in any way threatening to the sheep. When she acted too enthusiastic around the lambs, the ewes corrected her and she immediately learned to respect them. At this point, we've made great progress on curbing her desire to chase the poultry (though I'm not ready to trust her for long periods of time, unsupervised). She and Holly are beginning to bond, which will be good for everyone. She is an incredibly sweet, sensitive dog and we're really hoping she will make a place for herself here.

The picture above was taken on the way in for surgery today. We decided to spay her now rather than allow her pregnancy to continue. Because she was on the loose for so long, there was absolutely no predicting what sort of dog might have bred her. It may seem cruel to some, but the idea of bringing a litter of puppies into the world that likely no one would want seemed infinitely more cruel. We felt Audrey had physically suffered enough and needed to be nurtured back to health, without the further strain of feeding a litter of puppies. So, as I write this, she is sleeping in the kennel in the barn and hopefully on the road to gaining back her health.

I am not so soft hearted as to take in every animal that comes along, but something about Audrey touched both Mike and me. We're going to do our best to give her the home she needs.