Appalachian Great Pyrenees Association: Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Funding was requested to start a new program to help adopters of our Pyrs with behavioral issues in an effort to ensure successful transitions (and no returns).

See below.

How many pets did this grant help?

Four so far (Luna and the three who benefited from her not being returned to our kennels -- two of whom were adopted within a week of being here and the one currently still with us)

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

We are currently working with our first test case for our program. Luna is an adult female Pyr who was rescued from a cruelty-case situation and found her way to a shelter. She was adopted out and was not happy with the family’s grandchild. Luna was returned to the shelter and her future was not bright. One of our volunteers begged us to save her last Christmas and she pulled Luna from the overcrowded shelter and delivered her to AGPR for Christmas. Luna went to a foster home but wasn’t happy with the noise and activity level. She was adopted in July 2017 and was doing fine. Three months ago she started having behavioral issues and the family requested help. We provided some short-term suggestions which improved the situation but did not resolve the issues.

As a result of the grant, we have provided Luna’s family with access to our trainer. To date, the trainer and Luna’s family have had one consultation and the family is currently working on their “to-do” list of training with Luna. A recent update is showing a positive trend. We check in on progress every few weeks. After the first of the year, we will reassess the situation with Luna’s family and the trainer to determine next steps. Without the grant, we would have had to take Luna back to our kennels and thereby not be able to accept additional Pyrs needing assistance.