Help us build our future

Since 1992, Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue has been rehabilitating and rehoming, abused, neglected, abandoned, and homeless Great Pyrenees and Pyr mixes in North and South Carolina. When founding president Martha Rehmeyer retired in 2016, Shannon Meehan moved the rescue to her boarding and grooming business in Indian Trail, North Carolina. There, with your support, we turned the back room of her business into Pyrcatraz, where we have 9 kennels, 6 of which comfortably hold bonded pairs. When not filled with paying customers, kennels in Shannon’s boarding rooms house our Pyrs, too. 

Our current set-up is not working for the needs we are challenged to meet.

In 2022, we were asked to help about 650 Pyrs. In 2023, we were asked to help 500 Pyrs by June 23rd. We currently have the space to care for and rehome approximately 100-125 Pyrs each year. 

Since 2017, the number of Pyrs needing rescue in the Carolinas (and the South) has skyrocketed due to overbreeding, particularly by backyard breeders who sell pups through Facebook and Craigslist or at local feed stores to people often unprepared for Pyrs. We also have seen an explosion of “backyard homesteaders” who use social media, especially Instagram and TikTok, to popularize having chickens and “needing” a Pyr. While some of these homes are good ones for Pyrs, some of these people are breeding Pyrs and using pictures of pups to drive interest in their social media accounts. They, too, often place pups in homes unprepared for a Pyr. 

Shannon’s current building is not set up for the scale at which we need to be operating. It also isn’t efficient for her staff, who provide the majority of daily care for our Pyrs. We also aren’t set up to welcome volunteers into the existing space.

For years, Shannon has been saving and planning to move her boarding and grooming business to her farm in Marshville, NC. The rescue is part of the plan. We are going to continue the current system, but we are going to do it in a new, larger space designed, in part, for the Pyrs’ needs. As before, Shannon is paying for the building and construction costs, including HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. The rescue is covering the remaining costs of the specific infrastructure being used by our Pyrs: $30,000 in kennels and $20,000 in fencing. 

Check out the building as it is taking shape! https://youtu.be/e9A69G1m2hs

We ask our supporters for donations to cover these one-time costs. By helping us move the rescue, this is what we will accomplish together for Pyrs in the Carolinas: 

• Over double our capacity. The new Pyrcatraz will have 22 dedicated runs for the rescue, and these larger, longer runs will be big enough for bonded pairs and multiple juvenile siblings, who are an increasing percentage of our rescue population.
• Two dedicated spaces for moms and pups under 8 weeks old or dogs needing quarantined. We currently cannot care for young pups at the rescue because we cannot properly isolate them from the adult Pyrs and Shannon’s boarding customers. In 2023, we have been asked to take in 1 to 2 litters a month. We need space for pups.
• The ability to test Pyrs as working dogs with Shannon’s livestock. We receive more applications for livestock guardian dogs that we have known LGDs in our care. Being on the farm will facilitate increasing our LGD placement.
• Enabling more volunteers to help in the care and socialization of the Pyrs. Because of the shared footprint of Shannon’s current grooming and boarding business with the rescue, we are limited in our ability to welcome experienced Pyr people to help due to insurance and liability issues. We very much want to have regular volunteers involved in caring for and socializing the Pyrs, and this new layout will enable that. 

Will you help us meet this one-time need for $50,000 that will enable us to help Pyrs for years to come? Again, we need to buy $30,000 in kenneling and $20,000 in fencing. As of 8/26, we have raised $24,065 toward our goal. 

One hundred percent of your donations go toward the costs of the new Pyrcatraz. As a 501(c)3, your donation is tax deductible within the limits of the law.

We will list all those who would like their names included on an engraved sign in the lobby of the new building. There’s no better way to celebrate this milestone in the history of the rescue than dedicating our new building to the Pyrs! 

We welcome tributes to Pyrs, living and passed, who have inspired your love of this breed. Please check the box on the donation form if you would like your name included, and we will email you to confirm the spelling and the Pyrs you would to add. 

We are glad to work with those whose employers provide matching funds. 

We welcome corporate sponsors.

Please click this link to donate via our webpage. Again, 100% of your donations go toward this one-time need. 

We also welcome checks made out to Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue sent to 4015 Fawnbrooke Dr., Indian Trail, NC 28079. Please note that your donation is for the new facility and include your email address. We will contact you re: the name and dedication.