In February 2007 we lost our beloved male Pyrenees-Badger to bone cancer. He had for ten years been the center of our world and we were heartsick for months afterwards. Luckily we still had our also beloved female Pyrenees-Falon to ease our loss, yet she missed her Badger-Boy as much as we did. Badger had come to us as a puppy shortly after losing our male Pyrenees-Rhett and therefore helped to ease our grieving after that loss.
We began to research breeders on the Internet and found ourselves drawn again and again to "Great Pyrenees of South Mountain". We had owned Great Pyrenees since 1981 with our present female, Falon, being our fifth Great-Pyr. We knew that the breeder and breeding stock would be critical in our mission of finding our next Great-Pyr. After viewing Tim's website and talking with him on the phone, we felt very much at ease about Tim and his philosophy as a breeder and his "no strings attached " method of selling his puppies.
On Easter weekend 2007, we decided to visit Tim and see his breeding pairs for ourselves. Tim was very accommodating and allowed us to visit with both pairs of breeding stock. After doing so we decided on Dreamcatcher and Daisy as the parents of our new Pyr who would be the sixth Great-Pyrenees to grace our home and lives. We gave Tim a deposit that day for a male puppy, yet to be conceived, in hopes that we could bear the waiting till the day came for us to welcome "him" into our home.
In July we received a call from Tim, informing us that the litter had been born on July 18th and would be ready for their new homes around September 10th. We were ecstatic and began calling friends and family to give them the good news, surely as excited as new parents would be awaiting a new child and ready to pass out cigars. Now the preparations began in earnest for our new puppy to become part of our family. During this time the waiting became unbearable and as we had planned a trip in August with friends of ours, Claiborne & Karen Young, to their vacation home in Montreat, N.C., which was only an hour or less away, we called Tim and asked if we could come by to see the litter while we were there. Tim graciously agreed and on Sunday August 12th, we traveled with our friends from Montreat to Casar, N.C. to see the new puppies.
Upon arriving at Tim's home he brought all the male puppies out in the grass for us to play with and began our first thoughts in the selection process. Tim was extremely patient and allowed us all the time we wanted that day. There were six male puppies and we had "second pick" of the males. Alas, not to have first pick!! Would our hopes be dashed if we fell in love with one today and he would be gone when our selection time came. There were two "white" males and four "badger" males. My wife Betty had pretty much decided that she wanted a "badger" puppy, as our previous Pyr male had "badger markings" and thus his name became "Badger". I myself was leaning towards a "white" puppy, which became precarious as there were only two "white males" and we had "second pick". We left that day with still almost a month to go before the big day would come.
Finally we received a call from Tim that our "selection" appointment would on Saturday, September 8th at 11:00 am. We left Snow Camp, N.C. in the early morning of the appointed day for the trip to Casar. During the previous weeks we had discussed several names for our new Pyr and thought that we had settled on a name, yet on the trip up my wife chose and I agreed on "Gandalf", a central character in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy that my wife and I are very fond of. Well now at least we had a name, yet the question remained of "who" would belong to that name. Tim had informed us that the first selection appointment that day was at 9:00 am and he allowed each appointment a full 2 hours to make their selection. This was the appointment with the "first pick" of the male puppies". We had arrived a little early in Casar and had to pull over and wait till 11:00 am as Tim had specified that the earlier appointment must have departed with their selection before the next appointment arrived.
When the clock finally struck 11:00 am, we called Tim to make sure it was okay to come over and he assured us it was. Upon arriving Tim informed us that, lo and behold, the first appointment had called the night before and backed out at the last minute, therefore we now had "first pick". Oh happy days!!! Now it was "crunch time" as we had to make our selection from the six males in the litter, a day on which we had waited for what seemed endless months. Again Tim was most patient and assured us that we had a full 2 hours to make our selection and that we would not be rushed in any way.
We began by viewing all the puppies in the kennel with their mother Daisy. Tim then offered to put the puppies outside without Daisy, so we could see and evaluate them all. Recalling that my wife had wanted a "badger" puppy she began calling to the puppies and one of the "white" puppies came promptly and confidently straight to her arms. After giving him the proper attention and cuddling, she corralled one of the "badger" puppies to give him the once over, yet he promptly returned to the company of his brothers and sisters, seeming a little wary of these two strangers. It was still unbearably hot that day and all the puppies wanted to do was to return to the shade in the kennel. So yet again Tim came to the rescue and returned all the puppies to the kennel area and allowed us inside with them to continue our selection. Once inside the kennel, the same "white" puppy came straight for us and continued to languish in my wife's lap with no intention of leaving unless forcibly removed. I remember saying to my wife at that time that I thought "He had chosen Us" and sure enough he had. Our selection was over in less than 30 minutes as we had been chosen by "Gandalf" to be his new parents.
Needless to say Gandalf has been a joy in our lives since then and in the life of his soul mate, our female Pyr-Falon. They are inseparable companions and she is teaching him the ways of the world of "Dogdom". Gandalf just celebrated his 6 months birthday and weighs in at approximately 91 lbs. He is going to be a "big boy" and already occupies a "big" place in our hearts. We couldn't be happier with our "selection"
We will be forever grateful to Tim and Rhonda Barrett for allowing us the opportunity of becoming the proud owners of Gandalf. They made the whole process easier than we could have imagined. They raise Pyrenees of the highest quality and soundness. We have even toyed with the idea of acquiring a "female" form Sleeping Bear and Delilah at some point in the future, as our female Pyr-Falon is becoming a senior citizen in dog years. One thing is for certain that when that day ever comes, we will not even entertain the thought of purchasing another Pyr from anyone other than "Great Pyrenees of South Mountain" and therefore Tim and Rhonda Barrett, whom we would recommend to any and all who are ready to welcome the absolute joy of having a "Great Pyrenees" in their life.
Mark and Betty Phelps
Snow Camp, N.C
