There are more than 1,000 pounds of dog in the garage of Martha Rehmeyer's home, and a story behind each bark.
As president of Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue, Rehmeyer has heard about the dogs who got too big for the apartment or the owners who had to move, and all the other reasons dogs need new homes. She's working with foster homes in North Carolina and South Carolina to keep 17 of the extra-large fluffy white dogs, and keeps another 10 dogs in kennels in her home near Peace Haven Road in western Winston-Salem.
She's had to turn down 300 dogs this past year.
"You can only take care of what you can take care of," she said.
"This (past) year, with the economy, I think people are just dumping their dogs, can't feed them and take care of them. I've been doing this for 18 years and I've never seen anything like it. It's not just Pyrs (pronounced: peers), it's every breed."
In the midst of a terrible time to be a stray dog, Ozzie the Great Pyrenees limped into the right place.
He was born Feb. 27, 2008, near the North Carolina coast. The breeder, who couldn't sell the puppies, abandoned Ozzie, along with his two brothers.
For five months, the brothers wandered the countryside. Area animal control tried in vain to catch them.
Finally, they walked into a kennel that a sympathetic neighbor had left open with food inside. She closed the door behind them and called Rehmeyer, who brought them home.
The dogs were dirty and emaciated. None of them had ever worn a collar. They didn't really trust people, as do most Great Pyrenees, a social, gentle breed named for the mountain range of southern France and northern Spain, where they've guarded livestock for centuries.
Rehmeyer and other volunteers worked for months to teach the brothers how to be pets, to do things like walk on a leash and relieve themselves outside.
Once that was accomplished, Ozzie's brothers, Big Um and Titan, quickly found what volunteers call their forever homes.
But people noticed Ozzie walked funny, like a duck. His back paws splayed out at a 90-degree angle.
X-rays showed that the knee ligaments in Ozzie's back legs weren't properly developed from birth. When a veterinarian put his leg in the normal position, Ozzie's knee would pop out of joint.
On Dec. 16, 2008, Ozzie had surgery on his right leg, to insert a pin and build support to hold his knee in place. His ankles were so weak from facing the wrong way that he couldn't walk normally.
After surgery, Rehmeyer held a towel under Ozzie's body to support him and help him walk for therapy. She put a life jacket on him and took him for walks in the backyard pool.
On Feb. 25, 2009, Ozzie had surgery on his left leg. They went through it all again.
Ozzie is staying now near Greensboro with his foster mom, Susan Tanzer, who calls him a "bionic" dog.
"He has scars on his knees, but Ozzie is not broken," she wrote. "He is the best and bravest of dogs."
Tanzer, who has two teenagers, two dachshunds and a female Great Pyrenees of her own, says that Ozzie is social and friendly, even to cats, and is a quiet, smart, gentle dog. He looks like a polar bear, but is still thin beneath the white fur that hides his scars. He weighs about 80 pounds and could be expected to grow to about 100 pounds or more, a normal weight for a male Great Pyrenees.
Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue charges a $250 adoption fee for each dog, an amount meant to cover the cost of spaying or neutering, as well as house training and socializing the animals for adoption.
Ozzie has had more than a dozen veterinarian visits. Rehmeyer wouldn't say how much it cost to build a bionic dog.
"That's not important, just finding him a home," she said.
"… We do it for the love of the breed, for the love of the dogs."
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
336-667-5691
For more information about Ozzie or Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue, call Martha Rehmeyer at 336-768-4142 or visit www.carolinapyrrescue.com.
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