Re: [PyrNet-L] FIRST PYR SIGHTING STORIES

["Judith Stroh Miller" <jsmiller@newmex.com>]

On 13 Apr 99, at 18:08, SDOBSCHA@LNMTA.bentley.edu wrote:

> the first pyr i ever saw was in albuquerque, at the international balloon
> fiesta, the year was around 1988 or so.  if you've never been, i highly
> recommend it, it happens the first two weekends in october.  anyway, for
> those of you who've never ballooned you may not know the routine.  you get
> up really early, go to the launch site, set up, launch, soar, land, and
> then typically you go to the propane filling station with thousands of
> other pilots and crew members.  it was filling our propane tanks when i
> first laid eyes on Buster, the first pyr i ever met.  there in the midst
> of a crowd of thousands, with lots of weird deafening noises (propane
> tanks being filled and placed back into truck beds), stood Buster.  he was
> completely nonplussed by all the activity, all the noise, and all the
> attention he was attracting.  it ends up Buster was famous in those parts
> for actually going up in hot air balloons and putting his paws up on the
> side of the balloon during flight. 

If I'm correct, Buster was owned by Linda Taylor in Edgewood, NM, and 
yes he was quite famous for being a "balloon" dog. My breeder told me 
that story several years ago.

Also, Emily, you can find some stills of the french series " Belle et 
Sebastian", on the following web site:
http://home.wxs.nl/~red.embers/redbs.htm

Now on to the first live pyrs I saw.  I was living in Northeastern 
Nevada and friends and I were on a painting trip out to an isolated 
canyon to paint the fall colors.  We were headed up a narrow mining 
road about 80 miles from the nearest town when we rounded a bend in 
the road and came across about 1000 head of sheep, grazing BLM land. 
Slowly, two huge Great White Pyrenees emerged from the flock and 
approached the road, stopping, as we stopped the car. They stood 
looking at us, asking us to state our business.  As we continued on 
up the canyon, those two border guards decided we were no threat and 
meandered back to the flock.

That was the beginning of my love affair with the breed. It was 
another 5 years before I finally got my first pyr.





Judith
jsmiller@newmex.com
Taos, New Mexico