Great Pyrenees pupper left to rot in Tennessee farmer’s chicken coop saved and fostered by Massachusetts foster pawrent who loved the pup so deeply that it ended in heartwarming foster fail, dog mom says: ‘I knew I wouldn't be able to let him go again.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jun 14, 2026 12:15 PM EDT

Working doggos have it tougher than most, long days on the farm and high expectations leave many who do not cut the mustard in tough positions where they desperately need the help of rescues. Thankfully, this story's doggo was reached in the nick of time and given a loving furever home.

Not all puppers are so lucky. With farms being so remote, oversight is not a realistic possibility, which leaves many farmers making decisions born of convenience rather than care. And that is how the working dog in this story from Reddit's r/dogs subreddit came to be found by his rescuers in such a disheveled and sorry state. All because he was not willing to bark at people to scare them away and instead opted to get cuddles from those people instead. From day one he was a lover and not a fighter.

But when that became obvious to the farmer who had purchased him, it meant he was no use anymore. Prompting the farmer to put him and two other pupper pals in a forgotten chicken coop where they would never be thought of again. That is until some good samaritan spoke up and sought help.
 

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    "I'll always be glad I tried fostering rescue dogs, because otherwise I never would have found the perfect one."
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    There was a farmer in Tennessee with a giant farm that had many fields of crops, and even more pastures of livestock. One year, he bought a few Great Pyrenees pups from a litter produced by another farmer's
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    long line of bred livestock guardian dogs. The smallest of the litter grew to be a boy of about 85 lbs. while his brothers were 100, or 120. Like his brothers, he was
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    tolerant and kind to the livestock and played peacefully with their young. Unlike his brothers, he was also tolerant and kind toward any person who came by the pasture, and
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    stuck his head out of the fence for ear scratches and any "people attention" he could get. His brothers knew they were there for security, and barked at and intimidated any man, woman, or
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    wolf that wandered by (which was their job!). At some point the farmer grew tired of feeding the unproductive little Pyr, and locked him, with two other
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  • Oh jheez, this is just like a Disney movie, the poor pupper just wanted love, attention and good times. He did not want to have all that anger and hate in his heart. The kind that was expected of him in order to keep people and other animals away from his farmer’s property. And when doggos in situations like this dog not ‘perform’ as expected, well, they often find themselves in less than desirable situations. But much like a Disney movie, the story gets darkest right before the dawn and boy oh boy is the day of a new day coming for this sweet doggo.
     

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    unqualified security dogs, in an unused chicken coop, where he evidently planned to forget they exist. After a few weeks of hot Tennessee summer had gone by, and the three dogs inexplicably
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    survived baking, unfed in the small shack without any known source of new water except for a moldy chicken trough that was now long dry, a good Samaritan (perhaps a nosy neighbor)
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    convinced a local rescue to pick up the dogs and bring them somewhere safe, as they surely had little time left. The rescue sent someone out, who found three weak, exhausted, starving
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    pyrs laying on the floor in the stuffy shack. The boy and his fellow rejected pups thumped his tail as much as their tired bodies could when they saw the door open, and when the rescuer
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    helped him get to his shaky feet, he immediately leaned the side of his bony pyr head against the rescuer's hip in a sign of affection, trust, and relief that still makes that rescuer tear up
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  • Goodness what a sorry sight that must have been. For a dog that is so large in stature and is usually quite the tour de force to deal with, it is so worrying to see them in such fragile states. But at least even with the neglect, even with the abandonment these puppers never gave up hope and faith in hoomanity. Meaning that they will at least get another shot at a life of love and care that they deserve. It is heartbreaking to think that if no one had intervened these doggos would have just wasted away over nothing. Over laziness. 
     

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    today. 3 months later, the pyr boy was healthy again, had gained back a good amount of weight, and had been living happily in foster homes in Tennessee, when his
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    world was unraveled again. He was ushered into an unfamiliar crate by a new set of people and put on a truck headed who knows where. For two days, he bumped around in that crate,
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    enjoyed periodic breaks where he could stretch his legs outside, and slept, confused about where he was. Finally, he was let out of the crate a last time and ushered into a jeep
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    after a hasty p The jeep was driven by another unknown person who happily patted is head and fed him a few treats while he luxuriated in stretching out on a full empty seat in a new car. Some hours
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    later, the jeep stopped at another yard. And the boy was leashed up and ushered out unto a nondescript driveway in central Massachusetts. That's where I met Griffin, 85lbs of
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    playful, loveable, goofy majesty. After 50 hours of being driven by people he didn't know and led to places he'd never seen, he trotted right up to me and leaned his big, slobbery Pyr head
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    against my hip. This time, with no exhaustion or malnutrition requiring that gesture, we knew that this introductory lean was Griffin's way of telling any new
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    person who was nice to him that he was willing to trust them, ready to be their friend, and wouldn't mind a thorough ear scratching if there happened to be time for it!
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    I was only taking him in as a foster, then, but after six months, three of which were spent with an adopter who would reject him for being too aggr e, he came back to me, and I
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    knew I wouldn't be able to let him go again. I've moved now to give him the big fenced yard he deserves, and we go on regular adventures hiking in the woods, visiting dog parks, and
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    sampling the chewy and savory treats the Ocean State's finest pet stores have to offer. He still loves everyone he meets and is a little small for his breed, but he's big and mean enough to keep my
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    enough to keep my sofa in place, and that's all the job I require of him. I'm a little biased in my opinion of what the greatest dog story ever is, because he's my boy. But I think his life constitutes an adventure, and I
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    continue to wonder what parts of the story I don't know...like what led to our vet finding 34 shotgun pellets in him the first time we X-Rayed him. I'll always be glad I tried fostering
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    rescue dogs, because I never would have found the perfect one otherwise. And I'll always be thankful to the good neighbors and people at Big Fluffy Dog Rescue who
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    trespassed on someone's farm and saved his life. Without them, the greatest dog in the world might have ended up as a forgotten skɔn in an old chicken coop in Tennessee.
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