Pryor   

  Rescued and taken to Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in Texas.

Here's his story:



My name was Pierce. I was just another homeless dog, like millions of others. Two weeks ago, I had a loving family. I wasn't allowed to go into my family's house but that was okay because it was my job to protect them. For six years I worked very hard at my job because I loved them so much. I played with the three little boys after school, patrolled the yard at night and slept on the front porch. My family shared their tacos and beans with me every night and I was happy. After all, what more could a scruffy ol' slightly portly guy ask for in the world?

Two weeks ago, I watched curiously as my family moved all of their things out of the house. That night, they didn't come home. It was dark and cold on the front porch. I didn't hear the three boys laughing and fighting inside. A feeling of dread and fear began to consume me, as the next day came and the next night fell. No family. No laughter. No light, even in the day. I just laid there on the porch with my chin on my paws. Sometimes a stranger came by and left food and water but I wasn't hungry. It's all I could do to get up and make my way to the gate to do my duty and growl at them.

I don't understand how my family could leave me here alone. I closed my eyes and dreamt about the three boys. I heard their laughter. I feel them stroking the back of my neck. I see big trucks arriving but I don't understand what's happening. They say dogs have a sixth sense. I hope this is not true because I keep feeling that something very ominous is about to happen. I keep seeing my house falling down around me. I don't know what this means. I am still waiting for my family. I am still patrolling my yard. Didn't I do my job right? Is that why my family left me? It's been raining for three days, I'm cold and I'm frightened. Can anybody save me?

(Pierce was abandoned by his family at a run-down house in North Hollywood that is scheduled to be demolished to make way for the Metro Rail. This was where things stood for several days.)

But the Pryors heard about me. It was during a bad rainstorm that someone came and took me to a kennel where I stayed for three weeks. The only good thing about that kennel was that there was no rain -- and no cold. The Pryors have seven dogs and I'm a scrappy motherfucker. You can imagine why. So they needed to find a good place for me to live.

Yesterday they flew me to Kinky Friedman's rescue ranch, Utopia, in beautiful Texas hill country. When Kinky said he would take me in, he changed my name from Pierce to Pryor to give me a new beginning, as he does with all the dogs down here.

Anyway, they picked me up at the airport and took me to the ranch. Here I have my own beautiful pen, with hay to keep me warm, and they told me they would take me to the river to swim and run off-leash when I calm down from my trip and the horrors of the past couple of months. But because of Richard and Jennifer, I have a chance to have a life here in Texas, with Kinky, Nancy and Tony and the other 50 dogs they've taken in.

GUESS WHAT! Piped in music here! We're listening to country right now. Love that Willie Nelson guy -- and Kinky makes me laugh! Had bacon and eggs for breakfast and get a hotdog every hour. Am I alive? Or have I died and gone to HEAVEN?!!!

Who knows, maybe a rich oilman will take me home some day and I can run the ranch and protect it. Just please, Lord, don't let it be George Bush! lol

Picture to follow.

Jenny and Richard, I am so grateful to you and I love you.
Pryor

Pryor-ity Male!

For over a month our ranch has been back and forth on the phone to Jennifer Lee (Richard Pryor's wife) and her friends, Karen and Shannon,concerning a dog named Pierce, that had been abandoned in a front yardin Los Angeles with no food or water. Pierce is approximately eight years old and this was the second time for him to be abandoned.
Jennifer and her friends rescued him and boarded him at a kennel for over three weeks while desperately trying to find Pierce a home.

No one would take him because he had issues such as being unpredictable and biting. The places they called suggested that he be euthanized because of his biting. Jennifer, Shannon and Karen refused to heed the advice and kept on trying until they made a call to Kinky.

Kinky put them in touch with Tony and I and the rest is history. It took us about a week to line out the plan. First off, the ranch changed his name to Pryor in honor of Richard Pryor, whom we all love. Next, we worked out the transportation.

Monday, April 5th Pryor departed LAX headed for his new home in Texas!

An e-mail sent from Nancy to Jennifer Lee, Richard Pryor, Karen and Shannon:

Tuesday, April 6th.....Good morning Jennifer, Richard, Karen and Shannon. Forgive me for not writing to each of you individually I only got about three hours of sleep last night and it was not Pryor's fault.

First off, let me tell you how much Tony, Kinky and I love Pryor! Here is the way it went down last night and please remember that we were under a full moon, too (Jennifer can explain this to y'all later).

6:30 p.m....Tony & Maribeth Couch leave to go to the airport in San Antonio to pick up Pryor.

7:00 p.m....Jennifer calls me and we did a lot of laughing and it was a lot of fun.

8:00 p.m....Kinky calls me and wants to be updated every 30 minutes on "Operation Airlift" or “Pryor Priority” or “Pryority Mail!”

9:00-10:30 p.m....I watch Green Acres reruns??I love that show!

11:00 p.m....Jennifer calls for an update on Pryor.

11:05 p.m....I called Tony. He and Maribeth have just picked him up and he never growled!

11:10 p.m....I called Shannon and told her that "The Eagle Has Landed!"

11:15 p.m....I called Jennifer and repeated myself about the eagle.

11:20 p.m....I began cooking Pryor's welcome home dinner. I cooked some hamburger, two eggs, green beans, cheese and garlic all mixed up together. Smelled good!

11:21 p.m....Kinky calls me while I am cooking??his back is killing him, but he wants to be here when Pryor arrives??so we make a plan.

Please note: 10 days ago, Tony threw his back out....8 days ago, I threw my back out....3 days ago, Kinky threw his back out and not that this is real important, but one of our veterinarians, Wylie Skelton, threw his back out 6 days ago and so did our friend, Jim Cravotta! I truly think it is contagious, but I don't think you can get it over the internet.

11:55 p.m....Tony calls from Bandera (22 miles from us) and as we are talking on the phone the tv goes into an emrgency weather forecast! Out of nowhere, some heavy thunderstorms showed up and they were headed straight for us! Dime-size hail had hit Rocksprings which is only about a 45 minute/45 miles away. Wind shears up to 70 mph had also been clocked in Junction, Texas!

11:56 p.m....My heart sinks over the forecast that I had just heard. I called Kinky??we now become nervous wrecks concerning the weather reports.

12:10 a.m....I meet Kinky outside in front of Pryor's pen. The winds had picked up and it was thundering and lighting and starting to rain. Kinky and I jumped into the Explorer and waited in silence for Tony and Pryor's arrival. Suddenly, he starts laughing and says,"Thank God, Pryor isn't a giant dog! I can just see the three of us with our backs out??trying to carry his cage.”

I laughed so hard that my back began to hurt again.

12:15 a.m...Tony & Pryor arrive! It was really starting to rain cats and dogs as Tony, Kinky and I carried Pryor's cage from the back of the truck to his new pen. We looked like a bad imitation of Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Carol Burnett doing a skit on old people. Tony lowered the tail gate of the truck and the three of us took our positions around Pryor's cage. On the count of three, we shuffled our feet in tiny baby steps to his pen. Kinky and I then shuffled quickly out of the pen and Tony did the ribbon cutting. He reached down and unlatched Pryor's door.

Before Pryor came out of his cage, Tony had swiftly scooted outside of the pen. As the rain fell and the lightning cracked, Pryor stretched, pooped, drank some water and then ate the homemade dinner that I had cooked for him.

12:30 a.m.. Satisfied that Pryor was going to be okay, Kinky went home and we went back to our trailer. Ten minutes later, all hell broke loose??thunder, lightning, high-winds, etc. Tony and I grabbed our raincoats, put on our rubber boots and went outside to the pens. Dustin Hoffman and Martha Stewart, two of our smaller dogs, had escaped from their pens. After we had rounded them up
and had them back in their pens, Randy Travis leaped out of his pen! After returning Randy to his digs we went to the trailer. We were so wound up with the storm and all of the excitement that neither once of us could sleep.

And now here is the rest of the story....

Tuesday, April 7th, 9:00 a.m. We wake up to find that Medina had flooded over the night! We were all fine, but the rivers and creeks were over their banks. Fortunately, we are high up and all we got from the flood was mud!

All is well now. The rivers are going down and Pryor, who I have fallen madly in love with, has already eaten two eggs with bacon for breakfast(laced with garlic). We served him hot dog wieners every hour on the hour this morning and he seems to like the attention that he is receiving. He seems to be doing great and we are taking it very slowly with him. Here are some picts for y'all that I took this morning. Take care out there and be glad that I did this in Reader's Digest form.

Love to all, Nancy (Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch)