Big, fluffy dogs help elders care for sheep, act as guardians

SKELETON MESA, Ariz.

This is a land of widows.

Along the Utah-Arizona border, a generation of men died early, victims of radiation-caused diseases they picked up working in the uranium mines.

Their spouses survive – women in their 80s and 90s, many of them still living on their own, still herding sheep among the stunning red rock crags and canyons.

A good guardian dog can make the difference between an elder living her traditional life or having to give up her flock and move in with her children. But these days, good guardian dogs are hard to find, and expensive — a casual search on the internet found Great Pyrenees puppies running $250 to $750. And then you have to train them.

Unless you connect with Sheepdogs for Shimá, a nonprofit that raises Pyrenees, trains them and gives them absolutely free to deserving elders, no strings attached.

The driving force behind this unique program is Betty Begay, a diminutive octogenarian with a big personality. It all started a few years back with a litter of puppies Betty and her mother Helen, who has since passed away, found abandoned in a wash.