The potential problem of sending (or resending) PIM join/prune messages (referred to as "PIM join(s)") too infrequently may be solved by: (a) sending a PIM join, including a unique message identifier value, to an upstream PIM peer; (b) responsive to sending the PIM join, (1) starting a quick refresh timer, and (2) starting a standard refresh timer, which is longer than the quick refresh timer; (c) responsive to a determination that the quick refresh timer expired, (1) resending the PIM join to the upstream PIM peer, and (2) restarting the quick refresh timer; (d) responsive to a determination that the standard refresh timer expired, (1) resending the PIM join message to the upstream PIM peer, and (2) restarting the standard refresh timer; (e) receiving a PIM join response from the upstream PIM peer, wherein the PIM join response includes a unique message identifier value; (f) responsive to receiving the PIM join response and determining that the unique message identifier value in the PIM join response matches the unique message identifier value in the PIM join/prune message, stopping the quick refresh timer. The potential problem of sending (or resending) PIM joins too frequently may be solved by having the PIM join response further include a long refresh timer value, and responsive to receiving the PIM join response from the upstream peer, further (1) stopping the standard refresh timer, and (2) starting a long fresh timer using the long refresh timer value, and responsive to determining that the long refresh timer expired, (1) resending the PIM join/prune message to the upstream PIM peer, and (2) restarting the long refresh timer.