My furfamily, Purdy

Purdy is our fawn Great Dane girl. When I quit my full time job and was feeling ready for another dog, we looked at other breeds, but Sir was SO wonderful we couldn’t see having any other breed. So, in honor of Sir, we found the Great Dane Rescue of Northern California and found Purdy. She looked so much like Sir but for her natural floppy ears where his were cropped. Her loving personality shone through from the first day we met. She’d look in to my eyes with such a soulful gaze. I wanted her on the spot.

They were going to have her spayed and her shots and call us, they called and said someone else was going to take Purdy. So… we went looking again and found Pongo. Turned out, a week after we brought Pongo home, they called and said those people didn’t take Purdy after all, did we want her? Of course we did. 2 Great Danes, sure, why not? Twice the love, right?

We brought her home within a week of bringing Pongo home. Purdy was 20 months old when she came to live with us. She had been used as a breeder with her brother and was rescued from horrible conditions along with many other Danes from Truckee, CA where they were left outside. Truckee gets extremely cold and Danes are not cold weather dogs.

She was so starved, she looked deformed. She fattened right up here with us.

At first, we weren’t sure we could keep her as she wouldn’t settle, wouldn’t relax, be calm and when she saw a kitty she would tremble. We didn’t know if it was love, excitement or if she wanted to eat the kitty.

We trained her with a squirt bottle not to tremble at the kitties’ presence. I think, now, really, she thought they were her babies. She ADORES the kitties.

She used to watch “her show” at night when it was kitty treat time and they’d all gather in the kitchen, Purdy would come and watch adoringly all of her kitties come to eat.

Shortly after getting both pups, I’d gone to a healing expo where I met a pet communicator. This gal came out to the van where both pups waited for us and “spoke” with them. She’d said Purdy wanted to know if this was to be her home for good and if Pongo was staying too?

We told her, yes, this was her home forever and yes he’s staying too. That was the first night Purdy settled down and relaxed and slept soundly since she’d been home.

Purdy Purrs and Purdy sighs. I love those happy noises.

There was a story going around online about a little girl going from shelter to shelter looking for a puppy, to mom’s exasperation, the girl kept saying “I’ll know the right puppy when I get the puppy size” Later, they found the puppy that sighed when picked up by the girl… that was the right puppy. So, I love that Purdy sighs.

Purdy has to be with her mama. She has a blanket right near the dining room so she can be near me when I’m on the computer, but if I go to the kitchen, even for a second to get coffee or what have you, she’s up and goes around to the other side of the kitchen so she can see me.

If I’m cooking, she’s in the family room where she can see me, if I step to the dining room to look at a recipe, she’ll come all the way around to the dining room. Silly pup.

Boo loved his puppies, he’d lay on their blanket with them, rub on them, sleep with them on their bed. Purdy loves this, I suspect she sees the kitties as her babies.

She enjoys her walkies, but doesn’t like water, dirt, mud, weather… much like Sir. She’ll go to Fallen Leaf Lake with us, but she’ll lay with her back to the water and pretend it’s not there.

You can’t lead her to the water, 160 lbs of power will bring you to a screeching halt and dislocate your shoulder if you’re not ready for it.

She likes her bed fluffed, it’s quite funny to watch, you’d think she was double jointed as she fluffs with her front paws way out to one side then the other. We call it the Purdy dance.