Entrant's First Name
Heather

Your Pet's Rescue Story
Despite the signs warning against touching the dogs, I put my hands through the cage. The little brown dog with the sweetest eyes rested her head in my hands. That was it. I knew that she was my soul mate, and we have been bonded ever since. Purl found me when I was a student. I was visiting the shelter in the hopes of adopting another dog whose picture I had seen on the website. She was picked up as a stray and looked so frightened. As she looked back at me, her now signature kindness was obvious. Not wanting her to be alone, I visited her again before she was spayed and allowed to come home. Before the shelter volunteer handed her to me, she removed a dirty sweater from her tiny body. Soiled as it was, Purl furrowed her brow and seemed sad to lose the sweater. An avid knitter, I quickly went to work on a sweater for her to wear home. She loved her little sweater, and she wore proudly until she outgrew its pale blue threads. I named her Purl after a knitting stitch, which when put together with the “knit” stitch, can create hundreds of patterns. Together, we have created hundreds of adventures around Orlando and beyond. When she was young, she would steal stray balls of yarn and knitting needles, not to mention hairbrushes, wallets, and anything else she could find. She loved to hide them in the corners of our tiny apartment. As she grew, she exchanged balls of yarn for tennis balls, developing a passion for playing fetch. A decade later, she will still follow a tennis ball anywhere. Purl is 11 years old now and is my best friend. We have swum and paddled together, traveled to different states together, rescued other dogs and cats together, celebrated and mourned together, and I cannot imagine life without her.