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Purrs n Barks Pet Market & Bakery is a family owned and operated business focusing on healthy products for your pets. We also have a great selection of treats, including those that are baked in our own kitchen! We love offering nutritious food for your pets and are passionate about supporting animal rescue.
How It All Started With Lady...
Lady came into our world very unexpectedly the evening before my birthday in 1999. She had shown up at a friend’s house, scared, hungry and in desperate need of medical attention. She was solid black, with a solid dark tongue, and loving brown eyes. The moment I saw those eyes, I knew we had already formed a forever bond. I would never allow this precious soul to be homeless or hurt again.Once she was healthy, we went on a road trip to North Carolina. When we visited a local nursing home to see a relative, there were many smiles from everyone, including the staff. Lady had a gentle nature and calmness about her that begged to be shared.
Lady officially became a Caring Critters therapy dog in September 2002. She went on to help launch the pilot programs at Texas Children’s Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Lady was also a regular “therapist” at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston during her ten-year working career. She would get so excited when she knew it was time to go to work. Her most endearing trait was when I would tell her “momma hugs” and she would throw her head back on my shoulder and look up at me. Telling her to “speak” for her treats would make her so excited that her bark would stop the room. That’s when she had to learn her “indoor” voice. Lady’s bushy tail always helped to open a conversation when she came into a room.
Lady retired from her work as a therapy dog in early 2012 due to the onset of age and spent a lot of her time enjoying the sunshine on her face in the yard. She lost her battle with life in April of 2013, one month short of her fifteenth birthday. She will forever have had a profound effect on many lives.
In January 2010, Buffy and her three-month-old puppy were dumped at a Houston city shelter by a family that decided it no longer wanted them. The shelter figured Buffy to be about three at the time. Happily, Lucky Dog Rescue of Houston got the entire family out of the shelter and saved their lives. We have always fostered dogs, helping local rescues, and we offered to foster Buffy. We soon realized she was going to need a lot of help with issues of overreacting, an over-sensitive startle reaction, socialization, etc., before she could ever be placed successfully in a forever home. Who knows what a family that clearly didn’t care, put her through before abandoning her. She needed a lot of help, and love. We worked on her issues with a local trainer, Michael Baugh. As time went on, with patience, love, consistency and support, Buffy made great progress. Of course, we were hooked by then, and adopted her into our family. She acted as “mom” to many of the foster dogs that come through our doors, passing along the love and confidence she was given here with us.
When Millie was found in the woods outside of Houston in 2011, she had outdone The Octomom. Fleeing encroaching wildfires with her ten puppies and a male companion named Jack, it didn’t look good. In the emergency, a plea went out to rescue groups for help. It was Labor Day weekend, and people just weren’t available. The situation was dire. We offered transport for any rescue who could take this group in. As it turned out, we ended up taking in all of them. We fostered the entire family, and slowly found wonderful forever homes for all the puppies as well as Jack. Of course, we spayed Millie. It was harder to find a place for Millie, even though she had successfully gone through training. Well, we knew how incredible she was, so we chose to make her a family member too. She was quite the opposite of Buffy, which is probably why they got along so well. While Buffy was busy running the foster program for all of our temporary guests, Millie just wanted to play ball. She had no interest in teaching the new fosters the rules. The one thing they did perfectly as a team though, was show up early for work when it was time to taste test the Urban Dog Barkery treats. Then, they seemed to agree on everything.