Dear Burt and Tracy:
We wanted to write to you and give you an update on our recent addition to our home.
We've changed "Handsome's" name to "Dumas."
We felt that being a Great Pyrenees earned him the right to a French moniker, and after a week of trying some things out, we went with one of our favorite authors.
(It was tempting to name him after one of the Three Musketeers, but we went with their creator instead).
He's so bright that he got used to the ways of our house quite quickly, and he's very polite during dinner.
He loves going out every morning to help me get the newspaper.
In fact, he's up at six a.m. once he hears the alarm, whether we like it or not.
He gets along so well with his little sister, "Dixie" the Scrambled Terrier, and considering that she weighs only 20 pounds, that means a lot!
She cuddles up to him often for warmth and they make quite a pair when we go for walks.
We've had some friends over with their children of two and three years of age and "Dumas" is a perfectly huggable uncle when they're around.
There is no part of him that they can't touch . . . he just loves to be with them.
There's something about the way he receives them that puts them right at ease.
It must seem as though a huge, soft stuffed animal has just calmly walked over to them.
We'll send photos of his get-togethers as soon as we get them.
His plush coat makes him irresistible to anyone that sees him.
After a few seconds of being introduced to someone during his walks, he sits down and patiently lets his new friends admire him.
He manages to keep himself remarkably clean.
He really enjoys being brushed.
Most people see him and remark on how much trouble it must be to keep his coat so pretty, but we honestly don't do anything other than brush him for a few minutes a day.
This helps keep the vacuuming down a little.
He's not too happy with the sound of the vacuum cleaner, but he's fascinated by planes and helicopters whenever they're overhead.
He thinks that he's got a shot at catching one.
We've been surprised by the amount of people that are familiar with this breed.
It was brand new to us until we visited your website.
The people that know of them usually have a memory of one from childhood, and they can't wait to get near him.
So far "Dumas" has endeared himself to everyone that he's met, since he's become a part of our family.
We couldn't be happier.
He's so dutiful and gentle at the age of one that it's not too hard to imagine him becoming the stoic faithful one that helps keep the house running.
Thank you so much Burt and Tracy for all of the help with finding Dumas and the long strand of phone calls in those first couple of months since we've had him.
We tell people of your rescue all of the time, and they look at us as if we're making it up.
We send them to the website because there's simply nothing else like it.
Gene and Kristin
Eagle Rock, CA
