Amy Purdy is a three-time Paralympic medalist, Dancing With the Stars contestant and a pioneer in the sport of paralympic snowboarding, but to her pup, Huckleberry, she’s just his mom. And he’s gone viral in a video Purdy shared where he sees her stand for the very first time.
Though the video was posted Monday morning, it’s already racked up over 2.5 million views in that time. The clip is captioned “The first time huckleberry saw me stand. He was so concerned & sweet,” and has the internet enraptured with the adorable pup.
In the on-screen caption, Purdy explains that she’d been in a wheelchair for the last two years, and that it was the first time Huckleberry had ever seen her stand. In the clip, the dog stares at her and back at the camera operator, finally coming over to Purdy for some pets and loving.
“He’s so confused,” the on-screen captions continued. “He doesn’t know what to think”.
The comments were amazed at Huckleberry’s reaction to seeing Purdy stand.
“He looked back like, ‘Is she supposed to be doing that?'” @angiejames59 wrote.
“He’s looking back like.. you seeing this ???” @medusa_jojo wrote.
“he’s like ‘where’s the rest of ya??'” @butch.cant.sleep wrote.
“Had long hair once and cut it off, walked into the room and my dog barked at me until I spoke,” @sslumerican wrote.
“I love how he doesn’t jump on you but jumps on the camera man like he knows to be careful,” @lilmaddiebaddie wrote.
Maddie Meyer/Getty
In another viral clip, Purdy shared her story about losing her legs. In the clip, she said that 22 years ago, she contracted bacterial meningitis. The doctors gave her a 2 percent chance of survival, but she pulled through after losing her spleen, kidney function, the hearing in one ear and both of her legs below the knee.
“I fought to walk again. My dad gave me one of his kidneys. I learned to snowboard again. I became a three-time Paralympic medalist, and was even on Dancing With the Stars. I married the love of my life, I wrote a New York Times best-selling book and have shared my story across the world,” Purdy says in the clip. “I may have lost the legs I was born with, but these legs have taken me to amazing places. You never know when your detour will lead you to your destiny!”
In addition to her success as an athlete and motivational speaker, Purdy and her husband Daniel Gale founded Adaptive Action Sports, an organization devoted to helping disabled people enter the world of extreme sports. In March, Purdy retired as a Paralympian after a 13-year career.
Newsweek reached out to Purdy for comment.
