By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
Make no mistake, Birmingham’s Brittani Purifie knows exactly why she has a growing social media following, including 1.7 million on TikTok, 519,000 on Instagram, and 519,000 on Facebook.
It’s because of some furry friends named Ms. Daisy Clarice and Autumn Night, both American Staffordshire Terriers; and Phillip Kartel and Big Daddy La’Flare, both English Bulldogs.
There’s also Kar’Ma Leilani a French Bulldog, as well as Lillian Kodak Grace an English Bulldog, who passed away in January 2024.
The outpouring of love following Lillian’s passing was touching, said Purifie: “People were reaching out with so much love, empathy, compassion, and just being there for us. I’ll never forget that.”
Purifie, 28, known as the “Fine Dog Muvaa,” added, “I knew people would be sad when she passed away, [but] to see her impact on so many people [made me] feel like it really brought our community together. I feel like we had a community before, but losing Lillian really brought out the world. I had people from Australia reaching out about her.”
Ms. Lady
Purifie was born and raised in Birmingham, where she “started loving dogs as a child,” she said.
Her first pet was a Dalmatian named Ms. Lady: “My dad got her for me. I never knew what happened to her. One day she just disappeared,” Purifie recalled. “I have never not had a pet.”
Purifie graduated from Shades Valley High School in 2014 and enrolled at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU) in Huntsville, Alabama, where she was in the education program and graduated in 2019.
Although Purifie attended AAMU, her love for Bulldogs—the school’s mascot—began long before she knew where she would attend school.
“I used to watch “Dogs 101,” [an American documentary series that originally premiered on Animal Planet], and that’s where I learned about English Bulldogs. I always wanted one named, ‘Money.’ The breed just represented bold, lazy luxury to me. I promised myself I would own one, and then I was blessed with three,” said Purifie.
“Originally, it had nothing to do with AAMU, until I went to my first homecoming game and learned about Butch Henry, [the school’s mascot], and the Bulldog Run. I promised myself then that my English Bulldog would participate in the Bulldog Run alongside Butch and one day be the face of AAMU. Big Daddy did the Bulldog Run last year, [during the school’s homecoming game], and I cried like a baby on the way home.”
While in college, Purifie often babysat the dogs of her classmates and peers: “I would babysit people’s puppies on campus … I was a junior and senior, and people would bring their puppies to me, and I would keep them for free.”
“No matter where I am, if a dog is there, it literally always gravitates toward me,” she said. “Even when the owner says, ‘Oh, they’re mean’ or ‘They’re aggressive,’ they get around me and turn into a puppy.
“I have no clue why dogs love me so much, but I love them more than I love myself. It’s like we understand each other without ever using words. They trust me, and I trust them.”
Discovering Short Videos
Putting her beloved fur babies on social media came naturally. Purifie taught at Jones Valley Middle School in Birmingham, making educational content for social media.
“I always recorded [my dogs, putting] them on Snapchat and stuff like that. … Then one day, a friend said I should get on TikTok,” Purifie said.
It would not be until 2020, at the height of COVID-19 pandemic, that she would go on TikTok, a social media platform designed for creating, sharing, and discovering short videos.
“I did not even start with dog content. I was making teacher content. My dogs made their way in because of [COVID-19],” PurIfie said.
She remembers her first viral moment: “I lived in apartments called The Park at Sunderland off Highway 79, [in Tarrant, Alabama]. When Big Daddy was a puppy, he did not like to come inside the house. I was yelling at him to come in, and he just refused.”
Although it can be overwhelming at times, Purifie said she is,” grateful, especially when people have full-breed dogs and need advice. We do not have a lot of advocates for Pit Bulls, like Autumn and Daisy, [American Staffordshire Terriers, which are closely related to Pit Bulls], or Pit Bull mixes. I love bulldogs, and when people reach out to me for advice, I try to be as honest and open as possible and just tell them something that I do myself.”
Purifie learned about dogs from her mother, Tori “Barbara” Hudson, and father, Undra Purifie Sr. “My daddy and mom taught me everything I know about dogs. I implement everything my parents taught me into my content and use it in my everyday life,” she said.
Purifie earned her master’s degree in secondary education at from Montevallo University, in Montevallo, Alabama, in 2021.
In March, Purifie took a step back from the classroom but was asked to return for this school year, this time teaching high school.
She said, “This is my first year teaching high school students. When I first started teaching [at Jones Valley], I was teaching eighth grade. Middle school was my thing, but I knew I wanted to teach high school because all kids need a champion, … especially when they’re in high school. I try to bring some type of normalcy to their life. My classroom is set up like a real classroom, and my all goes into these kids.”
Follow Brittani Purifie on Instagram (@FineDogMuvaa and @BigDaddy_Nem), TikTok (@BigDaddy_Nem), and Facebook (Big Daddy Nem).
This story was updated at 11:45 a.m. on 9/26/2024 to update the social media following.
