Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Clocks

I'd say Benjamin and Luna are the most reliable clocks in the house, but they tend to run a little fast. They generally arrive in the kitchen for feeding time about a good 20 minutes before it is chow time. And these are the pleading looks they give me to convince me to feed them early. They look starved don't they?

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Benny’s Vet Visit

As I mentioned earlier, Benjamin also had an appointment at the vet last friday. Our concerns with Benjamin were a nagging cough and his hearing.

A month ago, Benjamin had a similar nagging cough and the vet determined that he had an upper respiratory infection. A round of antibiotics cleared things right up. Last week, his cough returned, and even though it didn't sound quite the same as before we decided to take him to the vet just to rule out an infection. Our vet ruled out an infection and said that the cough sounded like it is trachea related. To help Benny, we are going to try out a cough suppressant and see if that helps.

As for Benny's hearing, we have come to the conclusion in the last week or so that Benny can not hear. Benny has had selective hearing his whole life, but lately he has missed some auditory cues that would have never slipped by him. The sound of the refrigerator door opening. The sound of a zip lock baggie opening. The clinking sound the dog bowls make. He has slept through these sounds on more than one occasion in the last week. A hearing Benjamin would never miss any of these things.

The vet checked Benny's ears and his canals were clear and there was no sign of infection. His "dullness" in hearing is being classified as degenerative and being chalked up as part of Ben's aging.

Having 3 aging pugs with health problems is emotionally taxing. The only bright side is that Sol gave us great pointers on how to handle trachea problems as well as hearing loss. We have already started teaching Benny the hand signals that we taught Sol, so that we can communicate with him in a different way now. And let me just say, Sol picked up on the hand signals a lot quicker! But, I know, Benny will learn them in his own time.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Backup Brother

Luna was feeling a little bad about telling everyone that Henry is her favorite brother last week. So she took a little time to smooth things over with Benny this weekend. She let him know that if no lap is available and Henry happens to be busy, she would be more than happen to hang out with him. Benny responded by giving himself a big scratch. And Luna promptly let him know that this is why she never sits with him. He is way too fidgety!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Setback

Its hard to tell in this picture, but Benjamin has experienced a sweatband fur growth setback. Last week, he went in for a teeth cleaning and they had to re-shave one of his sweatbands.

His teeth cleaning was long overdue. He was originally scheduled for a cleaning in February (during dental month so we could get the discount ), but Benny was dealing with his back issues and just went on prednisone so we decided to postpone the cleaning until a later date.

It is funny how different pug mouths can be. It seems that Benny needs to have his teeth cleaned every year. Henry on the other hand, hasn't had his teeth cleaned in years (knock wood) and his pearly whites are doing great. I guess it just really depends on how all those teeth are arranged in those little pug mouths.

Luna has never had great teeth and has had to have many of them pulled over the years. With Luna's past it is hard to get a good idea of exactly where her teeth woes stem from. Benjamin and Henry have been in our care since they were 11 and 12 weeks old and have had a similar diet and chewing habits their whole life. So it is very funny to see how differently their teeth have fared over the years.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day greetings from Benjamin, Henry and Luna!

The pugs celebrated Memorial Day by visiting one of their favorite parks and sniffing and enjoying the shade cast by trees planted in honor of veterans. I was very proud of them because they were very respectful and just sniffed the trees planted to honor the veterans. The others…well, those were free game.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Bath Time

Three stinky pugs all corralled and ready to get scrubbed up.

As usual, Benjamin is most interested in what is going on with the drain. Every since he was a pup he has had an odd fascination, or fear, of drains and sewers. As a pup he couldn't even walk past a sewer without his belly hitting the ground out of fear. He has gotten a lot better over the years, but he still takes a wide berth anytime he comes near a sewer.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Boys

A meeting of the distinguished pug club under the boy's favorite tree. And also a rare glimpse of Henry, the sun loving pug, hanging out in the shade.

While taking this picture, I had a flashback of the two little puppies these boys once were. I quickly snapped back to reality and realized that if the boys were the puppies they once were, this scene would never happen. Surely, one of them would be bouncing around and Benny would probably be tugging on a hunk of Henry's face wrinkles. It is fun to see old men this pair have become. They may not be as spry as they once were, but they are still as thick as thieves.