One workday last week, I broke for lunch at my usual time and I took the pugs out to the yard to go potty as I usually do. It was a hot day and the pugs weren't too interested in doing much so they took the opportunity to sprawl out in the grass and catch some rays from the sun. I was quite hungry, so I told the pugs to enjoy the sun and I went back in the house to start preparing lunch. I knew the pugs would come in the house in a few minutes after they got hot. Plus, the pugs never miss the opportunity to beg for a few table scraps.
As I was toasting my bread, I peaked out the window and saw the pugs were right were I left them. I finished making my lunch and just as I sat down at the table to eat, I heard the doggie door flap open and in came Benjamin and Henry. About 2 minutes later, I heard the door flap again and I knew that Luna was making her way in from the yard. But before I saw here, I smelled her. The yummy smell of my lunch was suddenly overrun by the smell of poop.
As Luna sauntered over to me, I could see that her front shoulder was covered in poop. And even though, I didn't see how Luna came to be covered in poop, I knew exactly how it happened.
Having no other choice, I picked my lunch up off the table and carried Luna off for an impromptu bath in the set tub. We had quite a bit of fun getting her cleaned up and after about a good half hour of scrubbing and rinsing little Looney was smelling more like her usual self.
Little Luna would get the camp's 'Most Improved' award. Not because her swimming has improved, her swimming skills have always been stellar, but because her fear of the water has decreased tremendously.
Luna's normal swim camp routine is to be carried to the far end of the pool and then swim to the step at the other end of the pool. At first she didn't want to leave her camp counselor accompanying her in the deep end. You would put her down and she would just circle you. So we started swimming to the step and she happily followed. After doing that a few times, she figured out how to swim to the step all on her own and no longer needed to be escorted.
And when she is swimming to the step, she is a woman on a mission.
And then she gets to take a little break on the step before she does another lap.
The bin sits near a door, which gets lots of morning sun and despite being in the AC and having the sunlight reflect through the glass door, Luna gets overheated. She tried to tough it out at first, but she found it pretty hard to get any sleep while panting.
So she packed up camp and moved to a dog bed at the other side of the office that doesn't get any of the sun's rays. Oddly enough, though, on this new dog bed she always lays with her back up against the wall.
I have talked about things I have learned from the pugs over the years (Henry, Benjamin and Luna), but I don't think I have talked much about things the pugs have learned from each other.
When Sol walked into our lives, Luna picked up one of Sol's personality traits very quickly - the act of saying no. Before Solsey arrived, I think Luna did a lot of things because the boys did them. She ate her piece of banana each morning because the boys seemed to love it. But, it was plain to see that Luna was not very fond of bananas.
The first time Luna watched Sol turn down a bite of banana a lightbulb went off in her head. Sol smelled her banana offering, gave a big huff, spraying snot all over the banana and everything else in close proximity and then looked up with her big brown eyes asking, "What else you got?" In a sign of solidarity, Luna turned down her bite of banana that morning too.
In the short 15 months that Sol was with us, Luna took pride in turning her nose up at many of our offerings. And without Sol, Luna continues to carry the torch. This morning, she didn't even bother to come to the breakfast table to turn down her banana. From the couch, she declared "Bananas, who needs stinkin' bananas!"
For the last few months we have been noticing a trend with Luna. Specifically, that you have to drag Luna out of bed in the morning. She has no interest in anything going on around the house that happens before 10am. And why is Luna so tired in the morning? Because she stays up all night chewing!
Well, not all night because we take her bone away from her when we go to bed, but from 9pm to 11:30ish each night, you can find Luna chewing one of her bones.
The boys are usually sawing logs by 8:30pm, but little Luna, she is just getting started at that time of night. You can even see Henry sleeping in the foreground of the picture while Luna steady chews.
Whoever named Luna could not have picked a better name her because after dark she is the only one stirring around here.
One day, when we were out and about, we spotted these sun and moon garden stakes. Of course they reminded us of Luna and Sol. And since we are always looking for ways to spruce up the garden, we bought them and couldn't wait to get home and find a perfect spot for them in the garden. Luna enjoyed posing by her moon and the sun is a perfect reminder of Sol.
I also wanted to share with you the garden flag that Sue VDB had made for us. It could not have been a more perfect gift and when we get home from our walks in the evening I always make sure to say hi to Solsey Baby. Thanks so much, Sue!
I know I talk a lot about Luna's eye drops and how I need a spreadsheet to keep track of them all, but I don't think I have shared a recent rundown of all the eye medicines she takes. But before I list all of her medicines, I think it would be helpful to list what ails her.
And to combat the above issues Luna is on the following drops:
Tacrolimis 0.03%: 1 drop in the left eye, 2 times a day
Cyclosporine 1%: 1 drop in both eyes, 2 times a day
Pilocarpine 0.2%: 1 drop in the right eye, 2 times a day
KCS Solution/NPD: 1 drop in the left eye every other day, 1 drop in the right eye 2 times a day
Genteal Gel: As needed
Once I learn the routine, keeping track of the number of times each day she gets a drop is not a problem. I mainly get confused in determing if it is an "every" or an "other" day. I used to make a spreadsheet but that got too tedious. Then I tried marking things on a calendar, but frequently I forgot to mark down the days so that plan didn't work too well. So, I came up with something that has been working well for about 4 months now.
I took a regular piece of paper, folded it in half and created three boxes by drawing lines. The first, and largest box, is labeled "NEEDS". The second box is labeled "ONCE" and the third box is labeled "FINISHED". Inside the finished box, I have an area labeled "NOT TOMORROW".
At the beginning of each day, I move all the appropriate drops to the "NEEDS" section. Then as I give her a drop during the day, I either move it to the "ONCE" section or the "FINISHED" section depending on if she gets the drop once or twice a day. If it is an "every other" medicine and it is done for the day, I move it to the "NOT TOMORROW" section. That way I know not to put that eye drop in the "NEEDS" section the next day. Instead, the next morning, I move it to the "FINISHED" section so I will give it to her the next day. It is hard system to explain, but it has worked very well for us so far.
I have also color coded all the drops so I can figure out if they go in the left eye, the right eye or both.
A few people have asked me why Luna is on Tacrolimus & Cyclosporine in her left eye. To be perfectly honest with you I don't know. I asked the eye vet and she gave me a perfectly reasonable answer, however, I can't recall what it is.
On paper, it seems like I am sticking a drop in Luna's eye every hour of the day, and I probably come close to it, but Luna is an absolute trooper about taking her drops. She sees me coming with a bottle of drops and she just sits down and waits for me to plop it in her eye. I think she doesn't mind the drops because ultimately they make her more comfortable. A chronically dry eye is irritating and can become very painful. But the drops keep her eyes moist and make her more comfortable. And if you miss a few drops a day it is amazing how dry her eyes can get. Luna sees the drops as a good thing, not as a bad thing.
Cost wise, the drop regime adds up quickly. The KCS Solution and Tacrolimus are each $48.00 a bottle. The Cyclosporine is $42.00. The cheapest is the Pilocarpine at $22.00 a bottle. Luckily we can get the Genteal over the counter for about $9.00.
But seeing the difference they make in little Luna's eyes makes the cost and the crazy systems all worth it.
