Wednesday, May 16, 2012
After a week of hanging around our neighborhood, Monroe had been noticed by a lot of people and the calls at Animal Control for her were really starting to pile up. Grammy called me one day at work to let me know that Animal Control was there and was trying to capture Monroe. While I was nervous for Monroe, I thought Animal Control capturing her wouldn't be such a bad thing. We could just get her from Animal Control and get her into the rescue group.
As soon as I got off the phone with Grammy, I called Animal Control. There was no answer at first, so I left a message. They eventually got back to me and I explained the situation. They seemed happy that we were trying to get her into rescue, but that's where their cooperation seemed to end. If they caught her, they weren't really willing to turn her over to the rescue. Sure, there were 500 hoops that we could jump through to get her, but it just seemed like there were too many points of failure in their red tape laden system.
I kept in close contact with Animal Control and I even called a few people at the local human society, where Monroe would end up if she was captured by Animal Control, but I wasn't comfortable that Monroe wouldn't somehow slip through the cracks.
So, I decided that we needed to get Monroe before Animal Control got her.
Luckily, me neighbors were onboard and they would keep me posted on Monroe sightings and give me insights into what Monroe was doing during the day. They were also keeping a close eye on Animal Control. That way, if Monroe did get picked up by Animal Control we would be able to be ready to spring her from the pound and get her into rescue.
While, I felt like Animal Control was a good plan B, I really wanted to get Monroe in a way that would not be traumatizing to her. After all, we had built a lot of trust with her. I felt like our plan was working. I just need time and now I felt Animal Control breathing down my neck.
With a new sense of urgency, we tried a different approach to our feeding routine that night. We got out rotisserie chicken and sat in our driveway. We tossed pieces of chicken to Monroe and led her close and closer to us. Eventually, we had her eating out of our hands! We also managed to attract a neighborhood cat that wanted in on chicken.
Monroe ate out of our hands time and time again, and one time I reached out and grabbed her pink harness.
I had a good grip on her. She freaked, flipped and was out of her harness in the blink of an eye. She raced off into the woods and I was left standing in my driveway with her harness in my hand and chicken laying at my feet and my heart in my throat.
I was devastated! With Animal Control looming, I rushed things and blew all the trust I had with Monroe. Not to mention the fact that I stripped her of her harness, her only possession. Now, people would just think of her as a stray. They wouldn't see that at one point she was someone's pet. That someone cared enough to put that harness on her.
I totally and completely blew it. In my defeat, I believed there was no way Monroe would ever come near us again.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
After we started feeding Monroe, she became a regular nightly visitor. Since she was very nervous around people and our goal was to gain her trust through food. At first, we put the food bowl at the end of our driveway and walked back to the house. Once we got to the house, Monroe would army crawl to the bowl and gobble down the food. If there was any noise she would retreat across the street. Eventually, she would come back to the bowl and eat more.
We repeated this routine each night for a week. Each day her trust of us grew and she got more and more confident going to the food bowl. We were eventually able to put the food down, take two big steps away from the bowl and sit down with her while she ate. The trust building process was definitely slow, but it was clearly working.
Our main goal in feeding Monroe was to gain trust so that we could get her off the streets and in to rescue. Our fantastic pug sitter volunteers for a local rescue group and we had already made arrangements for them to take Monroe as soon as we were able get her. It felt good that Monroe had a bright future, we just needed to put the time in to get her to trust us. The slow process almost killed me because each day we didn't get her was another night she was spending on the streets and another day she was wandering around doing who knows what until we got home from work.
In addition to feeding her, we also just hung out with her in the evenings. We would bring the pugs out and they would play. Monroe would race around the yard and the pugs would follow suit and we would do our best to keep the pugs' leashes untangled. After the pugs tired out, which was way sooner than Monroe, we would do little things around the yard. We laid some mulch, fixed a sprinkler head, watered plants. We did anything we could that was outside so that Monroe could get used to being around us.
We did everything except try to capture her. Straight attempts to capture her were always futile. We saw neighbors run after her and try to lasso her and none of it worked. Monroe was fast and way too smart to fall for any of that.
Our approach was to have her feel like she belonged and have her come to us. While our method was slow going it seemed to be working. Monroe lounged in our driveway while we tinkered in the yard. She followed us to the mailbox when we got the mail. She kept a watchful eye on us at all times, but she was so much more relaxed around us than she was before.
Our plan seemed to be working.
Monday, May 14, 2012
This is a super long story so I have broken it up into multiple parts.
The night we got back from Miami with the pugs, we spotted a dog in our neighborhood that we had never seen before. The pugs were out for their final potty of the night. It was dark and they were very tired from their big adventure to Miami. Heck, I was tired from our big adventure to Miami and the long drive home.
While we were out, I spotted a pair of glowing eyes spying on us from across the street. I could make out that it was a dog, but I wasn't sure whose dog it was. Not knowing anything about the dog, I hurried the pugs into the house.
After we got the pugs into the house safe and sound, we went out to check on the dog. While we were gone the stray dog walked out of the shadows and was now standing in the middle of the street. She was all white, had a pink harness on and had pointy ears.
I called to her and she turned her head a bit. I asked her what she was doing out so late and where did she live. More head turning. I took a few steps towards her and she bolted across the street and into the woods faster than I have ever seen any dog run before.
Wow! We headed back inside, got ready for bed and I fell asleep with this mysterious white dog on my mind.
The next evening, while out with the pugs, we spotted the stray dog again. This time it was a little lighter outside and I could get a better look at her. I could tell that she was super skinny. She had definitely not been eating regularly.
Before, I could make it back into the house with the pugs and get the white dog some food, a car came down the street. My heart leapt to my throat, but just like the night before the dog raced backed into the woods.
After we got back to the house, we decided we needed to give this mystery dog a name (we name everything). After some debate, and after having just watched the movie My Week with Marilyn we decided on Monroe. She was a blonde dog that had clearly been used and abused up to this point in her life.
The pugs also had an upcoming visit with the vet. I made a note to talk to the vet about Monroe and find out if it was safe to have the pugs around her. After all, the only time Monroe seemed to come near us was when the pugs were with us.
After my visit at the vet, I felt comfortable having the pugs around Monroe. My vet's biggest warning was to keep the pugs away from Monroe's stool. Since it was safe to have Monroe around the pugs, I made a stop at the store and picked up some dog food. We made the decision that we were going to start feeding this skinny dog.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Central Florida Pug Rescue has an awesome raffle going on right now. The raffle is for a pug oil painting painted by Brenda Philips who is a prominent artist in the St. Augustine community and the grand-niece of Claud Monet.
To find out how to enter the raffle, visit the raffle information page on the CFPR website.
If you enter and win, be sure to let all of us at OBP know!
Monday, November 28, 2011
We recently had company visiting from Maryland (an old college buddy). Dogless, we went on a little human only adventure. We attended the "Flamingo Follies" in New Smyrna Beach. New Smyrna is a quaint little town that offers a street lined with shops offering an array of wonders. Well, during the Follies, they closed the street to traffic and had load of vendors selling their arts and crafts and other accoutrement.
As we made our way down the avenue, we crossed paths with another friend! It was Mary! Mary is the grandmother to Jade. Jade is a black pug we met shortly after Solsey passed away. Jade’s mom is, and I say with the utmost affection as we love her dearly and truly miss her visits, a blog stalker but only occasional commenter, "Jennifer Moulton used to be Davis".
Recently married, Jennifer had her pug Jade in her wedding. Jade, of course, is also in this OBP 2012 calendar. The photo of Jade shows her in all of her divaness at her mama’s wedding.
It was great to see Mary and we hope to Mary, Jennifer and Corey with Jade down here again soon.
I actually had a double bonus to see Mary again when I dropped off the OBP calendar to her. At that meeting she generously gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread to bring to the pugs. I will have a follow up to this story with pumpkin bread eating pug photos soon.
So, we just wanted to give a ruff ruff (i.e. pug shout out) to our old buds!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Just a reminder that the 2012 Owned by Pugs Calendars are still available and shipping for free to US addresses for a limited time. Plus, $5 for each calendar purchased is donated to a pug rescue organization.
If you live outside the US and would like to order a calendar send me an email with your shipping address and I will let you know the shipping charges.
Thanks to everyone who submitted pictures and made the calendar fabulous.
Purchase a 2012 Owned by Pugs Calendar
Monday, November 7, 2011
The 2012 Owned by Pugs Calendar is now available! They make excellent holiday gifts and remember that $5 from each calendar sold goes to pug rescue.
For now, they ship for free anywhere within the US. If you live outside the US and would like to order a calendar drop me a line and let me know and I can calculate shipping charges and give you as special purchase link.
Thank you again to everyone who submitted pictures!
Purchase a Owned by Pugs 2012 Calendar
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