Luna’s eye doctor is about an hour away from home so rather than just making the drive to go to the vet we decided to stop at a dog park in Sanford that was on the way. Luna’s appointment was for 10:45 am so we figured it would be best to stop at the park on the way there to beat the heat. We got up extra early and managed to get to the park at a little after 9:00 am which gave the pugs plenty of time to play.
A few years back Dog Fancy magazine featured Paw Park in an issue that named the best dog parks in the nation, so I was very excited to check out the park and see what it was all about. The park was very open and in the middle of the park was a huge tree that had fallen during hurricane Charlie. They decided to leave the tree to give the dogs something to climb on, which I thought was pretty cool. The pugs were immediately interested in checking out the tree.
And it wasn’t long before Benny was climbing all over it.
After they investigated the tree, the pugs made their rounds and introduced themselves to the other dogs at the park.
The park has a time out area for dogs that get overly excited and I just couldn’t resist taking this photo.
My favorite thing about the park was that there was a sidewalk that went around the perimeter of the park. We walked along the sidewalk and the pugs happily followed along. It was like being on a walk in a regular park only not having to use any leashes.
Last Friday Luna had a checkup at the ophthalmologist to see how her eyes are doing. We made a little day trip out of it, more to come on that, so Benjamin & Henry came along for the visit. Luna tried to have Henry get the eye exam in her place, but the doctor noticed that it wasn’t little Luna on the table and Henry happily switched places with her.
Going into this appointment I was bracing myself for bad news. Luna’s eyes had been looking pretty dry to me and I thought she had a little bit more water buildup on her good eye. But, the exam just proved that I don’t know what I am talking about. Luna’s eyes were pretty much the same as our last visit. Her tear production in both eyes remained the same and there was no additional water buildup. The doctor was actually quite pleased with the condition of her eyes. It looks like we finally found the right combination of drops to maintain the vision that she has left. So we are going to stick to the same drop routine and Luna does not have to go back for another follow-up for 8-10 months! We are super excited about that! Usually, we have to go back every 4-6 weeks!
While we were at the ophthalmologist office, we also re-stocked on all her meds. I knew we were running low on everything so I knew this visit was going to be a hard hit on the wallet. When we were checking out, the receptionist went over what was done and the meds we were getting and said our total for today was $246.00. Before I could process anything the words, “THAT’S IT?” immediately left my mouth. The receptionist, who has swiped my credit card on countless occasions, chuckled saying that we got off easy on this visit. She also told me about their new handy dandy computer system and within a few seconds was able to tell me that we have spent over $4,000 on Luna’s eyes alone in the last two years.
That’s very handy to know for budgeting purposes. That works out to be a little over $1,000 per eye per year!
Money aside, I was very pleased with the good report that Luna got in this visit. It has been tough trying to figure out the right combination of drops for her, but I think we finally have a routine that works.
Yesterday, we went canoeing and we were feeling brave so we decided to bring the pugs along with us. Benjamin & Henry had been on a few row boat trips before with us in Maryland and always did a great job, but this was Luna’s first boating experience and our first boating experience when being outnumbered by pugs.
It was a very cloudy day and it was actually drizzling when we set sail. We scheduled an early morning trip in the best interest of the pugs and the clouds made for perfect weather for them.
Before we launched we got Henry & Luna suited up in their life vests and securely attached their leashes to their life vests. When we were putting on Benny’s life vest the zipper broke! There was a little bit of panic because we clearly did not have an extra life vest and we couldn’t really rig his vest to make it work. So needless to say, I was very paranoid about Benny not having his vest.
The pugs all hopped into the boat without hesitation and before I knew it we were floating down the creek. The creek was very calm so we took our time to get the pugs all setup. We laid out towels in the bottom of the boat so that they could be cozy and not have to rest only on the metal floor. We also filled up a water bowl for them so they had access to water. They rocked the boat a tad in the beginning when they were trying to figure out the best lookout points, but they settled fairly quickly. As we paddled, they gazed at the passing trees and watched the water passing them by.
After a while, they pretty much tied themselves together with their leashes. This was causing some problems so we took off their leashes. We were confident that they were not going to jump or fall off the boat at that point so we took the life jackets off Henry & Luna as they were making them very hot. This is the when the pugs truly settled down and relaxed. True to form, Benjamin propped himself up against the side of the boat.
It wasn’t long until, the pugs were sound asleep. As we were floating down the river all we heard was the sound of water flowing, birds chirping and Henry snoring. It was so serene.
Luna was the same height as the metal bars running across the canoe. When I first saw this picture, I thought, Luna must have joined the witness protection program.
All in all, I think the pugs had a great time. I know I sure did. I was very proud of them for doing such a great job. They didn’t hesitate to get on the boat and once on they settled down fairly quickly and kept their paws and heads inside the boat at all times. Too bad every morning doesn’t start with such a peaceful outing.
Benjamin, Henry & Luna each got baths on Sunday. They were quite smelly so not only did we bathe them but we washed pretty much everything they come in contact with, which meant the house smelled really good on Sunday.
After his bath, Benny always gets fired up and runs around like a wild man. Here is a little video of him running around the living room. At around 16 seconds you will seem him stop and smell under the laundry room door. There is blueberry bread behind that door!
We could desperately use some rain here in Central Florida, so I thought this would be an appropriate Caption This for the week. Looking forward to you captions in the comments!
