Thursday, July 24, 2014

Instructions Required

Uh, oh. It looks like Benjamin and Luna didn't teach Henry how to use the dog beds. This is not good considering Henry is now the sole owner of about 22 dog beds!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

All Henry, All the TIme

As we move forward after the back to back blows, we are laying all our eggs in the Henry basket. We have been doing our best to keep his spirits high (which in turn has been helping us, too). Now that Henry no longer has a stay home buddy he hasn't really stayed home much. He has been going almost everywhere with us. This has inadvertently caused its own problem. He now EXPECTS to go everywhere. That means to work with us, to the grocery store, to the gym, etc. It was a delicate balance in the beginning. We were fortunate to have the weekend to get Henry used to being the last pug standing but as the weekend wore on, we knew that we would not want his first alone time to be first thing Monday morning. And we wanted him to be so exhausted by Monday that he wouldn't care if we were there or not. (And that plan did work! He was pretty wiped out when Grammy pugsat that day. And even into Tuesday he was still mellow!)

So, we took Henry on walks in the park, walks around the neighborhood, for car rides, to go get ice cream and the big adventure was that Henry went to visit my job. I got the ok to take him to work with me a day or 2 each week. It won't be the same as it was when I worked from home, but it will be kind of similar. So, we began the grooming process. We took him to my job for a little while when no one was there. This way he could his get sniff on and lose that initial excitement in private. Later in the week, we took him there at the end of the day so he could meet some of my co-workers. On both trips he did an awesome job! Henry loved the attention from the guys at my job and they poured on the lovin'! He took control of the room as soon as he walked in. He was a pug on fire!

However, getting inside my office was a little tricky. There is a flight of steps with no backs leading up my office door. Henry was a bit apprehensive about the stairs but he even navigated that. Not quite with "ease" per se, but he did manage to get up the whole flight on his own. He was not comfortable going down, though. So, he got a lift (he was carried). On the second visit, though, Henry owned the steps both up and down.

We will keep you abreast of further progression as Henry may become a working class dog. hahaha!

So, for now, it is all Henry, all the time. We are just putting all of the focus on him now. He still has a lot of life left and if we are honest, he's missed out on a lot of fun stuff because his siblings were not able to keep up with his pace. We want to be sure that we are giving him everything he needs in his golden years, too.

PS For those questioning, no.... no more pugs anytime soon. But thank you all for the suggestions. We will be a one pug show until there are no more pugs. Then we will decide what next after that.

PPS And last, again, we are so grateful for all the readers that have read, prayed, sent loving well wishes, shared kind words, kept us in your thoughts. It has been a trying time and all of your support has truly been comforting. To those that have loved and lost and those that are loving and on the edge of losing, we know your pain. In time things will be better. Like Luna, we prevail over the hurdles that life brings and like Benny we try to do it in a positive and good natured way. Thanks again!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Looney’s Home

Late last week, we got to bring Luna home. She now joins Benjamin, Sol and Lou C.

We made sure to put Benjamin's puffy with him and thought it would be fitting to put one of Luna's favorite chewy sticks with her. These are the chew treats that she would bark for each night. While I'm sure Luna appreciates our gesture, I know she is a bit perturbed we gave her a brown chewy stick. The red ones were her favorite. If we tried to give her any other color she would smell it and refuse to take the treat that was not of her liking with a look on her face that said, "Get the good stuff!" Inevitably we would crack and retrieve a red colored stick. She would then trot off happily into the living room to enjoy her treat.

So, Looney, I'm sorry this isn't a red chewy stick. But you ate all the red ones little one.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Super Moon

The day Luna passed there was a Super Moon. Given the sleepless night we had endured and the overall stress of the last few days we had no idea of the lunar event that was occurring that night. Our vet informed us. In the moments after Luna passed our vet broke the silence and profoundly said, "I think it is only fitting that there is a Super Moon tonight."

That night, shortly after the sun set, we leashed up Henry and took him on his first solo adventure. We got in the car and started driving to the beach. We stopped at a little park on the river just before you reach the beach. We walked with Henry to the water's edge and through the clouds we could see the moon shining brightly casting beams that were dancing on the water. La luna was shining bright and seemed bigger than life, just like our little Luna.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Goodbye Looney

It is with a very heavy heart that I must share that Luna passed away on Friday morning. Looking back now, things started to take a turn for the worse on Wednesday afternoon. That is when we first noticed an increase in panting and uncomfortableness in Luna. We were able to get her to settle and sleep on Wednesday night. Early Thursday morning was OK, but around lunch time on Thursday things began to escalate. We gave her one the rescue shots that we had left from Benny and that made it so she could rest a bit. However, her breathing was not good even when she was "resting". In the wee hours of Friday morning her rescue shot began to wear off and her panting was increasing and her distress was becoming even greater. We gave her another rescue shot to hopefully give her some comfort until we could get to the vet on Friday morning. We went to the vet first thing on Friday morning to discuss what options, if any, we had. In our hearts we knew that Luna was telling us it was time, but we just wanted to make sure we didn't have any other options. Our vet confirmed our biggest fear. There were no other options and Luna was on the brink of respiratory failure. Not wanting her to suffer any longer we made the heart breaking decision to let her go.

At just 15lbs Luna was a small physical presence with a larger than life personality. She was feisty, loving and extremely loyal. Wherever her people were that is where you would find her.

I remember driving to South Florida to adopt Luna like it was yesterday. It is hard to believe that we are saying goodbye to this little girl so soon. Luna taught me a lot about toughness, overcoming adversity and making the most of what you got. She made a happy life out of the imperfect hand she was dealt. I am so thankful that I could to deal her a few cards and share in some her many adventures.

The loss of Luna alone leaves a gapping hole in hearts, but coming on the heels of saying goodbye to Benjamin everything is magnified. We are going to take a break from posting this week to help get our heads around the even newer normal we are experiencing here in the OBP house.

Friday, July 11, 2014

7 Eleven

Considering that today's date is 7/11/14, I couldn't resist having the pugs pose in front of the sign of our local 7 Eleven.

We came up with this idea when we taking the pugs on a car ride to get out and about. We saw the sign, had the idea and made a quick pit stop to grab the picture. Henry and Luna were more than happy to pose in front of the sign. The only problem was Henry was convinced that he got to go into the store after he got his picture taken.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Favorite Photos of Our Dearly Departed Baby Benny

We recently had a photo book done of some of our favorite Benjamin moment/memories. Some are not specific memories so much as they, in general, capture his personality.

Besides being an adorable puppy pic, this picture reminds us how light Benjamin's ears were as a pup. While they never got quite as dark as Henry's they did darken up over the years. This was also a rare moment of quiet for him. He was quite the active puppy.

This is one of my all time faves. Benny hugging up to Henry, his bro, his BFF, his bestie, his partner in crime, his anchor.

Benny was never one to be afraid of the vacuum, but for some reason on this day he sought refuge from the loud machine in the toy basket. He jumped up there all by himself. Its a wonder the whole tower didn't collapse.

Benny was always on the lookout. But, it was always from the most comfortable spot in the room.

One of our many action shots of Benny. In his younger years, if he wasn't sleeping, he was darting off at full speed looking for some sort of fun.

Being his silly self and using his tail to fish in the pool.

A classic shot of a very tired Baby Benny. From the looks of his dirty face, I can tell he had a day full of walks and play time.

Benny never wanted to miss out on any of the action. He was more than happy to pull a chair up at the table.

His favorite spot on the sofa.

An infamous sleepy Ben, luscious wrinkle shot.

This was at the Epic hotel in Miami on the night before the 1000 Pugs photo shoot. Our room was on the 25th floor and we had a beautiful view of the city. The elevator ride to our room terrified Benjamin. As soon as we started to go up, his legs gave out from underneath him and his belly hit the floor. We could not control our laughter. Once the elevator stopped and we got to our floor, Benny was his normal happy go lucky self. When we got to our room, the curtains to the floor to ceiling windows were drawn. When I pulled the drapes open and Benny saw how high up he was he almost hit the floor again. It took him a few minutes to get used to living the high life.

The kitchen. Benny's favorite room in the house.

The classic, Baby Benny head tilt.

You can't have a picture collection of Benny without having a picture of him on his favorite white rug.

The classic, Baby Benny side saddle sitting position.

Like Rain Man, "Benjamin was an excellent driver!"

#MissingHimSo #LoveThatBoy #PugsAreTheBest