Friday, April 4, 2014
I am so happy to report that Henry is home and is doing very well. He was super happy to see us yesterday. Once he said hello, he marched right out of the vet's office and was scanning the parking lot wondering where we parked because he was ready to get home.
Once we got home, he made no bones about wanting to eat. We gave him a bit of food and he was ready for more. I thought it was a really good sign that his appetite was already back.
I think the hardest thing for him to manage has been the cone. His cone is catching on everything and when that happens he's not sure if it because of something he can't see or if it is because he has a satellite dish on his head. I'm sure in a day or two he will be doing much better getting around with the cone of shame. For now we are super glad he is home and doing so well.
Thank you for all your warm thoughts and kind wishes. It meant so much and was such a tremendous help in getting through these last few days. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Today Henry turns 12 years old!
To celebrate Henry's birthday here are some of my favorite pictures of Hank - one from each year he has been with us. If you can't get enough of handsome Henry, check out more pictures of him on Flickr.
June 2002: Ironically enough, it took Henry a few months to grow into his eyes as a pup. He had such a dark mask and the most velvet ears I had ever felt. To this day, his ears are silky smooth.
July 2003: Henry has always been a water lover. He has never been an excellent swimmer, but that has certainly never diminished his love for the water. Whether it be a pool, the ocean a lake or just a really big puddle, if Henry can splash around in it and fetch something out of it Henry is having fun.
November 2004: The beaten path is never where Henry wants to be. Henry was always running off and exploring. The less worn the path, the more he wanted to go that way. I guess you could say that he has always been one to blaze his own trail. After all, that is how he did find that peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
January 2005: Henry has always been a big chewer, however he is the only one of the pugs that actually chews the Kong. When we give the pugs a kong, we usually fill it with peanut butter. Benjamin, Henry and Luna lick and lick until they get all the peanut butter out of the inside of the Kong. At that point, Benjamin and Luna give up. But that is when Henry is just getting started. He collects everyones kongs to make sure no one left any peanut butter behind and then he goes to town chewing on the kong like he is going to be able to crack it open and get every last drop of peanut butter.
June 2006: You can't talk about Henry and his favorite things and not talk about lounging in the sun. You can be assured that Henry gets the recommended dose of Vitamin D every day.
July 2007: Being a pug, Henry of course loves food. One of his favorites has always been noodles. Since we frequently call him Hanky Doodle, when he has noodles, we like to call them Doodle's noodles. Overall, Henry likes surprisingly healthy foods. He loves most vegetables, including the gross ones like brussel sprouts 
July 2008: Henry has always been the official ear cleaner and takes the ear health of both Luna and Benjamin very seriously. It has worked great for Luna and Benjamin. Whenever they are at the vet they always get a great report on their ears. Unfortunately for Henry, neither Luna nor Benjamin return the favor to help keep Henry's ears clean.
February 2009: Henry has always been the co-pilot. He loves car rides and his preferred way of travel is with his head out the window. The faster the car is going the more fun he is having.
April 2010: Curious would be a good word to describe Henry. He is super smart and is very laid back, so when he encounters something new you almost see the wheels turning his head trying to process the situation. This makes him a lot of fun because he is game to try anything!
October 2011: Don't get me wrong, Henry likes his creature comforts, but he loves the great outdoors. No matter what the season he loves to be outside and exploring. He's never been camping, mainly because his humans enjoy the finer things in life, but we have always surmised that he would love it!
March 2012: While Benjamin has always been an early riser, Henry is perfectly content to turn breakfast into brunch and catch a few extra winks of sleep in the morning. Not only is he a man after my own heart with sleeping in, he also makes the best hug up buddy.
April 2013: Because of his calm demeanor, Henry sometimes gets to go on little trips by himself. A yearly tradition for him is to go to the Bark at the Park event for our local minor league baseball team. Henry loves the yearly outing because he has made friends with a few of the concession workers. So, as soon as he gets to the park, he finds his friends and scores plenty of ballpark snacks.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Recently, our steadfast and always strong Henry has been having ear and eye troubles. His ears have rebounded (infection-wise, not hearing-wise), but his eye woes have not only not cleared up - they have gotten worse.
At the follow up appointment on Thursday of last week, we weighed all of the options about what to do about his eye. His vision in his left eye is lost. Due to the size of the cataract in his eye, there is no hope of vision coming back if we are able to get the glaucoma under control. And despite our best efforts, we have not been able to come close to managing the glaucoma. He has not responded to the stringent course of treatment that was recommended. So, the best thing to do for Henry is to remove the painful, angry eye and allow the true healing to begin.
This whole scenario took us by storm. Henry has always been the "healthy" one. He's barely been on oral medications. Rarely eye drops. Always been able to walk far distances. Trachea still a perfect circle. Could see. Could hear. Well, in the last 10 days he basically went deaf and blind in one eye and now we have to have is eye removed.
One of the harder pills to digest is that the surgery is tomorrow. And tomorrow is Henry's birthday! The guilt I feel for scheduling Henry's eye removal surgery on his birthday is enormous. I almost put the surgery off for another week, but Henry is in a lot of pain from the glaucoma. The eye vet describes it as having a constant migraine in his eye. And it just breaks my heart to see him push he eye into the furniture or to paw at it to help alleviate some of the pressure. So, I took the first available surgery day, which happens to be his birthday, in hopes of bringing him some much needed relief.
We will keep you posted. And don't worry. We are worried enough for everyone. May good health and happiness be with you all. Squeeze your babies today! We will stay as positive as we can. Thanks for all your love & support.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Monday, March 31, 2014
In addition to dog beds, it seems we have started to amass a collection of furry little white rugs. Our total is now up to 3, but given the fact that only Benny likes these little rugs, the number may be a little excessive.
We bought the first furry little white rug years ago. When we brought it home Benjamin instantly fell in love with it. It became his favorite place to chew (and lick his feet). We put it in the small hallway leading from the pugs' crates to help save the carpet. It became one of Benny's favorite places to lounge. But, after a little bit, we noticed that Luna, Henry and Cupid, would walk around the rug every time. They hated the feel of the rug so much that they would carefully balance on the little sliver of carpet between the wall and the rug until they had successfully passed the rug. Meanwhile, Benny could not get enough of the rug and would roll all over the rug.
Since the rug is white and Benny's favorite activities to do on the rug include chewing and rolling on it, it became dirty very quickly. We bought another similar style rug, to replace it, but we didn't have the heart to throw away Benjamin's favorite rug. Instead, we just found another place in the house for a second rug with plenty of room for Luna, Henry and Cupid to walk around it.
And just the other day, we found another little white rug that Benny loves. So our collection is now up to 3! If this number gets anywhere close to our dog bed number we are going to be in trouble.
Friday, March 28, 2014
This picture was taken in December 2008.
Luna took a bit of offense to the Pillow Queen post earlier this week. She wanted me to set the record straight and let Cupid and everyone else know that the real Pillow Queen was crowned long before Cupid became a sofa hog.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Today Benjamin turns 12 years old! Over the last few years, Benjamin has really embraced the senior pug lifestyle. He is the happiest old man you will ever meet. He loves nothing more than being with his peeps, eating, sleeping and giving kisses.
To celebrate his happy day here are some of my favorite Benny pics. One from each of the 12 magnificent years I have spent with him. If you can't get enough of this bag of wrinkles check out some Benny pictures on Flickr.
June 2002: This picture was taken on the 3rd day of owning Benjamin and commemorates his first trip to G-Ma's house. 3 days into this adventure with Benjamin we found out a lot of things quickly. Potty training him was going to be a nightmare. I never met a puppy that peed and pooped as much as he did. He had an unending appetite for sticks and mulch (look closely and you will see a stick in the photo) and he was full of boundless energy. Even Henry, who was also a rambunctious puppy, would look at Benny and wonder if Benny had an off switch. One other thing we learned about Benny during that short time was he was a total lover boy giving kisses to anyone that crossed his path.
May 2003: I'm pretty sure he is pouting for a treat here. Benny has always been a master of using his dashing good looks to get him snackies or to get himself out of trouble. Another thing that strikes me in this photo is how dirty his face is. As a puppy it was impossible to keep his wrinkles clean. Benny has such a strong smeller that he was always jamming his face in something. At one point in his younger years, he started to wear the color off his nose!
November 2004: I've always said that Benny operates only at two speeds - all out go and full on stop. When he plays he plays hard, but when it is time to rest he completely passes out.
Benny's favorite game has always been chase and he always loved to be the one being chased. And Henry was by far his favorite to play chase with. Every game started the same. Henry chasing Benny and Benny being in his glory. But somewhere along the line, Henry would always end up tricking Benny into chasing him.
July 2005: Silly has always been a good word to describe Benjamin. He has never taken himself or life in general too seriously. I've learned a lot about not stressing over things and making the most out of things from Benjamin over the years.
September 2006: I don't think I have ever met a gentler soul than Benjamin. He views everything in the world as a friend and never a foe. From welcoming Luna into the pack, living with Lou C the rabbit to all the frogs that he sidesteps on our summer walks, Benny is definitely a lover and not a fighter.
May 2007: Benny has always loved cats, but he has yet to meet a cat that likes him. I kinda feel bad for him because he means well, but I think his high energy disposition is too overwhelming for most cats. Luckily, Cupid has decided that she will tolerate Benny. They won't be the best of friends that Benny wants to be, but she will stop bapping at him constantly.
June 2008: Chewing has always been Benny's favorite past time. He's never really met a bone he hasn't liked. When he was a pup he was crazy over pig ears, then he went through a knuckle bone phase and for a while he has been stuck on bully sticks.
May 2009: Benny has always been very passionate about the things he loves. The list can get a little long at times, but his long time faves have always been his puffy, that he has had since he was 13 weeks old, pillows, pumpkin bread and pizza crust.
March 2010: Benjamin is always up for an adventure, whether it be on foot or by car. He loves taking walks around the neighborhood at local parks or on the beach. We always laugh, because while he loves to get out and about he is not that daring of an adventurer. The picture above pretty much shows how far he is willing to stick his head out of the window. And he will only do this when the car is stopped. When out for a walk he prefers to stick to the beaten path.
May 2011: Wrinkles, wrinkles and more wrinkles. Benny was wrinkly as a puppy, at least compared to Henry, but he really came into his luscious wrinkles as he grew older. When the boys would wrestle when they were puppies, Henry used to grab hold of wrinkles on the side of Benny's face and drag him around with them. Benny never seemed to mind. I, on the other hand, am always kissing those fabulous wrinkles of his. Benny never seems to mind that either.
March 2012: Benny is the eldest pug of the pack, but he will forever be Baby Benny. Not just because he is silly, but because he has been known to pitch a trantum or two over the years if he doesn't get what he wants.
February 2013: Charming would be a good word to describe Baby Benny. He always seems to find a way to be adorable and to make you feel completely loved.
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