When I started this blog 11 years ago, I never thought about this day. I never thought about what it would be like to have a pug blog, with no pugs. I never thought about what it would be like to document the life of an aging pug, through all the ups and downs. When I started this blog, I was in my 20's and relatively care free. I had two young pugs, full of energy that made me laugh constantly. I loved to take pictures of them and I wanted to share those pictures in some way.
And so Owned by Pugs was born.
I had no grand ideas when I started OBP. I thought I would take pictures of Benjamin and Henry and have them online for friends and family to see. But shortly after starting, we began to get comments from other pug lovers - people we didn't even know. It was crazy to me.
Making great friends through OBP was one of the most unexpected things to me. I never imagined that OBP would have blossomed into the community it has today. Some of you I have met in person, some I have talked to over the phone and through emails. Some I know only through comments. And I know there are some lurkers out there that have been following along for years. And no matter how we may have interacted over the years, I want to say thank you for being a part of OBP.
There was a point, when I was no longer working from home, and Benjamin, Henry and Luna had begun to slow down a bit that I thought about calling it quits. Life was busy and all the fun things that Benjamin, Henry and Luna loved to do, the things that were easy to write about, seemed to be dwindling. Posts about trips to the beach and swim camps seem to fall to the wayside and all there seemed to be to write about were trips to the vet or surgeries or worries about what was to come.
I thought no one wants to read about this stuff. But, that seemed to be when the OBP community really kicked in and there was an outpouring of love and support. It was at that point, I really had to evaluate things and I realized, I didn't want to write about those things. Its easy to write a post about a fun trip to the dog park and gut wrenching to have to write about how your pug is re-learning his way around your house because he has lost his eye sight.
At that point, I wanted to live in denial and writing a daily blog didn't seem to fit with that.
I kept blogging because I knew there were OBPers out there that were invested in Benjamin, Henry, Luna and Sol. And I knew that I owed it to them to tell the full story. OBPers are not fair weather friends and it wasn't right for me to quit when the going got tough. I never really came to terms with the inevitability of the pugs aging, but I did began to see that those later in life stories are perhaps the more important ones.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the OBP community. Making all of the friends that I have made over the years has been one of the best things. The pugs always had a way of making friends. Wherever we went, they brought people to us and started conversations. This blog was much the same. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. You have been a huge part of our lives!
Much like when I started this blog in 2005, I don't know what is next. I don't know when and if we will get another pug. We are just going to take it one day at time and do what feels right. I will be stopping the Daily Pug Picture and other parts of the site soon, but I will leave the OBP Pug Blog as it is. So I, and anyone else who wants to, can go back and read about 4 pugs (and a cat) that have touched and impacted my life in more ways than I ever could have imagined. Yes, there were big things, but it really was the little things that I will forever cherish. And the Pug Blog is a daily diary of all of the things that have meant the most to me over the last decade. And if you are curious, here is the post that started it all!
Sunday, February 21, 2016
All Together Again
Well, we have one last post before our final post. I did not want it left unsaid that Henry is back home. He was able to come home about a week after we let him cross the rainbow bridge. His ashes are with the others. Lou, our bunny, then the pugs: Solsey, then Benny, then Luna and now Henry. They are altogether and back home with us. We are happy to have him back with us where he belongs. The night skies have also brought us a full moon and Jupiter (Luna & Henry) in the evenings. Venus (Benny) is pulling up the rear in the rotation but we will be catching him soon, too. If we need to talk to them we have their ashes, we can look to the sky and of course, they are forever in our hearts. A tattoo is soon to come, of course, too but since that is more about us and less about them, you will just need to visualize the Benny one in the bone outline with Henry's name and on the opposite wrist. Brothers forever. #RIPOBPPugs #PugsForeverStrong #AllPugsTogetherAgain
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Goodbye Henry Boy
It is with a very heavy heart that I must share that Henry passed away last week. After 2 years of being our strong boy, it all became too much and we had to step back and evaluate his quality of life. After agonizing over it, we made the tough decision to let him go to be with Benny, Luna and Sol. He went peacefully in our arms.
A very concerning factor for us was that Henry started to have labored breathing. A chest X-Ray last week revealed that he had fluids on his lungs. This was really a tipping point for us. While we were ready to do whatever we could, we weren't sure Henry was up for the challenge. His confusion had hit and all-time high and his legs were starting to fail him.
I remember bringing Henry home as a pup like it was yesterday. When we pulled up to the house, we got Henry out of the car and put him down in the grass to go potty and he instantly sat down to soak up the sun! He will forever be our sun worshipping, water loving, pool toy fetching boy. Compared to the others, he was definitely our outdoor dog. He loved walks in the woods, beach trips and most of all riding with his head out of the window.
While we miss all the pugs, losing Henry was particularly hard because he was our link to Benjamin, Luna and Sol. He was our last pug standing. We do take comfort in knowing that all four are back together again. I don't know exactly where they are, but I bet wherever they are, they are running low on pumpkin bread.
#ForeverHenryStrong
We are going to take some time to process this and will be back with an update next week.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Hanging Out At Lowe’s
I will preface this that we know that Lowe's is not everyone's favorite hardware store, but at this point we have to pick our battles and the fact that they let Henry in even though the sign says SERVICE ANIMALS ONLY means a lot to us. With that said, we mentioned that we went to there to get some mini fence pieces and flower bed lining for our backyard solutions. Well, we wanted to share how chill Henry was in his cart.
Seriously, WHO is a GOOD BOY?! #HenryIsAGoodBoy #henrystrongalldaylong
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Updated Backyard
My week away with Peep #2 being on duty was an effort to get Henry up to speed to be able to be left alone again. Even if for just a few hours. Henry's cognitive state is such that he cannot always find his way around our home. He has trouble getting to the doggy door to get out to the lanai and then from the lanai to the yard. The doggy doors are of course set up so that the pugs could go out and go potty/play in the yard while we were home, but yet on their own. Henry has always been a master at this. I am sure he has prided himself by being an expert in the potty department having never had a potty accident (minus one rarity while waking suddenly from sleep, while on vacation in a different bed/home/routine over 10 years ago). Now, without help to find the door, a potty accident will likely be imminent. If it was just a potty issue, we may bite the bullet and let it be what it is and clean up any mess when we got home.
However, his physical abilities are such that if he is not on a surface (i.e. full carpet) when he tries to go to a standing position from a laying position then he is unable to do this. He will get panicky and barky. So, he is not really in a place mentally or physically where we feel ok to leave him alone. And even while I was away, Peep #2 had him in the backyard to go potty and everything seemed to be going ok, but he got stuck in the little metal guide fence/barrier from yesteryear that made it so Benny would not pee through the screen onto the pool deck. While attempting to navigate his way out/back around he fell down the hill into a very small hole/crevasse and could not get up/out. So, it's a good thing Henry was not alone and had help to get out. Since that day (actually that day---only hours later) a modification was made to the back yard (and path leading to the back yard). We are ever the problem solvers. Peep #2 took Henry to Lowe's, got some mini fencing (like what we have/what he is used to out front near the agave). Peep #2 made a mini yard for Henry. Now we will still have the problem that Henry cannot get the yard by himself, but navigating him there on leash and letting him off leash in the back yard should allow for him to be a bit safer. Peep #2 also lined the orange mesh with a plant bed liner so as Henry would be less likely to get his little paw tangled (which was also observed while I was away).
The good thing about this little mini fence being so low is that Cupid can still hop over it and back. Win-win! So we will keep working to try to get Henry to where he can find his way around the house (not just to go out to go potty but that would be nice too!). #henrystrong #solutionsallaround #problemsolvers
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
While Corrine Was Away
So, I was gone for a week for work. Of course I would get frequent updates. The below were a couple snapshots and their explanations.
Cupid regularly waited by the door for her mama!
Henry had to go to the vet for bloodwork. Peep #2 worked on a better way to make him comfortable in the car so that could get more wind. So, this was Henry catching the one person wind that he could.
There were a couple more "while you were away" stories that I will share but this was a brief synopsis.
This week's reply comes from a question asked by Lindsay. She had questions about what we serve our pugs. The following diet was the staple diet that the pugs were on throughout most of their lives. It was 1/2 cup ground turkey (white meat), heaping tablespoon of canned pumpkin, level tablespoon of plain oatmeal, a round tablespoon of the veggie of the week (peas, green beans, zucchini, asparagus, spinach were common choices). This was served twice a day and kept them full and at a good weight. They did later in life carry a little weight but that came from a few too many extra bonus table scraps, Calorie wise it was comparable to healthier variety dog food but was much lower in fat content than most. When considering home cooked meals the below links are the ones that came vet recommended.
Well yesterday was the SuperBowl. No matter which team you were rooting for, we hope you all had a fun time watching. You probably had more fun watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, though! Sorry this is complete fluff this Monday. I've been on a business trip the last week and am just trying to get back into the groove. Peep #2 took vacation time to stay home with Henry and Grammy got a Henry vacation. She will need it since Henry's needs are much greater and she will need to be on her A game like never before! So, talk about a mishmash for this Monday! Whoosh! I will do my best to try to get this train back on track this week!
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Cat Food Busted
One thing that has not changed in Henry's unusual state of his mind is that he still loves him some cat food. And now that Henry barks at each yummy smell, he regularly obsesses over Cupid's food. Part of the problem with him trying to get so close to the food (and likely trying to get a taste) is that there are serious obstacles in his way. You see here that he got stuck under the little chair near the cat's food table. Oh, sweet Henry, you are busted my good boy. Cat food busted! Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids and kitty food is for kitties. #sillypug
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Cat NOT Chlllin’ in the Car
Yesterday, we saw how Henry rode home from the vet. Today, we see how Cupid did. Usually she does a very good job in the car and not that she didn't this time, but she was a lot more wiggly and impatient for the ride home this time. Part of her attitude probably comes from that her thyroid is back out of whack. We are adjusting her meds and will recheck again in 45-60 days. In any case, Henry was chill in the car, the cat not so much.
#cupidstrong #T4toohigh #QPisoffabitfornow
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Chillin’ in the Car
Monday we saw Henry chillin' in the stroller. Today we see him chillin' in the car. Henry usually lays on the leg closest to the window while we drive. He likes this so that he can catch the smells and feel the wind. On this day, though, coming home from the vet, Henry just wanted to sleep like a baby. He just flopped on his back and went to sleep. The only thing that would have been funnier would be if we could have had him sucking on a pacifier! Oh Henry! Even in your dementia you still have a fabulous sense of humor!
#henrystrong #henryisagoodboy #hankybaby
Monday, February 1, 2016
Ask OBP #23
Welcome back to Ask OBP. Today's question comes from Christie. She wants to know if any of our pugs tried to climb into the dishwasher on a mission of getting some bonus goodies. Well, Christie, although we have seen many a dog in a dishwasher doing just this, our pugs have not followed suit. There is a simple explanation for that, however. The reason is that they had already licked the plates and bowls clean prior to being loaded into the dishwasher. So, by the time they make it to the dishwasher there is really no crumb path for them to follow. We of course, would make it easy for them to lick the dregs from the plates so that they would not have to fetch and last licks from the dishwasher. The question is not why wouldn't our pugs climb in the dishwasher, the question would be why WOULD they need to?! Hahahaha!!!! With all of that said, I am sure if we left any drizzles on the dirty dishes, though, Benny would have made his way to both the top and bottom racks. He was a good cleaner upper that way! Even now, it is amazing how our home is so much dirtier without him around to lick up any crumbs from the floors. Pugs are like vacuums for sure! Good question, Christie! It sounds like your pugs may have been busted in the dishwasher a time or two. Is that so? Anyone else have dishwasher bandits?
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Stroller Chillin’
Since Henry has been under the weather, he's not been up to walking much. So, we've been taking him out in the stroller. He doesn't really like the stroller either, though. This has worked in our favor. We load him in the stroller and walk a few short blocks and then he demands to get out. Then he walks home in a huff as though he was never even in said stroller. We call this his walk of indignation. We stroll him until he becomes indignant, let him out then he struts home.
This pattern had been working pretty well. That is, until the weather got pretty chilly here in Florida. Once the temps fell to the 40's and 50's he didn't want to walk that much. That was a bit concerning, too, since Henry has always been a cool weather walker. We kind of thought the cold would improve his walking desire and ability. Nonetheless, the more walks like this we took the more we realized that the stroller usage might have started to back fire on us. Henry started to really embrace the stroller. You can see in this photo he is one passed out pug! On the day that the photo was taken, his passed out status did not last all that long, though. That day we walked the 2 mile neighborhood loop and he ended up walking about a half mile total. That is max walking distance these days. Typically he gets in about 4-6 houses and back. So, the stroller has been helpful in inspiring him walk and working against us in the fact that now he is taking advantage! But of course that is ok. We don't mind. Henry is a good boy deserving of any happy times he can get.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Finally Friends?
After a few days of virtually being house bound by Henry's eye drop schedule, we were all getting a bit of cabin fever and a little punchy. Henry hung out with us on the sofa. The center cushion is unarguably Cupid's seat. If you are in that seat and she comes sauntering over, well, you just better either scoot over, move to a clamshell chair, the floor or MAYBE, if you put one of her favorite blankets on your lap, she MIGHT sit on your lap. Well, imagine her dismay when she discovered that a passed out Henry had commandeered her spot!
At first she was hot under the collar and gave the stink eye to all in the vicinity. Next, she bit the dust and begrudgingly took the sliver of the center cushion that was still to be had. Ultimately she relaxed some and somehow managed to keep her dignity in tact even while keeping company with a dog! By the end, there were 2 critters on the couch sharing the center square. I am not exactly sure if we can say they are finally friends but at least there was no hissing, no bapping, no barking and all was right with the world for an hour (until it was eye drop time again).
Complete sidenote: Today is Luna's Gotcha Day. We reported it was 1/26 but it is 1/29. Simple dyslexic maneuver on our part. Our apologies.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Henry Health Update Follow Up
Shortly after we started noticing that Henry was having a rough setback with his poops and then his brain, we realized was that a new issue was cropping up - we were noticing some weirdness with his eye! The first thing we noticed was a weird spot on his eye (Wednesday the 13th). By midday Thursday his eye was producing a lot of mucus and he was squinting terribly. Late Thursday we call the eye vet and made an appointment for the earliest available time. Luckily that happened to be Friday at 8:45am. This was not good at all for traffic, but we were relieved to be able to get Henry in to see the eye vet before the weekend.
Henry's eye exam revealed that he had an ulcer. (Side note, we have confirmed this was not from an injury/trauma. i.e. not from riding with his head out the car window. Whoosh!) In a normal case, surgery would have been the recommended option, but we know that Henry is far from normal. Henry is not a good candidate for surgery so we were left with treatment plan b - hourly eye drops. We have experienced pretty hectic eye drop schedules with Luna, so at first we were't too worried about hourly eye drops. And then we thought about it for a second, and asked the vet, "Do we have to do these through the night, too?"
Knowing that that was a daunting task, the eye vet said if we were to get 2-3 sets of drops through the night that that would be OK.
As soon as we got home we started his eye drops. Each hour we gave him 3 different drops. We had to wait at least 3-5 minutes between drops. And the kicker to all this is one of the drops was refrigerated.
Do you know how quickly an hour can go? It seems like every time we turned around we were giving Henry and eye drop. Henry was a real trooper about and didn't seem to mind at all.
At night time, we decided that we would go all in and stick to the hourly drop schedule. After all, the eye drops were the only hope and we really wanted a good report when we went for our follow-up appointment on Monday. Every hour on the hour the alarm would go off and we would give Henry his first drop. One of the hardest parts was having to wait 3-5 minutes between drops. When are you are half asleep, 3-5 minutes is just enough time to fall back asleep. And since one of the drops was refrigerated, that meant that one of us had to leave the nice warm bed to go get the drops.
We tried to break this into shifts, so that we weren't completely sleep deprived, but that was a tough task. To make sure we actually landed the drop in Henry's eye we had to turn at least a night light on. And going to the fridge made noise too. The icing on the cake was that about every 2-3 hours, giving Henry the drops would cause him to stir. And he would need to go out to potty, and then of course he would want a treat! This was a bad habit that we certainly didn't want to start!
So for the weekend, we got no more than about 50 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. By Monday morning, when we went back to the eye vet, we were quite groggy, but we were very anxious to hear if there was any healing at all. After taking a look at Henry's eye, the eye vet said there was in fact healing. In my sleep deprived state, I blurted out, "Like 50% or more!" Unfortunately not. But, Henry's eye had healed by about 10-15%. This was enough to change his eye drops schedule from every hour to every 2 hours.
Dropping down to every 2 hours was so much easier! We kept this schedule day and night until Thursday when Henry had his next follow-up appointment. On Thursday, the eye vet noted even more healing. While Henry is still not out of the woods, the infection in his eye was cleared, so that was a huge step. We were now able to step his eye drops down to 4-5 times per day! Compared to hourly eye drops that schedule is a piece of cake!
Henry will go back to the eye vet next Thursday. Hopefully, his eye will continue to improve. In the meantime, Henry is keeping his eye open and does not show any signs of discomfort, so that is fantastic!
#HenryStrong #HenryStrongAllDayLong
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Broken Canine
Shortly after sharing the post about Henry's Teefers last week, Henry started chewing a chewy stick and snapped off one of his canine teeth almost at the gum line. Ugh. I say one of his canine's but the truth is that it is his last of his 2 canine teeth. He did the same thing on the other side about 5 years ago. We heard the tooth snap and it startled him, but fortunately it has not seemed to bother him (and neither has the other one, thank goodness!) There was a time when the vet was worried that the tooth would need to come out but fortunately that never came to fruition. So, we will keep an eye on his mouth, now, too. This kid has enough strikes against him, can he please catch a break?! He has been trying to swap chewing for pacing in the evening and now this may put the kibosh on that!
At first we could not even find where the tooth landed but after sifting through vacuum dust we found it. We were a little surprised how white it still was. And again, thankfully, he is still able to eat and seems to be having no real troubles with the broken canine. #HenryStrong #ThisTooShallPass
Monday, January 25, 2016
Ask OBP #22
This week's ask question comes from Sue W who wants to know if our pugs ever got into a tiff. She indicated that her gang gets along well most of the time, but every once in a while they don't see eye to eye.
Good question, Sue. Our group, whether it be the 2 originals (B&H), the tribe of 3 (B, H &L) or the full brood of 4 (B, H, L & S) have only on rare occasion not gotten along well. The biggest incident was when Solsey bullied all the others for their knuckle bones. They each had their own knuckle bones, but Solsey grew a little obsessed by them and literally went over to each dog and stole their bone and brought it back to her space until she had 4 large bones of her own. We had only discovered what the problem was when we noticed that Sol was stock piling them and Benny was whimpering trying to get his back. Sol would NOT allow this. It wasn't until the peeps stepped in and reminded otherwise sweet Solsey that there was a one bone per customer rule in the OBP home. It was likely she had never experienced such bone joy so we let her be excited but did need to control her exuberance.
There were a few other times when the boys were not ready to make a bone trade off and the not ready pug would give a little warning growl to back away. And then there would be times when Luna would be "mad" at Henry for not engaging in play and fuss at him in order to get his attention. But overall, the 2, 3, 4,3, 2 of them have really been good buddies for their whole lifetime of togetherness.
Great question, Sue! We are pleased to hear that it sounds like the same is true in your home. And isn't that the case with pugs? They are pretty much everyone's best friend.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Henry Health Update
We've been procrastinating about sharing an update on Henry's health. Mainly putting it off since there is not a lot of great news to share. We are biting the bullet and sharing now.
Henry's troubles started shortly before Christmas. He had an IBD flare up. He started having several rounds of very bad poops. On our 1-10 scale, it was ranging in the 2-4 area. And we know that when his poops are that bad that his protein levels also move down the scale to a very low number. And drop they did. We felt that the "better" food we moved him to had triggered this reaction. We made some vet recommended moves and also made an executive decision. Our vet put Henry on a very upped dose of Prednisone and another gut specific steroid (I forget the name). High level pred for a couple weeks and the other med forever. We had 2 options for a food change. We tried one and it was an epic fail and then we tried a second option and it seemed to work at least as well, if not better than the original vet prescribed food. The food changes were without vet consent.
After a few days on the failed food, we moved to the food that he is on now. It seems to be working (at least in conjunction with the change in meds). His poops were for sure getting better and for the first time since months before losing his kidney, he had his first 9 poop! (And has had a few 9's since then but mostly 7's with a few 2's thrown in there every once in a while). This is MUCH better than the 5's he'd been averaging over the year plus time we've been trying to manage this. However, here is the dark cloud portion of that silver lining. Large doses of pred are HORRIBLE for Henry's brain. Our neurologist would be upset to know that he has to be on such a high level of pred. Essentially, what is good for Henry's belly, kills his brain and what is good for his brain, kills his belly. So, this is the tightrope we have been walking for over a year now.
And it seems that the pred, while was giving him much better poops (even though his protein levels were not even increasing) has finally caught up to him. We believe that he has suffered another brain set back. The weekend of 1/9/16, we noticed the following: his cognitive issues have spiked (his confusion has elevated, he is getting lost in our home, struggles to find the front door both going out and coming back inside) and probably even worse, he is shaky on his legs (mostly just when on a slippery tile floor but also when on carpet, concrete or grass but not nearly as bad as when on tile). There was an episode that was seen on the camera when we were not home where he could not stand up from a laying position because he could not get traction. He howled for help and no one was there. It was heartbreaking. Peep #2 was on the way home and got there quickly to help but it was still a tough one to watch.
Since then, we have been able to lower his pred some (but no noticeable change just yet). He has been slow to rebound, is still kind of wonky both mentally and physically. We are hopeful that we can continue to do our best so that he can still maintain a solid quality of life. It's been a rough month or so for him, but he is still loving his car rides and getting his sniffs, so we will keep on keeping on until Henry lets us know what else he needs. We are often reminded that he is on borrowed time already and we intend on having a high credit limit as far as that is concerned. #HenryStrong #HIPPARulesDontApplyAtOurHouse #HenryHasThis
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Luna Recap
Since it is almost our dearly departed Luna's gotcha day AND because we have recently been asked to recap her story, we decided to answer that request. (The request was also that we should consider "rerunning it annually" but that I cannot promise.) I am always concerned about repeating stories and hope that if I have referenced some previous event everyone knows what I am talking about. With that said, I know that there are readers who have not been with us since we started in 2004 and maybe some have just joined just a few months ago (and GASP do not even know who Benny, Luna or Solsey were! They'd only know Henry! Not that only knowing Henry is a bad thing but oh the joy you would have missed out on by not knowing the other 3!)
Anyway, this is sadly a brief (but I am sure it will still be lengthy) refresher of who Luna was and how she came to us. Luna was a pug in rescue care in Miami Florida. This is what we had been told about Luna: She was 2 years old. She was used to breed and had 2-3 litters. We don't know if that is mathematically possible, we just know that that is what we were told. After she had done enough breeding, the family she lived with in Miami kept Luna as an outside dog. (Yeah, for real! Can you even imagine?! An outside pug in the Miami heat?! I cringe.) We were told that she had dry eye and that it was very severe and likely not reversible. They said she had just got through treatment for mange and was missing some fur but that it was growing back. And last, that she was small.
Initially the rescue literally tried to talk us out of taking her indicating that she was too much effort, had too many problems and that she'd probably never find a good home. Pshht! They tried to push a boy dog name Bear on us. Bear had "no issues" and they thought he'd be better for us.
Well, we wanted the "broken one" because obviously if Bear was so great, he'd get a home soon. Luna would not. So, we wanted Luna. Because if we were going to rescue, we were going to do it right! LOL!
So, we went to Miami (3 1/2 hours one way) and picked her up. Immediately we noticed the following:
She was indeed tiny (small and SKINNY)
It was apparent by her teats that she very likely had been the mother of several puppies
One of her eyes was so dry that it did not close
She had NO idea how to walk on a leash
She for sure had bald patches, many of which looked unlike any mange we'd ever seen. Benny had had mange as a puppy and we'd seen mangy dogs before. A few spots did NOT look like they'd ever grow back as the skin was thick with scar tissue
And last but not least of this poor kid's issues man oh man did her breath stink (like something inside her rotting!)
That was our first impression, but overall she was still a cutie! And we were ready to love her and fix her up like new!
In reality this is how it shook out. Luna's dry eye, with considerable dedication, became manageable. Scar tissue formed over her eye making her a low vision dog, but she got around just fine and with appropriate medication. With our due diligence, her eye grew to be moist, comfortable and somewhat functional. She gained a few pounds right off the bat (and a couple more over the years). Her teats remained disproportionately large for the little girl she was, but they did shrink considerably over the first year or so. She had been fixed in foster making more puppies impossible. Whoosh!
As she began to assimilate and eat quality foods, her fur and breath both took a turn for the better. She did not reek from the inside out! Her fur became soft, but the spots never filled in. But in some areas her fur got long enough for half a comb over. The main thing about the bald spots was that every vet had a different back story of what they believe had happened to her. None of them, however, believed it was from mange.
The theories ranged from acid being splattered on her, to burns from hot water and one even suggest that the one on her back looked like a scar from a stab wound with a lacerated blade. We will never know. We resolved to never know. Our hearts did break knowing that any of those could be the case, though. We grew more appreciative of the family that turned her in to rescue. As that story goes, there was a cousin of the family who observed Luna being mistreated and that person convinced the family to let said cousin take Luna and put her in rescue. Since they had used Luna's baby making abilities to their fullest, they allowed the cousin to take her and put her in rescue. And geez, how we DO wonder what little Luna's puppies are doing these days! I cannot imagine how they are faring these days. They would be getting long in the tooth now, too! They'd be 8-10 years old themselves.
So, that is the story of Luna. DOB=unknown Gotcha day=01/26/2006 RIP=07/11/2014 So many stories between 2006-2014 and so much love. She is truly one missed little diva! Happy gotcha day, kid.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Chewing Time
Henry has taken up chewing again every now and then. There are still a handful of chewy sticks in his toy bin that he's taken a liking to. Again, while this is not ideal for his belly issues, it truly helps his PM anxiety issues and for his head, chewing out his stress seems a lot better for him than pacing which does not seem to take the edge off him the way a good chewy stick does. He also seems to walk around with it in his mouth as much as he ever did, too. The boys used to do this when they were younger. Benjamin & Henry often were in sync when it came to chewing. They would both have a bone and when they tired of that specific bone they would look at each other and switch. If, however, they were not ready to switch and the other one seemed to be ready, the not ready to switch one would take their bone to another spot to chew (often where the other could not be seen). Sometimes, they would need a drink of water and not want to give up their bone, so they'd bring the bone to the water bowl, drop it right next to the bowl, keep one eye on it while lapping up their beverage and then pick up the bone after they quenched their thirst. If the other attempted to snag the bone while the other was lapping water, the water drinker would for sure stop short, give the bone thief some lip and pick up the bone that they had left. Leaving the pug ready to switch chewies with the same old chewy he had been chewing (and an exercise in patience).
While Henry is no longer in danger of losing his chewy stick, he still carries it around with him when not actively chewing. We think that maybe he realizes that even though no one is going to snag it, he may either forget where he put it or put it down and not be able to get back to it because he cannot see exactly where he put it. So, he just keeps it near until he's done with it. Whatever the reason, it for sure never gets old to us to see him walking around with a chewy hanging out of his mouth.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Shopping
For the stalkers out there, we have changed our walk schedule and now we are unpredictable! LOL! But included in our nightly walk rotation, the local Petco is a top favorite of Henry's. It is well lit, has "wide sidewalks" and lots of good smells. It doesn't hurt that every once in a while he comes home with a special treat. On one recent trip Henry was knocking over EVERYTHING on EVERY low shelf possible. It started in the fish department where he knocked the fake plants off the shelf. Then he moved to the cat area where the next items to topple were grow your own catnip containers and a few anti-urine bottles. He finally made his way to the doggie aisles where he knocked off dog biscuit boxes by the dozen. Peep #2 was letting Henry explore as Peep #1 became a valued Petco team member and began reassembling the store (in some cases leaving it better that Henry found it!).
It did not even dawn on us to try to record Henry's wreckage of the store. Honestly, we were too busy laughing and laughing so hard that was not only Henry's mess that almost needing cleaning up! We almost left a clean up of the wet variety we were laughing so hard! At last it dawned on us that we should capture this for the blog! (So many things like this come to us as an afterthought! After 10 years of blogging, one would think we would be more cognizant of such events!)
Finally we pulled ourselves together and managed to start recording. Well, what does the little stinker do? Make us look like total liars and go down aisle by aisle and not knock one single thing over! We truly wonder if Henry has all his faculties and can understand every word we say. Literally, as soon as we hit record he sniffed around like he was the ideal shopper. Go figure! So here is the video clip of him being a good boy. He did get a beef esophagus that day (which will likely be another blog unto itself. There is kind of a story behind it.)
Another side note....there were 2 ferrets there for the longest time. We were happy to learn that they got a home together just in time for Christmas.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Ask OBP #21
This week's ask question comes from Martha. Martha wants to know what the deal is with pug paws! Why do pugs seem to be so offended, scared, sensitive on their feet? While we have no good answer for her, we will admit that we were warned when the boys were young pups that we should touch their feet all the time in order to get them used to it and that we would mightily regret it if we did not get them used to it. While we probably did not do our best to heed this warning, we also did not ignore it. The feet of our pugs has varied.
We had Benny who truly did hate to have his feet touched and toenails clipped or filed. Henry was not quite as bad and was way better with the grinder than the clippers. Sol who did not love it and by the looks of her toenails when she came to us, toenail trimming was completely foreign to her. Luna was the worst though. She would literally run and try to hide when she realized it was toenail time. Eventually she got to be ok with the clippers but would tremble with fear if the deed was done using grinders. So later in life (after discovering that the clippers were her preference) it was only the clippers for her.
Pug paws in your neck of the woods....feedback please. What have you found?
Sunday, January 17, 2016
A Bridge but not THAT Bridge
Near the play place where Henry met a fake, but yet friendly frog, there is a small bridge on which young children play. Even though it was kind of a sick sense of humor thing to do, we decided to get his photo on the bridge with the caveat that if/when we share it, it is with the clear understanding that this in no way intended to be compared to the Rainbow Bridge. This is a little mini bridge that we feel has represented 2014 for Henry and now that he can cross this little bridge demonstrates his fortitude!
So merely a little visual analogy in Henry's life. He's crossed many a bridge, but fortunately we feel we are still far the final one. #HenryStrong HenryStrongIn2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Back To The Grind
Well, we are still working on getting Henry back to his schedule. We had a big staycation over the holidays! G'Ma and G'Pa were here for a bit. And the peeps were off most of that time and thru January 4th, too. While we tried to keep Henry on some sort of schedule, the fact is that someone was always with Henry during that time. And now he has to tough it out home alone for a few hours each day. Let's just say that is not the lifestyle he has become accustomed to living. So, we are back to the old grind and working him back into an uncomfortable state of affairs. He is trying hard, though. The first few days were pretty rough (and I must say very sad to watch on the camera as he raced around the house "looking" for anyone to be home, barking with some panic at the sofa for someone to be there to pet him and them grumbling with displeasure as he realized that no one was in the office chair either.
You could literally see the lightbulb go off in his head when he not only realized that he was (cue the theme music---dunt dun dun) ALONE! It was somewhat relieving, however, to also see him work on his problem solving and coping skills. He went to the laundry room door where he knows Grammy pops up when she gets there. He raced to the front door to try to catch the reflections of light that he depends upon to alert him to someone coming in the driveway/garage. So, back and forth he went. He was indeed somewhat frantic the first day (or 4) but I write with the knowledge that we see each day getting better and the faith that he will continue to progress back to his old routine in a short while. In the meantime, stay strong Henry! You've got this buddy. #HenryStrong
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Eye Update
Over the long holiday vacation Henry got to visit his eye vet. We had noticed that Henry's eye has been a little irritated lately. (Uh....obviously it is from him hanging his head out the window and getting his smells on! None of this is vet approved, of course!) The proof was in the pudding, sadly. We did earn a sideways thumb (not a thumbs up or a thumbs down) for Henry's eye health. Henry did not have any "problem" seemingly from his car rides but his cornea was not in tip top condition. The vet does think that this may actually be a side effect of one of his meds and directed us to change up his eye drop schedule a bit.
So, we will adjust his eye meds for the next few weeks and take another trip back to the eye vet and see if the change in meds helped. (In the mean time, we are looking into doggy goggles for him so as to do a better job protecting the one eye that Henry has left) We once had goggles for him but there was no real need for them then. Henry was not quite the head out the window dog back then. (Benny would have had cardiac arrest watching Henry hang out the window! Henry respected Benny's needs for both of their own safety. But now, no Benny, no window worries for H!) In any event, we will be exerting a little more due diligence as related to Henry's eye safety.
We are still catching up from the holiday madness and by the end of this week, we hope to have some posts with a some teeth! But for now, here is a post that just shows off Henry's teefers. Aw! Little pug teeth are just the cutest, eh?
Welcome back to Ask OBP. We think we are up to date on the questions thus far. So, the most recent question that has come in is as follows: Lori asked if the pugs ever did or do now lick their feet a lot.
Yes, Lori. We went through a spell where Benjamin, in particular, would tenaciously lick his feet. We discovered that it was a seasonal allergy thing. The others were occasional feet lickers, too, but not as much as Benny. Overall we discovered that a little Benadryl for the Benny boy during the peak of the allergy season would take the edge off the persistent licking. That was a good question! You may want to consult with your vet about Gracie's licking. Sometimes it is a behavioral issue and not a medical issue. And we never pretend to be vets here at OBP, but we sure do share some mixed up medical stuff! Good luck with Gracie and her tootsies.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Looney Rising
While we were not able to catch the actual rising of the moon on Christmas night, we did catch Looney bright in the sky with her most appropriate glowing halo. The night after Christmas, however, we went down to the beach and caught Luna in our first ever actual moon rising. We have tried to witness Luna rising on the ocean several times before but have never seemed to have good enough timing or good enough weather. Well, this time we had both. Hooray! Here is our time laps of the moon rise on 12/26/2015.
While we saw the moon rise at the beach, in real life, it was always a challenge to get our true Luna to rise and shine. She was always one to be a late sleeper and getting her to get out of bed was difficult but fun. Here is a flashback clip of us trying to get Luna to rise and shine.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Freaky Friday Cupid Style
Cupid does love to go out on her leash and will often "scream at us" to be let out on her leash. She will meow meow meow meow and meow some more until we suit her up and let her out front. It is not so much that we don't want to take her out. We happily will. But there are times when literally she is so worked up to go out side, yet the minute we get out there she goes straight to the door asking to be let back in. Yikes she can be one fickle cat. Usually it is Henry who just stands by the door to go out front just to turn around and come right back in. Maybe we should install a revolving door at the front door.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Keepin’ Cruisin’
We never get tired of Henry hanging out the window and we hope you all aren't getting tired of it. It is Henry's biggest pleasure! May the video of his happiness also bring you joy.
There is no soundtrack to this one. We were pulling into a parking lot, so I wanted you to be able to hear Henry's excited barks. Also, Henry gets some love from some walkers on the street.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Pug Resolutions
It has been with great internal debate in Henry's mind what he wanted his New Year's Resolution to be. He considered many things but begging at the table won out. Not even a week in and the goal goes unmet. No worries, Henry, no one REALLY expected you meet your new year's resolution. #NoOneIsPerfect #GoodTryPug #BeggingIsFun
Monday, January 4, 2016
Ask OBP #19
This is a question asked late in 2015 (and I am sorry that memory is failing so early in the year but I do not remember who it came from #sadface). The question was about if the puggers ever chewed on slippers or shoes. As puppies the boys chewed on a lot of stuff (the underneaths of chairs, futon legs, baskets even each other!) And while they never really chewed actual shoes or slippers, they would tear up the laces of shoes if we kept unworn shoes in their reach. Even while walking, though, they would try to snag a shoe lace. Talk about a tough task! Try to walk a straight line while you have 2 pug puppies literally under your feet trying to eat your shoelaces! We are not even getting into not stepping on them or falling over them! Oh! The reminder of puppydom.
Any shoe/slipper chewing pugs out there? And we are back live (not really live--LOL) with your ASK questions now. Did you think of anything to ask over the last few weeks?
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Ringing In the New Year
Welcome to 2016! Henry met a new friend on a recent walk. This guy is about his same speed (that would be a speed of zero). But Henry was happy to ring in the new year with ol' Kermit here! LOL. There wasn't any champagne or fireworks, just a nice mosey and few hugs.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Welcome 2016
Happy New Year! May 2016 bring you all the very best! We were happy to put 2014 behind us, move through 2015 and we are feeling very hopeful for 2016 to be a wonderful year!
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Cruisin’ (A New Angle)
After the pseudo fail at Leeper, we tried to rebound with a nice Sunday drive. A drive where Henry is at his happiest with his head hanging out the the window. Our previous camera mount was not the ideal location. We tried a different spot for the outside mount and got a decent angle for Henry footage. Enjoy the show!
Reminder, no pugs were hurt while filming this video.
Since it had been a while since we've tried Doris Leeper Park we wanted to give it another try. We know how great this park is, when Henry and Doris are both on! Well, both Henry and Doris were off. Henry did not want to walk and Doris was as buggy as could be. We were hoping to try the Go Pro on this trip, too. We have had the camera for a good while now but have not really played with as much as we would have like to by now. But we took this chance to see how Henry did. You can see in the photo how the camera is mounted to the special harness Henry wore.
The video shows a bit of Henry's walk. We hope watching it does not make you sea sick. Henry does not exactly walk in a smooth motion but it a good visual from his perspective. This was our first try and a good first effort. We hope to iron out the kinks, learn from this first try and move on from there. We also tried a different angle for the car mount. So, video of part of his ride home will be posted later in the week. So, even though Henry's lack of energy for walking and the mosquito overkill at Doris were not the highlights, at least we got our feet a little more wet with the super cool camera. Hope you enjoyed the video.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Retro Caption this #5
Memories of yesteryear. Share your thoughts.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Cat at the Table
Most nights we eat dinner at the coffee table in front of the TV. Lately, not only has Henry been taking a begging position, so has Cupid! She even has gone as far as to steal the seat of peep #2! I guess preschool rules apply to everyone in the house: On your feet, lose your seat. The thing is with Cupid, it's not like she doesn't get a table scrap or 2 here and there but she really wants to just eat it right off your plate! This cat must have been born with a double wide back bone because she is sure filled with nerve! Yes....we know....it is our fault for allowing her to train us to spoil her rotten. We can't blame her. Being perched atop the pillow pile DOES give her a better vantage point! #crazycat #cupidhascajones #bratcat
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas
From our home, to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas! If Christmas is not your thing, may you simply have a day filled with joy.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Home For The Holiday
I saw on FaceBook that there was to be a full moon on Christmas night this year. Since I am nobody's fool, I did a fact check since FB is notorious for sharing misinformation. (We shared a 2 moon tale we saw on FB before.) This, one, however, is true! There will, indeed, be a full moon on Christmas night. Essentially, Luna will come home for the holiday. Brother Ben will be near to the heart, as well, as we gaze to the sky to see Looney girl's glow. Solsey by day and Luna and Benny by night. Christmas, while not the same without them all, will be better this year than last as Henry is truly rebounding and is in better shape than he was 365 days ago. So, when you look up in the dark night and see the glowing ball of light, blow that girl a kissy and let her know team OBP is thinking about her and others that have crossed the rainbow bridge. For now, Merry Christmas Eve.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Santa Buddha
I know we keep it all about the pugs....but something else in our lives has come to the forefront recently. We had our beloved Buddha statue stolen from our home about a month ago. Buddha, while a religious symbol to some, does not hold a religious value in our home. He is simply a little guy, who is always smiling, happy to see us and greets us each time we come home with happiness and open arms. We had Buddha for about 10 years and were without worry that he would just always be there. We decorate Buddha during holidays. He's been a baseball player, a pirate and even a hula girl at Halloween. For Independence Day he holds up a red white and blue boa.
The statue is made of concrete. So, he's heavy. It's not like one person can carry him off. It would definitely be a 2 person job. He is literally 150-200 pounds of dead bulky weight. So, anyway, we go to bed, all is well, next morning, Buddha is gone. Stolen while we slept. We do get attached to some crazy stuff at our house and Buddha is no different. We were not sure if, at this point, he was even replaceable. Like I said, we got him about 10 years ago! We went back to the place of purchase and they did not have one on the grounds. We asked, though, and they could make another Buddha since they still have the mold. And so we did, indeed, bring home a new Buddha. New Buddha has a slight flaw in his forehead but old Buddha had a scratch in his tummy. No one is perfect, right? Anyway, new Buddha is perched where old Buddha once stood and since it is Christmas time he's sporting a Santa hat and smiling as boldly as ever.
To quote Buddha, "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." To quote Timon from the Lion King, "You gotta put your past behind ya!" Words of wisdom are everywhere. LOL. Sending holiday wishes to you all from OBPland and Santa Buddha.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Retro Caption This #4
Another from the pug vault. What say you?
Sunday, December 20, 2015
12 Days Of Christmas
Well, weren't you all in your Christmas glory and creativity last week! OBPers really came together to compile the new lyrics to the 12 Days Of Christmas! We wanted to be sure that it got put together all in order and share our appreciation of the community driven input from you all! Christie Schade started it with a pugtridge in a peartree. Then Sue VDB, Martha and Chuckie all chimed in and along the line the pugtridge in a pear tree turned into QP in a pear tree. It played out a lot through the day and showed that OBPers have a super creative side!
As we were writing for the upcoming week, we wanted to include the final cut and at that point, the lyrics had kind of faded out at 8. So, we thought we'd complete the last 4. Thus in order from 12 to 1, we have the complete song as Christie said, bring it home, and home we brought it!
12 Legs a scurrying
11 Poopy bags
10 Black tshirts ruined
9 Nights a snoring
8 Perfect Head Tilts
7 Squeaky Toys
6 Favorite Treats
5 Ny-La Bones
4 Chewy Sticks
3 Chinese Pugs
2 Shared Pug Beds
and a QP in a pear tree
But no sooner than we thought we finished the last 4 lyrics, we saw that Christie actually finished it off herself! This was the final version after Christie's final edits:
12 little pug paws
11 puggies snoring
10 pieces of pugkin bread
9 pug peeps dancing
8 perfect head tilts
7 squeaky toys
6 favorite treats
5 Ny-La boonnzzz
4 chewy sticks
3 Chinese pugs
2 shared pug beds
and a QP in a pear treeeeee
Another day later, Chuckie offered another alternate version!
12 hours a-sleeping
11 hours a-napping wink
10 Robin stories
9 magic windows
8 perfect head tilts
7 squeaky toys
6 favorite treats
5 Ny-La boonnzzz
4 Chinese pugs (ie, Hank/Luna/Benny/Sol)
3 shared pug beds
2 loving peeps
and a QP in a pear treeeeee!!
Even though we think the number of pug beds should be given a higher number (said the dog bed junkies!) any and all of these renditions reflect that of Pug Life! We could not be happier to have an extended family such as team OBP! May this holiday season bring you a fraction of the joy as you all bring to us! If it does, you will be smiling non-stop!
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Battle of the Bow Tie
Last week's bowtie boy post sparked some silly fun. There were a few comments that sparked this follow up post. A comment from Brenda Cooper indicated that there has been a photo of Mr. Clooney holding a pug! So, of course we did our research and found this photo! A young George was indeed holding a young pug pup!
Since that was a long ago photo, we thought we'd give a more apples to apples comparison where we have a more mature George sporting a bow tie and of course, our old Henry, also decked in his formal wear. It seemed that the popular vote did, indeed go to our very own Henry! Heck, even George Clooney himself made a post that Henry had won this round of who is most handsome.
And Henry thinks all the talk is just a hoot! He knows that of course he is the most handsome pug. He finds the whole thing so silly that he even gives us the tongue about the whole thing! Class act, H! Bow tie and sticking your tongue out at us. The real deal, a sense of humor is the way to a woman's heart. And you've won many of the ladies over! (And a few men, too!) #HenryWinsBattleOfTheBowTie #HowFunnyIfTheRealGCWouldReadThis? #NoOffenseRealGC #WeJustLoveOurHenryThePug
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Christmas Cat
When we were putting up our exterior lights for Christmas, Cupid was able to watch from the front door. We opened our front door and put up a baby gate so that she could not escape. She enjoyed that but what really made her day was when the tree and other decorations were gong up inside! She loves to lay under the tree. And not like many other cats, she doesn't really disturb the ornaments or feel the need to try to climb the tree. (Maybe this is because she is pushing 18 now but she has never really bothered the Christmas tree.)
She also has a favorite Christmas throw rug. Not surprising, it has cat decor on the mat! And even though it is not in the best condition (it's several years old and the backing is starting to disintegrate) we keep putting in out because it really is Cupid's favorite. She was a pretty good helper this year. She did a good job staying out of the way until everything was in its place. Cupid says she is now ready for Christmas. She reminded Sandy Paws to come fill up the kitty stocking with goodies and leave coal for the pug! What can we say? She's a cat! Meowy Christmas!
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Flying Solo
Every once in a while, Henry has to go for a car ride where only one of his peeps is in the car. While Henry will take ANY car ride he can get, flying solo rides are not his favorites. With that said, can you deny the pleasure on this boy's face? He is enjoying the wind and the smells being delivered right to his nose!
Monday, December 14, 2015
Retro Caption This #3
From the vaults....
Share your comments, quips and captions.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Zzzzz
This is a video of Henry. Henry snoring. A passed out Henry. While there is nothing shocking about a pug snoring away, what is different about this, is that this is showing how Henry is getting comfortable again being back on the sofa. It has been ages since Henry has been comfortable enough to relax enough to get into a sleep on the sofa. But here is proof that he is slowly but surely coming back from a depression or whatever funk you want to label it. This is a huge show of progress to the Henry of old. #GoHank! #GetYourSleepOn #BackToTheSofa!
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Memories from the Vet’s Perspective
At our last vet appointment we were reflecting on how far Henry has come since he had his kidney removed and how scary the day of the surgery was. As Henry's peeps, we remember being in heightened anxiety that day and just filled to the brim with worry. It is still a vivid recollection about how they called us earlier than expected to come see Henry and take him home. They were worried about how he was doing. He simply was not coming out of anesthesia very well at all. Peep #2 rushed there and saw this first hand. Henry was indeed a hot mess. With that said, as soon as he heard peep 2's voice he immediately got excited. Peep 2 picked up Henry and just held him tightly. Henry instantly began to melt. He was still panting and overall "off" but he knew he was in loving arms and he was starting to settle and relax. It took the entire rest of the night for him to really calm and be restful, but he made it through the surgery and getting through that night was the immediate goal. He had staples across his entire tummy area and looked a bit like a pug Frankenstein, but he was moving forward. That was all we could hope for. Upon pick up, our vet was admittedly nervous about his recovery and while he was truly amazed how fast the love of Henry's person impacted his so positively, he was still concerned about taking Henry home. He knew ultimately, though that he'd be better off at home than in a strange over night medical facility. And our vet also knew that if something were to go awry we would get him to that emergency location with the speed of light.
So, back to our vet's recollection. And how we learned the rest of the story. And I must admit that while it was gut wrenching to hear, I am completely relieved that he waited to share some of the grizzly details with us at this MUCH later date. If he had shared any earlier then I think I would not have been able to take it. And it was kind of crazy how he can speak about now with a chuckle. He was describing the surgery and how when animals are on their back (as they are when they are operated upon) all of their organs and parts fall towards the back leaving the beating heart right there on top. And when he had Henry open and was cutting his kidney out that all kept seeing was his aorta was just pulsing. He was worried that with each move of the scalpel that if he even just nicked the wrong vein that he would bleed out right there. Doc told us that he was literally sweating through this operation. It was nice to hear that he was human and was concerned, but boy was it frightening to hear just how close we were to one small move costing Henry's life. And it wasn't like the doc was tooting his own horn about what a great job he had done (but believe me, we have often praised his work!) it was more like he was also relieved to have made it through that day. We had discussed the possibility of Henry dying on the operating table and that was, of course a huge concern and would have been just awful, but we knew we had to take that risk since the cancer was not removing itself.
We have come to learn a lot in life and one of the most important things we have learned is that perspective is everything. And if you can just shift that even slightly when needed then that is a wonderful gift. In this instance, the perspective of our vet was extremely powerful. We could see from his vantage point the different type of stress and pressure of getting this "just right" because even one small move could have meant everything and not only would Henry no longer be here, but he would have had to TELL US that! We have a great rapport with our vet but I am really not sure just how that would have played out. Fortunately, everything worked out in a winning scenario and we don't have to consider the what if version. Our continued kudos to our vet and his team. We are truly thankful for all his efforts and also his steady skilled hands. So, over a year later, having that perspective puts yet another spin on memories from that day.
Come rain or come shine, Henry must have his nightly car rides. If it is really raining hard, he will be ok if the window is down and he still gets the breeze but if it is raining lightly then he will still risk the wet weather and take the soaking just to get the wind in his face. Well, one recent evening, he did become one soggy pug and even though it was raining harder than a sprinkle but less than a monsoon, he propped himself on the window ledge, half in and half out as he usually does and got a good pelting of raindrops on him.
At a fun stopper (red light) he settled back in the car, we gave him a toweling off and had to snap a photo or 2 of him all bundled in the towel. In one he looks like a little orphan and in another it seems that the towel is a neck brace. After the fun stopper, he was back out the window where he again accepted each drop of water that came his way!
Anyone concerned that the towel was pink? Eh, H didn't care either. He played it cool. #HankIsComfortableWithHisManhood #InHonorOfLuna,HenryWoreAPinkTowel #WetPugsWearPink
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Help With Christmas Lights
It is not uncommon that when we do something that actually needs our true focus, we always have extra "helpers". By this we mean that Henry or Cupid always want to try to chip in their 2 cents. And while less common, it does happen that they actually behave like good boys and girls and stay out of the way. Well, at last, the latter was the case this past weekend when we were hanging the exterior Christmas lights on the house. Who was a good boy? Henry the pug?! You see him passed out and out of the way as his peeps checked to see if the light bulbs worked and then climbed various ladders to get the lights on the gutters just so!
Henry was a good boy the entire time. And that is better than I can say for some of our neighbors! Here's a clue, neighbor, if I am on the rooftop, that is a good time to wave and keep walking! This is not the best time to stop and chat. Maybe it's just us but we did find some of our neighbors rather a nuisance with their desire to stop and ask mundane questions. We were trying to stay on task, beat the rain, beat the dark and hurry in hopes of finishing before the dog woke up! (I didn't want to say beat the sleeping dog! That would have sounded horrible!)
Once again, Henry showed more class than some people! #HernyHasManners #HernyIsAGoodBoy #HenryHelpedForRealThisTime
Monday, December 7, 2015
Retro Caption This #2
Looking forward to quips, comments and captions.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Henry’s Health
I think it has been a while since we have given an update on Henry and his health issues. We go for blood work about every 4-6 weeks and sonograms and xrays every over month or so, and I am not sure how recently we have shared the latest results. Well, like most things, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Henry's remaining kidney continues to be free of cancer and functioning well. The bad news is that he is still not retaining proteins as he should be. We have tried a few different courses of action and now we will be moving to a different steroid. One that is specific to "the gut" and hopefully will be the miracle that we are seeking. We will try for 60 days and re-do blood tests.
We also know that he is not doing well on the protein front as he is starting to get a bit of fluid on lungs/retaining water. Hopefully the new meds will help with this as he will start to keep his proteins. If not, he will go on Lasix. Luna was on this and there were some side effects for her. This concerns me since Luna rarely suffered medication side effects and typically needed larger doses of some meds to get the desired results, if Henry needs to go on this, he will likely have side effects. He has nowhere near the medication tolerance that Luna had. So, we are hoping this new med (Budesonide) will work wonders.
The really good news, though, is that Henry is improving cognitively. He still has good and bad days/moments, of course, but we can link his rough days to days when he is short in the sleep department. As far as social skills, those have also been on the upswing. He has started to show some interest in meeting other dogs, and has been seeking out love and attention. So, Henry of old seems to be creeping back to the surface. We are not sure if it's his depression that is lifting now that it's been over a year since he lost so much and he is finally getting accustomed to being the lone wolf and being able to navigate without sight, etc. No matter what it is, he is in better overall spirits. His anxiety is less and he will not tantrum in the mornings quite as quickly and even when he does tantrum it is not as bad as it once was. Even the doc is impressed. In an upcoming post, I will share a story that the vet shared with us recently about the day Henry had his kidney out. I am glad the vet waited to share some behind the scenes with us until MUCH later. It was a very risky and tricky surgery. Much more than we thought. But Henry is a trooper and he is our little Superman and Underdog all rolled into one!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Bowtie Boy
So, obviously anywhere we go, Henry goes. Anywhere he is allowed to go, that is (and some places he probably should not go). Well the event that we recently attended that brought us back to St. Augustine was an outdoor wedding. A wedding were maybe not all dogs were allowed, but Henry was certainly welcomed! We were sure to dress Henry appropriately for this special occasion. He shouldn't very well attend a wedding in camouflage harness! Even at an outdoor wedding that would not have been good manners. So, we were sure to have Henry be as George Clooney-esque as possible and this meant having him wear a black bow tie. Clooney ain't got nothing on Hank! #WhosAHandsomeBoy?! #HenryIsAHandsomeBoy! #HenryReallyWasTheBestMan
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Where’s The Fire?
The room where we stayed in St. Augustine had a fire place. (It was electric but still gave off heat.) We were fortunate enough to get a pretty chilly day (by Florida standards) and were able to use the fire place for a few minutes to take the chill from our room. Here you see Henry waiting for the flames to start kicking up. But he fell asleep waiting since this was a flameless type of heat. There were no logs needed for this fire and the only logs that were being sawed were his!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
St Francis Barracks
As we made our rounds in the St. Augustine area, we discovered the St Francis Barracks to be towards the end of a main drag and the area offered slightly wider sidewalks and less people than on the main thoroughfare. So, we took the opportunity to give Henry and passersby an opportunity not to get into each other's way. The grounds of this military establishment are quite lovely. They are adorned with very large flower pots displaying a lovely array of colorful flowers.
So, we were plodding along, Henry style and the further we walked, the more pooped Henry was getting and even though the morning started cool, as the sun was getting higher, the coolness was fading fast. Like with many other walks, Henry needed to take a break. His break time happened to be in front of the barracks. So, we sat on the front step there for a few minutes, he had a sip or 2 of water and I used this as a photo opp! I anchored him (as if he needed it) to the flower pot and took a photo. VERY shortly after that, we were approached by a serviceman who asked us what we were doing. I told him we were walking our dog and taking photos of him. He promptly told us to leave the premises. So, off we scooted. So, Henry got the proverbial boot! Since this is a military establishment we assumed that even though we are seemingly innocuous, we perhaps were posing a threat. Threat of CUTENESS! Henry had no interest in bebopping out of their way, so Henry had the luxury of being carried off all the while giving both the military man the stink eye (for kicking him out) and the high paw (for making sure that he was carried away). We still got a pretty cool photo, though!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Retro Caption This #1
Reminder: Ask OBP will be back in 2016. So for now, enjoy a flashback photo and come up with your best comment!
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Pug In The City
Welcome back from your day of giving thanks and then shopping for all the goodies you didn't have to be thankful for but now you have to add to list for next year. Hahaha! Well, we are catching up and trying to get back on track with the blog post holiday. There are still a few stories we have to tell about our recent Henry adventure. So, we will try to wrap those up this week and then we will get to more current stuff right after.
As you know, Henry had been on a trip to St. Augustine for the Pugs In the City event and he had had a blast. Well, we were fortunate enough to have reason to do a double take of that city! There was another occasion that brought us to St. Augustine this time. ("NOT a Pug event?," thought Henry.) But it was true! And even though there were no other pugs around, Henry still had a great weekend getaway! You already saw him at the miniature golf range and having as special seat at the breakfast table. Well, here you see him being the center of attention on St George Street which is the unique shopping district of St. Augustine. As we walked up and down the area Henry received many comments. Most of them were very positive. Some of them could have gone either way. While we know, ultimately, the "so ugly he's cute" comment lands him on the side of cute, we never seem to see the ugly portion of that commentary. To us, he is simply handsome smooshed nose to curly tail tip! He is just 100% amazing in our eyes. And this trip he kept proving what a strong guy he is! We will share a few more posts about random stuff on our trip.
#HenryKeepsOnTrucking
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Fancy Seat
On our recent adventure, where Henry got to go putt putting, there was an overnight stay involved. Henry did not take particularly well to the deviation in "home" arrangements too much, at first. Once he realized that food was brought to the room, though, he sang a whole different tune! Once the yummy goodness arrived on scene, he realized that he needed a seat at the table! And it was quite a fancy seat! Here, you see Henry pretending to be a Victorian style pug waiting for service. After the room service, he understood that he needed to behave like a little trooper. He was truly King Henry sitting in that stately seat!
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving 2015
From OBP to you and yours....we wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and you, the readers (our web friends) are high on this list of who we value and appreciate. While there is so much more we have to be thankful for, we will leave it with a simple HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Gone Golfin’
We had the luxury to take Henry on a mini adventure recently. This included a trip to miniature golf course. Henry did an AMAZING job navigating the course, being patient at each hole and only blocked (inadvertently) one shot!
While of course, this is all about the Hankster and his grand adventures, it should go without saying that Peep #2 took the win by 5 strokes after Peep #1 started collapsing around hole 12. Henry didn't care who won or lost, he was just happy to be out in the cool evening air and hanging out with his peeps.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Ask OBP #18
This week's Ask question comes from Christie. She shared that her Olive will kick up the dirt/grass after she has done her business. Her boys Vito and Luigi do not do this. She wondered if our pugs do/did the same. Yes, Christie, Benny and Luna both did this and not only after going potty but also just on occasion after a specific smell that they wanted to top. We had pretty much seen it as a dominance type of behavior. There are a couple of theories why dogs do this, though.
The first theory is that they are "covering" their mess. Like they are cleaning up after themselves. I am not sure if I buy into that but it sounds nice, doesn't it? Here is a little article to support theory.
The other theory is that they are marking their territory even more. They did their business, and now they are leaving more of their scent behind. (Dogs have scent glands in their paws.) This is more to what Benny and Luna would do. They would poop or pee and just kick up a dirt and be so proud of themselves like they showed that last dog who was boss! Here is more on this theory.
I think we've asked this before, Christie but I am going to ask again. Is Olive a dominant doggy? I feel like I keep hearing stuff that indicates that she is but I think you have said that she is not. From an outside perspective, you may want to consider that she is. And there is nothing wrong with her being a dominant little diva! Luna was the best at the role! She was a hotsie totsie and did it well! Benny had only a few dominant traits but marking stuff was sure a big one! If he was a human man or boy, he'd be one of those guys who would just pee in the middle of Mardi Gras and think it was a hoot! Whoosh! Thank goodness he was dog! LOL!
Due to the upcoming holidays we will be reverting back to Caption This on Tuesdays. But we will go back to Ask OBP early in 2016. We want to be able to give our full attention to our responses and with a busy holiday season that may not be possible. So, be sure to be jotting down some questions over the next few weeks! We'd love to have some good ones to start the year with!
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Cruisin’
We finally bit the bullet and bought a GO PRO camera! We had been waiting so long to see what Henry looks like to passersby as he rides with his head out the window. While this was our first try at mounting the camera on the car, it is not the ideal view. We realize that we get a lot of side mirror in the scene. We will continue to fiddle with it to find the best mounting location for ultimate Henry viewing. For now, enjoy our first effort. #HenryIsOneHappyPug #PugOutTheWindow #HighFlyingPug #FeelTheBreeze #WindInHenry'sFace #ThisIsTheLife
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Pampered
The only thing that Henry might like more than walking in the rain, is being towel dried after a rainy walk. In his younger years, toweling Henry off would always spark a play session. After we dried him off, he would get fired up and run circles around the house and try to run off with the towel. Now, getting dried off is sorta like a mini massage for him. He groans and grunts and loves every minute of it.
The other day, it rained during our morning walk and we both got wet. When we got back to the car, I attempted to partially get Henry dry before we went home. Henry was sitting on my lap and as I started to dry him off, he flipped onto his back and just melted. He was like a wet noodle. Try as I might, he was not sitting back up, he was quite content to be toweled off while he relaxed.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Quite the Shopper
Every once in a while, we will take Henry to the pet store instead of a park for his nightly walk. Usually we will do this when the weather is bad or if we need to pick something up at the pet store. With Henry's active nose, we find that he gets in about the same amount of steps, if not more, just wandering the aisles of the store as he would in the park.
Henry's routine is to zig zag down the aisles smelling everything on the bottom shelf. Some aisles get more attention than others, but he pretty much hits every aisle. As he is "shopping" he sometimes knocks things off the shelf, so whoever is holding the leash is also his personal cleanup crew.
And while Henry was busy sniffing away on his most recent outing, he caught the eye of a kitten that was available for adoption. This kitten intently followed Henry and wanted to get and play with him so badly! Since the kitten was in one of the upper cages, Henry, of course, did not even notice the kitten.
#PayAttentionHank #YouCantSmellTheCuteKitten
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Pug at Work
It was a rare event, which was not even supposed to happen according to the clause in the lease that reads "no dogs allowed in the building" but Henry, the rule breaker said, "hey, you only live once" and away he went into Peep #2's workplace! Peep #2 actually got permission from the BIG boss to allow Henry into the building after hours when Peep #2 had to work on a special project. So, Henry was permitted a quick jaunt into the building. He grabbed some water and air conditioning. He scoped out some of the building and of course gave a lot of the space the sniff test. Fortunately, he played it cool and didn't have any accidents (or any "on purposes" marking something he found fishy). There was not a lot to do or see, but he did well marching the hall ways. And now Peep #2 gets to have a good memory of the boy a work! #WorkingDog #HenryWorksHardForTheMoney
Monday, November 16, 2015
Ask OBP #17
Welcome back to Ask OBP. I needed to revisit the ask from last week. I realized after the fact that the part about peep #1 also having pets as children somehow got edited out. Peep #1 had pets growing up. A cat who lived 25 years and was the show & tell subject of peep #1's kindergarten class and a Yorkie came to the family during the 4th grade year. The cat, of course was the boss and the dog was a diva. Again, sorry, that somehow got missed in last week's blog.
Jude, presented another question. It is a real brain teaser! Which pug has a personality most like the OBP peeps. Since the boys were given family names, our quick answer would be that Benjamin would most be like peep #1 and Henry would be most like peep #2. And while it may be true that the boys were named appropriately in the fact that they hold family traits, on an individual level, there are traits that could be shown to be opposite of that. For example, Henry is more of thinker and subdued. While that is not really a trait of either family tree, per se, this trait is more a trait of Peep #1. Benjamin was a quick acting, get it done now kind of guy and that is more like peep #2. But Benny was also a super lover and that romantic mindset belongs more to Peep #1. Henry, the logic minded guy is like peep #2. Neither OBPer is like either of the girls. Neither peep is a diva or so extra demanding so that would rule out either both Sol or Luna being like a specific peep. BUT both peeps can have bursts of impatience which is very like Luna!
So, I think the real answer, Jude, is that each of the pugs and their peeps share some common traits. And just like with children who are a blend of both their parents, the pugs have taken characteristics of each of their peeps (and some familial traits that their peeps may not even realize they, too, possess). We cannot say Benny is like 1 or Henry is just like 2. But what we can say is that when we are altogether that it is clear that we are family and cut from the same cloth. When we add extended family to that, it becomes more clear that they pugs could not be more our children had we bore them ourselves. LOL!!!
While there is no real story behind this photo, I just thought it was a nice one. On his nightly rides, Henry obviously likes to keep his head out the car window. With the time change, the sun sets earlier. This means he goes into sundowning a little earlier, too. But now that we keep a lot of lights on he is doing better with that. Maybe sometime soon on one of our rides, Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" will play for him in the background. Henry's always loved the sun and even with no vision he still knows if it sunny are dark out.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Beach Fail
When we go to the dog beach, we typically go to the Ponce Inlet dog beach. There is another dog beach, however, in New Smyrna Beach. Both beaches actually flank the same body of water and while you can see each beach from the opposite side, it is not like you can swim there. The drive to New Smyrna is a lot longer. So our quick beach trips are normally to Ponce Inlet.
Since a recent storm washed away a lot of the access to the Ponce Inlet beach, we opted to go to the New Smyrna dog beach. Sadly, when we got there, we realized it was much too hot for a pug beach day.
At our house it was warm, but did not seem to hot for Henry. By the time we got to the beach, though, the sun was really beating down. It is a longish walk to the beach from the car, too and with each step it just kept getting hotter and hotter. We considered that maybe once we actually got to the shoreline, though, perhaps there would be a breeze and the water would cool Henry and take the edge off the now blazing heat.
But when we got to the beach, there was absolutely no breeze, the sand was still warm and the ocean was still as warm as bathwater. Poor Henry was a panting mess. And somehow, on one of the few steps Henry even took walking to the beach, he stepped on sand briers. 3 of them! And two of them were really big and super sharp. Immediately Henry started limping and and tried to walk on 3 paws simply because he could not walk on 2! He had two briers lodged in one foot and a third stuck in another.
All around the trip to the beach was simply a fail. There were 2 good points, though. Henry enjoyed his car ride and we didn't get stuck waiting for the drawbridge either way.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Follow The Nose
With the onset of cooler weather, upped meds and just general pug appetite, Henry cannot lay off the desire to eat and follow smells.
When he could see, Henry never considered that his food bowl came from the fridge. But now that he is driven by his nose and not his eyes, he realizes that his food is stored there. And even if is not time to eat, if he is nearby when the fridge door opens, he needs to poke his little nose in there. Following his nose, however, is the whole rest of his body. This makes it tough to close the fridge door when he has inserted himself in there once the door is open. He reminds me of a teenager coming home from school with the munchies trying to decide what he is going to snack on.
There was a moment in the video where you may notice that he gets a little off track. When this happens we will put our hand in front of his nose so that he can again pick our scent and keep forward progress. This trick almost always works. If it doesn't work, its usually because he is off track for a different reason. When there is "some other reason" then it is usually an indication that he needs to be picked up and redirected or picked up and carried. In any event, Henry may not have gone through war, but that is not to say that he has not fought some tough battles in his day.
To all those who have served our country, we appreciate you giving of yourselves so that the rest of us can have our lves, freedom and civil liberties. OBP supports vets!
Happy Veteran's Day!
Monday, November 9, 2015
Ask OBP #16
Today's ASK OBP questions come from Christie, who asks why the name "Owned by Pugs" and from Martha who asked if the OBP peeps had dogs growing up and if we were always dog lovers.
The name Owned by Pugs came about as sort of a play on the pets as property view. We're not big believers that pets are property, they are family to us. Playing off that idea, we thought that if anyone owned anyone in that situation it was most likely the pug. After all, pugs seems to have a way of making "owners" putty in their paws, so it seems funny to flip that idea around and say "I'm owned by pugs", rather than "I own pugs".
Peep 2, also had a couple cats and a dog as a very small child. By kindergarten, however, the dog was already blind and elderly and was lost in a car accident. The cats lived another few years but after that Peep 2 was petless until college when Peep 2 rescued a cat (who sadly did not live very long). It was shortly after that when the OBPS became a family with Lou C the rabbit, Cupid the Cat, the boys ( Benjamin & Henry) then Luna and Sol.
While as children, we both would consider ourselves pet people (and probably more dog than cat people) but without parental consent, we would not be permitted to actually attain an animal. (Although peep 2 did try to be a pet rescuer as a young child without parental consent once in a while).
Sunday, November 8, 2015
We All Scream for Ice Cream
Our morning, pre-work ritual always includes driving Henry somewhere to take a short walk. This helps tire him out and ensures that he will most likely sleep all morning until Grammy comes to visit him.
For a while, we had been driving to City Center and walking there. But after a few months of doing this every weekday, Henry quickly grew tired of City Center and he was no longer motivated to walk. I guess he had smelled all the smells.
So, we changed things up and started taking him to the Pavilion each morning for his walk instead. The Pavilion isn't so much of a park as it is an open air shopping mall. It's a bunch of shops, but there is also a walking path that is just under a mile in length.
And the good thing about this walking path is it is full of motivation for an aging, blind pug. A steakhouse is at one end. And once you pass the steakhouse, you are headed towards the smells of movie theater popcorn. After that there is an overwhelming burger smell from the two dueling burger places.
While this seemed like a perfect way to get Henry to walk, the only hitch in the plan is that none of these places are open in the wee hours of the morning when we go there. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of smells, but they aren't quite as motivating to Henry as they would be during prime business hours.
But there is one place that get Henry no matter what time of day it is and if they are open or not. Its the ice cream shop! No matter where we park at the Pavilion, Henry always find his way to the ice cream shop and stands at their front door. I never knew it, but he must have quite the sweet tooth!
The only thing that can top a long stroll, smelling all the smells near the ice cream shop, is if the trash guy comes. There have been numerous occasions where Henry has stood safely on the side and "watched" the trash man empty a dumpster into the trash truck. His nose goes a mile a minute! The trash guy turns all the smells upside down and its just one of Henry's absolute favorite things!
#ItsTheLittleThingsInLife
Thursday, November 5, 2015
The Perfect School For Henry
We almost forgot! On our adventures in St. Augustine (during Pugs In The City) we drove past this school. It is the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Well, of course, we had to pose Henry in front of the sign! If we were to send Henry to boarding school, this is where he would thrive.
Don't be fooled by how well Henry gets around! He can only see light and shadows. He is such a smart cookie that he has mapped out a lot of familiar places in his brain, but bring him somewhere brand new and he's back to bumping into stuff (even if he is more ginger in his approach now). And while he can hear, his hearing is both dull and selective.
In any case, we had to capture this on camera. As a side note, on our train tour, they shared that Ray Charles attended this school way back in the day! #Can'tEvenThinkOfAGoodHashtag!
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Doggy Dementia
While we have referred to Henry's brain and cognitive issues as Doggy Alzheimer's, there is no officially recognized Canine Alzheimer's disease (at least that we know about). However, we have been researching cognitive disorders in dogs as we are starting to notice more and more oddities in Henry's cognitive behaviors. For some time, Henry has been suffering from sundowners. By definition, sundowning is a syndrome in Alzheimer's patients of recurring confusion and increased agitation in the late afternoon or early evening. A sundowner is one who sundowns.
Henry expresses his sundowning by the nightly routine of pacing, needing to go outside to potty (or pretend to potty), wandering and "staring" at walls. He started doing this around the time he lost his siblings, lost his vision, had cancer and then his day of seizures. We can't peg exactly when it started, but it did start slow and got progressively worse. However, we made accommodations that helped him improve a lot in some areas. Even though he still sundowns, he is not as bad now as he was in the beginning.
In our research, we have discovered an acronym that helps owners recognize cognitive issues with their dog. The acronym is DISH.
D: Disorientation. Getting stuck behind furniture, trying to get out wrong side of a door or appearing confused.
I: Interactions as in altered social interactions. Dog appears out of it, doesn't respond as well to commands.
S: Sleep disturbances. Increased sleep during the day and decreased sleep at night. Pacing, unexplained restlessness, especially in the evening or at night.
H: House soiling
For us, it is hard to confirm these elements where Henry is concerned. This is mainly due to Henry's blindness. Henry gets stuck behind doors and furniture all the time. How do we determine what is caused by blindness vs cognitive disorder? For social interactions, what is to say he is not responding to commands from stubborness, dull hearing or dementia? He has separated from us in the sense that Henry could literally have been pet for HOURS and now we are lucky to get 5 minutes of cuddling at a clip until he becomes fidgety and antsy to escape the love. The study indicated that like Alzheimer's in humans, the canine version can leave the dog not knowing or recognizing his pack (dogs or humans). When this is the case, the dog can then become aggressive since he/she feels as if he/she is surrounded by strangers. That is probably the scariest aspect that we have "to look forward to" should Henry live long enough to get to that point.
#WorstNightmare #TearyEyed
As for the house soiling. We can knock on wood for that one! So far, so good. He is still diligent about going outside. Should Henry lose this function due cognitive or medical means we will manage, but we will know that he did all he could to do his business outdoors. He is a master in the potty department. He has always outshined his brother Ben in that area!
To see in print that we are not alone in this and seeing that there is research behind it feels so validating. I am sad for the other dogs and dog owners, but I think that there is a huge world out there that doesn't believe any of this and thinks that we are crazy.
Our research has turned up a few different medications and herbal remedies that have been shown to help. But it is so tricky with Henry and his multiple conditions. For example, one treatment is in a oil based form. Well, the oil version is not good for his IBD and poor protein absorption. Another medication has had good results, but is only effective for up to 6 months then it stops working. That seems good but then we wonder after the 6 months does the dog just revert all the way back to what he would have been without the meds? That must be a shock to the dog and the people.
We will do some more research and talk to our general vet and try to contact his Neurologist. Our neurologist has a really strong understanding of side effects of certain meds and interactions with other meds. We want to be sure to give Henry the best he's got left. And we know first hand how degenerative Alzheimer's is in people. It would be tough to watch Henry go through each phase of the disease. For now, we will continue to study up and consult and see if there is something better than what we are doing. We just try to keep him on his routine, keep him calm and give him the things we know make him happy (especially car rides!)
Have any of you experienced this type of scenario in your dog? Seen doggy dementia? Have any advice? Here are the links for further reading:
On our nightly rounds of exercise for Henry's body and mind, we ran across some folks who recognized him! It was an unusual event for sure. We were driving to City Center and on our way there we saw a young couple walking 2 dogs. They were pedestrians trying to cross the street that leads to City Center, one of our favorite parks. We noticed the duo with dogs more specifically since we thought that at least one of the dogs was a pug. Keeping with the flow of traffic we did not have time to stare and study the dogs across the street. So, we went on our way. We parked at the far side of the park and started to walk Henry. He plodded along in his slow moseying way. And it was not long before we saw the same 2 people with the 2 quick walking dogs coming our way. They had made phenomenal time! (Oh days of young, fast paced pugs!) Assuming they were just pug curious, like we are, we thought they were just coming to say hi to a random pug. When suddenly the young lady shouts, "Is that Henry?!" We were taken back and stammered that this was indeed Henry. (Wondering how do you know him?!) She explained that she'd "been following the blog for years" and one day noticed that the photos were taken at City Center. She turned to her partner and told him, "See! I told you one day I would see him!"
After our initial shock of having randomly met someone who reads the blog, we managed to put a few sentences together and learned about their dogs. One was Alex K Waffles, a rescue pug they recently acquired. Monkey, the other dog was a pug boxer mix. Both dogs were adorable, and so healthy! They seemed younger than "middle age" (5-7 years) and were in such excellent shape. Alex had an adorable pug tongue lag that just gives him an instantly "silly and happy" look to him and he was bouncy and fun so that added to his adorableness.
We walked away regretting not having taken a photo with them with Henry. Fortunately, those ultra fit pups lapped us and we got another photo opportunity and this time we took advantage of it. It was so nice to meet someone who knew Henry. Although it was a totally weird feeling to have him be "known" without us knowing who knows him. But I guess that is how all the super stars feel! Hahahahaha!!! Henry is a super star to us, though. So, anyway....it was nice meeting you Monkey and Alex and their peeps! See you again some day at the City Center.
#HenryTheCelebrity #TongueInCheekOfCourse
Monday, November 2, 2015
Ask OBP #15
This Ask OBP question comes from Christie! Christie asked if we put the TV on for our pugs, specifically Animal Planet.
The answer is not a simple yes or no. It is, however, a no AND a sort of yes! When we had a full house, the pugs were crated when we were not home and we did not leave a nearby TV on as that would have lead them to believe that someone was home. If we were home, they were out of the crate. So, definitely no TV in the early years. It wasn't until the pack was gone and the leader of that pack, Henry, was the lone wolf standing when he expressed the need to no longer be crated. So, Henry is not crated and has free roam of the house. Since this is the case now, we do leave the TV on (but never to Animal Planet). We want Henry to feel like someone is home since someone being home makes him feel better. So, if we can trick him into thinking someone is home, then that helps him.
I will say, though, that watching Animal Planet did sometimes get a rise out of Baby Benny. He was the only one, though, who ever noticed that the TV had images. He could see the TV and hear when pups barked. He would occasionally "lunge" and "puff" at the television. It was a kind of a bouncing, half bark. It was quite hysterical, actually. I guess he felt threatened to have all these "invaders" enter our living room. And perhaps he was protecting us. Silly pug.
One time Benny even barked at his own kind on the television. The video above is from a news report featuring Central Florida Pug Rescue. And Ben was barking at the poor foster pugs looking for their forever home!
I will clarify, however, that while that was cute to us, it is not dream dog behavior. And we often say that if the pugs were big dogs, some of their behavior would not be cute or even acceptable. I'll use Aunt Laurie's dog as an example in this one. Aunt Laurie has a Rottweiler. And when Lulu, the female Rottie, "lunges" and "puffs" at the TV it is literally terrifying to me. To Aunt Laurie not so much. But when a 20 pound dog charges at something "aggressively" it can totally be brushed off, but when the same behavior is shown in a dog pushing 100 pounds it doesn't translate to cute or funny, in my opinion.
So, thus I have to concede that that same behavior in Benny should not be viewed as cute or funny either. That is why little dogs get away with so much more nonsense. As an owner, you just pick up your 10, 15, 20 pound dog and march off with him/her. If that dog is 80-100+ pounds correcting the behavior and removing the dog from the problem is much more of an issue.
I hope that answers the question. What about you all? Do your dogs need the TV on? Animal Planet? Have crazy reactions to the TV set? Is this a problem for you?
#MoreQuestions! #KeepThemComing
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Happy Halloween 2015
We hope everyone had a safe, happy and reasonably healthy Halloween. This year, with Henry again being the lone pug and defying many of the predicted odds, we opted to have him dress as UnderDog! There's no need to fear! UnderDog is here!
We feel he is the epitome of an underdog. Defined by Google as "a competitor that has little chance of winning a fight or contest." The way we see it, Henry's cancer was caught by accident and thus, without this dumb luck he would have left us the way Solsey, Benny and Luna have left us. So, who better to don the UnderDog cape then Henry?!
For those of you unfamiliar with UnderDog, here is a snippet.
For those of you who remember, name UnderDog's girlfriend for bonus points!
We weren't sure if Henry was going to go trick-or-treating this year. We decided to make it a game time decision based on how he was doing on Halloween Day. He had a great day on Halloween and just before sunset, we suited him up and he took to the streets to get some treats. Going out while it was still daylight was a huge help to Henry. Here is a short clip of Henry flying to Grammy's house.
Henry also came across this guy while he was out and thought someone ought to give him a few treats to put some meat on his bones!
#HenryStrong #HenryUnderPug #UnderDog
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Pugs In The City Part 4 of 4
We close our Pugs in the City posts with the final chapter. This was the breakfast on the beach event. I will say it was bordering on torture to roust Henry for this event. The breakfast started around 11 and while that is not early by even my own like to sleep in standards, Henry had such a big day the day before that he was happily recuperating well into the late morning hours.
Despite Henry's sleepiness, we managed to get up and make it to the beach in time. When we got there the yummy smells overtook him and he simply wanted to devour everything within his immediate circumference. Since this was not feasible, we took a jaunt from the covered pavilion area to the beach. And by a jaunt, I mean we carried him. Henry was toast. He entered full on stubborn mode and was not walking anywhere except back to the yummy smells.
We got to the beach where it was super windy! And even though there was a cone that said, "No Parking," Henry disobeyed the instruction and parked himself there anyway! He would not budge. He would not walk, sit or move in any capacity! He was still taking in the smells that the wind brought his way.
We saw other dogs, not just pugs, enjoying the windy day on the beach. The surf was pretty rough and the sand was gritty (not like on our beaches) so we did not really venture out to get closer to the shore. And by that, again, I mean we were getting tired ourselves of toting the 25 pound doodle boy everywhere that morning. We had brought the Solsey stroller and he may have used it by that time. We had brought the stroller everywhere with us on Saturday, but Henry scoffed at the need for such transport. Saturday he walked everywhere he needed to go. By Sunday he needed the transport, but preferred to be carried, of course.
So, after some time visiting and chatting with other pugs and their people, spending some time on the beach, we headed home. Home to Cupid who had been cat sat by Grammy. Thank you, Grammy! We gave Grammy off on Monday, though. We needed the bonus day off work to take care of our typical weekend business such as grocery shopping, cooking/making Henry bowls, cutting the grass, doing laundry and other household chores. Henry pretty much slept most of Monday! One tuckered out little pug!
Thanks again to CFPR for putting on a weekend of wonderful pug events! It was a great experience, a superb Henry adventure and a heartwarming make up trip for Henry who just over a year ago we were still not sure he'd be alive another month! But here he stands! One strong trooper of a pug!
This is about the pug party! After a long day of train riding, pirate museuming, walking the city and just overall being awake and active, Henry still had a party to attend! He had a few bites of food and tried on his Pirate costume. Which after we got to St. Augustine, I realized I had packed the wrong costume. When Henry lost his eye in 2014, we planned ahead and bought Pirate costumes for all 3 pugs - Benjamin, Henry and Luna. Sadly, by the time Halloween rolled around only Henry remained and he was not really in the mood for tricking and treating, but he still made his rounds that year. The costume that Henry wore last year was a mix and match of his own and Benjamin's. And what I realized that I had packed were the "leftover" pirate pieces. But, we had what we had so we just made do and brought the costume with us. We knew that Henry would not wear the costume for very long, so our plan was to suit him up right before the contest. That was the plan.
We were at the part somewhere between an hour and hour and half when we realized that Henry was done for the day. The party, being an outdoor event (in a wonderfully decorated and arranged yard) was in the evening. And when darkness sets in Henry's world, especially on a day with little time for rest, he tends to melt down a bit. To his credit, Henry's meltdowns are few and far between now and we are getting better at cutting them off before they start as long as we are around when they begin. At the party, he was becoming disoriented, but knew enough to keep walking towards the front gate from whence we came. So, missing the door prizes, the auction and the costume contest, we took Henry's lead and headed back to the hotel.
While we were there, though, we met a lot of nice people (none of which have names that I can recall!) but this is the place where everyone got much more social and opened up about their pugs. They shared info about their personalities, their health, the ones they loved and lost and it was just a super fun time. CFPR's Ann hosted a seriously wonderful event! We have included some photos to show Ann sharing puppy pops (one in each hand and one dog per pop!) And Ann was gracious enough to allow Henry a few licks of one of the pops! The pops were a hit!
Oh yeah! Henry slept so hard that night that he did not even snore! How adorable is this passed out pug?!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Pugs In The City Part 2 of 4
Welcome to Part 2 of Pugs In the City! This was probably our favorite part! After Henry had some time riding in the car, eating lunch and in the dog run, he was ready for the "down time" of riding on the red train/trolley car. This was a train ride through historic St. Augustine. The train ride, which is usually a 2 hour tour, had been chartered for us so we didn't have to make any stops and we were given the express version of the tour. So the whole trip was probably about an hour or so. Henry was not the only pug on the trip. The train was filled with people and pugs alike. Everyone was so well behaved! Henry truly enjoyed this ride.
The weather was beautiful! He was in the shade with a patch of sun on his feet. We could offer him cool water as needed. He had a couple people laps from which to choose. It was pug heaven for him! The tour guide was full of information and that made it a pleasure, too! CFPR's Ann was even dressed like a pug! That was a pure hit, too! She must have been burning up in that suit, though! (A panting mess, I am sure!) And Ann's hubby sat near us and shared more historic facts! We had the double bonus box seats! We've added a few extra photos in to share some of the sites that we saw and that Henry smelled.
After the train ride was a tour at the Pirate Museum. We got to the museum really late and just zoomed through since we realized that the day was taking a toll on Henry. We needed to get back to the hotel to see if our room was ready. We made a silly mistake and got back on the red train at a stop near the beginning of the train line, so we had to do the whole tour again. This made for a long journey back to the hotel room, but Henry seemed to enjoy the ride. Once we got back to the hotel, we got checked in and made our way to the room just in time for Henry to have dinner. Henry had a few bites of his dinner, but the poor guy was so tired he could barely stand. Henry caught a super quick nap and then it was time for him to get ready to go to the Pug Party at Ann's house! This left Henry with maybe a half hour nap that day with a full evening ahead of him!
Catch the story of the Pug Party in part 3 of 4!
Monday, October 26, 2015
Ask OBP #14
This Ask OBP is a response to the question about what has been our favorite Halloween Costume. This is almost impossible to answer. But we have tried our best to rank our faves in order. From most favorite to least favorite they are below, with photo reminders. (There are some photos missing as we did not have a digital camera that year, let along a camera on our phone. What sort of world were we living in then!)
This was Sol's only Halloween with us. This was a compromise year in the OBP household. If Sol had made it to a second year, OBP peep #1 promised OBP #2 that the next year the gang could be Star Wars with Sol as Darth Vader, Henry as Luke Skywalker, Benny as Han Solo and Luna as Princess Leia, but sadly Halloween 2 never came for Solsey.
These costumes were specially made by Punchy at Pug Possessed. And rank high on our list of favorites! Again, appropriately fitting their personalities. Benny's "Linus Blanket" was really his puffy and Luna, with a Lucy attitude totally would have pulled the football out from under an unsuspecting, ever trusting Henry as Charlie Brown.
Straw House Pig, Wood House Pig, Brick House Pig From dumbest to smartest, enough said.
#5 Firefighter and King (2003)
Not quite their first costumes and we were still rookies, but Henry has always been the King! And Benny, while actually afraid of fires still made a great community helper
Superman, Spider Man, Wonder Woman. Who, other than Henry, could pull off Superman? We picked Spider Man for Benny since he had recently been diagnosed with an arachnid cyst in his spine. Being that that is a spidery type diagnose, what other super hero could he be? And Luna, well, Luna was obviously Wonder Woman!
Cute costumes, but not among our favorites for a few reasons with a strong one being that we didn't like making the boys be "the same thing". But they were brothers on the football field and in life. Luna made an adorable cheerleader!
Again, low in the ranks since the boys were the "same", but the spoof here was which boy frog would Luna choose to kiss and turn into a handsome prince? Luna's real answer would be "Neither! I am a strong woman! I don't need a man!" Our answer, is she kissed them both.
3 of the "same" crayons, but a cute theme. Benny was always called green bean, so he was green. Henry, ever the mopey type was obviously Blue and Luna, ever the diva, strutted her way in Pink, of course.
Benny, Henry and Luna are all valid words in Scrabble! Henry is worth the most points with Benny a strong second and Luna close behind in total point value.
#11 Clown and Bee (2004)
These were weak costumes and early on in their Halloween lives. Cute but not super cute and no theme.
#12 Devil and Bat (2002)
This was Benjamin and Henry's first Halloween costumes. Benjamin, always the little devil, rocked red horns and red tshirt reading "devil" and Henry was in a bat costume mostly because he used to sleep with head hanging over the edge of the sofa leaving his ears looking like bat ears. He also was slept upside down frequently, which resembled a bat. They were cute puppies but their costumes were just eh.
While this was a very cute and appropriate costume for a one eyed pug, it was Henry's first year solo and a very sad year.
#14 To be revealed later... (2105)
While a very appropriate costume, things still aren't the same without Benjamin and Luna.
Hallloweens of yesteryear. May your tricks be few and your treats be many. We will post Henry's this year photo soon. I don't see him going out for treats this year so we will likely just stay home and give out to the neighborhood kids.
Oh yeah, this is still an Ask OBP post, so be sure to ask something!
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Pugs In The City Part 1 of 4
The weekend of October 17th we took a trip to St.Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine is about an hour away from us. This trip was for a pug event to benefit Central Florida Pug Rescue (CFPR) called Pugs In The City. This was also a make up trip for Henry. In August 2014, right after Henry "lost everything" (his siblings, his eye, his kidney and bordering on losing the sight in his remaining eye) we had booked a trip to St. Augustine to try to help him through his tough time by gong on a mini vacation. Well, it fell through. He was no where near well enough. He was still chemo sick and by then also had suffered a serious bout of pancreatitis. So, the trip never happened. So, this was not only a great pug friendly trip for Henry, it was also an opportunity at a re-do.
We will tell the story in a 4 part series. The opening episode is about getting there and the dog friendly hotel. Henry enjoyed the hour long car ride and once we were on the "big road" (the interstate) he pulled his head back in the window and settled on his passenger lap pillow for the ride. Once we got there, he was ready to hop out of the car and explore his surroundings! He, of course, was also ready for his lunch which we had strategically packed in a cooler. Well fed, he sniffed around his new home away from home. The hotel was a very dog friendly hotel. They had a small fenced in area for dogs to enjoy while off leash. It was a nice area for pet owners and pets alike.
While there were a few other non pugs at the hotel and the event, there were obviously more than just a few pugs! When we first got there, the pugs warmed up to each other immediately. Surprisingly, the pug peeps were a bit on the shy side at first meeting. In the dog run area, though, there was another Henry! A non pug Henry! A moderately misbehaving, humping everyone else in the park Henry. Oy. It was giving the name Henry a bad name. LOL. Non pug Henry kept getting fussed at by his peep but it was futile. Pug Henry just kind of did what he usually does in new spaces and that is walk the perimeter. He sniffed the fence about half way around and then found a place to sit and settle. He was approached and smelled by several other pugs but never really returned the favor. There was a another blind dog in the run that day. Harley. He was about 8-9 years old. I can no longer remember exactly but I do remember that he was considerably younger than Henry. Other than Ann's dog, Julia, (Ann from CFPR), Henry was the oldest dog at the event that we knew of there but there may have been other elders there that we just did not know about. Julia is a very Luna-like little diva pug and she still has the most adorable pug strut going on. She is the same age as Henry.
It's funny, last week we were just talking about how at a long ago pug event how we could not easily identify our boys from the pack of pugs from a distance. Well, I guess that may be because they were puppies/young pugs (as were the majority of that group of pugs). At this event, though, it was easy to spot Henry in the crowd (and not just because he was the one with shaved square on his side or he was the one stuck under a table or chair but just because at this event the pugs truly looked a lot more different than one another. I guess with a little bit of age, they begin to look a bit more distinct. Anyway, it was not a challenge to tell them apart and spot your own.
We want to know how you spoil your pug! Share your methods in the comments section!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Ask Follow Up
Since we had a few good Ask OBP questions, we wanted to finish fielding them before next week when we address the one about our favorite Halloween outfits since we know that will be a full post in itself. So, we will answer questions from Terry pertaining to toys from puppyhood and sleeping in awkward positions. Christie, ever the hygienic pug lady, asked about how often our pugs get a bath. Those will be today's topics.
I will go backward, though. Bath time. Ugh. Yeah, bath time has never been on a set schedule. It was a kind of "as needed" or let's do it this time "before it's needed". The as needed times would come when: Luna would roll in whatever grossness she could find, Benny would pee on Henry or step in his own poop, or when Henry sat for a spell when a nearby sprinkler was watering someone's grass with reclaimed water. In these cases, they all would get a bath. When they were able to avoid mishaps, baths would be about every 3-4 weeks in summer and a little longer than that in cooler months. And of course, we would try to "beat the grease"....you know that feeling that is left on your hand after petting a dog that REALLY needs a bath? Hopefully we never left someone feeling like that. But there may have been a time or two when we waited a day or 2 too long and they were post ripe.
One of the things we did notice was that Luna, the smallest, was ALWAYS the dirtiest by far. Like SO dirty! So much dirtier than the boys. She totally should have gotten a bath easily twice as often as the boys. Henry would typically be next dirtiest and Benny was usually overall the cleanest with most of his dirt on his stinky feet!
Thank you, Christie. I am sure your pugs get the full deal quite often. I mean you had a pug shower created just for them! We tried to use the set tub for baths but that did not work so they just shower where we shower.
Now, Terry. You asked about sleep positions and toys. The sleep one is an interesting one. The pugs, when they were young, would sleep in some seriously awkward positions. As they aged, however, they limited their sleep position to only a few positions all of which seemed more comfortable. And as they each aged, they would no longer be as comfortable on soft pillows, dog beds or even the people bed. Eventually they all preferred the floor. But in their youth, they mostly slept on Henry! He was often the bottom of the pug pile. So, for the others, it may not have seemed uncomfy, but for Henry, always being piled on probably was not always ideal. But they would sleep with their heads hanging off the edge of a bed or sofa, squeezed into a cat bed, on their back like a dead bug or in various other shapes. One of my favorites, which was not staged, is the one of Benny laying on Henry (picture above). Benny was always hugging up to Henry. It's no wonder that Henry misses his bro so much.
As for toys, oh yes, our pugs played with their toys well into their early 10's. After that they really only wanted chewy sticks. But they were quite the tuggers and shakers of fluffy toys.They had a rope toy that had multiple prongs so that they could each pull. A stuffed octopus worked well for tug, too. That one left their peeps some legs too, so that we could all play. Luna liked things that made noise (but of course was particular about the sound) while Henry preferred rubbery toys or stuff just to carry around and Benny, of course, had his favorite puffy. Henry had pool toys that he liked to fetch and this was part of his summer routine until his health and vision started to dwindle (so that was up until he was 11 or so).
That would be a big yes, Terry. The pugs loved their toys beyond just puppy hood. Maybe you have not found the right toy? I can say that one Henry's faves was the paper towel roll. The boys also would do a mean job on a newspaper! Much like children, sometimes the best toys are the simplest.
Thanks everyone! #KeepAsking!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Ponce Inlet Pug
As mentioned earlier, we had some high tide issues surrounding Hurricane Joaquin. Well, we specifically went to Ponce Inlet (the dog beach) to see how the tides effected the dog beach. Well, it was quite a trip. The photo below does not really do it justice but the cliff you see here used to be a slopped path of sand where we would enter the beach. Well, now that has obviously been washed away. This meant we had to take a longer route to get to the beach. Or should I say what used to be the beach. The tide was so high that there was practically nothing left! We did go down to the have some time in the waves. Sadly, I was not paying perfect attention and Henry got pummeled by one! Before that we had been jumping a few waves but the one that took him for a loop sneaked up on me, leveled him and definitely got me more wet than I had intended to get. Henry took it like the champ that he is! #HenryStrong!
Knowing that we shouldn't end the experience on a sour note, we stayed in the water a little longer. Henry ended up having a really good time and so did his peeps. Grammy even joined us on this adventure! Some little puggy even got a bath that night to get rid of the sand and sea water stench. Guess who slept well that night!
Monday, October 19, 2015
Ask OBP #13
Welcome back to ASK OBP. We have received a few good questions. One from Sue VDB asking about the use of our fridge now that we are down to only one if we were able to reclaim people space. Sandra B asked about the photo in the Pug Love video where the boys are tending goal at an ice hockey rink. And Sleighbelle asked about getting more pugs when your pack starts to dwindle.
First, yes, Sue! We have indeed claimed some people space in the fridge. Although we have more fridge space it is not often that we fill the fridge with people stuff, though. It comes in handy when g'ma and g'pa come down, though. They can sure fill a fridge when they stay! So, for that reason alone, it is nice to reclaim our fridge (even though we'd rather have a full fridge instead of less pugs).
Sandra B, the story behind the boys in the hockey net is a short but humorous one. This was taken at the first pug only event we ever attended. It was indeed at a skating rink in Maryland. It wasn't actually ice at the time. It was a roller rink during summer months. This is where the event was held, was on the rink. There were probably 50-100 pugs there. This is the first and last time we ever lost our pugs in a sea of pugs! Once they were all mingling we could not find our sweet Benny or Henry among the group! When the boys were young, people would always ask us how we could tell them apart. We were miffed by this question since to us they look nothing alike! I mean they had common pug features, but beyond that did not even resemble one another! But after this event, we could see why someone would ask us that. When you had an over flow of fawn pugs then even your own beloved pug begins to melt into the pile of beige. It was some craziness. With all that aside, since the goalie nets were still up, we thought it would be funny to pose them there and take a snapshot. We wanted to have them dress in hockey attire and make it look like Benny was taking a shot against the defending Henry but that was a bit much even for us to pull off. Good question, Sandra! Sorry there is not really a better story behind that photo, but that's what it was.
Last question goes to Sleighbelle. And thanks to others for chiming in on this since Sleighbelle put it out there. We are answering it, too, but yet not answering at the same time. No one can say if getting a dog (pug or not pug) is right for you. So, you will have to go with your gut and insert some logic, too. I will follow this by thanking everyone by not asking us what will happen when Henry goes. We get this question so often that while it is no longer literally every day, it sure feels like it is every day. Even days after Benny and Luna passed, we would hear, "so, are you going to get more?" as though "more" would replace the ones we lost. I have my own rant about that but keeping it positive, I will leave it with a thank you to you all for not asking that question. We do not know what we will do when that day comes. We cannot predict what we will do when we ultimately do lose Henry, the last pug standing. We can only say that that day and the days (and maybe weeks and months to follow) will be impossibly hard. And we honestly are not sure if we will ever be ready to go down the sad road of loss like that again no matter how much joy they brought us before that. It is something we talk about often and dread regularly. And only the person looking to get a dog can say if he/she is ready, willing and able to undertake such an important feat of giving a fur baby a forever home.
Sidenote: the other question that we hate to hear when we are on our walks, is "what's the matter with him?" as though Henry is broken. He may be slow, but hey, at least he's out here giving it his all and that we, as his people, are still celebrating him and giving him opportunities to enjoy life. So, really, the question we want to ask the asker is "nothing, what is the matter with YOU?" HA! Other than those 2 questions, we are good. If someone is genuinely wondering about him, they ask "why did he lose an eye?" or "why does he have that shaved spot" or some other question expressing actual wonderment or concern. I guess the "what's the matter with him?" could be asked from a loving heart but given the tone it is typically asked in, it does not convey a message of concern but often an expression of disgust or disdain. So, again, with much appreciation that no one has asked our 2 most dreaded questions. Keep asking and we will keep answering!
Stay tuned and next week will answer Christie's question about our favorite Halloween costumes. We typically recap Halloweens of past when it gets a tad closer to Halloween. But I have sensed that there are some folks out there who are as excited for Halloween! Very funny! We are excited, too, though. It is just around the corner!
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Higher Tide Hank
So, we have seen Henry being a daredevil when he was walking on the edge of the river when the river was low. We witnessed him hanging out on the edge when the tide was high. Well, we visited the river shortly after Hurricane Joaquin was out at sea. This hurricane, while impacting many others north of us, barely impacted Florida. It did bring us some high tides, though. Locally, our Halifax River was splashing over the edges of the retention wall. Here, we have Henry risking life and limb and getting a few splashes of water on his paws. Seriously, this boy does make your heart skip a beat!
Each year for the last 3 we have participated in our local Walk to End Alzheimer's. (You have seen photos of Henry with his Uncle Bob who is currently suffering with the disease. Well, at the walk, we are given flowers in colors that represent your affiliation with Alzheimer's disease. Orange is that you support the cause and a vision of a world without Alzheimer's (which we do). Purple represents that you have lost someone to Alzheimer's or dementia (which we have). Yellow tells that you are supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer's (which would be for Bob's wife, Aunt Kelly). The blue flower is to show that you have dementia or Alzheimer's (and that one is for Uncle Bob himself, although he is no longer in a position to understand any of this).
We wanted to pose Henry in front of the Alzheimer's garden so that Henry, even though he could not make the walk, show that he is in support of a world free of Alzheimer's disease. Henry's brain issues are actually quite similar to that of a person who has the fairly early stages of dementia. So, this is a cause that Henry can support wholeheartedly. After the world of pugs, working to end Alzheimer's is our biggest passion. #EndAlz #WalkToEndAlz #DoingItForBob #HenryHopesToEndAlzToo
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Pugs In The City
This coming weekend we will be taking Henry on a pug adventure! It is time for the Pugs In The City V event in St Augustine put on by Central Florida Pug Rescue. We are hoping that this won't be overwhelming for Henry. We are looking very forward to it. There is a meet and greet, a trolley ride, sightseeing, food and friends. It is a pirate themed event, of course! We are sure that there will be more Henry type pugs with a patch to cover the no eye. So, loads of cutie pirate pugs will be afoot!
We may not have an immediate follow up to the event, but we promise photos and stories will shared as quickly as we can! Ay matey! See you there or walk the plank!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
More Bad Blood
UGH! It was time to do another check of Henry's blood to see how his protein absorption is coming along. We thought he was doing better. So much so that we let him indulge in those chew sticks that have been taking the edge off of him in the evenings. Well, he is suffering the consequences. The target number in his protein test is 6.0. Well, the first time his blood was 4.1, the next time we got i up to 5.4 and now this time it was back down to 5.1. That is not a large drop and not nearly as low as 4.1 but still not near the goal of at least a 6. The good news is that he really seems to be "more well" this time than the first time and yeah, probably not quite as good as he was when he was a 5.4 but his mental happiness is so much better!
So, we will continue to tweak he food and his meds but I am not entirely sure if we are doing him THAT much better by having him lay off the chewy sticks altogether. They may not be so hot for his IBD but they are good for his head. For now, though, the plan is to go with the slightly tweaked regimen and retest in a month. Until then, here's to higher protein! #HenryStrong #HenryNeedsToChewButAlsoAbsorbProtein #DoubleEdgedSword #NoWinSituation #JustAbsorbProteinHenry!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Ask OBP #12
Hi Christie! Thank you for carrying the weight of Ask OBP! We love your questions! And you have some doozies! It sounds like our pugs have little in common with your pugs. This is so odd to us, though! We have found that pugs have so much in common. But I have not heard about a pug licking hair! Actually, our pugs would lick our faces UNTIL they got to our hair and then they would start again from the chin up. Your pugs licking your hair seems so funny to us! Are there any other hair-licking pugs out there?
So, we will tangent from the pugs licking hair to Cupid chewing our hair and biting our scalp. This is one of Cupid's favorite things in life. She prefers to do this right after a shower with wet hair and then the bonus of fresh dried hair topped with hair spray or some other product. Oh she LOVES that! We are convinced it is that behavior that got her kicked out of her original home. She "wouldn't stay out of the baby's crib" was the reason listed for giving her up. I can just see her hoping in the crib with a sweet newborn post tear free shampoo bath! Oh, she must have gone to town on that kid! First, she sniffs then gently paws the head. That is followed by a harsher paw where she spoons the hair into her mouth. The final blow is when she buries her face in the hair and tries to get a mouthful which often includes scalp! Yikes! And in her younger days she may have given an extra back claw to the head finale. After her hair show was over, she would literally roll over as if in an over pleasured indulged coma. So, nope on the pugs, but a big yes on the cat!
Sunday, October 11, 2015
So Spoiled
Henry has never been much of a barker. He would give a woo woo woo when he was giving you some attitude or share a bit of barky excitement when arriving at a new location or coming back home from an outing. But as far as giving a bark to get fed or to be let out to go potty, he's always been the strong silent type.
With his no longer newly found blindness, he has learned how to make his voice work for him. In this video, you see him bordering on throwing a temper tantrum for the freshly grilled steaks under the foil. With his IBD/low protein level issues, he is not even allowed to have one small bite, poor kid. His nose, though, without sight from his eyes, makes up for his other senses. So, whenever there is an overflow of yummy smells, he tends to loose his mind a little bit. And that is what the tantrum shows. He has mastered using his voice and really wants some steak!
Sorry H, sweetie, your colon says otherwise. :(
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Not Time To Eat
Henry has gotten in the bad bad habit of wanting breakfast a few hours before actual wake up time. Just so that we can peacefully rest the last couple of hours of sleep, we have begrudgingly obliged. He additionally, has started to consider ANY time right after he wakes up as another meal time. He can be very convincing. He will just stand at his food spot and stare at the wall patiently waiting for his meal. He would stand there for A LONG time if you let him. We try to get his mind off the meal that he is envisioning in his head. Sometimes he will NOT wait patiently and if he is actually pretty hungry, he will bark a bark of desperation as if to say, "you're letting me starve?!" It is obviously all in his head. He is well fed. No doubt about that. Just more blind dog antics.
It is well known that Cupid has had her ups and downs in the behavior department. She can antagonize Henry, be a pole dancer, spit at a toddler or be charming and chatty and drooling with love. It is times when we see her in sweet sleep, with her little paws all curled up that we just look at her and think, "aw!" Then we mumble, "deceiving little devil!"
#CupidIsACutie #WellRoundedCat #CalicoAllTheWay
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
High Tide Hank
A short time ago, we posted about Henry being a daredevil. He walked on the border of a steep drop off at the edge of the Halifax River. Well, it was low tide during that visit. The low water level exposed the sharp shells on the bottom of the river. Well, on the same night that we went moon viewing (which was actually about a week before the Blood Moon/Lunar Eclipse letdown), we took this photo of Henry. Again, he is teetering with disaster. This time, however, there are more factors going against him but some going for him. The worrisome factors would be the fact that the darkness was falling fast and the winds were quite gusty. The high tide, however would be a good thing. If he fell in, he would fall into water and not on jagged debris. He can sort of swim and we can swim and he would still be on a leash so we could pull him to safety. Landing in water would have been way safer if he fell, though. Bur for Henry, his "living on the edge" style of life over the last year or so has us going gray with worry.
Henry still has a lust for life but just doesn't get any possible consequences. He's a wild one. #HenryStrong
Monday, October 5, 2015
Ask OBP #11
Welcome back to Ask OBP. We have been asked by Christie if we sing songs to the pugs. And it was both comical and shocking to learn that a few of you sing the same song to your pugs! You are my pugshine has seemed to be a chart topper with our readers! That is amazing!
We can safely say that we pretty much have never sang lullabies to the pugs. Sorry to disappoint, but we were not part of the Pugshine bandwagon. Of course, there were a few obvious songs that we have sung to them, however. As you may recall, they were Benny and the Jets for Halloween one year. We would regularly screech out the wails of Elton John's popular tune. The pugs were not a fan of this, but Benny did seem to know it was all about him and it was ok with him if we were pitchy.
Another likely obvious song we would sing to Henry would be 'Enery the 8th. This was an oldie but goody. And even though it is now racially outdated and inappropriate, we used to belt the chorus of Brother Louie to Luna except we replaced Louie Louie Louie Louie with Looney Looney Looney Looney.
Most recently we have The Heart of Rock and Roll is Still Beating where we have updated the lyrics to be The Heart of Hanky Doo is Still Beating.
I must also confess, that I have a soft spot for Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl. That's kind of a love song that Luna and I have to each other. The song is special because we always called Luna "girl" as in "Hey, Girl!" or "Hey, Girl, Hey!" And Luna was SO loyal that it just seems to fit.
A while back, when Benny, Henry and Luna were all youngsters, we made little video montages to You've Got a Friend in Me and You're My Best Friend. We also did one for Luna using Pretty Woman. So those songs stuck and we were know to serenade the pugs to one of those tunes now and then.
I realize that this means that Solsey never got a song of her own. If we were a member of the Pugshine club, we may have sang it but to the lyrics You are my Solshine. Sadly, this never, pardon the pun, dawned on us. #ba-dump-bum
Christie, you are a question workhorse out there! We love answering your questions. And Christie, we will answer the one about hair licking next week (sorry for the delay). Is anyone else going to follow Christie's lead and ask questions? Ask OBP can only live as long as we have something to answer. I know there has been a sprinkling of other questions, but you have to give it to Christie for carrying the team. #wink
Sunday, October 4, 2015
The Moon Failed Us
The night of 9/27 was to be a blood moon and a lunar eclipse. The next one not until 2033. Our weather was terrible. We saw beautiful Luna rise and got to observe her for a few precious minutes but after that everything went south. The clouds thickened and then at prime time we actually had a massive rain shower. So, it was all for nothing. Please feel free to share your observations if you were lucky enough to catch the spectacular event.
The photo shown is of Henry a few days before the moon got it's biggest. It was a still an overcast and windy night but Henry was happy to be out and about.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
The Waiting Game
Cupid is starting to get as bad as Henry in the department of wanting her people to be home. She likes us to be home. She's not one of those aloof type cats. It is not enough that only one of us is home, they like us both to be home. So, when only one of us is home, the waiting game for the other one of us begins. Both Cupid and Henry take their spots and watch out the window. Cupid still has all her faculties. She can see, hear, smell, talk. So, she is fully functioning. While Henry has poor hearing and no real vision to speak of, he can see lights and shadows. So, he totally knows when a car pulls into the driveway. It that happens during the day, Henry can tell because the way the car and the sun cause reflections. If it's at night, he can tell headlights shine through the darkness. Thus, Henry knows what to be on the look out for. There are times when this becomes problematic, though. If our next door neighbor comes home in the evening, his car lights can reflect to give the impression that it's an OBP peep. Or in the daytime sometimes, someone might pull into the driveway to drop a package or turn around or something but if they come in the driveway, Henry still knows and then expects a peep or a visitor.
Since Cupid can see, she knows the difference. She gets all, "stupid dog" on Henry when he gets worked up over a false alarm. You can see that Cupid gets the prime spot and Henry is relegated to the less desirable location while the cat is standing guard. These creatures just love their peeps being home, though.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Back To Chewing
Even though Henry has not enjoyed any other chewy stick besides the ones that were Luna's favorite, we have kept a variety in the pugs's toy bin within Henry's reach just in case he ever became interested once again. Low and behold, the boy started to show some interest a few weeks ago. It started with him just sniffing in the bottom tier of the toy bin. Then a few days later he pulled out a chewy and just carried it around with him. The day after that he gave the stick a few licks and then a half-hearted chew. A few more days passed and no interest. But then a another day or two later, he pulled out a different chewy stick and just went to town on it! He was so pleased with himself. Also, back to old school days, he preferred someone to hold it steady for him while he chewed. We were happy to oblige. (I know! The boys are such babies and needed us to hold their chewies. Luna and Sol were self sufficient since we did not spoil them rotten in their youth.)
Henry chewed the stick until it was gone. It took him about an hour. That is about 55 minutes longer than it takes him chew the kind that Luna preferred. The problem is this: Henry really should not be chewing ANY sticks. They are not good for his IBD and thus can be really bad for him by inhibiting his protein absorption. But giving him a longer lasting chewy stick totally helps to alleviate his nervous energy and in way that relieves him where medication and lavender oil does not. It works his mind and body. So, it is a tough call as how to balance it all. We know for sure that the sticks Luna loved cause him to have bad poops. Actually, from puppyhood we have referred to those chewies as diarrhea sticks since pretty much no matter what they would give the boys diarrhea. Luna must have had a stomach of lead since she never had these problems. So, we try to avoid those chew sticks for Henry, especially now. We will see how this other type of chewy plays out with Henry. So far so good now though. Poops are still holding at a 7 on a rough day and a 9 on a good day ( on a 1-10 scale where 10 is a tootsie roll and 1 is brown water). Yeah, more poop talk. Sorry.
While we are thrilled that his desire to chew demonstrates that he is coming back to his old personality and continues to have likes, interests and things that make him happy, it is truly such a double edged sword. What he loves may be his downfall. We are just trying to keep a balance and hope that it works out for the best. If we see that he's being damaged by rekindling his chewing habit, then of course we will go back to high level cautiousness but for now, we are tying to let him chew in moderation so as to let him have some balance in his life.
