Wow, so much has happened

Hey Ya'll..

so much has happened in the last week!

First of all I want to thank everyone who sent their well-wishes, prayers, positive thoughts and energy for my mom's surgery last week. The surgery was long and arduous, but she came though it like a champ! Exactly like I thought she would. The morning after her surgery she was sitting at the hospital vanity table putting on make-up and apparently she's walking up to half a mile now... less than a week after her surgery! (Yeah I told her to slow down on that... I know they said walking was good... but I think they meant walking around the house, not power-walking around the 'hood...) I love my mom. She's been such an inspiration throughout this entire ordeal. MMMMMMMMMMMMM! That was a cyber hug for my momma :-)

Secondly, I got a puppy!! I decided I'd had enough with pug rescues telling me that I would be an unfit mother for a puppy and decided just to purchase one. I had been looking for a breeder in Indiana for a while, and I decided to go with a hobby breeder named Marci at Farnsworth Farms. Marci breeds boxers and pugs and she had 4 puppies currently available. All the puppies were SOOOOO CUTE! I had been reading up on puppy temperment testing, and I selected the puppy that fell in the middle... not too shy and not too boisterous. Thinking back on it, I think I got fooled. I think Leroy was just REALLY tired when I administered my test, so he seemed a lot more laid back than he is.... He's really completely nuts.... but I love him! I named him Leroy, of course, and he's 3 months and 5.9 pounds of crazy. He spends most of his time currently chewing on everything, sleeping and humping his bed. I got a dog walker for him, who is going to come in 2x a week and walk him/play with him for 30 min during the day. I also walk him/play with him outside for 30 minutes in the morning and evening. Hopefully that will help him expend a good amount of energy so he can spend most of the day peacefully chewing his toys or sleeping. So far so good.... It's been SO hard to get pictures of him b/c he's always in motion. I'll try to take and post some video.... but for now GOAL 1 IS COMPLETE BIATCHES!!!!!

Whew! Other than that all my other goals have fallen by the wayside.... I'll have to ramp up again this weekend.

Peace folks!

Is 8 really enough?...

Apparently not, when it comes to me getting a pug. I just completed my 8th application to adopt a rescued pug. The great majority of my applications were done on pugs I found on petfinder.org. Out of the 7 applications I turned in I got 2 responses- 1 was for a pug, 'Percy' that I applied for out in Delaware (very close to Philly). He is so freaking cute! He was REALLY REALY wrinkly and when they found him he had a really bad skin condition (y'all know I'm a sucker for a sad story) but he was ok now and so freaking cute... but apparently his story wasn't sad enough for them to agree to adopt him out of state.... REJECTED!

The 2nd response I got was from another out of state rescue... I think this one was in Rhode Island. They were willing to consider me for the adoption of a very cute little pug puppy 'Ernie' but they were asking for $700 for the puppy AND a $200 deposit before the application was even reviewed... It all sounded a little fishy to me, plus I could go out and get a dog straight from a breeder in Indiana/Kentucky for $700

I saw 2 postings on Craigslist in New York for young pugs that people were trying to "re-home" because they didn't have time to spend with them. I sent impassioned pleas to both.... no response.

Today I applied for my 8th pug 'Owen'.... This pug is in Vermont and I made sure to check that they do in fact adopt out of state. They do... AND I'm supposed to be going to Vermont later this month/early October for leaf-peeking and a visit to my sis/nephew so we'll see if it all works out. I had to HAND WRITE this application and put it in the mail... yes the mail.. with a stamp.. They better at least respond to me after all that effort damnit!

Oh and for all of you who were wondering about these wack ass names that the pugs have... no worries, I will promptly be changing my pugs name to Cletis or Leroy...

I think I'd have an easier time adopting a child...

I think I’d have an easier time adopting a child…..

So anyone who’s had more than a 5 minute conversation with me knows about my ridiculous, insane love (obsession maybe?) for the pug…. I mean how can you NOT love them with their little squashed faces, floppy tongues and googly eyed, short-bus expression. I don’t care what anyone says, they are adorable and just seeing their little chunky bodies trotting down the street always makes me smile.

That being said, I have been very hesitant to get a pug because of my work schedule and all of the things I’ve read about what happens to pugs when they are left alone for long period of time… apparently they either flip out, turn into mini-rottweilers and chew up all your sh*t, or they get really really depressed and need to be put on doggie meds (true story). I love pugs and I didn’t want to make my little puggie depressed or angry so I just always figured I’d wait until I was married, engaged or at least had a long-term, serious partner who would help me take care of my pug… Well anyone who knows me knows I’m not exactly an expert at relationship maintenance, and as I stand here staring 30 in its cold, lifeless eyes I realize that I just can’t wait around anymore, because honestly, who knows when, if ever, any of that stuff will happen.

So here I am. I initially wanted to adopt a puppy, but as I read more and talked to more pug owners it seemed that adopting an older pug from a pug rescue would be a good option for me. Older pugs would have more well-developed bladders and would be physically able to hold their pee longer than a puppy. An older dog would have an already developed personality so there wouldn’t be any surprises in that department, plus saving a dog that may otherwise be put down or being able to give a dog that has been mistreated or used and abused a second chance at a good life makes me feel good about myself.

So I’m currently in the process of trying to adopt a rescued pug. Breed specific rescues are notoriously difficult to adopt from because of all the criteria you have to meet and hoops you have to jump through in order to adopt. At a bare minimum they require an extensive application, conduct a home visit, call 3 personal and 1 vet reference, and worst of all they greatly, GREATLY prefer to adopt to families or to single people who don’t work outside the home. Because of all of this, I am a really really unlikely candidate for adoption… So I’m putting operation pug into effect. The first thing I did was talk to the people who run the 1 NYC pug rescue about becoming a foster family. Most rescue organizations don’t have an actual physical shelter, the dogs they take in are place with “foster” parents who house them until a “forever home” is found. So right now I’m an official foster mom for the pug rescue in NYC… I’m just waiting on my first foster pug. In addition to that I have been scouring petfinder.org and applying for all of the pugs I can… I think I’ve applied for about 5 so far. I haven’t heard back from anyone… Now I’m onto craigslist.org. Sometimes there are pugs on there…sometimes there are not. So who knows how long this is going to take, but I’ll keep you updated on my status as I go.

Later

N