Curly Tail's first meetup

Leroy and I had a GREAT time at Curly Tail Pug Rescue's first meetup on Saturday. The meetup was at Happy Paws, which is a pet boutique and also offers dog boarding and doggie daycare. We were expecting over 60 pugs. I think about 40-50 actually showed up. It always amazes me how different the puggies look. You'd think they'd all kind of look alike since pug are either all black or fawn, silver, apricot (It's hard for me to tell the difference between those last 3 though :-/).

Leroy and I always have fun at the meetups, but this one was really special because a couple of the people that adopted dogs from the rescue actually brought their dogs to the meetup. It was really touching to see how happy the dogs were! I had personal experience with one dogs that came back, Sunny (previously "Tyson"). I talked about Tyson in one of my posts about Bruno my foster pug. He was surrendered in front of my house and him and Bruno went to a vet visit together. When Tyson was surrendered he had a HORRIBLY ulcerated eye. It was awful. He was crazy hyper, had stinky breath and bad gas. When he went home with Nicole, his foster mom, he jumped on the bed and peed on her... yes ON top of her. Tyson had to have his eye removed and Nicole worked REALLY hard around the clock for the next month or so on keeping his other eye medicated so he wouldn't have to lose that one as too.... Well Tyson/Sunny was at the meetup and he looked SO GREAT! I almost cried when I saw him. His coat was shiny. He was calm. He had an adorable blue argyle sweater on. You could tell how well he was being cared for. His new mom was AWESOME. I loved her! And she lives in Brooklyn. If I hadn't seen him, I would have had NO idea he was the same dog. It was really beautiful.

Another dog, Teddy, was also at the meetup. Teddy was one of the puppy mill rescues. I had never met Teddy in person, I just facilitated the adoption partly via email. Teddy was a BEAUTIFUL pug. One of the nicest looking male pugs I've seen. And he looked SO happy and secure sitting on his new owner's lap. He was shaking and definitely too nervous to get down and run around with all of the pugs, but just knowing that he had someone who loved him and that his life had turned around so completely since his time in the puppy mill really made me happy for him and proud of the work that I do for the rescue.

It really was a beautiful afternoon. Hopefully I'll have pictures up soon.... But just to tide you over (all 3 of you :-p) Here's another pic of Leroy going down the slide at Happy Paws!

Hot off the presses.....

I might buy a puppy today.... Everybody keep their fingers crossed for me!

Bruno goes to the vet

So Bruno had a visit to the vet bright and early this morning. We went to the vet with another PPRA volunteer who also had to get her new foster pug (a very cute, svelte 3-4 year old black boy pug) vetted due to the large ulcer on his eye. The newly surrendered pug was adorable! He was really playful/happy, but he had a big cone on his head to protect his eye, and he kept banging it into everyone. Bruno is not very keen on other dogs... he isn't aggressive towards them, he just seems to not care about them one way or the other.

So we packed the dogs into the back seat car and were off to the vet. Bruno was sitting calmly for a while, but then started to get a bit anxious (and a bit irritated at the hyper cone-head he was sitting next to) so he came up and sat on my lap. He did really well in the car from that point on... calmly looking out the window, or at me, and trying to crawl over the glovebox into the lap of the driver when we hit a red light. :-p

The visit to the vet was pretty anti-climactic. The vet assistants weighed him. He still weighs 23 pounds damnit! The vet told me that I should start mixing his food with Trader Joe's High Fiber O's instead of giving him a full serving of kibble. So, from now on I will give him 1/8 cup kibble and 1/8 cup Fiber O's twice a day. I was told that it takes 2-3 months for a dog to lose even 3 pounds so I might not be able to see the fruits of my labor before he's gone, but I want to try and get him started on the right path. I also think I'm going to have to find more nutritious treats for him. I'm going to try the carrots tomorrow. He wasn't that interested in them last week, but I'll try steaming them a bit and dunking them in low fat/sodium chicken broth to see if that helps.

The other main issue that I wanted the vet to look at were his eyes. Since the very first night he's been with me I've had a feeling he had vision issues. He looks up "at" you when you speak to him, but never directly in your eyes and when he gets tired he has a tendency to bump into things, and run into curbs and miss steps. The vet looked at his eyes and concluded that he has exposure keratitis and he was 90% blind. Apparently breeds of dogs with the big protruding eyes are prone to this problem. Because of the protrusion of the eyeball, often times they are not able to close their eyes completely which causes the eye to get very dry and eventually the corneas will get irritate which oftentimes leads to scaring of the cornea and changes in the pigment of the eye.... all this leads to decreased vision. So apparently that's the cause of Bruno's vision issues... The vet gave me 2 ointments to put in his eye. One is an immunosuppresant and the other is just to lubricate his eyes. He will have to have them put in his eyes (the immunosuppresant 1x/day and the lubricant 2x/day) for the rest of his life. I've been putting antibiotics in his eye every day until this point and he's really good about letting me do it.

So Bruno was given a, pretty much, clean bill of health! YAY BRUNO!

The other PPRA pug's eye prognosis wasn't quite as good. He had a huge ulcer on one of his eyes. The young woman surrendering the dog was told that the ulcer was probably due to a infected scratch that he got at some time. Pugs stick their noses in everything and since their eyes protrude so much it is easy for them to get scratched/injured. Turns out one side of the pup's face was actually partially paralyzed and most likely the ulcer formed as a result of the paralysis and not an injury. Because that part of his face had no feeling he no longer had any need for the cone. He was much happier when he left the vet without the cone, but unfortunately he will have to be back soon to have the eye removed, and be neutered. He was a really sweet dog. I might be interested in taking him once I have an idea about his personality post snipping.

So that was our day at the vet. I have a feeling Bruno is going to be ready to go pretty soon. It makes me sad b/c I know he's growing attached to me (and vice versa). :-( ... but I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes...

Over all it was a great day for both of us and Bruno is back to doing what Bruno does best...

"Sit and Down" featuring Bruno the pug

Hey Ya'll..... This is my first videolog... yes videolog... that's a combination of video + blog... for those of you who.... well for those of you who aren't too bright... Just kidding! Now honestly what isn't too bright is my lighting for this videolog, but that's ok.... the way I'm looking tonight it's probably better for all involved if you don't see my face too well...

**Edited to add: I took out the part with me talking.... you could only see my eyes, I was ashy, and seemed to have a lisp.... **

anyway, without futher ado here is Bruno doing "Sit and Down"

Whew... this little ewok is exhausting!

Wow things sure happen in strange ways… For almost 5 years I’ve been obsessed with pugs… I’ve joined pug online groups, gone, pugless, to pug play dates in the park, wasted countless hours stalking them on the street… and suddenly there’s one snorting and grunting away in my living room!

I got my first foster pug Bruno on Tuesday and I really haven’t had a moment at home to write you all about it…. So now it’s 1:14 Saturday morning, (actually now it's 9:09 pm Sunday evening) Bruno is asleep at my feet and I have a moment to breathe and share the goings on of my week..

So…. Where to start… Bruno came in on Tuesday night. The pug rescue woman brought him to me around 8:00. He’s a 7 year old, morbidly obese, black pug (this fool is really fat!) The first thing I noticed about Bruno was that he seemed to have some vision impairments… he walked into my “coffee table” and when we were talking to him, he looked in our general direction, but really didn’t know where to focus. That didn’t surprise me too much. Pugs tend to have a lot of problems with their little bug eyes, and if their eyes get infected and are left untreated it’s pretty easy for them to lose vision. The rescue lady left him with me with some ointment that I was supposed to squeeze onto his eye (yes the ointment goes directly on his eyeball) and instructions on what to feed him, and how to clean his little face, etc etc.

As much as I love pugs, this is the first time I’ve ever been around them for a prolonged period of time. I don’t want to equate my Bruno’s behavior/personality with that of all pugs, but one that I did learn about them is that they are NOISY. LOL They pant constantly, wheeze, snort, gurgle, snore and make really strange Ewok/wookie type noises I know that Bruno is a particularly bad case because of his weight, but it was definitely interesting to find out, first hand, about pugs “special” noises.

Now on to Bruno’s personality….. He is an EXTREMELY needy and anxious dog. Pugs have the reputation of being “Velcro dogs” (ie a dog that needs to be right next to you at all times), but I think Bruno’s Velcro-ness comes more out of severe anxiety…. He CANNOT stand being left alone for even a second. When I go into the bathroom he scratches the door and cries. When I get into my bed he cries and cries and barks and howls and manically runs around the bed trying to see if he can figure out a way to get up. When I leave for work all hell breaks loose… He scratches at the door, throws his little body up against it, and barks and howls. I don’t really know how long he stays at this, but judging by how much he whines even when I’m at home in the bathroom, I’m going to assume this goes on for a while during the day.

When we’re at home alone he doesn’t know what to do with himself… he’s up and down and just restless… and he whimpers all the time. He doesn’t really know what toys are—it’s pretty obvious he’s never had any—but he knows what treats are so I got him a kong that’s you can stuff with food for him to figure out how to get out, and the rescue people gave him a chew stick (a “greenie” I think). He’s obsessed with the chew stick. He lays on the floor chewing manically for hours… he doesn’t even look like he’s enjoying the stick… he’s always crying/whining when he’s chewing and the more he chews the faster and more manic it gets… honestly it’s really strange to watch him chew the greenie… I usually end up taking it way from him because it makes ME anxious just to be in the same room with him when he’s chewing it.

On the good side, he’s an AMAZING walker. He’s great on a leash… I think that’s mainly because he always needs to be right behind his human. So he always stays right with me. He pees and poo’s outside and only had 1 accident inside (his first day). Additionally he’s just a really sweet dog, that seems like he was never really given attention, so when he gets some he really doesn’t know what to do with it or himself. He reminds me of the dog I had growing up. We weren’t very good to that dog. He was by himself most of the time in the garage, or dog run or behind a gate, so when he was let out to be with the family he went nuts, if we tried to pet or play with him he went nuts with excitement, which we would see as him just being hyper and spastic and then he’d be put back in the garage/dog run… I really feel like that’s what’s going on with Bruno…

So… you all know I like a project, so the quirks with this dog don’t “really” bother me. I’m very curious to see if I can help him work on them. Right now my main goals are

1. Put him on a workout/diet plan to lose some weight. I have been walking him at least 40 min in the morning and when I get home, and he doesn’t get any table scraps. I weighed him on Friday night. He was 23 pounds. When I got him on Tuesday they said he was 28… I think they lied… so I’ll say he started at 23 pounds.

2. Get him to confidently sleep in his own bed. Bedtime was a NIGHTMARE the first few nights because he would NOT go to sleep if he wasn’t on my bed. So I put down a blanket to cover my sheets and let him sleep with me the first few nights. I knew I wasn’t going to be comfortable with that in the long run so I’m working on getting him to sleep the entire night in his own bed, without whining or carrying on.

3. Help him deal with the separation anxiety. There are lots of tips and tools that people use to help dogs deal with separation anxiety. I’ve got an action plan laid out and I’m going to start executing it this weekend.

4. Teaching him some basic commands- sit, down and stay. It’s sad that a 7 year old dog has never been taught any commands. Oh well… better late than never.

So that’s the general plan. I’ll update his progress….

Breaking news... my first foster pug comes tomorrow!!!

Hey all...

So goal 1 is in full effect. I just got word from the folks at Precious Pugs Rescue and Adoption that they have a pug that came in in a rush and they need a foster ASAP. His name is "Brutus" and he's a 7 year old black male. I got the email this afternoon around 4:00 and they said that they might be bringing the pug over as early as tonight!?!

Turns out the pug has been at his first foster mom's house for about a week. She has her own pug rescue (or works with a pug rescue.. I wasn't really clear) and she saw a posting on craigslist last week about a woman who was trying to get rid of her pug. From what the PPRA person told me, the pug was in bad shape- his face folds were all dirty (you have to clean pugs face wrinkles or they get all grody), his nails had grown into his little paws, his eyes were infected (pugs also have a lot of eye issues), and he was just in generally bad shape. Poor little guy...

So she took him in and contacted PPRA to see if they could take him. They said they could, but apparently there was some miscommunication; the PPRA folks thought she would call them when she was ready and the rescuer thought PPRA was going to call her. So today she called PPRA and said she really needed someone to take the pug tonight. She has a lot of other pets and she thought that he just wasn't getting the attention that he deserved.

So around 4:00 I get an email asking if I can take a foster tonight! CRAZY! I said yes of course (because I'm crazy) and I went out to get some supplies. He was coming with a harness and a new leash. I bought him a few toys, a water/food bowl, and a little doggie bed. Turns out he won't be coming until tomorrow evening, which is great for me so I can prepare myself (mentally and my apartment).

so.... YAY! Look out tomorrow for pics and updates about Brutus

N

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