Friday, April 21, 2006

My new fur coat

People often ask me if pugs shed.  When asked this I always laugh and then offer up a definitive “Yes, yes they do and they shed a ton!”  But sometimes I feel that people that don’t already own pugs don’t really understand how much pugs shed.

To help manage my gang’s shedding I brush them fairly regularly with the Zoom Groom.  The other night I took the boys and Luna out in the yard for their regular brushing and this is how my shirt looked afterward.

So how do you stop the shedding?

Well, I have found that you don’t.  Nothing I have tried has ever stopped my pugs from shedding.  Instead I find the only thing you can do is minimize the shedding and do your best to keep up with it around the house.  I find that brushing the boys and Luna with the Zoom Groom helps to get rid of a lot of the hair at once.  This still doesn’t stop them from leaving fur all over the rest of the house, but it does help a bit.

The other main thing that I do in the battle against fur is vacuum.  Now this may seem silly, but I vacuum every day.  When I had a regular, bag type vacuum I used to vacuum every two or three days.  Then I got a Dyson that has a clear canister.  After I ran the vacuum, I was disgusted by the amount of hair that it picked up.  I wanted to test it, so I ran the Dyson again the very next day.  Needless, to say I was shocked by the amount of fur it picked up after that I now vacuum every day.  It was kinda like Scared Straight for neat freaks.

The only other tactics that I have in the battle against shedding is to have pug friendly decor.  For instance, the carpet through most of my house is a light color.  My sofa is an odd, fawn-like color.  An added bonus is this items are all within my personal taste.  So not only do I like them, but if I miss a day of lint rolling the fur doesn’t show quite as bad.  Now, if you own both a fawn and black colored pug you have my sympathy.  The decor tips will be of not luck for you.

Good luck in your battle against shedding!

Monday, March 13, 2006

Toenail Color

Benjamin, Henry & Luna all have paws that have multi-colored toenails.  Some nails are really dark while others are on the lighter side.  Luna’s nails seem to have the most color difference.  Does your pug have multi-colored nails?

Monday, January 23, 2006

Toenail Clipping Comes to a Grinding Halt

It was recently my birthday and I received a gift card to PetSmart from a friend.  Well, I had been wanting to try a nail grinder for the boys’ toenails but was always hesitant to spend that much money on something I wasn’t sure if the boys would tolerate. 

Now that I had a gift card, I thought, this was the ideal time to go ahead and splurge.  So, I was off to PetSmart where there was one nail grinding kit available.  I had read different articles that suggested getting your dogs used to the nail grinder by just letting it vibrate without any attachments.  This would help them not to fear the grinder.

Yeah, that sounds like good advice, but I get too impatient for things like that.  So, I got out the new nail grinder and the trusty Chinese noodles and started the task.  Usually Henry is the first to try anything but he had no interest until he saw baby Benny getting treats.  So, I worked on Benny’s nails and then Henry was willing to comply. 

May I just say that the nail grinder is the way to go?  It does require more time and effort but when the nails are done they are smooth and they don’t mark up your legs!  It was such a pleasure.  I think for next time, though, I will try clipping the nails and then using the grinder to shape and smooth them. 

Toenail clipping is just a chore.  I dread it and they dread it, too.  I think I have the solution now, though.  I would definitely recommend the nail grinder.  It really does a good job.