Thursday, July 30, 2015
I know I sound like a broken record sometimes when I recap our routine, but I am not sure if we have a new lurker out there who may be reading for the first time. 
Anyway, each morning Henry's routine is: wake up, meds with breakfast, car ride to City Center, walk the park, car ride home, doggie xanax and a treat, hang out while I get ready for work, final potty, get doused with lavender oil and get settled in a camera friendly spot so that his peeps can monitor him through the day until Grammy gets there.
The past week though, Henry has had a proclivity for settling in the bathroom. In the bathroom. Where there is no camera. Grr. Henry definitely likes to be on a mat with his head on tile. Usually the kitchen is the place that he likes to settle in this fashion. But now, he's loving the bathroom rugs with his head on the floor in there instead. This forces us to just listen to Henry rather than also giving us the ability to watch him. So, now the routine is that the last peep in the house texts a photo (to peep 2) of where in the bathroom Henry has settled. Peep 2 will then monitor the closest camera (listening for when he wakes up). Goal time is for him not to wake up until 11:30am but he can pop up as early as 10am on rough days and as late at 11am on better days. Depending on the state of his wonkiness, we will alert Grammy as to his needs and how much of a rush she needs to be in to go down and soothe the old guy. She typically gets there around 11 whether he is awake or not. On really bad days, she will put on her cape and go save the day as early as 10.
Henry is getting better at being able to recuperate from a tantrum and is working on resettling himself should he lose his cool and melt down. We still have good and bad days but the bad days are not as bad and the good days are pretty decent. If we could only figure our what makes the difference we would just do it. But it is never the same thing that seems to help. In any case, we believe that Henry knows him going off camera makes us a little nutty and that is why he's been playing a wise guy for the last week or so. With his health rebounding, his smarty pants attitude is also snapping back (in more ways than one)!
Henry is too smart for his own good.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
We have 2 cars. One is a Subaru Outback. The other is a Toyota Corolla. Henry's preference is the Outback. This is especially true when there is a passenger in the seat that helps him hang his head of out the window. So, when we have to take Henry somewhere solo, taking the Corolla seems kind of weak to him. He starts off with excitement but then that can turn into dud time.
The other day Henry had to go in the Corolla sans passenger. He was getting a little restless as he tried to settle in his usual comfy position. The usual position is on the driver's left leg with face buried in the AC vent. When his usual position was not working out, he started to try to use my arm as a chin rest. Uh, Hank, I'm kind of like driving with that arm, buddy. But at the next red light (or as Henry calls them "fun killers") I grabbed a towel from the back seat and propped him on his own pillow. It definitely made for a tight space but he seemed content and allowed me take back my spare driving arm.
He's not TOO spoiled, is he? #BlindDogDemands #HenryIsParticular #StillAGoodBoy
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
No matter where we go, it seems like there are cops everywhere. We live in a safe neighborhood (and I guess the presence of police helps make it such). But this is not a commentary on the state of policing these days, so please let us not tangent into that topic. We are just here to keep it fun and pug like.
Whenever we see the 5-0, we tell Henry, "Play it cool, pug. Play it cool." And fortunately he has indeed played it cool. But that Henry, he is a risk taker. He parked right next to the PO PO parking space and dared the fuzz to find him not playing it cool.
Henry is such a prankster.
Monday, July 27, 2015
We have been receiving some emails and seeing some questions to us in the comments section of the blog. Sadly, we are really not that great at responding to emails (and not really in a timely fashion). So, we thought for some general questions, we would answer reader's questions.
Here is how it will work. Post your questions in the comments section below and we will pick a few of those of questions and answer them on the following Tuesday.We will write a post with the question asked and give our best reply. Since we are not sure how much interest we will have in this, we will start slow. If it really takes off, though, we don't want to promise that we can answer all questions. You can still feel free to email us about more private issues and we will do our best to write back but please be patient.
Now is the time for you to ask that question you may have always wondered about. I will give 2 quick Q&A examples here (questions we get asked A LOT).
Q: Do you realize that your home is pug colored? (Like a fawn pug)
A: We not only realize that but we planned it that way. It helps the pug fur be less noticeable. Our guest room has black carpet. Pugs are allowed in there but only for short time periods. LOL.
Q: I have heard you cook for the pugs. What do they eat? Why are they on that diet?
A: Their staple meal consists of pumpkin puree, veggie of the week, high fiber cereal and ground white meat turkey. The boys had such tummy troubles as pups that when we spoke to our holistic vet she recommended this diet and we have stuck to it faithfully. (We modify it here and there. Sometimes fish instead of turkey. Sometimes sweet potato instead of pumpkin. But overall it has benefited them all very well.) Also, cooking human food for them has allowed us to dodge the riskiness of canned or bagged food that may become tainted. It all started with pumpkin that has been a miracle in regulating their poop. (Not too firm, not too soft.) Sorry if this is too much information.
So. go ahead and ask some questions and hopefully you like this Tuesday switch. We may go ahead and keep the Caption This and move to Fridays if we are seeing that it is missed.
#askaway #OBPanswersyourquestions
Sunday, July 26, 2015
We are breaking Henry back into the pool in baby steps (which is how we do everything else with him, too). You all are going to have to trust that he is making strides with swimming and not just floating in his baby pool. Here's the thing. Swimming with Henry is now a 2 man show. Since he cannot see, he has the same problem in the water that he has on land: he bumps into stuff. Since he does not have a path to feel under his feet and no other ability to yet have a sense of direction, he invariably swims into the side of the pool. So, we have been working with him and swimming next to him, guiding him using the handle of his life vest.
It is a lot of work. He needs both his peeps in the pool with him. This means no camera. We already risk the camera (iphone) by hanging it out the car window at high speeds but it is a whole different story gambling with it by trying to take photos of a swimming Henry when we are both chest deep in water. So, please trust that he is getting better little by little. Simply enjoy this photo of him in the pool after having swam a few laps. Take note that we docked the pool for him by anchoring it off the edge of the pool deck. This way he is still in the pool with us, has the benefit of keeping cool and the gentle bounce of the waves beneath him.
He is not LOVING the pool like he used to but he is still calm and relaxed in it. Luna could see and even she would tremble as we held her in the pool. Benny would not tremble but he, too, was not a pool lover. (But geez, he was one heck of a swimmer!) Henry will continue to improve to his maximum potential and we will try to recognize when that comes and not push him beyond that but we do keep challenging him. We believe that is what has helped keep him progressing in a positive way rather than in a negative or remaining complacent way. He still has a thirst for life and we just want to keep feeding it to him!
#HenryStrong #HenryTheBlindOneKidneyHavingBrainHemorrhagedPug #HenryIsOneOfAKind #who'sagoodboy?
Thursday, July 23, 2015
While Henry loves to ride with his head out the window, this happens almost exclusively in GPa's truck and our Subaru Outback. We also have a CAR! A Toyota Corolla. In this car it is less comfortable for Henry to get his head out of the window. With that said, he still likes to go in the little car. While you don't see his head out of the window, he still looks plenty pleased to be going for a car ride.
#NotAPickyPug #AnyCarWillDo #BiggerIsBetterThough
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
We know that Henry's big thing is car rides. He has always loved car rides. What he loves even more though, is a trip in a big truck. A la GPa's truck (Ford F 250). When GMa and GPa were here Henry got to go on a few pretty cool rides. Here are some highlights.
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