Tuesday, March 10, 2015
One day last week we noticed that Henry had a little knot on top of his head. For lack of a better description, it was sort of like a mini version of what Fred Flintstone would get when his bowling ball lands on his head (for those of us old enough to remember when cartoons were actually funny). Anyway, I digress. The bump was not really THAT big, but it was, of course, of concern. We texted our vet who recommended a quick check.
So, off to the vet we went. We actually scheduled Henry's sonogram for this trip too, rather than wait another 3 weeks and take more time off work. So, just trying to kill a couple birds with one stone (although we'd never kill a bird or any animal except maybe a snake---sorry snakes and snake lovers). ANYWAY....by the time we got to the vet a few days later for the knot on his head, it had already shrunk in size substantially. That was a good thing. Our doc explained it was just a cyst and right now there was nothing to worry about it but we will watch it to be sure nothing crazy happens.
The better news, however, was Henry's sonogram. Henry's kidney, liver and spleen all look lovely. And our doc was very impressed with how well Henry is doing. He HAS seen Henry at some pretty low lows so for our doc to say how good he is doing sure means the world. Coincidentally it was our doc's birthday! He was turning 47 and offered us some cake to take home. Sadly we didn't have anything to carry it in or we would have snagged a slab. But there was no way a beautiful piece of cake was getting all the way home unwrapped AND undisturbed by Henry. And Henry had taken bite of that yummy cake we would have had to turn right around and have our doc give us a thumbs down and we certainly DO NOT want THAT!
We are just looking for all the #HenryStrongs and #TeamHenrys that we can muster!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Last week we came home early so that we could take Henry to the vet. (He had a little knot on his head. And we will get to this story soon---the short version is that everything was fine.) But when we got home we discovered that Henry had parked himself underneath the side table near the sofa. This space is commonly used by the cat. On this day, however, Henry was camped out there. He probably got himself stuck in there and just ended up settling in there. Grammy, ever the one to try to catch a good photo, got down right near Henry, pulled out her iphone and took a snap shot of the silly pug. I, on the other hand, also always trying to capture the moment, whipped out my iphone to take a photo of Grammy taking a photo of Henry. It just seemed like a funny little photo opp!
#HenryStrong #GrammyStrong #HenryIsAGoodBoy #GrammyIsAGoodLady
Thursday, March 5, 2015
In case you haven't been reading for a while (she said tongue in cheek), you may not know that Benjamin and Luna passed away over the summer, subsequently Henry had some health problems and is now blind. Ok, glad we caught you all up. 
It is funny how all the puggers were so different in talents and personality. Luna was a little spitfire, alpha female who was quick to capture the love of many mostly be she had a "story" while Baby Benny was most known for his velvety wrinkles and in person, he simply loved you unconditionally (and he love all the ladies the same---with all his heart and oozing sweetness). Henry has been more of an adventurer and possessed a certain wisdom that neither of the others had. But what this is really about is the NOSE.
If we were to rate the quality of their sniffers, it would be that Benny would hold the top spot smooshy heads and curly tails above all the rest. Then it would be Luna who would mostly spot out only super stinky stuff. Then at long last, Henry pulling up the rear as we have wondered if he had any sniffer at all! I mean, c'mon Hank, are you even a dog with your lousy nose?! Just kidding! We know you are a dog, but holy moly pug.
In fairness, this comparison was pre-loss of B & L and post Henry going blind. NOW, Henry's nose works in double time. Don't get me wrong, his nose in no way can hold a candle to Benny on his most congested day but Henry is starting to pick up the pace that he needs to keep in touch with the world at large. You see, if a crumb of a crumb of a cheerio would make it's way under the oven, Benjamin would scratch and whine and throw a fit until he got that fleck of cheerio. It would not be uncommon that we would be stooped down by the oven with a flashlight and a yard stick to try to fish out whatever tiny tidbit of food may have made its way under there. We would not be able to spot the item and would tell Ben that there was nothing there and he would argue his point more staunchly. He'd be ever so demanding in his point. And invariably he was correct! We were never right. There was ALWAYS something to be found if Benjamin told us so. I'm telling you, he really should have been one of those narcotic sniffing dogs or dogs that find dead bodies. (ew) We'd never go for that but he would have been GREAT! We helped him miss his calling.
Luna, too had a pretty good sniffer. But seriously, unless it was fish guts, bird poop, cow manure or some other equally delightful disgust she didn't have much interest. But she could still smell it from a mile away.
And then like I said, poor Henry. Unless you literally put it on his nose, he would likely not even know it was there. It was crazy. Now, though this is how we find Henry in the house. We listen closely to hear where he is because all he does these days is sniff. And it is pretty loud. It's like he has to take really deep breaths to suck in the air so that he has a chance of catching a whiff. On a windy day now though, he will change the course of his route by being pulled off into a whole different direction because he caught a pleasing scent. This is rare, though. We are still having to hold his dinner bowl in front of his nose just so he knows it's dinnertime. If that was Benny, you could put the bowl down in the garage with 4 doors closed in between and he'd try to claw his way from room to room to make his way to the meal.
Henry may be #HenryStrong, but his nose ain't no Benny nose! #HenryKeepSniffing #StilLoveASnifferlessPug
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
We figured we should share a follow up to the uncrating of Henry. Henry has had one full week of positive experiences with his uncrating. Hooray for Henry! As we suspected, a lot of his issues came from him no longer being comfortable in his crate.
Henry needed the ability to go get a drink of water, go potty, find a new/different place to lay down/settle. Initially he was still having some issues being left home alone. He would howl to call in his pack, bark frantically, nervously pace and just get worked up overall. We struggled to figure out how to make him comfortable. But we knew we were at least on the right track this time. So, we stuck to a Henry friendly routine and we are pleased to announce that it does seem to be working. We are able to make it to work with relative ease now and the lump that sat in our throats and the sickness in our stomach is for the most part gone. There was a comment that indicated that we could be some of the source of Henry's anxiety. And, Sue, to clarify, no offense was taken. We, for sure, were a huge part of the problem! We are not oblivious to that. Ha! We knew that if we did better, so would Henry. We did and so now does he. With that said, Henry started it! HAHAHAHA! (Sound like we are 6 years old?) But seriously, we were a part of the problem. We knew it but struggled to get over it much the way Henry was struggling. This was all new for all of us and if we made a mistake (such as not securing the pool area well enough) then it could have cost us everything.
Now we see Henry's pattern and routine and we have more confidence in him and in ourselves. So, it is really working out to be ok now. Oh, no, we still don't go anywhere but to work and back but at least we should still be able to maintain gainful employment which of course Henry needs us to do so that we can keep him well fed, with a roof over his head and with appropriate medical treatment. He's got the routine down now and we look forward to more good days and more happy times.
#HenryStrong #TeamHenry #HenryIsAGoodBoy #HenryCalm
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Living in Florida has shown that there is a need for more pest control than we were used to having living in Maryland. The creepy crawlies here are not only more in number but also more spine tingling. To be sure that we do our due diligence in keeping these lovely critters at bay we have the Terminix guy come quarterly to treat our home and yard. And of course they inspect annually for termites to be sure we are wood eaters free.
During our last treatment, it became obvious who was who in our household (as though it is not already clear, of course). But Cupid resorted to a cat way of handling things by hiding under the bed. Henry, on the other hand, stayed sleeping on the sofa.
We were actually a little bit surprised by this from Cupid as she is usually as quick to greet a stranger as the pugs would be (and actually more outgoing than Henry these days). We just found this difference between cats and dogs as a bit amusing. Can you imagine if Henry were to try to squeeze under the bed?! Yikes!
Monday, March 2, 2015
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
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