Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Caption This #14

Here we have Henry playing a little game of tug.  I look forward to seeing your captions in the comments.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Pretty Woman

We had so much fun making the Pug Love video that we decided to make one for each of the pugs.  Luna was up first, of course, since she is the little diva of the house.  So we hope you enjoy little Luna’s solo debut.  Stay tuned for Ben & Henry’s videos which will be coming soon.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Too Hot To Handle

Summer has officially arrived and the current weather here in Florida is not very pug friendly.  Heck, it isn’t really people friendly either.  On some days it is downright hot.  Because of the heat, the pugs haven’t been keeping to their normal routine.  They no longer go out for a walk when I get off work, instead they just go out long enough to do their business and then everyone retreats back to the air conditioned house.

We have pushed their normal long walk back to around 9:30ish at night.  By this time, it is completely dark and while it is still hot, the pugs are able to cope with the heat.  In an ideal world, I would get up early and give the pugs a nice long walk in the morning before things warm up, but with my current work load and schedule that just isn’t going to happen.  I wish I could muster it, but I know for a fact that it just isn’t going to happen.

Because we have been walking so late at night, our walks have been restricted to just around the neighborhood.  On the weekends we usually try to go to the park or the beach or someplace fun, but since we are going out at odd hours of the night that pretty much rules all of those places out.  This is the hardest on Henry as he really likes to mix things up and he can easily get bored with walking the neighborhood each night.  We try to take a different route each night, but there are only so many possible combinations that is it pretty impossible to give Henry all the variety that he needs.

But despite the fact that they don’t get out nearly as much in the heat, the pugs are taking it all in stride.  They spend the cooler hours of the morning lounging around the pool and they move inside when it gets unbearably hot.  One day this week, Henry was laying outside soaking up the sun’s rays when I saw him get up and plop himself down on the first step of the pool.  This cracked me up because he has never gotten in the pool when no one else was swimming.  He just had all he could take of the sun and he just wanted to cool himself off.  When I went out to keep an eye on him, he looked at me like, “What, you do the same thing all the time!”

I’m glad to see that Henry is resourceful, but now I have to keep a really close eye on him because he knows that he can’t go swimming when there is no lifeguard on duty!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Cinderella

Since we adopted Luna a little over a year ago, her physical appearance has changed tremendously.  When we adopted her, we knew that Luna had issues.  Her main issues were a severe case of dry eyes and a very bad skin condition as a result of an untreated case of mange.  When we adopted Luna we were informed that while she was on drops for her eyes and she had seen the dermatologist for her skin, she was by in no means cured and we would have to continue to monitor and work on these issues.  We were fine with this and couldn’t wait to meet Luna, the little pug that we heard so much about.  The day we met Luna, she was as cute as a button, but it was plain to see that she had suffered from a lot of neglect in her former life.  But, we took it as a challenge and vowed to make her life from this point forward as happy as it could possibly be.

It was hard for us to notice the changes in her that were taking place during her first few months with us, but friends, neighbors and Luna’s veterinarians all commented about how much better she looked.  It always made me feel good to hear these encouraging words.

As we were going through our pictures and putting together the Pug Love video, I came across a few photos that really showed how much Luna’s physical appearance has changed since she has been with us.

The one main thing I noticed was her weight.

As you can see in the photo, when Luna came to us she was a scrawny little thing.  In the photo you can see how her stomach drops right after her ribs.  Helping her put on weight was one of the easiest things to do.  She has the typical pug appetite and she loves her home cooked meals.  She started putting on weight almost immediately.  Today, the vet says she is at a healthy weight (but she is on the heavy side of healthy, so we will need to keep an eye on that)

The other big difference you can see in Luna is her fur.  When we adopted her, her fur was very patchy on her back and head and her belly and chest was almost completely bald.  This was because of an untreated case of mange.  When we first took Luna to the dermatologist, we found out that Luna had a lot of scars on her back and that she would most likely never grow fur back in many of the places on her back.  The cause of these scars remains a mystery, but the dermatologist doubts they are from mange.  Nonetheless, Luna’s coat has dramatically improved.

She hasn’t really grown fur back in the scarred areas on her back, but her coat has grown longer so that many of the bald spots are hidden by the longer hairs.  Most of the fur on the top of her head has grown back and she has a lot of new fur growth on her chest and belly.

The dermatologist has said that if her fur never grows back she is no worse for the wear and so far she has not had any skin problems.  Most people that meet her don’t even realize that she is missing fur, they just think she is an odd colored pug.  It isn’t until they pet her that they realize she is missing fur.

Another huge improvement is Luna’s eyes.  She currently get 5 different eye drops a day and she will be on eye drops for the rest of her life, but we are maintaining the little bit of vision that Luna has left.  She has a lot of scar tissue on her eyes as the result of untreated dry eye and this impairs her vision.  The ophthalmologist compares her vision to looking out a frosted car windshield.  She mainly sees shadows.  She gets around wonderfully during the day and the only time her vision is ever really a problem is at night.

All in all, Luna is doing well.  When you look at her you can tell that she has led a rough life in the past, but you would never tell based on her personality.  She acts like she as been spoiled since she was born.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Caption This #13

Here we have Henry & Luna in the infamous “Pug Tug.”  As always, your captions are welcomed in the comments.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Site Problems

The problem appears to be fixed now.  We will be making some changes over the next few days, but you should be able to access all pages and leave comments on all posts.  If you have any problems please let me know.

We are currently experiencing some problems with the OBP site where some pages do not load and comments can not be made on blog posts.  We are working to fix it now.  We’ll be back up and running soon.

Monday, June 25, 2007

All about Ben

The tiny Mimosa tree that we planted in the backyard appears to be doubling in size everyday.  Since it has grown so much since my last update, when I caught Henry sitting next to it the other day I quickly snapped a picture and knew it would be perfect for the next Mimo update.  Benny, however, got a little jealous and promptly came over to water the Mimo.  It seems he doesn’t like the Mimo stealing his blogging limelight.

When I fussed at Benjamin for being such a cranky old man, he gave me a look that said, “What? You don’t think this little tree is getting so big from water and sunlight alone, do you?  It’s all because of Benny’s specially formulated Miracle Grow!”