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.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Even though it is still considered Winter and is chilly here (we know we have no room to complain but for Florida it has been a bit on the nippy side) we took a trip to the beach. (It was the warmest of the cool days.) You could certainly tell that it was the warmest day as the beach was packed. This would be our first trip to the dog beach since Henry has officially been blind.
There were several dogs there and quite a few fisherman, plenty of small children and a fair share of seniors, as well. So, it was an eclectic bunch. We were a little apprehensive that the large crowd may give Henry a bit of unease, but that was probably just us. He can't see, so how does he even know that there are tons of people milling around? Our concern was him navigating and bumping into stuff and getting in people's way or tangled in fishing line. (He has not really mastered the fact that we need to lead him a bit more than him leading us.)
In any event, we made it from the car to the beach with ease. He was one happy camper just trotting along without a care in the world, smelling the sea air and feeling the sand/grass mix beneath his paws. We made it to the actual beach and had full sand under his feet and the waves at his back. We wondered if approaching the waves would now be scary for him since he can't see them coming or if he would manage to adapt some other way. Henry wasted no time. He walked in ankle deep, then knee deep the chest deep! He got nailed by a wave that broke on his chest but he was still enjoying himself! The water was cool for sure and not only was he the dog that was in the water the deepest, he was the ONLY dog in the water. The other dogs there were all being wimpy seeing dogs and were dodging the tides. So, once again, Henry demonstrated his strength and fortitude and that he is pretty much miraculously unbreakable.
Just another day of #HenryStrong, #TeamHenry and #HenryIsAGoodBoy.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
This has become Henry's go to position when driving. Shotgun, window down (no matter how cold it is), with his head out the window just far enough for his ear to flap in the breeze.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Whenever we took the pugs to a pet store it was always a nose driven experience. It was always interesting to see what products and treats really drew them in. Shopping with Henry now is an even more nose driven experience. Usually, we end up in some corner of the store with Henry sniffing the door of what always turns out to be the employee break room. He would love nothing more than to join them on their lunch breaks
But, on our last shopping trip, there were packages of cookies on top of a glass display case that really caught his sniffer. He kept returning and returning to this spot, until finally he caught a whiff of something else. He proceeded to walk behind the display case and into the cash register area where he found a stash of the same cookies. They were neatly tucked on a shelf behind the register and on hand to replace any of the boxes on top of the case when they were purchased. Needless to say, he spent the rest of the trip behind the cash register trying to figure out how to score some cookies.
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