Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day! I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Where’s the Beef?

So, not only have we been indulging in retail therapy, the pugs have also been using food as a coping mechanism. (Like pugs don't turn to food for every emotion! LOL)

But we were actually getting a bit worried because Henry was not as interested in eating since Benny's passing. Luna, however, was the opposite. She was all, "Feed the pain! Feed the pain!" Her chant of barks in a succession of 2 3-bark episodes literally sounded like that is what she was saying. After the barks, she would then scurry to the kitchen for more nom noms.

A trip to the local burger shop was one of the car rides and pain pacifiers on tap. We buckled and got Luna & Henry a burger to share. Luna decided this was better than the Big Mac she once craved. She recognized that straight meat is better than any old special sauce, lettuce, pickles, blah blah. Just give her the meat! (*Hmm. Don't say that out loud around a teen aged boy! He would likely get the wrong impression about what type of website this IS! hahahahaha!)

The beef also got Henry back on the eating bandwagon. Hooray for the pugs. They found the beef and are back on track with a more regular eating schedule again. A little more for Henry, a little less for Looney.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Car Ride for 2

In efforts to aid Henry and Luna out of the grieving process, we have been taking some trips outside of the house. The problem is that we have to go somewhere that keeps the AC at 70 degrees or cooler. So, that leaves pet stores for the most part. (There are no indoor, climate controlled dog parks nearby and the ice cream shops are not exactly dog friendly.)

And if we keep taking Luna to pet stores she is going to shop us to the poor house (and we need that dough for their medical expenses--LOL). So, we have been just taking short car rides around town a few days a weeks. We keep them close to home though. Henry still likes to ride with his head out the window so we do still let him even though his blindside is the passenger side. He rarely gets to ride on the driver's side with his head out the window. But since that is the side where he can actually see, we occasionally buckle and let him ride, head out window, on lap of driver. (At least we aren't texting, too!)

Luna, on the other hand, is very pleased to be in the back seat and with Henry in the front, now she has the whole back seat to herself. On a particularly unsafe trip, we didn't even put Luna in a harness (with her tags) let alone did we buckle them in with their seat belts. Ugh. Now we are just asking for trouble.

We get a lot of comments about being "good parents" but we can be as irresponsible as the next guy....our halos sometimes get lazy and are then held up by devil horns. Fortunately, we are safe drivers but we also know that we have to rely on the other wackos on the road doing their due diligence. But living in Florida, we know that is no easy request.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Caption This #336

Looking forward to your captions in the comments.

Monday, June 30, 2014

The New Normal

So, it's been about 2 weeks now since Baby Benny crossed the Rainbow Bridge. While we have thought about the what if's of being down a pug has meant there are things that we hadn't really considered.

One of the main things is what to do when one of them has a "that dog only" appointment or event. For example, Luna will need to go for a recheck to the eye vet soon. Before, we could just bring Luna and the boys would stay home alone but together. They each had a stay home buddy to be with. In the example here, when it's Luna's appointment time, do we take her and leave Henry home alone? Or do we take them both? And what if the roles were reversed. This became a more immediate question recently as Henry was loosely scheduled to attend the Bark at the Park event at our local minor league baseball stadium. Of course, it would have been weather dependent. Being June in Florida, it's hot. Hot for pugs. WAY too hot for Luna and even pretty hot for Henry. But this was something we really needed to think about. As it turns out, it was too hot the day of the event. But the philosophy remained about how to handle these types of scenarios.

We definitely know that Henry cannot be left alone. He already has been wanting to go EVERYWHERE we go (this started even before Benny died). Henry just has a super strong sense of entitlement. He knows he is well behaved enough to go most places and just be a good boy. But there is no explaining that they simply do not allow non-service dogs into the grocery store, at the gym or the mall. He's smart but still not really to be reasoned with.

Luna, on the other hand,has never really given us a fit when one of the other pugs disappears for a short time. Either one of the boys could go to the vet, go see Grammy, enjoy a ball game or even just run to the mailbox without her batting a dry eye. But we never had to try leaving her home alone. (Insert Macaulay Culkin Home Alone face and scream here.) We really are not sure what she would do. She might continue to live in oblivion or she may go the route of her internal feisty self and pitch a fit, grumbling, barking and giving the air a "what for" attitude.

This leaves the question of do we even chance it? We don't want to get Luna all worked up (which could possibly be to a point of no return for her) and we already know that we cannot leave Henry alone, for sure. So, I guess, we have solved the problem. Either they both go, or neither of them go. So, it's the new dynamic duo now. They will do all things altogether.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Let’s Go Shopping!

Since Benjamin's passing, we have been trying to help the pugs's spirits. Since Henry has been down in the dumps and Luna's been extra feisty, we figured we should do something that would appeal to them both.

We know Henry loves car rides, but, anywhere we take them must be well air conditioned, so we opted to go to the pet store! This got them out of the house, got Henry a car ride and gave Luna some mental stimulation that she has so desperately needed.

We let them pick out some chewies and even gave them a little push in a little buggy. There was literally a little buggy there! They had a child sized shopping cart. This was perfect for Luna. Since we didn't trust her to be smart enough not to jump out of it we didn't leave her in there for long. Just long enough for the photo opportunity.

Oddly enough the area of the pet store they enjoyed the most was the fish department! Luna wanted to bring home a pet of her own and she even promised to feed it and take care of it and love it but we vetoed her choice of what to buy. Sorry Looney, you are going to have to pick out some non-living item to bring home. So, she picked a variety pack of compressed rawhide and seemed content with that.

Meanwhile, Henry was more looking for where he could "leave something" instead of "pick up something" if you know what I mean.

He got so excited that we had to take him outside so he could leave behind some bodily fluids and solids instead of making a deposit inside the store. There's Henry! Keeping up what once was a Benny only tradition! Attaboy, Hank!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A New Neighbor

Our next door neighbors have 3 children. All boys. Well, now they also have a new puppy! It was an odd and bittersweet day. We had not seen our neighbors for almost a week after we lost Benny. The first time we saw them they were all excited and beaming. The mom bubbly bounced over to share that they had a new family member! If I am being honest it, at first it kind of made me sick inside. I know, it was just the anger part of grief speaking. I was mad that I did not have all the members of my family at that moment. I secretly thought, "Oh, good for you. You get a dog. Well, I just lost one! Harumph."

And, if I continue to be honest, that ugly thought was very short lived. I flashed to how excited I was bringing home the boys. And immediately I could not harbor a grudge for her excitement. I just missed Ben. I didn't have ill will for my neighbor, her children and certainly not for their new found joy. Lucky. Yep. Lucky. That's the new pup's name. It seemed very fitting to me at the time. They were indeed Lucky (and we were not). That was the last time the ugliness stirred though.

So, out of their truck little Lucky bounced. He was so tiny, I thought. He looks like a hound dog maybe. (Flash to Elvis's, "You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog"---now continue to carry that tune throughout the day. You're welcome! HAHA!) Anyway, Lucky was small. He was no pug. He has a snout! And a long straight tail! Crazy! Lucky is bouncing around in the grass between our homes. Since at first he was on Henry's blind side, Henry didn't even notice him. And Luna for sure was oblivious as she was practically falling asleep in the shade. Lucky leaped within Henry's field of vision and Henry was like, "Whoa! Where did you come from?!" And if I am not mistaken, I believe that Henry would have fully asked, if he could speak, of course, "Where did you come from, SQUIRREL?!" Lucky is marginally bigger than a squirrel right now and I truly do not think Henry thinks that Lucky is a dog. When Henry finally processed that there was a rambunctious little creature curious about him he perked up just a bit.

When Henry actually took a little more notice, Lucky took cover in nearby shrubs. He got a little more comfortable though and slithered out of the bushes and crept up on Hank. (Kind of easy now....blindside, you know.) Little Lucky then got in play stance! Oh! A daring little guy he was. If Henry could laugh, he would have. He would have let out a hearty chuckle. You could almost see him ask Lucky, "Little dude, really? First, I just lost my main man, Ben. Second, I'm 12. Don't you know what that feels like? And last, you are like 3 pounds and I am, well, let's say almost 10 times that. But if you feel like you can take me on little man, let's do it." Henry did not go into play stance. However, he did make a slight move as though he was considering. But what this small maneuver did was make Lucky think Henry was going into play stance. And that was all it took for Lucky to bolt. That's 2 for flinching, Lucky! (Now, undo Elvis song, insert line from Stand By Me movie.)

So, it was quite the little introduction. It perked up Henry's day a little and helped the humans to start to come to grips with the fact that there are other pups in the 'hood. We have to remember to love them all no matter if we've lost our own or not. Here's to puppy love. (Oy! Now, insert Donny Osmond song! I'm so sorry! I don't know what's going on today!)