There was a moment in the video where you may notice that he gets a little off track. When this happens we will put our hand in front of his nose so that he can again pick our scent and keep forward progress. This trick almost always works. If it doesn't work, its usually because he is off track for a different reason. When there is "some other reason" then it is usually an indication that he needs to be picked up and redirected or picked up and carried. In any event, Henry may not have gone through war, but that is not to say that he has not fought some tough battles in his day.
To all those who have served our country, we appreciate you giving of yourselves so that the rest of us can have our lves, freedom and civil liberties. OBP supports vets!
Today's ASK OBP questions come from Christie, who asks why the name "Owned by Pugs" and from Martha who asked if the OBP peeps had dogs growing up and if we were always dog lovers.
The name Owned by Pugs came about as sort of a play on the pets as property view. We're not big believers that pets are property, they are family to us. Playing off that idea, we thought that if anyone owned anyone in that situation it was most likely the pug. After all, pugs seems to have a way of making "owners" putty in their paws, so it seems funny to flip that idea around and say "I'm owned by pugs", rather than "I own pugs".
Peep 2, also had a couple cats and a dog as a very small child. By kindergarten, however, the dog was already blind and elderly and was lost in a car accident. The cats lived another few years but after that Peep 2 was petless until college when Peep 2 rescued a cat (who sadly did not live very long). It was shortly after that when the OBPS became a family with Lou C the rabbit, Cupid the Cat, the boys ( Benjamin & Henry) then Luna and Sol.
While as children, we both would consider ourselves pet people (and probably more dog than cat people) but without parental consent, we would not be permitted to actually attain an animal. (Although peep 2 did try to be a pet rescuer as a young child without parental consent once in a while).
Our morning, pre-work ritual always includes driving Henry somewhere to take a short walk. This helps tire him out and ensures that he will most likely sleep all morning until Grammy comes to visit him.
For a while, we had been driving to City Center and walking there. But after a few months of doing this every weekday, Henry quickly grew tired of City Center and he was no longer motivated to walk. I guess he had smelled all the smells.
So, we changed things up and started taking him to the Pavilion each morning for his walk instead. The Pavilion isn't so much of a park as it is an open air shopping mall. It's a bunch of shops, but there is also a walking path that is just under a mile in length.
And the good thing about this walking path is it is full of motivation for an aging, blind pug. A steakhouse is at one end. And once you pass the steakhouse, you are headed towards the smells of movie theater popcorn. After that there is an overwhelming burger smell from the two dueling burger places.
While this seemed like a perfect way to get Henry to walk, the only hitch in the plan is that none of these places are open in the wee hours of the morning when we go there. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of smells, but they aren't quite as motivating to Henry as they would be during prime business hours.
But there is one place that get Henry no matter what time of day it is and if they are open or not. Its the ice cream shop! No matter where we park at the Pavilion, Henry always find his way to the ice cream shop and stands at their front door. I never knew it, but he must have quite the sweet tooth!
The only thing that can top a long stroll, smelling all the smells near the ice cream shop, is if the trash guy comes. There have been numerous occasions where Henry has stood safely on the side and "watched" the trash man empty a dumpster into the trash truck. His nose goes a mile a minute! The trash guy turns all the smells upside down and its just one of Henry's absolute favorite things!
We almost forgot! On our adventures in St. Augustine (during Pugs In The City) we drove past this school. It is the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Well, of course, we had to pose Henry in front of the sign! If we were to send Henry to boarding school, this is where he would thrive.
Don't be fooled by how well Henry gets around! He can only see light and shadows. He is such a smart cookie that he has mapped out a lot of familiar places in his brain, but bring him somewhere brand new and he's back to bumping into stuff (even if he is more ginger in his approach now). And while he can hear, his hearing is both dull and selective.
In any case, we had to capture this on camera. As a side note, on our train tour, they shared that Ray Charles attended this school way back in the day! #Can'tEvenThinkOfAGoodHashtag!
While we have referred to Henry's brain and cognitive issues as Doggy Alzheimer's, there is no officially recognized Canine Alzheimer's disease (at least that we know about). However, we have been researching cognitive disorders in dogs as we are starting to notice more and more oddities in Henry's cognitive behaviors. For some time, Henry has been suffering from sundowners. By definition, sundowning is a syndrome in Alzheimer's patients of recurring confusion and increased agitation in the late afternoon or early evening. A sundowner is one who sundowns.
Henry expresses his sundowning by the nightly routine of pacing, needing to go outside to potty (or pretend to potty), wandering and "staring" at walls. He started doing this around the time he lost his siblings, lost his vision, had cancer and then his day of seizures. We can't peg exactly when it started, but it did start slow and got progressively worse. However, we made accommodations that helped him improve a lot in some areas. Even though he still sundowns, he is not as bad now as he was in the beginning.
In our research, we have discovered an acronym that helps owners recognize cognitive issues with their dog. The acronym is DISH.
D: Disorientation. Getting stuck behind furniture, trying to get out wrong side of a door or appearing confused.
I: Interactions as in altered social interactions. Dog appears out of it, doesn't respond as well to commands.
S: Sleep disturbances. Increased sleep during the day and decreased sleep at night. Pacing, unexplained restlessness, especially in the evening or at night.
H: House soiling
For us, it is hard to confirm these elements where Henry is concerned. This is mainly due to Henry's blindness. Henry gets stuck behind doors and furniture all the time. How do we determine what is caused by blindness vs cognitive disorder? For social interactions, what is to say he is not responding to commands from stubborness, dull hearing or dementia? He has separated from us in the sense that Henry could literally have been pet for HOURS and now we are lucky to get 5 minutes of cuddling at a clip until he becomes fidgety and antsy to escape the love. The study indicated that like Alzheimer's in humans, the canine version can leave the dog not knowing or recognizing his pack (dogs or humans). When this is the case, the dog can then become aggressive since he/she feels as if he/she is surrounded by strangers. That is probably the scariest aspect that we have "to look forward to" should Henry live long enough to get to that point.
#WorstNightmare #TearyEyed
As for the house soiling. We can knock on wood for that one! So far, so good. He is still diligent about going outside. Should Henry lose this function due cognitive or medical means we will manage, but we will know that he did all he could to do his business outdoors. He is a master in the potty department. He has always outshined his brother Ben in that area!
To see in print that we are not alone in this and seeing that there is research behind it feels so validating. I am sad for the other dogs and dog owners, but I think that there is a huge world out there that doesn't believe any of this and thinks that we are crazy.
Our research has turned up a few different medications and herbal remedies that have been shown to help. But it is so tricky with Henry and his multiple conditions. For example, one treatment is in a oil based form. Well, the oil version is not good for his IBD and poor protein absorption. Another medication has had good results, but is only effective for up to 6 months then it stops working. That seems good but then we wonder after the 6 months does the dog just revert all the way back to what he would have been without the meds? That must be a shock to the dog and the people.
We will do some more research and talk to our general vet and try to contact his Neurologist. Our neurologist has a really strong understanding of side effects of certain meds and interactions with other meds. We want to be sure to give Henry the best he's got left. And we know first hand how degenerative Alzheimer's is in people. It would be tough to watch Henry go through each phase of the disease. For now, we will continue to study up and consult and see if there is something better than what we are doing. We just try to keep him on his routine, keep him calm and give him the things we know make him happy (especially car rides!)
Have any of you experienced this type of scenario in your dog? Seen doggy dementia? Have any advice? Here are the links for further reading:
On our nightly rounds of exercise for Henry's body and mind, we ran across some folks who recognized him! It was an unusual event for sure. We were driving to City Center and on our way there we saw a young couple walking 2 dogs. They were pedestrians trying to cross the street that leads to City Center, one of our favorite parks. We noticed the duo with dogs more specifically since we thought that at least one of the dogs was a pug. Keeping with the flow of traffic we did not have time to stare and study the dogs across the street. So, we went on our way. We parked at the far side of the park and started to walk Henry. He plodded along in his slow moseying way. And it was not long before we saw the same 2 people with the 2 quick walking dogs coming our way. They had made phenomenal time! (Oh days of young, fast paced pugs!) Assuming they were just pug curious, like we are, we thought they were just coming to say hi to a random pug. When suddenly the young lady shouts, "Is that Henry?!" We were taken back and stammered that this was indeed Henry. (Wondering how do you know him?!) She explained that she'd "been following the blog for years" and one day noticed that the photos were taken at City Center. She turned to her partner and told him, "See! I told you one day I would see him!"
After our initial shock of having randomly met someone who reads the blog, we managed to put a few sentences together and learned about their dogs. One was Alex K Waffles, a rescue pug they recently acquired. Monkey, the other dog was a pug boxer mix. Both dogs were adorable, and so healthy! They seemed younger than "middle age" (5-7 years) and were in such excellent shape. Alex had an adorable pug tongue lag that just gives him an instantly "silly and happy" look to him and he was bouncy and fun so that added to his adorableness.
We walked away regretting not having taken a photo with them with Henry. Fortunately, those ultra fit pups lapped us and we got another photo opportunity and this time we took advantage of it. It was so nice to meet someone who knew Henry. Although it was a totally weird feeling to have him be "known" without us knowing who knows him. But I guess that is how all the super stars feel! Hahahahaha!!! Henry is a super star to us, though. So, anyway....it was nice meeting you Monkey and Alex and their peeps! See you again some day at the City Center.
This Ask OBP question comes from Christie! Christie asked if we put the TV on for our pugs, specifically Animal Planet.
The answer is not a simple yes or no. It is, however, a no AND a sort of yes! When we had a full house, the pugs were crated when we were not home and we did not leave a nearby TV on as that would have lead them to believe that someone was home. If we were home, they were out of the crate. So, definitely no TV in the early years. It wasn't until the pack was gone and the leader of that pack, Henry, was the lone wolf standing when he expressed the need to no longer be crated. So, Henry is not crated and has free roam of the house. Since this is the case now, we do leave the TV on (but never to Animal Planet). We want Henry to feel like someone is home since someone being home makes him feel better. So, if we can trick him into thinking someone is home, then that helps him.
I will say, though, that watching Animal Planet did sometimes get a rise out of Baby Benny. He was the only one, though, who ever noticed that the TV had images. He could see the TV and hear when pups barked. He would occasionally "lunge" and "puff" at the television. It was a kind of a bouncing, half bark. It was quite hysterical, actually. I guess he felt threatened to have all these "invaders" enter our living room. And perhaps he was protecting us. Silly pug.
One time Benny even barked at his own kind on the television. The video above is from a news report featuring Central Florida Pug Rescue. And Ben was barking at the poor foster pugs looking for their forever home!
I will clarify, however, that while that was cute to us, it is not dream dog behavior. And we often say that if the pugs were big dogs, some of their behavior would not be cute or even acceptable. I'll use Aunt Laurie's dog as an example in this one. Aunt Laurie has a Rottweiler. And when Lulu, the female Rottie, "lunges" and "puffs" at the TV it is literally terrifying to me. To Aunt Laurie not so much. But when a 20 pound dog charges at something "aggressively" it can totally be brushed off, but when the same behavior is shown in a dog pushing 100 pounds it doesn't translate to cute or funny, in my opinion.
So, thus I have to concede that that same behavior in Benny should not be viewed as cute or funny either. That is why little dogs get away with so much more nonsense. As an owner, you just pick up your 10, 15, 20 pound dog and march off with him/her. If that dog is 80-100+ pounds correcting the behavior and removing the dog from the problem is much more of an issue.
I hope that answers the question. What about you all? Do your dogs need the TV on? Animal Planet? Have crazy reactions to the TV set? Is this a problem for you?
