So, we have seen Henry being a daredevil when he was walking on the edge of the river when the river was low. We witnessed him hanging out on the edge when the tide was high. Well, we visited the river shortly after Hurricane Joaquin was out at sea. This hurricane, while impacting many others north of us, barely impacted Florida. It did bring us some high tides, though. Locally, our Halifax River was splashing over the edges of the retention wall. Here, we have Henry risking life and limb and getting a few splashes of water on his paws. Seriously, this boy does make your heart skip a beat!
Each year for the last 3 we have participated in our local Walk to End Alzheimer's. (You have seen photos of Henry with his Uncle Bob who is currently suffering with the disease. Well, at the walk, we are given flowers in colors that represent your affiliation with Alzheimer's disease. Orange is that you support the cause and a vision of a world without Alzheimer's (which we do). Purple represents that you have lost someone to Alzheimer's or dementia (which we have). Yellow tells that you are supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer's (which would be for Bob's wife, Aunt Kelly). The blue flower is to show that you have dementia or Alzheimer's (and that one is for Uncle Bob himself, although he is no longer in a position to understand any of this).
We wanted to pose Henry in front of the Alzheimer's garden so that Henry, even though he could not make the walk, show that he is in support of a world free of Alzheimer's disease. Henry's brain issues are actually quite similar to that of a person who has the fairly early stages of dementia. So, this is a cause that Henry can support wholeheartedly. After the world of pugs, working to end Alzheimer's is our biggest passion. #EndAlz #WalkToEndAlz #DoingItForBob #HenryHopesToEndAlzToo
This coming weekend we will be taking Henry on a pug adventure! It is time for the Pugs In The City V event in St Augustine put on by Central Florida Pug Rescue. We are hoping that this won't be overwhelming for Henry. We are looking very forward to it. There is a meet and greet, a trolley ride, sightseeing, food and friends. It is a pirate themed event, of course! We are sure that there will be more Henry type pugs with a patch to cover the no eye. So, loads of cutie pirate pugs will be afoot!
We may not have an immediate follow up to the event, but we promise photos and stories will shared as quickly as we can! Ay matey! See you there or walk the plank!
UGH! It was time to do another check of Henry's blood to see how his protein absorption is coming along. We thought he was doing better. So much so that we let him indulge in those chew sticks that have been taking the edge off of him in the evenings. Well, he is suffering the consequences. The target number in his protein test is 6.0. Well, the first time his blood was 4.1, the next time we got i up to 5.4 and now this time it was back down to 5.1. That is not a large drop and not nearly as low as 4.1 but still not near the goal of at least a 6. The good news is that he really seems to be "more well" this time than the first time and yeah, probably not quite as good as he was when he was a 5.4 but his mental happiness is so much better!
So, we will continue to tweak he food and his meds but I am not entirely sure if we are doing him THAT much better by having him lay off the chewy sticks altogether. They may not be so hot for his IBD but they are good for his head. For now, though, the plan is to go with the slightly tweaked regimen and retest in a month. Until then, here's to higher protein! #HenryStrong #HenryNeedsToChewButAlsoAbsorbProtein #DoubleEdgedSword #NoWinSituation #JustAbsorbProteinHenry!
Hi Christie! Thank you for carrying the weight of Ask OBP! We love your questions! And you have some doozies! It sounds like our pugs have little in common with your pugs. This is so odd to us, though! We have found that pugs have so much in common. But I have not heard about a pug licking hair! Actually, our pugs would lick our faces UNTIL they got to our hair and then they would start again from the chin up. Your pugs licking your hair seems so funny to us! Are there any other hair-licking pugs out there?
So, we will tangent from the pugs licking hair to Cupid chewing our hair and biting our scalp. This is one of Cupid's favorite things in life. She prefers to do this right after a shower with wet hair and then the bonus of fresh dried hair topped with hair spray or some other product. Oh she LOVES that! We are convinced it is that behavior that got her kicked out of her original home. She "wouldn't stay out of the baby's crib" was the reason listed for giving her up. I can just see her hoping in the crib with a sweet newborn post tear free shampoo bath! Oh, she must have gone to town on that kid! First, she sniffs then gently paws the head. That is followed by a harsher paw where she spoons the hair into her mouth. The final blow is when she buries her face in the hair and tries to get a mouthful which often includes scalp! Yikes! And in her younger days she may have given an extra back claw to the head finale. After her hair show was over, she would literally roll over as if in an over pleasured indulged coma. So, nope on the pugs, but a big yes on the cat!
Henry has never been much of a barker. He would give a woo woo woo when he was giving you some attitude or share a bit of barky excitement when arriving at a new location or coming back home from an outing. But as far as giving a bark to get fed or to be let out to go potty, he's always been the strong silent type.
With his no longer newly found blindness, he has learned how to make his voice work for him. In this video, you see him bordering on throwing a temper tantrum for the freshly grilled steaks under the foil. With his IBD/low protein level issues, he is not even allowed to have one small bite, poor kid. His nose, though, without sight from his eyes, makes up for his other senses. So, whenever there is an overflow of yummy smells, he tends to loose his mind a little bit. And that is what the tantrum shows. He has mastered using his voice and really wants some steak!
Henry has gotten in the bad bad habit of wanting breakfast a few hours before actual wake up time. Just so that we can peacefully rest the last couple of hours of sleep, we have begrudgingly obliged. He additionally, has started to consider ANY time right after he wakes up as another meal time. He can be very convincing. He will just stand at his food spot and stare at the wall patiently waiting for his meal. He would stand there for A LONG time if you let him. We try to get his mind off the meal that he is envisioning in his head. Sometimes he will NOT wait patiently and if he is actually pretty hungry, he will bark a bark of desperation as if to say, "you're letting me starve?!" It is obviously all in his head. He is well fed. No doubt about that. Just more blind dog antics.
