Monday, August 31, 2015

Ask OBP #6

The Ask OBP questions are getting so good that I am now using multiple days to answer questions! This is great! I hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!

First, I want to share that Becky's request to hear the story of how OBP all came together is one long saga that will be posted tomorrow. Thank you for allowing us to recap that Becky. I hope your patience in waiting an extra day does not disappoint you.

Sue, Pen & Lucy's mom also asked a question about Cupid and if her behavior changed with Henry since he's gone blind. Sue, this, too, requires more detail and we will talk about that in Thursday's post.

The first question we will answer today comes from Sue W who asked if our pugs ever got into a tiff. That was followed by Alayna who inquired about food aggression and if any of ours demonstrated that they were territorial to their peeps. Since these questions are related, we will tackle them both at the same time.

Regarding pug tiffs at the OBP house, there were never any real "arguments" or "disagreements". The worst incident would be the Sol bone issue we discussed last week. And that really wasn't a fight between the pugs, but just that Sol and her intense love of the knuckle bones sent Baby Benny cowering in the dining room. Occasionally, there would be times when they would all be chewing a bone and one of the pugs wanted to switch bones before the other was ready and there may be a growl or two, but these were really rare.

As far as food aggression went, Benny would get a little snarky and he'd give you the mad face and a quick airy growl to let you know you'd better step back if another animal got near his food. If a person took his food, though,it was quite opposite. He'd look at you sad as if to ask why we would even do that. He was very respectful of his people. Extremely respectful.

As for territorial....hmmm. That is interesting. I would not say that any of the pugs were territorial. I think you are asking in the sense that if someone came close to us would they try to "protect" us or not allow the other person near us. That never really happened. But in some ways, Luna could have been called "territorial" in the sense that she claimed one OBP peep more than another. Luna loved both her peeps, don't get me wrong, but Luna did have a favorite. And it was not me. #sadface. Luna loved her peep #2. She loved peep #2 like no other! If I had Luna on my lap and peep 2 joined me on the sofa, that kid would split so fast she'd be a blur on the security camera! For Luna it was all about peep #2. I was a good back up peep. But was never peep #1 to Luna. The boys and Solsey both loved us equally. But Luna had her #1 peep and it was not me. I learned to be ok with it and it has been somewhat of a standing joke in the OBP house since peep #2 always tries to convince me that Luna loved me the same but we both know that was not really the case. It's ok. Luna love me a LOT even if I was not her favorite. Some dogs are just more one person types of dogs. Luna was that type of dog. So, Luna was maybe a little territorial to peep #2 but not in an aggressive way. We can say in a passive aggressive way, though. She was sneaky about it.

The next question came from Sue States. She asked about how we pilled the pugs. My first instinct is to say "very carefully" but for us it is mostly easy. Most pills fit in a Bil Jac or even mini Bil Jac. We put the pill in the treat and smoosh it around until the whole pill is covered. Let's say you have 3 pills that need to be given this way. We would have 6-8 Bil Jacs and just give them to them all at once. Later when Henry stopped eating anything (when going through chemo) the vet suggested cream cheese and that works pretty well, too. It does depend though. If the pills pop when/if chewed that was a time we'd have to bring in lunch meat. Luna was worst one to give a pill to. Ben never chewed anything so he was the easiest to pill and Henry was usually pretty good with it. Sol took pills pretty well, too. HOWEVER, liquid meds were tough for us. And Solsey was the WORST. The first time we had to give her liquid (cough suppressant) she not only did not swallow it, but she shook her head all over the kitchen. I am quite sure if you study our house, you will find sticky little red splotches from that magical day! It was like we were at a Gallagher concert where he busts watermelons with a sledge hammer! And we are talking like less than half a teaspoon of syrup! But good grief did that mess get all over everything! Yikes!

Chuckie asked about the special words that have come out of OBP. We can't take credit for all the items on the list, but here is a quick overview of what we think the terms mean.

• OMP - Oh My Pug!
• Pugdorable - A combo of Pug and adorable. Just another way of saying how cute a pug is.
• Pugkin Bread - Pumpkin Bread
• Pug Hugs - Hugs from pugs
• G'Ma & G'Pa - Grandma and Grandpa
• Da Magic Window - The drive thru window (Magic to a pug because yummy food just gets handed out the window)

The only pug specific word that is "ours" is G'Ma and G'Pa and that is the term used for the pugs grandparents on Peep #1's side and Grammy would be the grandmother on Peep #2's side. I am actually happy to clarify this as a recent conversation led to us realizing that we had not made that clear. G'Ma, G'Pa and Grammy are the pugs's real life grandparents. I think Pugkin Bread came from Ann of Central Florida Pug Rescue. I am not sure if this was before or after she began baking Benny loaves of pumpkin bread (Benny's most favorite treat). Readers, feel free chime in about the other terms. I can say that we recently coined "sniffortunities" though (opportunities to sniff).

Ok everyone! Really terrific questions!

#KeepTheQsComing #AnswersOnMultipleDaysNow #AskOBP