Monday, June 12, 2006

Can’t judge a book by its cover

Before rescuing Luna, we knew that she had some issues.  One of her issues is that she is missing patches of fur.  Most of the fur loss was caused by an untreated case of mange.  There are other patches of missing fur that the vet can only speculate why they went missing.  In any case, as you can see from the pictures above, Luna has a very spotty coat and the dark areas are where she is actually missing fur.

Now this is only a cosmetic issue.  The vet has said that she is no worse for the wear if her fur never grows back.  It doesn’t bother me and it certainly doesn’t bother Luna.  On her walks, she proudly prances down the street like she has the coat of a Yorkshire terrier.

But while Luna’s fur situation is no concern for us, we do get some odd reactions from others while we are out.  The most common is that someone will exclaim, “Oh, look a spotted pug!”  I always laugh when I hear this one because from afar it does totally look like Luna is spotted.  The most interesting response I have had is that someone asked if Luna was brindle.  I thought this was a dignified way of putting things.

Luna’s fur situation always makes for interesting conversation when we first meet someone.  At first they see Luna and her missing fur, but after being around her for about 5 minutes you no longer see the missing fur.  Instead, all you see is a charming pug, with tons of personality that is outgoing, optimistic and completely unfazed by anything that has happened in the past and is totally living in the moment, enjoying every second of every day.