Monday, February 22, 2016

Fin

When I started this blog 11 years ago, I never thought about this day. I never thought about what it would be like to have a pug blog, with no pugs. I never thought about what it would be like to document the life of an aging pug, through all the ups and downs. When I started this blog, I was in my 20's and relatively care free. I had two young pugs, full of energy that made me laugh constantly. I loved to take pictures of them and I wanted to share those pictures in some way.

And so Owned by Pugs was born.

I had no grand ideas when I started OBP. I thought I would take pictures of Benjamin and Henry and have them online for friends and family to see. But shortly after starting, we began to get comments from other pug lovers - people we didn't even know. It was crazy to me.

Making great friends through OBP was one of the most unexpected things to me. I never imagined that OBP would have blossomed into the community it has today. Some of you I have met in person, some I have talked to over the phone and through emails. Some I know only through comments. And I know there are some lurkers out there that have been following along for years. And no matter how we may have interacted over the years, I want to say thank you for being a part of OBP.

There was a point, when I was no longer working from home, and Benjamin, Henry and Luna had begun to slow down a bit that I thought about calling it quits. Life was busy and all the fun things that Benjamin, Henry and Luna loved to do, the things that were easy to write about, seemed to be dwindling. Posts about trips to the beach and swim camps seem to fall to the wayside and all there seemed to be to write about were trips to the vet or surgeries or worries about what was to come.

I thought no one wants to read about this stuff. But, that seemed to be when the OBP community really kicked in and there was an outpouring of love and support. It was at that point, I really had to evaluate things and I realized, I didn't want to write about those things. Its easy to write a post about a fun trip to the dog park and gut wrenching to have to write about how your pug is re-learning his way around your house because he has lost his eye sight.

At that point, I wanted to live in denial and writing a daily blog didn't seem to fit with that.

I kept blogging because I knew there were OBPers out there that were invested in Benjamin, Henry, Luna and Sol. And I knew that I owed it to them to tell the full story. OBPers are not fair weather friends and it wasn't right for me to quit when the going got tough. I never really came to terms with the inevitability of the pugs aging, but I did began to see that those later in life stories are perhaps the more important ones.

I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the OBP community. Making all of the friends that I have made over the years has been one of the best things. The pugs always had a way of making friends. Wherever we went, they brought people to us and started conversations. This blog was much the same. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. You have been a huge part of our lives!

Much like when I started this blog in 2005, I don't know what is next. I don't know when and if we will get another pug. We are just going to take it one day at time and do what feels right. I will be stopping the Daily Pug Picture and other parts of the site soon, but I will leave the OBP Pug Blog as it is. So I, and anyone else who wants to, can go back and read about 4 pugs (and a cat) that have touched and impacted my life in more ways than I ever could have imagined. Yes, there were big things, but it really was the little things that I will forever cherish. And the Pug Blog is a daily diary of all of the things that have meant the most to me over the last decade. And if you are curious, here is the post that started it all!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

All Together Again

Well, we have one last post before our final post. I did not want it left unsaid that Henry is back home. He was able to come home about a week after we let him cross the rainbow bridge. His ashes are with the others. Lou, our bunny, then the pugs: Solsey, then Benny, then Luna and now Henry. They are altogether and back home with us. We are happy to have him back with us where he belongs. The night skies have also brought us a full moon and Jupiter (Luna & Henry) in the evenings. Venus (Benny) is pulling up the rear in the rotation but we will be catching him soon, too. If we need to talk to them we have their ashes, we can look to the sky and of course, they are forever in our hearts. A tattoo is soon to come, of course, too but since that is more about us and less about them, you will just need to visualize the Benny one in the bone outline with Henry's name and on the opposite wrist. Brothers forever. #RIPOBPPugs #PugsForeverStrong #AllPugsTogetherAgain

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Goodbye Henry Boy

It is with a very heavy heart that I must share that Henry passed away last week. After 2 years of being our strong boy, it all became too much and we had to step back and evaluate his quality of life. After agonizing over it, we made the tough decision to let him go to be with Benny, Luna and Sol. He went peacefully in our arms.

A very concerning factor for us was that Henry started to have labored breathing. A chest X-Ray last week revealed that he had fluids on his lungs. This was really a tipping point for us. While we were ready to do whatever we could, we weren't sure Henry was up for the challenge. His confusion had hit and all-time high and his legs were starting to fail him.

I remember bringing Henry home as a pup like it was yesterday. When we pulled up to the house, we got Henry out of the car and put him down in the grass to go potty and he instantly sat down to soak up the sun! He will forever be our sun worshipping, water loving, pool toy fetching boy. Compared to the others, he was definitely our outdoor dog. He loved walks in the woods, beach trips and most of all riding with his head out of the window.

While we miss all the pugs, losing Henry was particularly hard because he was our link to Benjamin, Luna and Sol. He was our last pug standing. We do take comfort in knowing that all four are back together again. I don't know exactly where they are, but I bet wherever they are, they are running low on pumpkin bread.

#ForeverHenryStrong

We are going to take some time to process this and will be back with an update next week.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Hanging Out At Lowe’s

I will preface this that we know that Lowe's is not everyone's favorite hardware store, but at this point we have to pick our battles and the fact that they let Henry in even though the sign says SERVICE ANIMALS ONLY means a lot to us. With that said, we mentioned that we went to there to get some mini fence pieces and flower bed lining for our backyard solutions. Well, we wanted to share how chill Henry was in his cart.

Seriously, WHO is a GOOD BOY?! #HenryIsAGoodBoy #henrystrongalldaylong

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Updated Backyard

My week away with Peep #2 being on duty was an effort to get Henry up to speed to be able to be left alone again. Even if for just a few hours. Henry's cognitive state is such that he cannot always find his way around our home. He has trouble getting to the doggy door to get out to the lanai and then from the lanai to the yard. The doggy doors are of course set up so that the pugs could go out and go potty/play in the yard while we were home, but yet on their own. Henry has always been a master at this. I am sure he has prided himself by being an expert in the potty department having never had a potty accident (minus one rarity while waking suddenly from sleep, while on vacation in a different bed/home/routine over 10 years ago). Now, without help to find the door, a potty accident will likely be imminent. If it was just a potty issue, we may bite the bullet and let it be what it is and clean up any mess when we got home.

However, his physical abilities are such that if he is not on a surface (i.e. full carpet) when he tries to go to a standing position from a laying position then he is unable to do this. He will get panicky and barky. So, he is not really in a place mentally or physically where we feel ok to leave him alone. And even while I was away, Peep #2 had him in the backyard to go potty and everything seemed to be going ok, but he got stuck in the little metal guide fence/barrier from yesteryear that made it so Benny would not pee through the screen onto the pool deck. While attempting to navigate his way out/back around he fell down the hill into a very small hole/crevasse and could not get up/out. So, it's a good thing Henry was not alone and had help to get out. Since that day (actually that day---only hours later) a modification was made to the back yard (and path leading to the back yard). We are ever the problem solvers. Peep #2 took Henry to Lowe's, got some mini fencing (like what we have/what he is used to out front near the agave). Peep #2 made a mini yard for Henry. Now we will still have the problem that Henry cannot get the yard by himself, but navigating him there on leash and letting him off leash in the back yard should allow for him to be a bit safer. Peep #2 also lined the orange mesh with a plant bed liner so as Henry would be less likely to get his little paw tangled (which was also observed while I was away).

The good thing about this little mini fence being so low is that Cupid can still hop over it and back. Win-win! So we will keep working to try to get Henry to where he can find his way around the house (not just to go out to go potty but that would be nice too!). #henrystrong #solutionsallaround #problemsolvers

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

While Corrine Was Away

So, I was gone for a week for work. Of course I would get frequent updates. The below were a couple snapshots and their explanations.

Cupid regularly waited by the door for her mama!

Henry had to go to the vet for bloodwork. Peep #2 worked on a better way to make him comfortable in the car so that could get more wind. So, this was Henry catching the one person wind that he could.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Ask OBP #24

This week's reply comes from a question asked by Lindsay. She had questions about what we serve our pugs. The following diet was the staple diet that the pugs were on throughout most of their lives. It was 1/2 cup ground turkey (white meat), heaping tablespoon of canned pumpkin, level tablespoon of plain oatmeal, a round tablespoon of the veggie of the week (peas, green beans, zucchini, asparagus, spinach were common choices). This was served twice a day and kept them full and at a good weight. They did later in life carry a little weight but that came from a few too many extra bonus table scraps, Calorie wise it was comparable to healthier variety dog food but was much lower in fat content than most. When considering home cooked meals the below links are the ones that came vet recommended.

Home Prepared Dog & Cat Diets

Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs