http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule I'll be blogging about sharing my days with four lovable chunky puglets: Amie, Ruby, Wiggles and the latest addition, Dora. I'll be blogging about sharing my days with four lovable chunky puglets: Amie, Ruby, Wiggles and the latest addition, Dora. en-us http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/529 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/529 <p>I think my latest adoptive puggy is reliving her puppyhood on numerous levels!&nbsp; Dora will be six years old next month and spent the years previous living in a puppymill churning out puppies.&nbsp; I don't when she had her first litter but she probably didn't have a lot of downtime to be a &quot;dog&quot;.&nbsp; I think she's been making up for lost time since she arrived here&nbsp;four weeks ago.....</p> <p>She loves to take every stuffed toy out of the basket and scatter them around.&nbsp; Chew on some, throw others around.&nbsp; She snatched a shirt off my chair in the bedroom and dragged that around the apartment.&nbsp; She did her best to chew open the plastic wrapping on some new sheets and she loves to race around as though she's being chased.&nbsp; When it's time bed she'll want to play....she'll run in and out of&nbsp;the bedroom.&nbsp; And, this one behavior isn't so endearing, she's&nbsp;still learning the art of pottying outside as opposed to inside.&nbsp; I try to keep a stack of rags and my bottle of Nature's Miracle&nbsp;close at hand and hawk&nbsp;eyes.&nbsp;&nbsp;Whenever she&nbsp;begins to circle I quickly&nbsp;take her outside and hope she makes the connection.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm not sure how much is residual behavior from her puppymill days and how much is her learning to be a real dog.&nbsp; Whichever, I just take a deep breath when I see a puddle and keep working with her.&nbsp;&nbsp;Being&nbsp;aware of her history makes this process&nbsp;far less frustrating.&nbsp; And one learns as a pet owner that you can't become too attached to&nbsp;any piece of&nbsp;furniture or rug.&nbsp; Everything is replaceable.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/527 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/527 <p>It was one of those moments where I wished my dog could talk.&nbsp; It was 4am this morning and my 11-yr old pug, Amie, was crawling on and around my&nbsp;head unable to settle down.&nbsp; She's done this only a handful of time before.....it's almost like she's trying to crawl under my skin.&nbsp; I thought she was trying to get my attention to go outside to potty so we did that.&nbsp; No, she didn't need to potty but she started chewing on grass.&nbsp; Hmmm, I was wondering if she had an upset stomach since it's been said dogs eat grass when they don't feel well.&nbsp; I brought her back inside and got out my stethoscope to listen to her bowels and nearly blew my eardrums out!!&nbsp; No stethoscope needed as you could hear her bowel sounds from across the room.&nbsp; I started to feel&nbsp;guilty because I&nbsp;had&nbsp;given all the girls a taste of Thanksgiving....a bit of turkey and mashed potatoes.&nbsp; Maybe too much turkey.&nbsp; Her bowels were loud.&nbsp; My guilt was growing...did I cause a small bowel obstruction??&nbsp; Would we be rushing to&nbsp;the local vet emergency room?&nbsp; We walked outside a dozen times and finally a little toot erupted and a #2.&nbsp; I've never been so happy to see a #2!!&nbsp; I'm sure she was uncomfortable because more tooting has&nbsp;occurred throughout the day and it ain't pretty.&nbsp; I'm sure&nbsp;if Amie could talk she'd be cursing me out!&nbsp; </p> http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/523 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/523 You can take the dog out of the puppymill but you can't take the puppymill out of the dog....or at least that's what I'm finding with my latest addition to the pug herd: Dora.&nbsp; She was released from a breeder a several months ago and spent a couple of months in a foster home before she arrived here in her forever home.&nbsp; I couldn't ask for a sweeter more docile little girl but we're struggling a bit with understanding that we go OUTSIDE to potty as opposed to letting go wherever you might be.&nbsp; I've been plugging the laundry machine with lots of quarters lately!&nbsp; Another disturbing behavior that has&nbsp;cropped up is that Dora has an affinity for poop.....I've caught her several times this past week munching!&nbsp; I'm betting these behaviors can be tied directly to her days as a puppy machine.&nbsp; Confined in a kennel for the greater majority of her time, she most likely pottied whenever the need arose and, if it dirtied her space, her maternal instinct prompted her to keep it clean by whatever means including eating it.&nbsp; I hope over time she realizes that she no longer has to do that.....as a matter of fact picking up her poop is now my job :-)&nbsp;&nbsp;Her only&nbsp;job is to relax and enjoy being a real dog again.&nbsp; &nbsp; http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/517 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/517 It seems nearly every stage of medical school has some sort of obstacle to be overcome and currently it's the rejection of my application for residency programs.&nbsp;&nbsp; And not just a couple of rejections, I'm pushing about 30 at this&nbsp;point.&nbsp; I could create an enormous wall mural of the emails stating that while they'd like to offer me an interview there are just too many qualified candidates and limited interview slots.&nbsp; Blah blah blah.&nbsp; I checked my email bright and early this morning and was met with two more rejections.....the rejection committee must get a jumpstart on the day.&nbsp; Anyway, I applied to numerous Emergency Medicine programs and, as a backup plan, to several Family Medicine programs.&nbsp;&nbsp; EM has become very competitive as a specialty with a 3-yr residency and subsequent shift work which allows for a balanced lifestyle....a priority for me.&nbsp; Since I went to a medical school in the Netherland Antilles (Saba University), I'm often automatically not considered as this is a &quot;foreign&quot; medical school even though I'm a US citizen and all of my clinical rotations are done in the States.&nbsp; I had the wind taken out of my sails this morning as I read my emails but then I looked at four furry faces looking back at me and my frustration waned.&nbsp; Unknown to these furballs they've kept my spirits from sagging&nbsp;too low especially during this most stressful time of medical school.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/501 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/501 <p>It's been nearly a week since Dora joined my pug herd and it's been great fun!&nbsp; She's all of 11 pounds and is slowly settling in with three other puggies&nbsp;twice as big as she is.&nbsp; Just a few snags here and there......I have a polar fleece blanket that I leave on the floor for them to lounge on during the day which has taken a beating from Amie.&nbsp; There was a streak of time when she peed on it nearly every day even though she had ample opportunity to do so outside.&nbsp; Miss Dora seems to have picked up this bad habit but I'm&nbsp;thinking it's more about her establishing her niche among the girls than anything else.&nbsp; She sleeps through the entire night curled up neck to my head and is a total&nbsp;pug slug in the mornings.&nbsp; Such a pug.</p> <p>With her history as a puppymill dog, she&nbsp;comes with some baggage typical of this life namely little&nbsp;if any&nbsp;preventative attention to eyes, ears, nasal folds.&nbsp; Within the first day I had her&nbsp;I noticed how she would misjudge distances....she ran into&nbsp;a doorframe and fell off a curb when we were out walking.&nbsp;&nbsp;I took her to&nbsp;an eye specialist and discovered she basically only sees light/dark in her left&nbsp;eye and has about 25%&nbsp;of her vision remaining in her&nbsp;right&nbsp;eye.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even though pugs are predisposed to&nbsp;eye problems being attentive to their care is absolutely&nbsp;crucial.&nbsp;&nbsp;Breeders who&nbsp;operate&nbsp;large scale breeding operations are notorious for&nbsp;neglecting this aspect along with many other aspects of their dog's welfare.&nbsp; It makes me crazy.&nbsp; NEVER BUY FROM A PET STORE!!!!!&nbsp; Adoption is&nbsp;always the best option.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/496 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/496 <p>Dora makes four....four pugs!&nbsp; I met Empress Dora as she was called at a pug gathering a couple of weeks ago.&nbsp; Her foster mom brought her and another puggie to the meetup to socialize and get the word out that she was available for adoption.&nbsp; She's the miniature version of my Ruby....probably 12 lbs max and absolutely adorable.&nbsp; I submitted my adoption application two days later and was approved last week.&nbsp; I picked her&nbsp;up this morning and have spent the day getting her accustomed to her new forever home.&nbsp; She's a bit reserved but to be expected particularly since Wiggles, Ruby and Amie tower over her.&nbsp; I think once she finds her niche she'll have a good time hanging with the girls.&nbsp; Lots of estrogen around here!</p> <p>I promise......this is my last pug until I have enough land to start a pug ranch!!</p> http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/490 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/490 Just when you think you're one step ahead of the latest dog-related mess, something always thwarts your efforts.&nbsp; I went on a laundry binge and washed three loads of blankets, sheets, comforter,&nbsp;dog toys....basically all things dog.&nbsp; There, I thought, everything&nbsp;is&nbsp;free from dog hair and dirt for at least another week.&nbsp; I woke&nbsp;the next morning as&nbsp;Wiggles was throwing up the remains of her dinner on the freshly washed comforter!&nbsp; Then Amie decided her blanket, which she likes to sprawl on during the day, was too clean for her taste so she peed on it.&nbsp; At least the dog toys are still relatively clean..........&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/487 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/487 <p>Just as there is never a dull moment with the puggies, there's never a dull moment around my apartment building.&nbsp; Last week Ruby made a lasting impression on fresh cement in front of my building.....my landlord was incredibly annoyed.&nbsp; He must have taken a broom and tried to smooth over the paw prints but some remain.&nbsp; Ruby left her mark.&nbsp; </p> <p>The mercury has started dipping here in Kansas City&nbsp;so last&nbsp;Friday&nbsp;I turned the heat on.&nbsp; Only it didn't come on and we woke up Saturday morning&nbsp;with the temps a cool 66 degrees.&nbsp; In my apartment!!!&nbsp; I emailed the onsite landlord (just so happens it's the owner's&nbsp;daughter and&nbsp;son-in-law)&nbsp;and was told a maintenance person was already&nbsp;notified.&nbsp;&nbsp;As of this morning, I still didn't have heat BUT I had the pugs!!&nbsp; Thankfully their little sausage-shaped bodies generate a lot of heat.....sort of like fresh out-of-the-oven meatloaves.&nbsp; Wiggles parked herself in front and Ruby rested herself against my behind and surprisingly&nbsp;I've stayed warm.&nbsp;&nbsp;I was going to get a space heater but&nbsp; there's no need!&nbsp; The good news is that when I came home from the hospital the heat was on....it was a balmy 70 degrees inside!</p> <p>The many uses of furkids!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/479 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/479 Miss Ruby got her mother in trouble today!&nbsp; It just so happened that a portion of the cement sidewalk in front of my apartment building was being replaced.&nbsp; I was home finishing my residency application and stepped out the front door thinking that the new cement would be relatively firm.....you know where this is going, right?&nbsp; Ruby bounded out in front of me (as she usually does) and ran across the wet cement leaving her signature all over it!&nbsp; Her paw prints weren't deep but easily recognizable nonetheless.&nbsp; I tried smoothing over as many patches as I could but to no avail.&nbsp; Just got a knock at the door.....it was my fuming landlord.&nbsp; He obviously saw no humor in the situation.&nbsp; I could have predicted his reaction since he's not the most friendly of sorts.&nbsp; I'm hoping that if they can get one of the guys back it still can be smoothed over.&nbsp;&nbsp; Never a dull moment in the world of pugs........ http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/475 http://www.sacpaws.com/home/Blog/pugzrule/475 Wiggles spent yesterday at the dentist and left minus eight teeth!&nbsp; Eight teeth!!!&nbsp; She was originally supposed to have had this done when she came into rescue but somehow it was overlooked.&nbsp; I knew she had some bad teeth by way of her bad breath but I had not idea it was involved so many.&nbsp; The vet said what's left isn't in good shape and eventually they'll have to come out.&nbsp; Poor little girl.&nbsp; She's a trooper though....she ate some soft food last night and has her appetite back better than ever today.&nbsp; Animals are amazing.&nbsp; If I had eight teeth pulled I can assure you I wouldn't be trotting around the park like she was this evening.&nbsp; She also had her long nails trimmed so I'm hoping she's feeling like a million bucks.