An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!

[S.Vashti]

To console folks that worry, here are a couple of my pets doing just fine:

Sophie, the new house kitty:


And Tallulah, acting as a soothing, calming service dog when she's at Mom's place:

[livius drusus]

They look like two very happy creatures.

[livius drusus]

Any pugdates, Sack?

[Sock Puppet]

Pugdate the first: Vet called to let me know they were about to do the deed and be done by the time I poast this. He believes he can save all of her most important teeth, those she needs for proper chewage. Some of the rotten ones are so loose, he said, that he could essentially pluck them out bare-handed. But she is expected to bounce back quickly and prolly could even go on a short trick-or-treat jaunt tonight. I haven't had another call to say she's successfully come out of anaesthesia, though, so I'm continuing to be a paranoid twit.

[Sock Puppet]

She's awake and reportedly doing fine. I'll be picking her little pug butt up in about 1.5 hours.

[livius drusus]

Yay! Just in time to put her on the chain gang.

[BrotherMan]

I will be working on something special in celebration of VCB's successful surgery.

[Sock Puppet]

I regret that I have but one [Thanks] to give for that poast.

Brought her home, and she was a little bit out of it, but was indeed perky enough to go out and show off her jailpug costume for a few minutes. Forgot to get pics, but we'll put it back on her and get some done. It was a little big for her, so I gathered it up on the butt so she looked like a prisoner with too much junk in the trunk.

She frequently has the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth, looking ever so intelligent that way, but last night it was lolling out to the right, prolly due to the numb moutch. And although she still followed us around a bit, she would do this uncharacteristic zoning-out thing where she'd just stand in one place like a statue for several minutes at a time. Poor li'l stoned butterball.

She ate okay, just more slowly and carefully than usual. But she finished her whole meal eventually. So I'd say it was a successful gig.

[Kael]

We have an additional family member, adopted from a shelter the next county over. My wife named him Dakota, we call him Kota for short, mostly. He's about a year old, and was rescued off the street, so we don't know anything about where he was before. As you can see, one of his eyes is a little messed up, and he tends to flinch if you come at him too fast or move your hand around his head too quickly, so an abusive home before he got loose isn't out of the question. He also shows a lot more interest in even the oldest scraps least worthy of being called "food" (like whatever it was he found under a park bench on his walk yesterday) than in any dry dog food.

He's very sweet and wants lots of attention, and hasn't shown any even slightly aggressive behavior, though we've had to (re)teach him not to grab for food that isn't his. He is still settling in, and our daughter can't seem to make up her mind about him, alternately gushing about her "soft and snuggly doggie" and being rather intimidated by him despite his gentleness. But, I think it will be fine, she's just not used to having a pet in the house all the time. All in all I think he'll be a good fit for us.

[LadyShea]

He looks so much like my rescue, now deceased , Aurora! She never did get over her stray-dog food weirdness, but Sibeys have very interesting traits and Kota should be a lot of fun for your family (notice how they run, and how they groom ).

[livius drusus]

Does your daughter rollerblade or have a scooter? Because the first time Kota gives her a good pull down the street, she'll never look back again.

[lisarea]

Such a sweet face.

I'm sure they'll be inseparable in no time.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by Kael

he tends to flinch if you come at him too fast or move your hand around his head too quickly

Our gizmo was like that for a while, because she came from a home where she was treated as a toy by two high-energy toddlers, and she was really shell-shocked. She would flinch any time you tried to pet her, or speak to her, or make eye-contact. THen she would go and hide in one of her various hidey-holes and we wouldn't see her for a while. We just left her alone when she hid and moved slowly and spoke softly whenever started venturing out on her own to see what was up with us. We've had her almost two years now and we tell her, "Gizmo, you're such a good girl, you hardly even flinch at all anymore when we pet you!"

[Sock Puppet]

OMG guys. Gaiz even.

On Saturday night, we went to the Pug Hearts of Houston annual fundraiser event, at Blanco's in Houston. This is the first one we've made it to (and now that we're moving, I guess it'll be the last, alas). We brought Ms. Chickenbunny, so it was sort of her debutante event.

Blanco's is a Western bar of sorts, a smallish club for live music and such, but they have a huge patch of property for parking and tentage. So they had a large tent wherein the pug festivities were held, with BBQ for the humangs inside the building. The centerpiece of the tent was a pug corral. They put hot pink nametags on the pugs for adoption, and white ones on the personal pugs. So VC was able to wander around in the corral with a bazillion of her own kind. She was a little shy, but her tail was up and fiercely curled, and she wasn't shaky or anything, so we just kept an eye on her and let her roam around in there. There was one randy little pugger named Gook (I'm not defending that, just reporting) that tried to mount her twice, but we nudged him off right away and defended her honor.

They also had a pug fashion show. We trotted VC across the stage, although we hadn't thought to dress her up, but at least she had her stylish little purse (for poopbags, but a lady never tells). There was a pair dressed as a princess and her knight, a non-pug with a dragon costume, a biker-dude pug, and various and sundry other ridiculous things.

The focus was on fundraising, but several adoptable pugs got new humangs that night, including a one-eyed boy that really needed lovin'. There was a silent auction whereby we acquired some lovely crap we didn't need, including a needlepoint pug pillow that Li'l Puppet acted like she'd die if she didn't get. Also a pug kissing booth that LP patronized quite a bit. But her favorite part was the corral, or as she called it, "Pug Heaven." Observe:





At the end of it, VC was exhausted (as were we), but a pugtastic time was had by all. Holy crap, it were amazing, I tell ye.

[LadyShea]

Pugaggedon!

[livius drusus]

Oh god, you didn't feed her after midnight, did you?

[BrotherMan]

Never ever in the history of this emotie has he ever been more appropriate.

[vremya]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

Our gizmo was like that for a while

Jake the Wonder Cat was like that when we first got him - he'd shrink away if you tried to pet the top of his head. He was fine if you came at him from the side, but not the top. (Now he's a total attention whore and loudly demands head scratches, so he got over it at some point.)

[BrotherMan]

Someday, Flossy. Someday.

[Ensign Steve]

God damn, my dogs are worthless.

But at least my humangs are trained to close the goddamn refrigerator!

[BrotherMan]

To be fair, your tinny dogs are about the size of soda bottles.

[livius drusus]

[curses]

he's doing the I Gotta Pee, Mom! dance.

[Ensign Steve]

When did you have cameras installed in my kicken?!

[LadyShea]

My friend is staying with us and brought her little dog (not purse dog little), and Lana is so excited to have a playmate* and they are throwing cushions and stuff everywheres!


*Duck is old and feeble and crotchety and doesn't play anymore.