I’ve just added the code that shows the latest picture over at http://pugs.textamerica.com ... a free pug community moblog I recently spotted on Pugvillage.com
Just send your pug photos over to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for submission!
I saw this posted on the puggy listserv and thought it was hysterical. Thanks to Rhonda for posting it. (This is her poem)
Dear Santa, I hear that you’re keeping a list
of who’s good and who’s bad to the bone.
I think you should know, in my own self defense,
I’ve been keeping a list of my own.
I’m sure you remember the stain in the rug ...
has the roof been checked lately for leaks?
And I emptied the dog food bag simply because
it gets stale if it sits there for weeks.
If shoes aren’t for chewing, why are they on the floor?
If a slipper attacks me, I tear it.
The Christmas tree falling, the presents unwrapped—
all had something to do with the parrot.
Yes, I peed in the kitchen. I know that “seems bad.”
But Santa, please let me explain:
it was pouring that day and I didn’t want MOM
to go dashing outside in the rain.
And I’ve tracked down the culprit who’s chewing the couch—didn’t Uncle Bob sit there last week? So before you go blaming me, look at the facts and please—just let the evidence speak.
Happy howlidays to all my puggie friends!
Ruth in CT
Rhoda & Skippy
Brutus got his first ever Greenie yesterday, and while he kind of sniffed it at first, not really sure, within minutes he was chomping away, and running off if we got close ... He’s not normally protective of his food at all, but that Greenie was his
The Greenie was picked up while we were in the pet store. We always take Brutus with us, and yesterday was a day for picking up all kinds of new doggy toys (he’s killed the squeeker in all but one toy), a doggy seat belt harness and a new collar that actually fits him, and he can’t pull off over his head to chew on
While we were there, we bumped into a woman and her pug, a 6 year old female, Bubbles. Bubbles wasn’t really a playful pug, and kind of ignored Brutus, which he was a bit miffed about. So miffed, he peed on a bag of dog food 
We also bought Nikki some new food and new treats, which she loves. Now, under our tree there are presents from Brutus to Nikki and from Nikki to Brutus
To all you pug fans out there, you have to see this one!!
Click here! It’s a pug singing a version of “Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland”.
When Brutus got sprayed by a skunk recently, he was wearing a leather studded collar.
Well, the collar stunk of skunk. No way it could be reused. So he has been without for a while. When we walk him, he gets his harness, so it’s not been too much of a problem, but I still wanted him to have his tags on.
So when I was in stop and shop, I picked up a Hartz nylon collar for him. I made sure I got the smallest size, which is recommended for pugs (12” - 14”).
When we got home and put it on him, it turns out it was a little big ...
So, he has a new chew toy 
Warning, the above link is *very* sad. It makes me very glad we don’t crate Brutus. He has the run of the whole apartment.
ARGH!!!! Silly dog!!
I went to take him outside to do his business. I know there’s been a bit of rustling on the side of our house, but I haven’t really worried about it, figuring it was a neighborhood cat.
Brutus started getting a bit agitated as soon as he was by the door. I figured he just had to go really badly. But no. He runs to the side of the house, and starts woofing at something. I look around and see the skunk. I’m trying to go after him and call him back, but to no avail. He charged it. It ran behind some crates that are over there, but it didn’t matter. It shot him. The scary thing was, all it did was make Brutus annoyed and want to go after it again. I go and call and try to herd him back. The scary thing for me was seeing the skunk come back out from behind the boxes right away. I finally get him back in the house ad into the tub he went. Fortunately I had some V8 around, so I bathed him with that. (I’ve heard of the peroxide trick, but since he got shot in the face by the skunk, I didn’t think that was a good idea.) It’s also midnight, so there’s no way a pet shop would be open to get some skunk deodorizer. He never did wee.
He still wants to do another round, you can see it.
This morning, for no apparant reason, Brutus threw up on the fouton.
It’s odd, he hadn’t had anything to eat since his meal the night before, he had a bit of chicken from us as a snack, but he’s had that before. He was ok all night, went for his walk fine, and about 20 minutes after getting back in he gagged, threw up and carried on fine.
My guess is he gobbled something yuckey on his walk. He still has his appetite, and didn’t show signs of doing it again, so I’m chalking it up to “one of those things” and moving on
It was our second trip with Brutus to the Bark Park at Breakheart reservation in Saugus on Saturday ... we got there early, before there were any other dogs in the park at all in fact ... but a black lab showed up soon and Brutus chased him a while. He was then followed by a chocolate lab who got chased before the pugs arrived shortly after.
All this resulted in Brutus being wiped out before the other pugs showed up! But he did well
Some pics here
Oh, the Boston Terrier in some photos? He was 13, and didn’t show it!
This last few days have been pretty good, lots of stuff has happened that hasn’t really been posted here (we’ve been too busy enjoying life to write about it, I suppose!).
Well, I had to share this ...
AJ contacted me the other day, asking for my postal address, I supplied it, then with the chaos that ensued, totally forgot about it. Today I checked my pigeon hole at work to find a small package.
A book in fact.
AJ, you rock, you made a good day better
I just took Brutus out in the snow for a walk ... it’s pretty deep, well up his legs in most places, up to his belly in some places.
He wore his little doggy jacket, and he loved every minute of it! He ws prancing and playing, picking up frozen leaves and running along with them, shoving his face into the drifts ... he had a great time!
And I thought pugs were supposed to be poor at handling the weather ... he had no problems
Of course, now he’s wet and soggy, but I can’t help that
I’m home today due to feeling extremely poorly - can’t move without getting really dizzy and ill. Brutus has been so lovely. I was in bed earlier and he was sitting next to me looking at me. It’s like he knew something wasn’t right. I told him I wasn’t feeling well. He immediately started licking my face and my arm, like he was trying to comfort me or make me feel better. It was so sweet.
Now he’s been sleeping in my lap, not leaving me for a minute. He’s such a sweet guy and is really making me feel better. I don’t feel totally by myself with him here. It’s nice having company with you when you are sick.
Both Diosa and I have now got two seperate 24 hour animal hospitals for both Brutus and Nikki. Much happier.
I just read this over at Pugvillage, and it’s horrifying.
http://www.pugvillage.com/robins.htm
I hope they, or Pugzone (where it first appeared) don’t mind me reproducing it here ...
When I get home tonight, I’ll be finding our vets number and putting it in my cell phone.
A short story from one of the original PugZone* readers, Robin Saltzberg, who was the inspiration behind our emergency preparedness article:“My husband Ron and I were sound asleep on July 6, 1999. Our 4 year old Pug, Ramsey, was sleeping quietly nestled between us as usual when I fell asleep. At about 3:30am, I awoke, feeling wetness on the bed, and hearing Ramsey gasping for air. Thinking nothing worse than he wet our bed, I turned the light on and screamed in horror. Ramsey was lying motionless in a pool of his own blood, struggling to breathe.
Ron tried to see if there was something obstructing Ramsey’s breathing while I ran frantically to the den looking for my phone book. We didn’t have our vets number memorized because Ramsey had never been sick and had only been there for regular check ups. I couldn’t find the address book anywhere. I couldn’t even think straight. Ron came rushing in with the phone book and found our vets number. He called, as I sat there in the bed crying, trying to comfort Ramsey who was by this time letting out low whines of pain.
Ron got an answering machine when he called and wrote down the number for the emergency vet. He called and was told to bring Ramsey in immediately. He got the address, not thinking to get directions. I looked at the town this vet was in and I knew how to get to the town, but had never heard of the street they were on, or how to get there. Ron called again, but the office didn’t have a good idea of where we were and how to get there from our home. She did the best she could, but we couldn’t find their building.
We drove around and around, using our cell phone to communicate our location with the vets office. “Birch Street!” the receptionist shouted over the phone, “head east 4 blocks and make a right onto Wilkes Avenue, take that straight down about 2 miles, bear left at the fork onto Lighthouse Road and you’ll see us right there on the right”.
We did as she told us to do, and screamed into their parking lot, leaving tire behind. Just as I was about to hand Ramsey over to the vet who ran to our car, Ramsey let out a loud yelp and died in my arms.
It was 4:35am.
The vet put Ramsey onto the ground right there in the parking lot and tried to revive him, but he was gone. I sat there on the ground holding Ramsey. I was crying so hard that I could barely breathe. I’m crying as I write this letter.
It has been almost a month since this awful day and I haven’t gone more than a few hours without reliving it in my mind over and over again. I don’t think I would ever get over Ramsey’s death no matter how it happened, but I can’t help thinking what if.
What if we had the vets number programmed into the phone or over the phone? What if we had known where the emergency vets office was? What if we had gotten Ramsey there in 30 minutes instead of an hour and five minutes? Would he be alive right now? Sitting on the floor next to me as I type this letter on my notebook? I should have done better for Ramsey.
PugZone? I hope you will share my story on your wonderful site so people can learn from my experience, without having to experience it themselves. If it helps one pug and their family, then putting my letter and my name out there for the whole world to read will be worth it. Thank you.
Robin Saltzberg
*Article first appeared on the original PugZone web site in August, 1999, and is republished in its original context.
Follow the steps in this article ...
http://www.pugvillage.com/emergencies.htm
We are very lucky to have a beach near the house. One of my favourite things to do on a weekend morning (when it’s not horrible horrible weather outside) is take Brutus to the beach.
Each Saturday and Sunday there are a group of people there, usually the same bunch (mostly middle aged women!) all walking their dogs. Most of the dogs are off their leashes and get some great socialising time in. Saturday was a first for Brutus, he got let off his leash, and allowed to play however he wanted.
He had a *blast*. For a start on Saturday there were three other pugs there (two black, one fawn) who absolutely loved chasing Brutus around. He ran them ragged, then went to play with Shelby, a three legged medium sized mongrel. He was running and chasing for well over an hour, and he enjoyed it a lot!
So on Sunday, Diosa came with me. There were another group of people there this time, and unfortunately no pugs. Brutus did get to play with some collies, a big old english sheepdog called Skipper and a beagle or two 
I was very impressed with how he bahaved off his leash. I was expecting him to bolt up the stairs into the road, but instead he stuck pretty close. He ran off with other dogs playing, but would always come pounding back to us and jump up with his muddy paws to say hi, before dashing off after another dog.
After the beach we tend to call into Michaels Bakery in Lynn, they love him in there and he always gets some nice white chicken meat as a treat, as well as lots of attention.
He loves attention
I just found this interesting list ... it’s a list of the new cross breeds that the AKC (American Kennel Club) now accepts.
Collie + Lhasa Apso
Collapso, a dog that folds up for easy transport
Spitz + Chow Chow
Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up a lot
Pointer + Setter
Poinsetter, a traditional Christmas pet
Malamute + Pointer
Moot Point, owned by….oh, well, it doesn’t matter anyway
Great Pyrenees + Dachshund
Pyradachs, a puzzling breed
Pekingnese + Lhasa Apso
Peekasso, an abstract dog
Irish Water Spaniel + English Springer Spaniel
Irish Springer, a dog fresh and clean as a whistle
Labrador Retriever + Curly Coated Retriever
Lab Coat Retriever, the choice of research scientists
Newfoundland + Basset Hound
Newfound Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisors
Terrier + Bulldog
Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes
Bloodhound + Labrador
Blabador, a dog that barks incessantly
Collie + Malamute
Commute, a dog that travels to work
Deerhound + Terrier
Derriere, a dog that’s true to the end
Bull Terrier + Shitzu
Bull….. Oh, never mind
As I’m sure you can tell, there is a new template here at Puggy blog ...
The old template was a default Expression Engine template, and while it was fine, it was a little narrow and restrictive. So now I’m using the “trifecta” template from EE Designs
http://www.eedesign.org/index/eed/comments/trifecta/
Not only that, but as with all sites here at blogroll, I’m also using the navbar from the Ottoman template, also from EE Designs
http://www.eedesign.org/index/eed/comments/ottoman-template/
I’m sure you all wanted to know that, huh?
I’ve just reorganised the photo’s that are on Brutus’ picture gallery.
http://smeg.serveftp.org/gallery/Brutus/
Now in there you will find a folder with the date / occasion that the pictures were taken on, instead of just lumped into a big folder. Inside those folders the pictures are now thumbnailed for easier viewing, and because I’m running that gallery off my home machine, it saves on my bandwidth too.
Let me know if I missed anything, and if there are any broken links as a result!
As always, if there is a picture you like, remember it’s file name and look in the /raw folder. In here will be the original photo, as it came off my camera, which makes them perfect for printing up!
Now, above each new day posted here there will be a cute little animated pug
If you like it, or if there is a problem, leave me a message below.
Brutus got his first bath from us today
It was a lot less painful than I thought it was going to be ... for the most part he just stood there and let us get on with it. I bathed him, Diosa took snaps
Isn’t he *cute*?!
Uploaded some new photos to Brutus’ gallery, some taken today, some the other day ... also including some pics of him and Nikki
http://smeg.serveftp.org/gallery/Brutus/
My favourite has to be this one though!
http://smeg.serveftp.org/gallery/Brutus/DSC01665.JPG
Isn’t he *cute* ?
Consider this a ringing endorsement for Clubphoto.com!
I had them recommended by a workmate (Thanks Darren!) as I was looking for somewhere that would print up a digital photo of Brutus for me ... while there are plenty of places online that will do this, these are the guys I went with ...
I took the original photo from my digicam, which was a 1632*1224 JPG file, uploaded it to them, selected an 8” by 10” matt print and paid for it (just shy of $6, delivered).
It arrived yesterday and is absolutely stunning ... fantastic quality ... we went to Sears to pick up a nice frame for it
I thought for a while about getting a printer that could do photo quality prints, but I figured that I don’t want to do a vast quantity of them, so it doesn’t make sense ... these guys solved that one for me.
Ok, I thought that Kongs were a bit naff. For a start, they just look rude, but at the meetup some people were raving about them, so I figured it couldn’t hurt, and we picked one up today (along with a shower hose adaptor, but more on that when we dare give Brutus a bath). It’s the red type, which are bouncy, and we picked up some small treats and peanut butter to stuff in it.
Oh my god, it was a *big* hit! He has spent well over an hour chasing it around the dining room, not bothering anything but his kong!
I highly recommend them
Oh, and that video mentioned earlier? It may come another time, when I filmed one earlier, I ended up with nothing, he wouldn’t play
Ok, I’ve just seen the licky movie over on Vegas Pugs (the little animated clip at the top of this page). I have *so* got to take some movies of Brutus when I get back
In fact, I’ll get him chasing my xmod RC car
This morning was big fun for Brutus and us this morning
The link there is for the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, a nature park that is spitting distance from our office, and we never knew it.
They have “Bark Place”, which is a dog park that is fully enclosed, with double gates and no leash rules. You can go in and let your dogs run riot with each other, it’s great!
We went to the Boston Pug Meetup, which is a group of pug owners who regularly meetup to let their dogs play. It was Brutus’ first visit, and I hope not his last, he had a great time.
There were maybe 20 pugs, and a few other dogs. There was a terrier who was teasin all the pugs, and making them run after him like mad things ... pugs don’t have the most energy in the world, and he wore them all out. After about 45 mins, Brutus was pooped, and seemed to have had enough of the dogs, and kept hiding behind us!
Overall though, he had an absolutely fantastic time, and was totally pooped when we got home.
I’ve uploaded the pictures here
I forgot to write about some great news. He is heartworm free and was able to start the heartworm preventative. This was a huge relief for me, since I know how nasty heartworm can be for a dog. He’s also trimming down a bit. When we took him to the vet, he was 22lbs, which is a bit big, even for him. He’ll never be really small, but around 18-20lbs would be perfect. We switched him from his puppy kibble to a lo-cal dog food that he absolutely hoovers. He *loves* the stuff. And it’s starting to show results. You can see more definition in him already and it’s only been a week or so.
We officially lost the bed war. He sleeps with us now. I was the one who didn’t want him in the bed, Paul didn’t care one way or the other. But I got thinking about it from his side. Why was it ok to cuddle and sleep with his pack on the couch but not in the bed. It made no sense to me, so I relented and he started sleeping with us. Now he’s discovered the joys of being under the duvet. It’s getting cooler in the evenings, and we tend to sleep with the window open a bit, so it’s honestly a bit chilly in the room at night. One night a corner of the duvet was lifted up a bit and he crawled in and fell right asleep. He does it now whenever he can. Last night was even funnier. He started off under the covers at my feet and on my left. For most of the night he would do these cute stretches and scoot up a bit so by this morning he was up on my pillow. It was so cute I couldn’t scold him, but he did get moved down again.
Today is a local Pug social. I’m really looking forward to taking him to socialize with other dogs. There’s a group on-line who organize monthly meetings. October has two of these meetups. The first we missed, but I really wanted to go to this one. It’s also really close, it’s a beautiful day, so I can’t see why this won’t be fantastic. Besides, he needs the socialization. Brutus loves to play with dogs, and is really outgoing, but he does need to learn *how* to play with them. He tends to bark and while with smaller dogs that means play, to a bigger dog, that seems more like aggression. We’ll let everyone know how it goes.
Walking Brutus at 6:30am, in the dark, cold and wet.
it’s suprising how quickly it wakes you up
Friday morning we took Brutus for his first vets visit.
http://www.northeastveterinary.com/
We took along all his papers and it looks like some stuff was up to date and fine, and other stuff wasn’t, so the vet recommended we should treat him as if he has nothing, just so we know for sure.
So, he had his legally required rabies jabs, his distemper jabs, his “kennel cough” jab, tests for heart worm and a bunch of other stuff. He’s a little podgy, coming in at 22lbs when we’d prefer more like 18-20 lbs ... most importantly for us though, we had him microchipped.
http://www.homeagainid.com/index.cfm
He handled it all great! Taking blood made him a little bit grumpy, but he handled it all without a problem, even playing on the way out.
It’s nice to know everything is *definitely* up to date, while I was pretty sure everything was, it’s just nice to know for sure.
He’s also gotten to go play on the beach a few times this week, he loves it down there! Lots of other dogs, lots of sand to play in and he hasn’t worked out the ocean yet
This weekend Diosa took Brutus to the PRONE Pug Social, and as you can from the official pictures, it was a blast!
Over 500 Pugs in one field!
Lessons learnt were that you need two people to properly photograph, hold pug and do other stuff too, so next time I’ll be going too.
I’ve just processed the pictures she managed to take, while my home machine is switched on, they can be found here.
Enjoy!
So, last night the cutest thing happened ...
We opened Nikkis cage, wanting to let her out. We kept Brutus around to see how he would react.
At first, he just sniffed around her pen, and gave her a beady eye ... she didn’t pull away or run off, she just sat there.
Then he started sniffing her face, and she sniffed him back. Then she hopped out of her tube and they started sniffing each other.
Then they started chasing each other around the floor! We had to put a stop to it when Brutus looked to be getting just a little too playfull, and we didn’t want to tempt fate just yet, but for a first face to face meeting between the animals, it was great!
Tonight we’ll try again, and this time I’ll make sure I have my camera!
Diosa has just booked an initial visit for Brutus to go and see the vets a week on Friday.
Basically we want to make sure all his jabs are up to date, get him registered, get his neuter papers redone (we don’t have them), and them we can get him registered with the state. We may also look into getting him microchipped, but not all at once
The Vets came recommended by a workmate who takes her mad Greyhound there.
http://www.northeastveterinary.com/
We wore Brutus out today! We took him for a walk down to the beach and let him play in the sand, which he absolutely loved ... we wandered down the sea for a while until we got to Swampscott, where we picked up ice cream and water for Brutus from Red Rock, then wandered back home along the promenade.
By the time we got back, he was well and truly pooped out!
Apologies for the quality of these pics, they were taken with my camera phone, not a real digicam.
It was hysterical watching him follow the waves on their way out, then run away when they came back in. Also watching him go absolutely insane when he worked out what sand was, running around in big circles on his leash having a blast
He got to play with other dogs out there too, although he has to work out the concept of being on a leash, as he wrapped up people in his
When we were at Red Rock we got Brutus a cup of water ... he can easily drink straight out of the cup, if we tip if over a bit for him, and he needed it today, the weather was warm! He also loves vanilla ice cream, and would eat it off the spoon which was *very* cute
The beach was a hit. We’ll be going back there many more times I think
Hi! I gots the pooder thing again. Today was so much fun. Mum and Dad took me for a long walkies wiff them to this really cool place. They called it a beech. The ground there was really weird, but fun. I gots to chase birdies around and play wiff other dawgies. The water liked to play and kept trying to chase me. I’m too smart though. I ran away. Then we went for more walkies to some place they could eat and I could drink. Mum was nice. She gave me this really yummy cold sweet stuff. She didn’t give me as much as I wanted, but that’s ok. I’ll steal it next time. Hee hee hee.
But I very tired tonight. So I go lay down now. Bye
Brutus had his first accident last night, but I can’t say I blame him!
Diosa had gone to bed early, and I had managed to totally pass out asleep on the sofa snuggling Brutus ... I woke up about 11:30pm, and on auto pilot went to bed, feeding the bunny on the way, but totally forgetting to let Brutus go out and do his thing.
So, sometime in the night he peed. He didn’t get scolded when we found it in the morning, it wasn’t his fault!
He got to meet the neighbourhood pug last night too, a much older female pug called Jasmin ... pugs really are specieist, Brutus is very wary of other breeds of dog, but was right in there playing with another pug
We also took him to the pet store last night, he rides in the car really well, and the folks there loved him and made a huge fuss over him ... he lapped it up
Day two on his own, and when we went back he was incredibly excited to see us, and ran around like a mad thing for a bit, but still no mess, no puddles and no ripping things up ... he’s been good as gold.
I do expect, one day, to come home to *something* ... puppies learn by doing, so he’s going to do it one day, even if it’s just to see what reaction he gets.
More pics added to his image gallery, including some *huge* pictures by special request
So when we left this morning we closed the baby gate on one kitchen door, close the swing door on the other and put a chair behind it so he could stay in the kitchen with his water and toys and bed.
Came home at lunch time to find him greeting us at the front door! He’s managed to push the swing door open and escape!
Even so, there was no mess, no poop ... he had carried on of my slippers from the living room to the office, but no damage. Even the rabbit was calm and happy, so he hasn’t pestered her either.
So, when we left we let him have the run of the house ... we’ll see what kind of damage he does this afternoon 
We did let him have the run of the backyard at lunch ... he managed to get himself wet in the kids paddling pool, but did his business and ran back inside to play
So far he has been absolutely *fantastic*.
