What a learning curve!

We thought Brutus’ first week was hard work

Buddy has had a very interesting first week in this house hold ... every one has had to learn a whole bunch of stuff, a whole lot quicker than we’d have liked, but I guess thats the way these things go in general

Introducing Buddy to Brutus wasn’t a problem at all. They both get on with each other great. They play constantly. Unfortunately for Brutus, Buddy has razer sharp puppy teeth, and likes to bite on Brutus’ jowls. Over the course of the week, he’s done a bit of damage to Brutus, who now has scratches and a small section where he’s lost some skin to the pups teeth. I can assure you, this has freaked *us* out a lot more than it does Brutus! We called the vet who just assured us it’s a normal injury when you have a pup around, keep it clean and smother it in antibiotic cream.

We really didn’t want Buddy to make it worse, but when they play thats the area they always go for. To prevent it, we’re trying a couple of approaches.

Firstly, we’re trying lots of positive training ... whenever he does something good, he gets a treat and lots of cuddles (this is great for when he poops outside instead of inside).

Secondly, negative training. Specifically for when he gets too rough around Brutus’ face, we have some water spray bottles that he gets a face full of, along with a loud “STOP”

Thirdly is DAP. Dog Appeasing Pheromone. We had this recommended by a friend who has a particularly skittish greyhound, it mimcs the pheremone of a mother dog, and is very effective at calming them down. We plugged it in last night, and the difference has been amazing. Much calmer puppy, much less fighting with Brutus, a lot more affectionate. It’s been great. They aren’t cheap, buying it is about $50, with $15 - $25 a month afterwards, but well worth it for the difference it makes!

We’ve also signed him up for puppy classes to socialize him a little more, they start a week today. It’s also going to help train us on what to expect from him, which should be nice.

Last night, for the first time, we had Buddy in bed with the rest of us instead of in his carrier. It went *really* well and he settled down very quickly, and joined us in the land of nod all night. I woke up with him curled up around Diosa’s head, it was very cute (oh for a camera!).

Let me leave you with a few pics

Hard working puppy

I think Buddy is going to drive Brutus to an early grave

Brutus is getting on for 2 years old, hardly an old pug. He’s pretty active, gets lots of walks and play time, but like any true pug he loves to sleep too.

Buddy is 4 months old. I don’t believe Buddy ever sleeps when Brutus is around. He likes to jump on Brutus, chew on Brutus, bounce on Brutus, chase Brutus around, steal his toys and his treats and his food, but most importantly, never ever let Brutus get some sleep.

But it’s ok, Brutus gets his own back. He chews back, he chases back, he jumps on Buddy back. It’s cute, in a “two dogs trying to kill each other” kind of way (Their not really trying to kill each other, they just play rough)

I’m thinking that getting Buddy into puppy socialization classes would be good. He’s young enough for it to be effective, and obnoxious enough to Brutus to think he may need it And it would give Brutus chance to sleep occasionally

All that said, I love the little guy. I can’t wait for him to get properly settled in and to grow up a little, so he loses some of his puppy energy and can sleep in bed with us and Brutus at night.

Hi Buddy!

New pug!

We brought a pug brother for Brutus home today ... we’ve named him Buddy, in memory of Diosa’s mum. He’s 4 months old, and *very* much a puppy Full of energy, full of beans and driving “old” Brutus nuts already!

We’ve pretty much given them a full run this evening, once they had food. They needed to sort their pecking order out, and work out who was boss. So far it seems to be Brutus. They will chase, fight, rough and tumble until Brutus is on top, then he holds Buddy for a few seconds, and it’s about the only few seconds Buddy can handle still so far! But it’s working, their socialising, and Brutus speaks his language,

We’ve picked him up a nametag and a harness, and topped up his puppy food. The first few nights he’ll spend in his carrier, before we decide if he can go up to his crate (we got him puppy pee pads, which should help him out). Obviously the goal is to house train him so we can trust him to be ok all day or night, like Brutus, so maybe he’ll learn from his big brother

I did want to share this with you though, a cute pic I just took. I’ll take more tomorrow I think!

Connecting to #lounge on IRC for Pugvillage members: Tutorial

This is a tutorial on getting into the #lounge chat channel on IRC

Ok, so you want to chat, but have no idea how IRC works, what IRC is or how to use it ... you don’t know your onepug.com server from your IRC Client.

Well, thats ok, all you want to do is chat right?

First things first, you need a way to get online. You won’t be using your web browser, you need some special software (thats called an IRC Client). There are lots of clients out there, mIRC, Pirch, Xchat, Chatzilla .... the list is long. For ease of use, I’ve always gone with Virc (Visual IRC).

http://www.visualirc.net/

Version 2.0 can be downloaded here:

http://www.visualirc.net/beta.php?name=2.0

Below is a step by step walk through in configuring it, and getting into the chat.

1) Download the client, save it to your desktop.

Now double click it.

2) Welcome to the Install Wizard

Keep on hitting NEXT, without changing anything, until you get to step 3

3) Make it easy on yourself and let it give you detailed help

4) Welcome to the Setup Wizard! Step through this wizard, page by page, replacing “smeg” with your nickname.

5) Next step is to simply hit START

6) Then, hit the little icon of two computers and a check (this button connects you to the server)

7) Once it connects to the server, it will automatically join you into the #lounge channel. Thats it! Enjoy!

*NOTE* In future visits, simply start at step 5 above

Text America

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!

Letter to Santa

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