Pug Problems

"If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all."

---Unknown

If you're not a dog fan, stop reading. If you are, you'll get it. I've always loved dogs. We could not have one growing up because of my father's allergies, but we had neighborhood dogs that we would play with and pretend were ours. The first dog I had of my own was a flatulent yellow lab we named Flash, short for "Jumping Jack Flash" because he was, quite literally, a "gas, gas, gas." Still, he was adorable and fun. Eventually. When he was a puppy, he was a pain in the neck, but he was our pain in the neck. When my oldest was a baby and tooling around the house in a wheeled walker contraption and upended himself under the dining room table, Flash went right over and tried to right the walker and pull Andy to safety. Good dog.

After Flash, we adopted Dingle, another yellow lab, a female this time and older. She was fat and slow and smart as a whip. She loved to swim, well, OK, she mostly floated, and you could put a bone on her nose, and she'd balance it, then pop it up in the air and catch it. I miss her.

When she died, we were dogless for a while, and it was awful. That's when I became what is known as a "crazy pug person." While every breed has their fans, pug people are a particular kind of cuckoo. Think about it. Pugs are often overweight and smelly. They breathe so loud you'd think a Harley was in your kitchen and some people believe they are ugly. Those people are stupid.

Pugs are not really dogs. They are magical creatures that you'd think would be repugnant (har har) but are truly delightful. Do you see the crazy yet? Oscar came along as a rescue pug, and the die was cast. Someone once asked me, "Does that mean he can save people?" Well, he saved me, so yes, I guess he was a life saver, in a way. He knew when someone wasn't feeling well and he'd sit with them, resting his chin on their lap and letting them know, through snorty breaths and big yawns that he was there, no matter what. Losing him was one of the saddest days of my life. After a time though, there needed to be a dog in the house again, so of course, we found another pug. Miss Penny, all eleven pounds of her, makes me laugh every day. She also makes a mess of some kind every day, from ripping open and eating an entire loaf of bread once, to shredding a pillow into thousands of bits of fluff all over the living room.

Lately, Penny has had herself a bit of a struggle. She has chronically infected ears. They are oozing and have sores, and it's been miserable. This is where a pug parent goes into full-blown lunacy. Vet visits, of course. Multiple medicines. New food. It sounds simple enough, but it's not. Pug ears are like little pockets of velvet, but not Penny's. Hers are swollen and painful, and it's making this pug mama go to new lengths. I don't usually cook that much. I don't enjoy it, and I'm not that good at it. However, to lessen the allergy triggers that are causing poor Penny's trouble, I made dog food. I cooked beef, selected veggies, added fish oil capsules and concocted a mixture of custom nutrition. After an afternoon of chopping and simmering and roasting, I had 14 snack food containers filled with precise portions of pug pate. I have refused to make a child a sandwich, but that dog? She gets cooked to order specialty dinners.

Medications are involved too. Ever chase a dog around the house, hold her down and try to shove a nozzle into her ear, that squirts out gooey foam that smells like rotten eggs? Try it sometime; it's wicked fun. Her pills have to be wrapped in chevre goat cheese because she won't eat them any other way. She's supposed to be wearing a cone of shame, but I can't bring myself to do it, it's so sad and pathetic looking on her. She's agreed not to scratch her ears if we skip the cone.

All this nonsense for a dog? Yes. Because dogs love you unconditionally. If you have a dog that has made you their person, that's everything. Of course, you'd go to extremes. Dogs don't live as long as people, but they love more than most and give more too. Make the food, buy the cheese, and get them a new toy while you're at it. Where else can you find a warm bundle of love and loyalty? Penny will be on the mend soon, but in the meantime, she's getting anything she wants. Told you pug people were nuts. In the best way possible though.