Countdown to 1000 Pugs!

We can't believe that our big photo shoot is almost here. We signed up way back in May and it seemed like forever until it was our turn. Now, it's a week away! Eeek!

We are leaving on Friday for our shoot on Saturday. 

Then we are going to be absolutely insane and drive into Manhattan on Sunday. 

With three pugs. 

One of whom will be in a stroller. 

But we get to meet up with Christy and Tim again!

Our hotel is in East Windsor, NJ. So if you are close to East Windsor, drop us an email! 

Off to start packing!

What a day!

OMP! Today has been a big day and it's not even over yet!

First, it's mom's birthday. 

She's 39 for real. 

From her mom, she got the 60th anniversary collector's edition of Singin' in the Rain. 

It's her favorite movie ever. 

Note the tiara

It came with an umbrella!

 There's a book and tiny replica movie posters and three discs worth of extras!

This morning was also our city's inaugural Front Porch Summit. It's a chance for the neighborhoods to get together and share. We talked about what we have been able to do, what we want to do, where we can improve. Our neighborhood had won a grant earlier this year to make improvements at our dog park so they asked us to talk to folks about how that process went. 

There were also awards! Our neighborhood won two! One for the best Block by Block grant and the overall COOL award! It was so exciting!

And the city unveiled its newest mermaid! If you've even been to Norfolk, you'll have seen the many mermaids we have. It's our city's symbol, and artists have created special mermaids that are placed all over the city. There's even a Mermaid Trail! 

So after winning our award, we went to get our picture taken with the mermaid. 

If you enlarge the picture, you can see that mom is in fact wearing her tiara. And yes, that's Isabelle, breaking the rules and being inside City Hall!

So we are looking at the mermaid, this mermaid that will stand for years inside City Hall, and what do we see? A picture of us! Here we are at Barktoberfest! One of the many dog festivals mom has organized to raise money for the dog park! 

We are immortalized! 

Mom got a little teary-eyed, thus the not so clear picture. 

She'll get a better one Monday when she goes back to work. 

Isn't she gorgeous? She represents all the neighborhoods in our city. We are so proud to be canine citizens of Norfolk, helping to make this a great place to live. 

Isabelle's turn!

Well, Petunia had her fun with the eye doctor and 

Tallulah had her adventure with the peach, 

now it's my turn!

No, I didn't inhale a potentially deadly piece of fruit. 

No, I didn't blind myself. 

I got to go to Dogs Gone Swimming! 

Tallulah and Petunia usually go and swim, but they were being absolute butt heads that day. The weather was cool enough for me and who better to promote a pug rescue than a rescued pug!

Mom worked the booth for the rescue, Pugs U Gotta Save. And I worked the crowd for treats!

Our booth sold pug stuff and dog stuff and shared information about pugs and our rescue. 

Each booth was asked to have a game or activity. Ours was Digging for Treats.

It was very popular.

Very. 

This dog tipped up the pool so all the treats at the bottom would slide down to him!

I was exhausted after my big day. 

I ate a hot dog and at least three bags of treats!

And I got so many pets and butt skritchies. 

Plus when mom couldn't watch me, I got to hang in the air conditioned car. 

It was a great day.

And I got my very own fall portrait done. 

Aren't I just too cute?

Tallulah and the Giant Peach

Well, it wasn't really giant, but the title is catchy. 

On Wednesday, Tallulah decided to eat a peach. She managed to sneak into a grocery bag that held the peaches, pull one out and eat half of it before mom could walk around the corner of the kitchen. Not only did she eat half the flesh of the peach, she ate the pit. 

Now, you may not know it, but peach pits are not dog friendly. The pit can cause blockages in the intestines, requiring surgery. And you know that would be in the middle of the night on the weekend or something. The seeds inside contain amygdalin which is a compound of cyanide and sugar. 

Mom called the vet right away. 

Thankfully, our vet knows us (too well!) and told mom what to do. She didn't suggest inducing vomiting because the pit could get stuck in the throat. She said that if Tallulah did chew the pit and get to the seed, unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done if the pit contained enough of the compound to be fatal. So that was a real cheery morning. 

Otherwise, the vet said to watch Tallulah's poop. 

And the poop watch was on. 

Mom not only closely watched Tallulah do her business, she had to THOROUGHLY investigate the poop, if you know what we mean. That involved latex gloves and a flashlight at times. The vet said that if the pit was going to pass, it should do it by today. If not, an exam and possibly surgery was in order. It would be better to figure out where it was and get it out before a blockage happened.

Thank pug, it came out this afternoon! We will spare you the photo of that one. 

Now, if your pet eats a peach pit, be sure to call your vet. This could have worked out much differently. Fortunately for us, the peach was a white peach which has a smaller pit and is smooth which doesn't irritate the bowels. It actually looked like a big almond. Ewww, right? 

Anyway, Tallulah's day just got peachier. (snerk) Hope your weekend isn't the pits!

Bright eyed and curly tailed!

Petunia at the keyboard today! 

I went to the ophthalmologist today, all the way in Chesapeake and all by myself with mom. 

It was a beautiful day and I had a blast looking out the window at all the cars. 

But then we got there and immediately my tail drooped. 

As soon as we walked in, I knew we were at a vet's office. It just smelled wrong!

This clinic is for specialties like surgery, allergy and dermatology and opthalmology. 

We sat between the eye clinic and the allergy clinic. The allergy people LOVED me! Because I was a pug, they thought I was there to see them! Nope, my skin is pretty good, thank you very much. 

I was very concerned that the vet was going to poke me and put gunk in my eyes and take my temperature!

But nope, none of that.  I was a big baby and shook like a leaf! The vet rubbed my ears and said they didn't eat little doggies like me. (Um, hope so!)

She just looked into my eyes with lights. No poking or anything!

She gave us good news though. The spot that looked like a wrinkle was gone, just a little scar on my cornea that had already healed over. I did have a little pigmentation on that eye, but it wasn't bad enough to do anything about. My other eye was gorgeous! The vet said so. 

The best part was the cookie I got! You can see in that picture above that there were TREATS on the counter! I did my best to get to them, but unfortunately, they had chicken in them. The vet went to get me a special non-chicken treat that I totally snarfed down. 

PS, there was a pug painting on the allergy side. I was not impressed. 

Although the jacket would be cute in pink!

So, we are all clear on the eye ball problem! Whoo for me and hoo for mom's bank account!

Happy (belated) Gotcha Day!

To our friend Lilo!

Lilo chilling at our birthday party

Three years ago in late August, our mom went to the SPCA to check on some pugs that were rescued from a puppy mill. She saw this one little girl pug who was really anxious to get out of her cage. She knew her friends were thinking about a sister for their pug Stitch. So she took a picture, sent a text to her friends. 

And the rest is history!

Lilo with big brother Stitch

Lilo had some medical and behavioral issues after being trapped in a cage and bred for a few years. But she's made some wonderful progress. She plays with toys, chews on bones and bullies, even snuggles with other pugs.

Stitch, Tallulah and Lilo

We are so glad you were rescued and found the most perfect family for you!

It's all fun and games until someone gets a wrinkle on their cornea

We had a great post planned for this weekend. There was steak and a pug meet up and swimming and steak. 

Everything was going great. We had a fabulous meet up on Saturday (no pictures). Then we went swimming because it was soooo hot (also no pictures). Today, mom grilled so much steak. It smelled so good. No pictures there either. 

But before we got to eat our steak, Petunia started squinting. Then she clenched her eye shut. Two eye washes and an hour later, no change. So off to the emergency vet!

See her left eye? Squinty

 Miraculously, as soon as we got into the lobby, Petunia's eye opened wide up.

What fun! V*E*T spells steak, right?

 No immediate worries. No ulcer or scratch. No meds or anything!

Waiting on the bill

The vet did notice that Petunia has an apparent wrinkle in her cornea, so we will be seeing an opthamologist to make sure that it isn't serious. 

The vet and the tech just LOVED Petunia. Her exam notes prove it! The vet said that Petunia was the healthiest pug she has ever seen, minus the eye issue, of course. And since she wasn't with her partner in crime, Tallulah, she was a sweetheart instead of a punk. 

See where it says very sweet and fit!

It's not a holiday weekend without a trip to the vet. Thankfully, it all worked out!

Happy holiday everybody!