Monday, November 29, 2004
Pukey puppy
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 
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Breakheart reservation
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!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Mailman arrived!
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 You have a bed in America any time you want (as long as you don’t mind sharing it with Brutus)
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Snow
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
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Dr. Brutus, M.D.
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.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Done
Both Diosa and I have now got two seperate 24 hour animal hospitals for both Brutus and Nikki. Much happier.
Emergency preparedness ...
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
Monday, November 01, 2004
Beach walking
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
