There is a new contest to commemorate Dotty's birthday on the Love that Pug website! In 200 words or less (or one big paragraph), tell us about the day you brought your puggy home. The best story, whether its funny, sad, happy or otherwise will be considered. The winner with the best story will win ANY shirt, tote bag, or hat they like from the Love That Pug website! Submit your entry under this POST. All entries must be submitted by march 15th for consideration. Make sure to leave your full name and email. We will not sell or give your info away!
Good luck!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Keep up to date with the Official Dotty the Pug Blog for her website, thelovepug.com We will update you with news of new products, news about Dotty, as well as take any suggestions from you! We will also have frequent contests to win Dotty the Pug shwag! Hope to hear from you soon!
RMR Photography ~ Pet Portraits
For those of you thinking of portraits of your pets feel free to visit my website to make an appointment or ask a question!
www.rmrphotography.com
www.rmrphotography.com
4 comments:
Amber Baker
February 2007
AmberTheBaker@gmail.com
My Lima Bean
Closely followed by my tenth birthday my mom piled me into her brown 1970’s Honda Civic. She told me, we were going to get a late birthday present. We pulled up to the front of a house I had never before seen, in a part of town I can’t remember, and quickly found our way inside.
“Here Ambs this ones yours. His name is Pugslee” my mom told me as she handed me a small bundle of fur that slightly resembled a lima bean.
He was ugly-cute, little and round, his face smooshed flat, making his eyes barely visible.
I picked him up and held him close to my face, his small puppy tongue stretched out and licked me, and his whiskers tickled my nose. I kept him safe on my lap the entire car ride home. My mom neared the end of the eight west and we were coming to our small Ocean Beach cottage.
I hopped out of the car and plopped Pugslee onto the pavement. He followed me in through the kitchen where I gave him the grand tour. In my ten year old mind I had just been given a child, with a brain I needed to mold. I felt as though it were my duty to help him along and show him the ropes of our house. If I didn’t introduce him to Spaz our angry cat, show him our bedroom, and where his food and water bowls reside then who would?
The next morning we woke up early, I hopped on my bicycle and sat him in the wire basket on the front, nestled comfortably in his blanket. Mom gave me a couple dollars and we left for 7-11 a hot chocolate was needed. After getting our morning beverage we rode north of the jetty and to Dog Beach.
I lifted Pugslee out of his cozy basket and placed him on the ground beside me. Together we walked down the beach and toward the river mouth where there were fewer dogs. I always worried about my little lima bean he was so small and I didn’t want him to get crushed.
After taking him for his morning walk on the beach to do his business it was back home for some “school”. My mom had a lesson planned out for me, a little reading, some writing, and Pugslee was an easy way to get out of doing math.
“But MOOOOOM” I pleaded to her, “he needs to go for a walk, he gets bored.” The truth was that Pugslee was just fine sleeping he couldn’t care less if I did my homework or played with him.
“Fine take him out, but be back before it gets dark.” My Mom warned me. She always worried about the homeless people giving me a hard time or something bad happening.
“Ok see ya mom” I told her as my over sized lima bean and I hopped onto our wheels and headed south then west to the pier. By this time it was after four, so dogs were allowed on the main beach. The main beach was nice there were fewer piles of dog poo and if the tide was low you could walk along the tide pools investigating their inhabitants.
Together Pugslee and I walked down the beach, he always had to stop and sniff the piles of seaweed resting on the sand. Sometimes he would pee on them, but only if he deemed them good enough.
When it was nearing dark we headed back home, for dinner and baths. Mom always made me take a shower even though I would protest. But Pugslee, got lucky he only had to bathe once a week, he made me wish I was a dog.
After dinner and grooming we snuggled into bed, my squishy lima bean lying warmly beside me.
How our Meg changed lives.
I used to take a walk at lunch from my closed in no window cubicle. I would walk down to a little pet store that always had puppies and birds, fish and other interesting creatures. My daughter who was 16 at the time and struggling with peer pressure and drugs had always wanted a small dog but I could never find the right one. I had hoped it would help focus her life in better ways. Eight years ago I took my walk and when I entered the store there in the puppy enclosure playing with another little dog was the cuttest little pug puppy I had ever seen! She was playing like she owned the world. I asked the gal at the counter if I could hold her and when they placed her in my hands she kind of sat up, placed both her litte paws on my face and licked me as if to say, "hi! Are you the one going to take me home?" My heart melted and after filling out some paperwork that would allow me to make payments I took her home. She was so tiny. When I got home I placed her on our living room floor and the first thing she did was make sure the cat knew who the boss was. The cat justed walked away and our new addition began to explore every nook and cranny. I didn't know my daughter was home and asleep in her bedroom. I thought she was still in school but apparently had some troubles and came home. Being a single mom with a 16 year old battling right from wrong isn't easy and I prayed everyday that God would help me in some way turn her life towards good. Well, while our newest addition was exploring her new surroundings my daughter walked out of her bedroom, took one look at this little bundle of joy and said very grumply, "What's that?" I was kind of startled and the only thing I could think of to say was, surprise, she's all yours. I didn't know that pugs were her least favorite dog and what she really wanted was a chihuahua! The only thing she ever told me was little. Go figure. To my surprise my daughter walked over, picked her up and that little sweetie placed her paws on my daughter's face, gave her a kiss and looked at her as if to say, "are you my new mommy?" My daughter's heart melted and they have been together ever since. Meg, which is what she was named, turned my daughter's life completly around. She graduated with honors and now lives in Gardnerville, NV with her husband and two beautiful girls, Emma 3 and Laura Lynn 4 months. Meg loves Emma and the baby and Emma loves to take Meg for walks in her stroller. They just celebrated Meg's 8th birthday and my daughter and Meg are still closer than ever. Oh, by the way, my life has turned around and I now have not only a wonderful husband but we both are the proud parents of six pugs ourselves! Chloe, Pearl, Mara, Woody, Ni and BB. Life is good and God does answer prayers.
Olive was the most beautiful pug, but a little odd at times. Upon entering our house, she began quacking like a duck, snorting like a pig, and pecking the ground like a hen. We couldn't help but laugh at her. Our 10 yr old blue heeler - (not such a domestic dog) - rolled Olive over and them allowed her to chew on her ears and doolap. They are still best buddies, though an odd pair...and the quacking has stopped thanks goodness, but now we can make a sound that entirely mimics a baby's cry!
It had been three months since we lost our boy Asterix to a large tumor in June 2006. We did not think we would get another dog for a while. We still had Peaches, our 9-year-old girl, and we were planning to take a break before starting with any new pugs.
As very involved pug people in our area, we regularly get together with other pug lovers in local meetups, and we’ve been involved with our local rescue group, Pug Rescue of Central New York, for a few years. One day, while perusing the group’s web site ( www.procny.homestead.com), checking out the pugs available for adoption, I noticed a fawn girl named Hannah, who looked SO sad. Little did I know the story behind that look!
Several weeks went by, and our family went to the local AKC dog show at the State Fairgrounds. We were just going for the fun of it, as our son Noah is an avid dog lover, and can name all the breeds. At the pug competition, we ran into our friends Ronnie and Mike Zappala who run the pug rescue, and I asked them what Hannah’s story was.
They told me that Hannah had been a breeder at a puppy mill run by Mennonites in Western New York. Conditions in that mill were unloving, full of death and pain. Hannah was about to be put down, because she could no longer breed. They apparently take care of them with a bullet to the head, before throwing them into the woods.
Until this conversation, I wasn’t really aware of these breeding practices, which are apparently commonplace with the Mennonites and Amish (especially in the Midwest), with dogs auctioned off like livestock, to be placed in the most horrible conditions, in small cages, shivering in the cold, constantly pregnant, and in horrible pain.
Fortunately for Hannah, another woman associated with the Pug Rescue group happened to be visiting the mill and offered to take Hannah and another pug, (Name?), sparing them this unfortunate fate – a true rescue!
Mike offered to bring us to their house to meet Hannah. She was very sweet, but she cowered away from us in the corner of their backyard. Her right eye had been badly scratched (probably from another dog attacking), leaving her blind in that eye. I looked in her good eye and wondered what exactly she must have seen in her 7 or 8 years of life.
The Zappalas said when she first came to them, she didn't know what grass was, which seemed confirmed by her almost rabbit-like hind legs, a little splayed and bent back (from probably having been in a cage her entire life).
She winced as I picked her up, having probably never known a loving touch, perhaps only the touch of hate and abuse. She shook nervously, but I felt a gentle soul, and I made up my mind right then that we would bring her home. That was last November, and she’s been a member of our family for more than a year now.
For a while, in the beginning, she would stay in her bed all day and sleep a lot (reminiscent of her past). There was NO question about crate training her. After what she had been through I vowed to NEVER let her be caged again.
Eventually, Hannah learned to get comfortable in our home, getting to know our children and learning to get along with her new “sister” Peaches, who she would often hang around. As for the grass, when summer came around, we discovered that Hannah loves to roll in the grass and she actually smiles!
Hannah is the most loving pug I have ever owned. She is sweet and gentle, and very thankful in her own way for what she has. She loves to be with us, and she has made a positive impact on our children in how we teach them about animal abuse, rescues, pet store puppies, etc. She has even appeared in some of the comedy videos I’ve produced for the web. I love filming her and the other pugs at our meetups!
This November, we brought home another new family member, a Chihuahua puppy named Margaret. Hannah watches out for her and lets her sleep curled up against her all the time. Now it seems that for all the babies taken away from Hannah, she finally gets one to take care of.
Pug rescue was one of the best things we ever did. I constantly let people know of the atrocities going on and try to educate them about pet store puppies and where they actually come from.
Please consider rescuing a pug, many people that I've talked to say they are the most loving dogs. With Hannah, that is definitely the truth.
Ellen Kotzin
Post a Comment