News

I was e-mailing to a friend, and realized something.(Yes, I am actual using evil mail to talk to a few friends. I think doing the blog has helped me alot about my tech phobia. Thanks guys.) I realized a reason for my anxiety about Phouka going in for the operation this week being even more than it might be. Pugsley my first pug went in for a fairly routine operation when she was eight, and died. She had an undiscovered heart defect that she’d probably had since puppy hood. That is the reason that all our dogs get EKGs as puppies. The vet thought I was crazy until he found a type two heart murmur in Sasquatch as a puppy. It healed itself as they sometimes do, but still, I’ve learned my lesson. So, we know Phouka’s heart is fine, but she is ten, and even the vet says that she’s aging quicker than she should for a pug. This is a breed that is supposed to make Jimmy’s age routinely. You could not prove that by any of the pure bred pugs that I have owned. Jimmy was a mutt, oh, he’s a puggle now, but at seventeen, maybe eighteen, when he popped out, he was just a mutt. Somebody, my bet is on the beagle, got into someone’s fenced yard and found a pug. (Beagles climb; pugs don’t as a rule.) But my purebred pugs just don’t seem to hold up as well as the mixes.
Don’t run out and buy a puggle, please. Especially, not just because I said Jimmy lived a long time. We are seeing more and more puggle puppies in rescue because people are breeding them as a designer dog and trying to make a lot of money, when they don’t, they dump them. Not everyone, but I am seeing a surprising number in the local rescues. Puppies, too, which is unusual. Breeders usually hold onto puppies trying to make their money back unless there are health problems. A good breeder will take care of their dogs, health care and all, but a lot of bad breeders dump their sicks dogs in rescue. Some kill them rather than bother, so the rescue ones are the lucky ones.
I am also hearing from people with puggle’s that the activity rate is way above pug, and pugs are pretty rambunctious as a puppy, not like Boxer or Labrador Retriever, but they have their moments.(Frankly, I’ve never had a problem with a pug puppy being too energetic for me, but others who have their first pug have complained to me about it. These are also the ones that think pugs are stubborn. Again, haven’t noticed it. But then pug is my breed, and when you find your breed, it just fits.) Apparently the beagle part ramps the pug part up, so research the breeds and visit some adult puggles. Don’t just look at the puppies, okay? Dogs are only puppies for a short time then you have an adult for hopefully a decade or more. So don’t just let the cute puppies steal your heart, let the adults steal your mind. Is this a dog that you could spend the next ten years with? If not, don’t get the dog.
Remember, for many people in America today that dog is going to be with you when your spouse is not, your kids will grow up and go off to college, but the dog won’t. Pick your dog with that in mind, that this is your companion for life. If not your life, you are his, or hers, for her life. They say you can’t buy love, but anyone who says that has never looked into the eyes of a dog, or felt that tail wag as you talk to them about your day. You can buy love, and it’s warm, and furry, and it loves you when you are silly, and it never, ever, sees you as a failure. To your dog, you are always wonderful. Now, how many people can you say that about?