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PugHearts of Houston Blog

Popsee's Next Adventure

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 21:03 by CherylG

Tonight I, Popsee (aka Pauly D – the spray-tanned pug) visited a pet store for the first time. I’ve been settling in nicely to my new foster home with two very accommodating foster sisters, or better known to many PugHearts volunteers as the pug imposters (below). I had a wonderful time visiting my favorite garden earlier this evening, the one from my first adventure mentioned earlier in the blog when the nice lady came and picked me up from that place I was staying. I wanted to bring home some gifts to my foster sisters to thank them for letting me stay with them and asked my foster human to take me to get some rawhide chewies. Aren’t I a sweet thoughtful boy?

The pet store was full of so many good smelling things I just didn’t know what to sniff first! There were lots of people to lick and other dogs to say hi to. I was sure to meet everyone with a huge smile and as always, lots of kisses. I even impressed a lady so much on the way out who smelled like all the best things who liked me so much she said she’d seriously considering filling out an adoption application for me. My foster gave her a card and told her to go to the awesome PugHearts Web site, www.pughearts.com, to do so. I hope she does because I’d have a real brother of my own and a daddy with a really cool accent.

My foster takes me out on lots of walks and is trying to teach me to heal. It’s hard work because there are so many things to smell and see in my new neighborhood I just want to run everywhere. I’m fast and love to run around. I’ve got lots of energy to burn so I’m trying to be good but sometimes you just gotta be a puppy, know what I mean? I've met lots of humans and they are all so nice and like me so much. My foster makes sure to tell them I'm looking for a forever home and a lot of them seem really interested. Paws crossed!!

Well it’s about time for me to take my foster human for her last walk of the night. My foster sisters loved their chewies and we all had yummy treats tonight. I’m tuckered out so I need to go so I can get my human to bed. She has to get up early for our walk in the morning. It’s hard to train a human sometimes, but I’m working on that too!

I’ll be out at Natural Pawz in the Tanglewood/Galleria location on Saturday. Come out and say hi. I’d love to meet each and every one of you. I promise to save you some kisses. Maybe I’ll even chose you as my forever home. I’d love to have a place to call my own where I can run and jump, love on little and big humans alike, maybe even have a brother or sister like me.

See you soon. Hugs and kisses,

Popsee 

My Perfect Old Man, Marvin

Thursday, 21 July 2011 14:27 by MaryL

Marvin arrived at PugHearts on August 2, 2009 from the Montgomery County Humane Society.  He was in pretty rough shape and it was thought that he was blind, he was also old.  That combination usually equates to “permanent foster” because no one wants an old Pug that is almost blind.

However, Marvin wasn’t blind.  He had seriously impaired vision but he could definitely see and see quite a lot.  He didn’t have any issues with navigation and never even ran into the sliding glass door.  His eyes were in pretty bad shape from the dry eye and we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to keep them or if they would just continue to deteriorate and eventually have to be removed.  But the medicine he uses on a daily basis seems to keep the infections at bay and he blossomed.  He has the best face and he is quite animated when he gets in his playful moods.  Everyone that met Marvin fell totally under his spell. 

Well, it’s now two years later (almost to the day) and Marvin is still a foster and the prospect that he will ever have his very own forever home with his own family to love him is almost nonexistent.  He is now somewhere around 11 years old, he is almost totally blind now and his hearing has also declined.  But he’s still one cool, old Dude! I can’t even begin to tell you how affectionate and loving he is. 

And to be perfectly honest it makes me so sad that such a wonderful, sweet, loving soul like Marvin will never have the life that he deserves.  I love him and I take care of him but I can’t give him, and all the fosters I have, the individual attention they need, none of the foster families can.  That’s why we need forever families for every Pug that PugHearts takes in.  We get cute, adorable Pugs in and everyone wants them and they’re gone almost as soon as their pictures hit the site but there are so many Senior Pugs that have so much love and affection to give someone, and no one wants them.  These guys won’t live as long as the young ones and they will have end of life issues, but they are such awesome individuals.

And Marvin isn’t the only one that is old that has been with us for years.  There are 15+ pugs on the website that have been in our care for more than two years.   Each and every one of those mature adults needs a home and the love of their very own family!  The benefits of an older pet are many, they are housetrained, they don’t chew your shoes, they don’t eat you out of house and home, they aren’t demanding, they love to just cuddle and be close to you, the list goes on and on.

Please take some time to search your heart and try to find a place for such a beautiful soul in your life.  I can guarantee that if you are willing to share your life with one of our Senior Pugs you will never regret your decision.  They give you so much more than you give them.

If you’re out at the Dog Show this weekend, stop by and meet Marvin and our other special Pugs and see what you’re missing.

Categories:   Foster Stories
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Whitney's Story

Friday, 15 July 2011 10:27 by MaryL

Hello!  My name is Mary Ludwig and I have been actively involved with Pughearts since its first meeting.  When Cindy ask me to start doing this I was very reluctant, I'm definitely not a writer and I'm not in the least imaginative.  However, Cindy said all I have to do is talk about my fosters, well duh, that is my favorite subject so I think I may be able to handle this assignment!  I've thought a lot about who to start with and decided that I will begin with the foster I've had the longest, Whitney.  Or as I call her Whitney My Love.

I'll hit rewind and go back a few years and begin the story.  This poor, tiny five year old pug, who was a backyard breeder, came into our care in deplorable condition.  Her feet didn't look anything like they should, they spread out like fingers because she had lived every day of her life in a wire cage.  She had both eyes when she came in but one had stitches in it that had never been removed and they had busted lose.the remains were in her top and bottom lids.  She also had this HUGE mass on her back left hip that looked very bad.  Well the first thing that was done was her eye, it was beyond saving so it was removed.  Then Dr. Hendrix began the process of evaluating her mass.  As it turns out it wasn't a tumor but a huge abscess. He went in and cleaned it and put in drains to let it all get out.  But something wasn't right about it so he sent a sample off for testing.  When the results came back we found that Whitney had mass cell cancer.   We took her to the Doggie Oncologist and he said that there wasn't much that could be done for her but to give her prednisone and to love her.  At this time she was still in the hospital and hadn't been put in a home yet.  I had been hanging out at the vet and getting pretty attached to her so I told Cindy I would like to foster her.  I think Cindy thought I shouldn't take her, she told me that her prognosis was not good and that she would probably only live a few months. I know she wanted to protect me from the sorrow of losing her, but I was already attached to her and I wanted to make sure that what life she had left was going to be the best that any dog could imagine.  So I took her home..

That was almost four years ago, October 2007.  Whitney is amazing.  I call her my little blonde headed cheerleader, she's in her own rosy, wonderful world.  She is not aware that there is a thing wrong with her, she runs around and plays just like everyone else.  Her favorite activity is to play tug o war with anyone that will play with her.  She still has that mothering instinct from her early years, she keeps Daisy's ears spotless.she loves Daisy. For the first two and a half years she coasted along just like any other foster.  She had been taking prednisone every day for her cancer and it seemed to be holding it at bay.  Then she started losing her hair and after testing it was discovered that the prednisone had caused thyroid problems.  So now she takes two medicines every day and is still just as happy as a bug in a rug.  In the last six months she has almost completely lost the sight in her remaining eye (due to taking the prednisone for such an extended time), I think she can still see a little between light and dark but that is about it.  She has lost a little of that bubbly personality along with the loss of her vision, but she is still a very happy puggie. She was never really big into being held and cuddled but lately she has started wanting to get on my lap and just be loved.  I just love to have her sit on my lap so I can look at her cute little face, she is such a pretty little girl.  And she's happy.

Whitney is a perfect example of why there is a PugHearts, she would have died a horrible death without this rescue.  She is in hospice care so she will never be adopted but that hasn't changed one thing about the kind of treatment that has been given to her.  She is just as important to PugHearts as the cutest, most adoptable pug that has ever come in.  No one knows how long Whitney will be with us, but she has already beat the odds that were given to her four years ago.  And the most important thing to Whitney is that she has become someone's Whitney My Love.

PRINCESS WHITNEY

Categories:   Foster Stories
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Eloise

Tuesday, 28 December 2010 21:47 by cindyr

I wanted to take a minute to write about my dear little foster pug, Eloise. She has become so much a part of our family that I sometimes forget she is a foster.

Eloise came to PugHearts mid-May after being found in another pug owner's back yard. My husband and I were between fosters at the time, but were the ones to pick her up and name her. It became apparent very quickly that this little girl had been part of a home and was a pampered pet at some point in her life. She has not had one single accident in the 7 months we have had her and she is very aware of other house etiquette as well as how to demand to be spoiled. Sadly, after her first visit to the vet, she was diagnosed with kidney failure. Her prognosis is uncertain. It could have been only a month or two, or she could live several more years. So far, she seems happy. I don't think she is always comfortable and perhaps sometimes in pain, but she still enjoys all the little things in life; Food, treats, warm/comfy places to sleep, and toys. She goes absolutely nuts for her mini tennis balls.

It is such a great feeling to provide this little girl a warm and loving home, even if she possibly won't be with us much longer. I mean, how can you resist this face? 

Cindy

Categories:   Foster Stories
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