The Amazing Pugdini

Well, Waffles has been here one day and I have to admit I am beginning to understand where that "Devil Dog" reputation comes from. She is a force with which to be reckoned and she cannot be contained.

I mean that literally. She HATES crates, gates, any form of containment and my house is chaotic enough that sometimes she needs to be contained. We're going to have to work on it. Today, I had to be gone for about five hours. I tried to leave her in an x-pen. I pretended to leave, but stayed behind to listen. She became so frantic I thought she was going to pass out. Next, I tried she and Alfie in my bedroom with a baby gate across the door. Waffles actually seemed better, but Alfie went frantic. Didn't seem fair to her to force her to be up there when she has her own x-pen downstairs that she loves. I let them out and then decided to try the two in Waffles x-pen.

I placed them in the pen and again tried to leave. Again, I heard Waffle's screams and screeches. I was just about to go back in and free the two when they came flying around the corner. Waffles, the Great Pugdini, had found an escape hatch and brought Alfie along. It was aggravating but funny to witness how proud the two seemed at themselves.

Finally, I placed Waffle upstairs in my room by herself and Alfie down in her x-pen. It went all right, but later after I had been home, I discovered Waffles had peed on the bed. Now it's bedtime again and Waffles spends a good hour screeching in her crate before going to sleep. I received a lot of advice today and I plan on trying a great deal of it -- everything  from lining her crate with bacon (okay, that's an exaggeration, but I kind of feel like that may be what it takes) to building her her own wing (again, another exaggeration, but at this point finding a clean, empty and safe place to leave her seems just about as impractical.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will hold. I've always liked circus stories, but would prefer it if my life didn't become one. Still, with the Amazing Pugdini hard at work I suspect my life will remain a bit of a circus for awhile.

Advice

Anybody have any good advice on crate training a 2 year old dog?

The Great Dognapping

So it happened: The Great Dognapping. At midnight last night, I smuggled Waffles out of Pugdom, my friend Joan's house in Warren, VT. As far as dognapping's go it was a great success. I managed to nab my pug and make it out alive. Of course, I must admit that Joan was privy to the whole escapade, in fact she even suggested it. She finally relented to letting Waffles be mine, but informed me that I would have to sneak her out of the house when she wasn't looking. So, I did, kind of. But Joan had given her a bath, cut her nails, and packed a bag of dog food and snacks for her. Still, I snuck off into the dark in a mad dash for my car, carrying Waffles and looking back over my shoulder in case Joan changed her mind.

She hasn't and Waffles is home with me now, snoring away on the sofa. She's smart! After only a half hour in my car she figured out how to slip out of her harness and her car seat. She hates crates and x-pens, so I'm not sure how to contain her and keep her safe when I'm not home and she certainly doesn't want to sleep in either. Only the bed for this little girl.

She and Alfie are getting along well. Today Alfie showed off her baby swimming pool to Waffles and took great delight in hiding bones from her. We had a busy day visiting Petco for supplies, my grandmother's for a swim and my brother's where they played with his boxer, Sophie. A busy day for a little pug!

Empty Crate

If all goes well, the crate I set up next to Alfie's in my bedroom will be empty no longer. Hoping to bring Waffles home tomorrow after the show. Actually, the crate isn't empty. I've been getting it set up for weeks. Inside is Waffle's bed and toys including a long skinny monkey and a purple sheep. Alfie's wondering what's up. I'm excited, nervous, expectant.

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On the Road

We're on the road again tonight and tomorrow. Alfie and I are headed off to another dog show in Ballston Spa, NY. There are supposed to be 43 pugs entered. We're keeping our fingers crossed that either it will stop raining or we'll be under a tent because Alfie doesn't like to get her feet wet. Wish us luck!

Vader's Beds

Since his death, Vader's beds have sat empty. Always a sad reminder for any dog owner, but this was particularly challenging for me given the fact that two of them bear monogrammed covers of his name "VADER" in big letters. As he began to age, I brought him items to make his life more comfortable. This included two, huge Tempurpedic-like beds from Orvis, designed to take the pressure off his tired joints. I had these monogrammed. I kept one of them downstairs and the other upstairs in my office. I could never let Alfie near the beds because she liked to pee on them and even though they had removable covers, they were still a challenge to clean. So after Vader died, I couldn't decide what to do with them.

They are big and take up a lot of room, so just having them sit as targets for Alfie's active bladder did not seem like a good idea. I thought of giving them to my friend Joan, but she is in the process of moving and is trying to rid herself of excess dog products not add more. I propped the downstairs bed up on his side to make more room in the dining room, but left the one in my office there to see if Alfie might use it for something other than a toilet. Last week she finally did.

Alfie has gotten very attached to me since Vader died and often comes and sits on the floor beside me as I write and make my phone calls. Last week, I caught her looking at Vader's bed. She actually approached it nervously, sort of at a crawl, sniffing. Her head darted from side to side, looking for something. I'm not sure if she was expecting him to dart out from nowhere and attack her or for me to scold her, but once she seemed to deem it safe, she hopped up, started scratching and spinning and finally plopped down in the center of the bed, content. She looked like a queen claiming her throne.
She has avoided the bed since then. Mostly I think because it has been too hot, but today I found her back in the bed again. This time even more relaxed. This simple act brought me such great pleasure. I did not want these beds to sit empty as silent testaments to Vader's life and death and I really didn't want to get rid of them. Partly because they are so nice, mostly because they bear his name. When Alfie curls up to nap in Vader's bed, I feel both my dogs nearby -- the one in the room and the one in my heart.

Identity

Sometimes it is best to let go of
"Good dog," "Good kitty"
And be your wild child.

To engage in the chase
To be DOG and CAT,
CANINE and FELINE
To step up and own what you are.

To take joy in your
true nature.

Expanse of Time

Alfie and Waffles

The first pug I ever met was my brother Paul's dog Buffy. Although she was his dog in name she became mine in heart, and I took to her from the moment she walked in the doors and jumped in my lap. She led me two-and-a-half years later to adopt my own pug, Vader. For 12 golden years we shared a life together -- the three of us amidst the rest of my family and all the friends who've come and gone -- it seemed a long untouched perfect time, the way you look back at your childhood and remember an endless, happy expanse, even if it wasn't always. Then Buffy died and time sped up like fast-forward on a DVD player. I went in search of a new puppy and found a wonderful clown of a girl, New Year's Hope Sadie's Miracle, a.k.a. Mira.

She was my "juvenile delinquent," always in trouble. Once she actually stole my earrings right out of my ears and I hardly noticed. She was a Labrador Retriever of a pug, meaning she gave up many of her pug-like ways in favor of being a big floppy, love bug of a dog. My mother says she was "flopsy, mopsy, and cottontail all rolled into one." She was bigger and leggier than most pugs and had a big-dog personality. Even my non-pug loving, non-dog loving friends liked her, dropping to the floor to let her play in their laps. She lived to be only a year-and-a-half old before dying from a reaction to her distemper shot. Her breeder felt so sorry for me, although it was no fault of hers, that she promised me a new pug and after a long series of events, she eventually came through with my Alfie.

It was scary opening my heart up to another pug after first losing Buffy and Mira so quickly on her heels. Now two years later Vader passed away at 14 and I have decided to add Waffles to my clan.
It is also a scary decision. For so long it seemed like it was just Buffy, Vader and me -- my shadow and my Little Man. Buffy worshipped me, Vader was the Man and I moved forward as if they were always going to be there. Mira offered new hope, Alfie a second chance at that and soon t here will be Waffles.

I almost adopted her two years ago right after I brought Alfie home, but with a new puppy already in hand an older dog getting older, it didn't seem the right time to add another to the mix. As time passed, I thought of her more and more as my friend Joan's dog. I expected when Vader died to add another male pug to the family.

Then shortly after Vader died, Alfie and I went to visit Joan and out darted Waffles straight into the open door of my car. She climbed up in Alfie's car seat and looked out the window as if to say, "Okay, when are we going?" I had to laugh and from that time on I began to open my heart to her again.

But I have to admit I've still been scared. Alfie has become my constant companion, sticking even closer to me perhaps than Buffy, my former "glue" dog ever had. I worry will Waffi upset this? Will I have room in my heart for two of them? I've always taken in my dogs as puppies. What will it be like to take home this grown up girl?

I'm not sure what's really at the heart of all my worries. Perhaps part of it has to do with the fact that I do not live in a house alone and every decision I make to get a dog must take into account how it will affect others or at the very least their reactions to it. Perhaps it is because Joan has become attached to Waffi and is hesitant to give her up. Maybe I don't want to get my hopes up until I am sure she will be mine.

I think most of it, however, may have to do with the fact that I have learned, as every dog lover must, that there is no endless, happy expanse of time with these creatures and that once you do embrace them, no matter what, the time will be too short.

Light and Shadow

I snapped this shot of my two nieces at play earlier in the summer. I love the contrast between the two girls, Catherine, in front, dressed in shorts and tee shirt, running in full tomboy glory. Tori in the background, a little girl striking a grown-up pose. It is another one of those pictures that could make adults uncomfortable, but this was not posed. I was lucky enough to catch these two little girls playing in the light and shadow, offering a glimpse of their many facets, reflecting the women they will one day become.

Pug Puppies on the Move

My friend Joan and I drove to Battenkill Books in Cambridge, NY tonight to listen to writer Jon Katz talk about his new e-book The Story of Rose. Because Joan has a three-week-old litter of pug puppies that shouldn't be left alone, unwatched, for long periods of time, we left them with my mom with the assurance that they were too young to be much trouble.

"None of them are even moving," I assured her. And, yesterday they hadn't been.

Granted one or two had managed to make it over the lip of their box and onto the floor, but they didn't do much after that other than roll over on their backs and fall asleep. That was until tonight. By the time we returned home all five were crawling and sliding all over the place -- one had found its way to the water dish and Mom had to rescue the little guy before he drowned. She said she wasn't all that worried because not only had he learned to walk, but he seemed to know the dog paddle, too. Another was sipping water form the water bowl and a third was attempting to nibble on the dry food. The poor Momma was suddenly beside herself trying to keep them all in the pen.

Inspired by the multimedia approach of Jon's new book, I decided to try to get a video of the one I called Batman walking around, although the light wasn't that good. Still, you get a chance to see him as he tries to gain footing on the slippery wooden floor. Also, in the video he has an unfortunate accident. Another first, as you might be able to ascertain by the gleeful way I exclaim, "Joan, he's pooped!"

Warning: This video shows his Momma cleaning up after him.

Those of you familiar with puppies won't be disgusted by this, but it is a little hard to take when the Momma in turn tries to kiss you moments later. At least that wasn't captured on camera!