Ollie's Birthday Celebration

It was my sweet pugbear's adoptiversary last month. Five years ago we rescued her, and she's truly my best friend on the planet. A couple of days prior to her birthday/adoptiversary, she was very sick, almost unresponsive, and I didn't think she was going to make it through the night. I was terrified and inconsolable. Eventually I fell asleep with her by my side, fully expecting her to not wake up in the morning. Somewhere in the middle of the night, she woke up and started licking her paws, a totally normal thing for her to do. And at another point, she got up, twirled around and snuggled up closer to me, another totally Ollie thing to do.

The next morning she was still really out of it, but not nearly as scary as she was the night before. I took her to the vet asap and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. They, and I, suspect she had some doggy vertigo, and is 100% back to normal now. THANK GOD.

At one point during the night I may have whispered into her sweet ear that if she made it through the night I would no longer portion out her meals, and she could eat as much as she wanted whenever she wanted.

Well. I sort of made good on that promise by purchasing $50 of treats and things for her at Shopdog to celebrate her birthday. Including dog beer, yes that's a thing, yes I went with the pug porter for obvious reasons.

I love you Ollie Girl, and I hope that your promise to live forever comes true, because I can't imagine a world with you!

Ollie's Adoptiversary

Happy Adoptiversary Sweet baby girl! Five years ago Kyle and I welcomed a chunky monkey, anxiety filled bundle of pug fur into our lives. She's seriously the light of my life and I love her like crazy.

Ollie's Third Adoptiversary

Happy happy 3rd adoptiversary to my sweet sweet bestie Ollie.  I can't imagine my life without you. I love you sweet girl.

OllieDay

Sunday marked two years since I brought Ollie in to my family. I honestly don't remember what life was like before her. I wanted a pug so badly and when we met it was BFF at first sight for both of us.

I ran my half marathon and let Ollie sleep in. She worked on her rest through the late morning in anticipation of her exciting day.

We met up with Jenn J. and her yorkie at the adorable dog shop in town, and Ollie was greeted outdoors by her doppelganger.

The store has a new dog bakery counter, and Ollie was gifted a cupcake and a bandana for her special day. She bought her new friends some adorable treats to share her adoptiversary.

"Oh mom. Treats?!? For me!?!?"

Posing pretty for her treat.

Nom nom nom.

Baby girl smiling.

Ollie kept trying to sneak inside to the little pups' pillow, so Jenn was kind enough to bring it outside for the spoiled pug.

And someone was passed out before we were two minutes from the fun.

But I did manage to snag this adorable coffee mug. It was Ollie's way of saying, thanks for being my mama, I think. :)

Pug Adoptaversary

Because Ollie is a rescue, we don't know how old she is or when her birthday is.  The vet estimated 5-6 a year ago.  I've decided that each year we'll do an adoptaversary celebration in lieu of a birthday.  (It's totes norms to do a birthday party for a pet, right?  Great.)  Well this past Saturday was Ollie's first adoptaversary.  I woke her up really early for breakfast.  Her favorite.  And then put her back in bed with her dad so I could get ready for my race.  And then because Kyle was still sleeping when I left, Ollie got a second breakfast when he woke up.  If there's one thing Ollie loves more than meal time, it's BONUS meal time.  Nom nom.

She came out to spectate me in the 10k even though she HATES rain with a fiery passion.  Kyle had to hold her/carry her the entire time they were outside because she wouldn't move.  Even more fun than race spectating is people spectating.  Ollie thinks every human was put on the planet to pet and love her.  :)

After the race, we spent a long time snuggling on the couch to warm me up, because I was a popsicle.  Then we ended up at Shop Dog, the new dog boutique in town, and Ollie surprised me with a necklace I have been wanting since I first spotted it on their instagram page.

Amazing, no?

We had big plans to go to the dog park and have fun, but the rain made that out of the question, so we did the next best thing.  Froyo.  I always get a dairy free froyo flavor for my bottom layer of froyo so Ollie can lick the bowl when I'm done.  Puggy froyo heaven.

We spent the day snuggling and playing together.  My little love bug.

And now some pics from the last year.

The day we first met to see if she'd like me and want to come live with me forever.

Adoption day!

Just seeing what she'd look like with long curly hairs.

Ollie's first race.  TEAM GREEN.

She's just so darn smily and happy. <3

Smooches before Kyle and I left on a date night.

When someone leaves a grocery cart in the hallway, you obviously put your pug in there like she's a child.  Obviously.

I'm so glad we found each other OG.  Love you.  (She subscribes to my blog obvs.  She has to have something to do while I'm at work all day besides napping.)

Pug Bestie: Part Deux

I work in a library.  Librarians are known for being "crazy cat ladies."  But not me.  I'm a crazy pug lady.  And I fully admit that.  And embrace that.  If I could rescue every pug (and a couple of french bulldogs, because OMG is there anything cuter than a little frenchie face??? save for a pug, obvs) on the planet in need of a home, I would do it in a heartbeat.  I just have so much love for little puggies in my heart, and there are so many out there that *need* that love.  I might as well give it, amiright?

For the past year I've been contemplating getting a second pug.  Pugs are extremely social and bond very strongly with other animals and pugs especially.  There are two pugs in the apartment complex, and Ollie is obsessed with the male, Rasputin (and ok, so am I, his face is just PRESH).  So naturally I want to give her a little brother (of the pug variety, no bebes here plz).  I had been telling myself that I might get a second pug for my graduation gift to myself (August 3rd, in case anyone is counting down.  Just me?  Ok, that's cool).

But then I got a text message from an old co-worker last Thursday that said something to the effect of "OMG THERE'S A BLACK MALE PUG AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY, GO GET HIM NOW!"

Squeeeee/die.

I checked out his profile, and he was, indeed, adorable.  Four years old, potty trained, and trained with basic commands (already one-upping Ollie, because Ollie only knows her left and right paws--when I ask her to lift them to put her harness on for walks, how to give kisses on command, and how to "scoot a cheek, geek" when she's sitting in my or Kyle's spot on the couch).  The family gave him up because they didn't have time for him.  Le sigh.



I jokingly told my boss that I needed to leave work for a "family emergency."  I called Kyle and told him that Ollie, Max and I would be waiting for him when he got home from work.  But of course I didn't leave work early.  And at 3:30pm I called to see if he was still available and he'd been adopted.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah. :'(

I told Ollie all about him on Thursday and she seemed pretty upset to not get her very own pug bestie.  But I'm sure that means there'll be another one, hopefully soon.  Until then, Ollie will just have to settle with me as her bestie (I think she's ok with it, no worries).

Puggy Update

I've been severely absent in the bloggy world lately, but I don't feel too bad about it.  I'm still reading blogs, but it's soooooo annoying to comment from my phone, so don't be surprised if I tweet you instead of commenting.  Bad internet friend=jerbear.

But my best excuse for my absence is this little girl.

OLLIE GIRL!

aka Ollie Lee (Kyle seems to think she needs my middle name, despite it's redundancy).

We've been together for about a week and a half now, and I must say it's love.  Within 20 minutes of meeting her 3 weeks ago, we bonded.  She sat on my lap and didn't want me to pet any of the other pups on the residence.  The whole week leading up to getting her, emails flew regarding her name.  Everything I suggested, Kyle axed.  I was regrettably settling on Penelope/Penny/Pen because that's what I always expected to name my first female (notice I said first, as there will be many, many more I'm sure).  But she just didn't look like a Penny.

One afternoon after Kyle was shooting down ALL MY NAMES, I went in to my co-workers office and she had all my name suggestions brought up in an email next to two pictures of her.  We went down the list and eliminated all the ones that didn't "fit."  I commented that I wish she was a boy, because I think Olivander would be great (oh hai, huge 'arry pottah nerd heah!) and that should looked like an Ollie, to which she exclaimed "OMG SHE DOES!" So then I toyed with naming her Olivia, and Ollie for short, but then I remembered SHE'S A DOG, SHE CAN HAVE A SILLY NAME. *

Our first night was a little rough as she was so stinkin' loud.  Like panting uncontrollably, and doing this weird coughing/choking/gagging thing.  I was ready to preform CPR and/or the Heimlich roughly 75 times.  She also wouldn't sleep away from us, so guess who got to snooze in the guest bedroom?  That'd be the non-snoring family member--me.

The next morning we ran to Pet Smart to pick up some food and things for her, and when we came home she was crying so hard at the door I panicked.  Thinking I'd never be able to leave this dog again, ZOMG!  Luckily, she learned pretty quickly that we weren't LEAVING leaving her, and she didn't have any more separation anxiety.

She doesn't chew on things, she doesn't pee or poo in the apartment, she sheds like a banshee, but she's just the sweetest girl ever.

She likes to sit on my lap while I'm in class, and likes to lay on the floor next to me while I'm studying. She loves looooooves going on walks (which is good because she has a couple of lbs. to lose) and loves to SPRINT down the hallway after we get the mail.  Seriously... it's hilarious... I'll try to video it soon.

She hates the flash on my phone, and the lighting in my apartment sucks, so the photos have been sparse.  She adores watermelon (the only people food we've given her as pugs have sensitive stomachs).

She follows me around and has a smile that lights up the room.  When snuggling with Kyle she has to keep her eyes on me the whole time, just so I know that I'm still #1 (or so I'm telling myself).  She loves Kyle like crazy, and I've heard her drop the L word a number of times.  Smitten.

Just love her to bunches and I'm so glad that we found each other.  She needed a good home, and I needed a good pug to spoil.  I think we both lucked out tremendously.

*Since naming her, I've also realized that Winnie would've been good/cute too.  Geez Louise naming is hard, remind me not to have children.**

**Oh!  Speaking of, I actually dipped in to my FUTURE BEBAH'S NAMES as part of the brainstorming, just in case there was a gem in there.  Not so spoiler alert: there wasn't.

Woe is Me: Another Pug Tail

It's no secret I'm obsessed with pugs.  Need one.  Gotta have one.  ZOMG GOING CRAZY WITHOUT A LITTLE PUGGY FRIEND.  After last fall's pug meltdown, in which I ultimately decided I should wait to get a pug, I've been readying myself.  Trying to put away a little bit of pug savings for adoption fees, vet bills, necessities, etc.  And apartment searching for a place that will allow my little puggy love.  A few weeks ago I determined that August 1st would be the ideal date for pug ownership to occur.  I finish up my summer courses the end of July and have most of August off.  I'd have plenty of time to bond with the little bugger, and extra time to help potty train (if necessary) and to help her/him get acclimated to me AND ALL OF THE LOVE I HAVE TO GIVE IT.  Ahem.

At the end of work today, my boss emailed me to say that her fiance saw a pug at the humane society in town.  Eh.. what?!?!?  As soon as I got home I googled and saw a little black pug that was begging to be my bestie.  Sidenote:  for some reason I've done a complete 180 on my pug preferences.  I used to be a 100% fawn fan, but I'm now obsessed with the black ones.  So weird.

At this point, I have no problem blowing off my run to go meet this beauty to determine if it's truly love at first sight.  Kyle says that if I can wait until 6:30 ish he'll go with me, but uh... that's not happening, sorry brah.

I get to the humane society with my heart beating a trillion miles a minute and ask to meet the little cutie.  And the lady responds that she's in with a gal who's filling out the adoption paperwork.

[insert tears here]

[and again here since apparently writing this is making me all weepy, gah]

I got to peek in at her through the window and she's such a happy little squirt.  I'm happy she got adopted, but I just wanted it to be by me.  Sniffle.

Uff da, I have a pug shaped hole in my heart.

And how cute is she in this video?  Soooo happy/smily.



Somedaaaaaaaaaay my puuuuuuuuug will cooooooome (to be sung to the tune of Someday my prince will come).