So Much, So Soon

We've had Gizmo for more than two weeks now, and he's fitting in nicely. Jack and Giz have started friendly "sparring" as Pmo calls it, and I even caught them laying on the big dog bed together. For about thirty seconds. Then there was some tussle over a rope.

As I type this, Giz is laying underneath my chair.

He's always waiting for one of us to sit down so he can plant himself on a lap and snooze. We had one night in the beginning where he did not like being left alone in his cage, and I had to go sleep with him in the guest bed. But since then, we've somewhat trained him that it's "quiet time" when he's in there, and he's been pretty good about not yipping at night.

Now Giz is in my lap. If he sits still, he gets to stay.

His bathroom habits are peculiar. He's pretty much housebroken, but he can apparently hold it for awhile because he doesn't go near as often as Jack does or Bug did. If we're patient and take the extra time, he will eventually get around to it. But man, it takes him forever.

Gizmo's head is on my right wrist. Makes it hard to type.

He's had a few medical issues to take care of right off the bat. Nothing major. I've taken him to Parkdale twice, and we'll return at the end of this week for another checkup. His corneal ulcer seems to be healing nicely with some extra meds Dr. Saxon gave him. He's been scratching and biting himself a lot. Dr. Saxon thought he might have scabies, so we have a few doses of another med to give him every two weeks to take care of it.

Gizmo's head is now resting inside my left elbow. A little more manageable.

We've taken a few walks, the four of us and just me with the fur-kids. We've been to a few pet stores, tried on several soft harnesses and decided on one with purple trim that seemed to fit the best. An emo-looking kid at PetSmart told me in a Napoleon Dynamite voice, "I like your black pug." I let him pet him.

Now Giz is laying across my lap snoring. Which means I can't reach the stereo and skip this song.

He's met "Grandma" and "Grandpa" (Mom and Dad), other members of my family and he even got to see Grandpa Everett already. Everyone gets quite a kick out of him. We can't wait to take the boys to the cabin in the fall and on other excursions. Jack is a great, sweet, loving, gem of a dog, don't get me wrong. But something has definitely been missing in the past six months. I think we feel complete again.

It all seemed to fall into place with ideal circumstances. I happened to have some days off work when we brought Giz home, so I was better able to get him adjusted to a routine, or at least, our best version of a "routine" with my crazy sleep schedule. We have no big trips or plans in the coming months, so he can continue to settle in with us...

...and besides that, it was just time. Time to fill the void. Bug could never be replaced. We know that. We still miss him dearly and talk about him a lot. But Gizmo has filled our hearts back up so much, so soon. I'm so thrilled we could give this little guy a home, and all of my pug décor and accessories don't go to waste ;)

I think Giz just tooted on me. Time to get down.

Have Pug? Will Travel!

I've been sending Pmo pics of adoptable pugs for several weeks now. Many have been pug mixes, but we've been trying to hold out for a purebred. The regional rescue organization has plenty of pugs. Most are seniors though, and we were looking for a young adult. We considered starting fresh with a puppy from a breeder, but they cost an arm and a leg. Plus puppies are quite a handful.

One day, perusing Petfinder.com, I found a black pug who looked fairly young and was less than two hours away.  I sent a pic to Pmo. He liked him. I also found a fawn pug that was about the same distance away and probably close in age. They were from two different organizations so I applied to both.

I then started an email correspondence about the first pug. I found out that he was surrendered from a divorce, had a corneal ulcer that needed care, was housebroken and set to be neutered on Thursday. The humane society said someone else was interested in him, but they didn't want her to adopt him. I thought that was weird for them to tell me that, but I pressed on: submitted the application/references and explained that we took care of Bug's needs for several years in case they had any doubt about us taking care of his eye or anything else that came along.

Saturday morning, I'm waiting to get my hair done. I check my email and find out the humane society has written back, saying everything looked great and when can I pick him up? Naturally, I freaked out. Did they mean today? Next week? Next weekend? Could we even go today? OMG, we're getting a pug!

I called Pmo, then I called the shelter to see if they really meant to come that day. After a few phone calls back and forth with them and Pmo, I told my hair stylist I would take a raincheck and we were on the road to pug salvation.

His name is Gizmo. The vet thinks he's 1.5 years old. And he's a sweetheart. So far, Jack and Gizmo are getting along fairly well. Jack snipped at him early this morning, but they're still getting used to each other. Gizmo is scratching a lot, so I gave him a bath even though he already had one at shelter. Jack was also due for a bath anyway. Gizmo may also be irritated by his recent surgery. He didn't throw too much of a fit overnight when we crated him so we all got to sleep. He likes to take naps on our laps. And he's quick! Super fast. Pmo calls him "Go Go Gizmo".

We're going to get both dogs out today for a walk and see how that goes. We'll probably stop by the pet store for some more things. I'm also thinking about starting him in obedience training since I've never done that with any of my dogs. But so far, so good. Gizmo is putting smiles on our faces.

Oh, and the person the humane society didn't want to adopt Gizmo? Turns out she has adopted three dogs over the past few years: one got ran over, one was shot and one mysteriously disappeared. Thank goodness we got the Giz!