Ginger finds an exciting new life - January 14

Thank you to everyone who helped Ginger, from the rescue folks at Prairie Pugs in Kansas and Pugalug Rescue in Toronto, to the many people who cared enough to apply to adopt her. Here are a couple of pictures of Ginger with Wendy and Joe and Tommi.

Ginger is ready to bounce into your life

Now that Ginger has learned the foster house routine, her inner puppy has been showing through. She has personality plus. She is very curious and loves to explore all areas of the house. She has moderate energy, loving to run off-leash in the backyard but able to settle down and cuddle with the other pugs and humans. She has chosen to sleep in big bed.

Her appetite is very good and she has not learned to wait her turn at mealtime, so care must be taken that she doesn’t steal food from the others. She has been eating a diet of breakfast slop in the morning and raw meaty bones at the evening meal.

There are no apparent health or behavioural issues except for interdigital cysts which seem to clear quickly with an application of antibiotic ointment (Life brand, Polysporin, etc). She will make a loving family very happy. The one area that needs more work is potty training. We have been making some progress with regular trips outdoors and reward training but it has been difficult over the hectic holiday season with several indoor accidents and continued effort is needed.

Foster Update December 5

Today they went to the vet. He says there is no way Ginger is older than about 3 and is in great shape. This confirms what I have been thinking about her puppy-like behaviour. He removed her tummy sutures but left the nare sutures to dissolve as the removal process was stressing her too much. Her weight was down a tiny bit to 14 lbs but he thinks she is at a good weight; could gain a little but not much.

There is no indication of thyroid problems or ill health of any kind and he suggested a blood panel is probably not necessary. Her eyes are fine. Regarding the toenail that is growing straight up, he said the toe was probably broken and the nail broken right off at the base from being in the wire cage; it would have set itself improperly. Nothing to be done for it now. So, once we get her housebroken, she’ll be good to go. She sure is a doll and was good as gold at the vet’s.

Foster Update, Dec 3

Ginger is very outgoing and has already won Bryan's heart (no we're NOT keeping her). She's a plucky and happy wee thing and will make some family a lovely outgoing and cuddly friend. She still has the stitches from her spay and stenotic nares surgery on November 20. She had several teeth removed at the same time, including a lower canine and lower incisors. Her records indicate she has bilateratal otitis with brown discharge and alopecia (baldness) on he right foreleg, but I haven't seen evidence of either and wonder if they meant Josette. I'll have the vet check when they take out the sutures.

She has finished her post-surgical medication. She is not housebroken and pees very frequently. I'm hoping it's a behavioural thing caused by lack of training and stress due to all the upheaval this week rather than a UTI. I will keep an eye on it. The vet has recommended thyroid testing in a couple of weeks, but I'm going to see what a change of diet and exercise will do. She doesn't seem to lack energy and although she's small at 14.2 lbs, I don't think she's underweight. Ginger ran around the back yard in Bolton with obvious joy. That in itself made all our hard work worth it!