Memphis

Memphis - 4 year old black male

Memphis and Sully

Memphis is enjoying his new family - April 27

It is hard to believe that Memphis has only been with us two weeks - it is as if he has been with us forever. Memphis is our gentle gorilla, following along wherever we go, especially at night where he follows our son to bed, sleeping with him until he has fallen asleep, and then moving on to our bed, nudging himself under the covers, snoring between the both of us. He slathers us in kisses, and his love is contagious….our family and neighbours have fallen in love with him.

He has settled in beautifully with our family and has made himself right at home. At first, he and Sullivan (our other pug) had little to do with each other, but recently, they have begun to play like crazy, wrestling on the carpet, chasing each other around the dinning table. Sully is also working hard to teach Memphis how to fetch the tennis ball. In turn, Memphis has taught Sully to stop leading on their walks and to greet other dogs without barking. We cannot imagine our lives without home!

Requirements

Memphis is ready to leave the building, and move into his new home! Memphis has been given a clean bill of health, and his eye is looking great. In a follow up with the Ophthalmologist they were extremely pleased with the results of the surgery and see no future eye issues for Memphis . He is in tip top shape and ready for his new forever family!

Adoption Requirements for Memphis :

Memphis needs a home that can be consistent and permanent, he wants to be able to unpack permanently and live out the rest of his life with a loving family. He is very silly and likes to show off for his audience. He needs to be active and involved, he is a tall and sturdy pug, and thrives on activity and seems to have a lot more stamina than most pugs do. He keeps up with my Boxer no problem and loves to wrestle and play. He would do best in a dog experienced home who have the time that he deserves.

Memphis does (as many male pugs do) mark, sometimes he can go days or weeks without marking, other times (often when anxious) he will mark many times in a day. Memphis should wear a belly band when home alone or unsupervised, this limits the marking as he does not like to pee on himself. (Also limits the cleaning up!)

Memphis will need some time to adjust to his new home, and will need a family that will be patient and understanding, working with him to transition. He has had a lot of upheaval in his life lately, so he needs someone who will commit to him and help him get settled.

If you think you are the Graceland for Mr. Memphis we look forward to hearing from you!

Update March 4

Memphis will be completing his final vet work next week post-surgery. His eye looks great and he has been very tolerant of all of the drops, gels that need to be put in each day.

The longer Memphis has been with us the more personality he has begun to show. He likes to put on quite a show when he is looking for attention, bringing you all the toys, talking to you, and rolling around on his back making all sorts of funny sounds.

Memphis' manners have improved a lot, and he respects that he isn't to join us in the dining room when we are eating, and there is no begging allowed. He is now eating only dog food and dog treats - no people food allowed. He has also lost 6lbs since he has been with us and looks great.

He has done well with all his basic commands, but is quite clear when he doesn't want to do something as he simply flops to the floor and will often roll onto his side and close his eyes. I call this his "playing dead." I figure if he thinks that I think he is dead he won't have to do it. This is a common trick he pulls when he does not want to go outside when it is too cold out. Oddly enough once he is out there it is often hard to get him to come in as he runs around and plays in the snow.

Memphis is a really great dog, and we will be sad to see him go, but are looking forward to him finding a forever family who will love him as much as we have.

Update Feb 25

Memphis is home, and recovering from his Medial Canthoplasty. The surgery went well, and he recovered well. He is a bit dopey right now from the anaesthetic and the pain meds. He came home with a bunch of meds, some oral for the pain and to avoid infection and lots of eye stuff. The stitches dissolve, so they do not want to see him for 30 days unless a problem presents itself.

This being said Dr. Zigler felt that if there are no issues in 2 weeks, we can likely proceed in putting him up for adoption. New owner would have to commit to taking him for his re-check and they will likely do one more in 3-4 months, so anyone adopting him would have to be committed to monitoring the eye, administering the drops/gels ( they are for the rest of his life.)

Update Feb 18

He has really settled down over the last week. The marking has stopped inside, and he now has some time without the belly band on if I am home with him. He is a lot more comfortable now, and is eating his food, feels ok to stay in a room even if I leave it, and has become very expressive.

He and my Boxer Tallie have what I call “the dog conversations” where they make the strangest grumbly and playful sounds at each other like they are discussing something very important. It is pretty funny sight.

Memphis has lost some weight and we will keep working on trimming him down. He has been to work with me a few times and to the dog park and PawsWay, he likes everyone and is a great car traveller.

We have been working on his commands, and he is doing very well with sit, stay, down and has amazing recall.

Memphis is scheduled for his eye surgery next week - we will keep everyone posted on how this goes.

Update Feb 3

Well things settled a bit today, the day went fairly well, and Memphis is giving Tallie a bit more space. He is starting to show a bit more of his personality, he is very affectionate, wants to sit on your lap and snuggle, follows me around and is always underfoot.

Memphis went to the vet today – Beaches Animal Hospital graciously provides k9 Rescue Me groups with a 40-50% discount for rescue dogs, which is very generous, and I am friends with both vets there so I took Memphis down to have his eye checked out and have a check-up.

Memphis went to the vet today – Beaches Animal Hospital graciously provides k9 Rescue Me groups with a discount for rescue dogs, which is very generous, so I took Memphis down to have his eye checked out and have a check-up

The left eye has a corneal ulceration and because this wasn’t treated initially this is permanent damage and Memphis has likely lost about 20-30% of his sight in the remaining eye. The ulceration is in the middle of his eye, so he basically has a blind spot there.

He also has Pigmentary Keratitis in the remaining eye as his bottom eye lid is inverted and scratching at the cornea. Over time this will affect his sight and if untreated he would lose sight in this eye. It is recommended he see an ophthalmologist and he will likely need surgery, at which time they would remove some of the corneal ulceration in the center. This will not allow him to regain the visual there but will prevent any further issues and allow them to investigate the hole in the middle of the ulceration.

He behaved fairly well at the vet, squealed a lot and was very nervous of the other dogs we encountered there, shaking and trying to jump into my arms. He had his shots and nails done and came home with some eye drops to decrease the irritation on the remaining eye from the pigmentary keratitis until we see what the next step is.

I will be making an appointment with the ophthalmologist this week and update everyone when I have more news. I have attached a couple more pictures, they really don’t do any justice to his size, but Olly won’t stand beside him so that you can see the huge difference between them. You can see the whitish spot on his eye in the picture – this is the ulceration, it looks even bigger in the picture than it actually is in real life.

Introduction - Feb 1, 2009

Memphis is a large, one eyed pug who is an owner surrender. He was happily greeted by his foster family. Although shy at first, Memphis settled in after a walk in the local park.

We will have a foster update and pictures in a couple of days.