The picture above was taken on October 28th, 2006. That's the day I brought my girl home. I was single, not even 30 years old, living alone with my two cats. Princess was 4 and, at the risk of sounding dramatic, she saved me. She gave me a reason to leave my apartment every day. She quickly became my heart dog, my shadow, my soul mate. We had the same favourite things: Snuggling, eating, and couch-potatoing. She specifically loved eating out of the garbage can and the cats' litter boxes, but we differed there.

Princess came to Pugalug as a portly pug of 40+ pounds who was shy of strangers, especially children. She became a svelte beauty who loved nothing more than to sit near anyone of any age, as long as they acknowledged her superior status by lavishing her with the praise and affection she loved and deserved.

Princess was my girl for eight years, which was not nearly long enough. Her illness took her from us quickly so, thankfully, she didn't suffer for long. We let her go on October 27th, 2014. She died in our arms, just one day shy of her 8th Gotcha Day, the anniversary of the date on which I brought her home.

A friend reminded me though, that Princess's Gotcha Day would have been the first day of our ninth year together. So that means that Princess died on the last day of our eighth year, meaning she was my girl for exactly eight years, to the day. The same friend reminded me of this quote from the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes":

"You know, Princess was a lady. And a lady always knows when to leave."

We're missing her every day, and so are her pug and human brothers, Harley and James. James often talks about Buh-butt (his name for Princess), and we have many pictures of her around the house, so she's always in our thoughts, and will never be forgotten.