360 pugs rescued since October, 2005
Barack made a quick adjustment to his forever home and new name Brock.. What a fantastic little boy he is turning out to be. He is a bundle of happiness all the time with a very gentle soul. Except of course when he gets hungry. Then he turns into a ravenous eating machine. The fact that Dad cooks all his meals may be part of that equation. He gets a diet of brown rice, salmon, broccoli, carrots and sweet potato. He eats better then most people. It has made a substantial difference in his irritation to food. We will continue this route to see how he responds. The vet chosen to look after him has expertise in dermatology and suggested a half teaspoon of local honey per day to boost his immunity. Brock's seasonal allergies are under control with his current plan of action and he is settling into his daily routine. A daily car ride is essential and his ongoing sense of adventure continues to keep us on our toes!
Barack is a very happy 2-year-old black pug. He loves to run around and play with his fur foster siblings as well as with his human siblings. He walks amazingly well on a leash and has no interest in leaving his people's side. He loves to meet new people and animals on his walks and in the house. Basically he loves everyone (even our guinea pigs). He would do best in a home where there is another dog that would be willing to play with him or have a highly active human that would play with him.
He is on a very strict diet and if there is a deviation at all he has an almost instant allergic reaction. His new people will need to be very committed to his allergies. In addition, his allergies are very affected by the changing of the seasons and his new people will need to try to be proactive with this.
Barack is a very smart boy and has learned a number of tricks while he has been with us. He can sit, stay and shake a paw with ease. Having Barack in the house is a lot like having a small goat and he would probably be well suited to something like agility training.
Barack is a real character that loves to be with his people but he isn't overly cuddly for long periods of time. He doesn't particularly like to be picked up or held and will struggle strenuously to be let go.
Barack likes to sleep on the bed with his people as he doesn't have much hair and really likes the additional body heat of his people. He normally starts the night on top of the blankets but then, if it gets cooler through the night, he will get under the blankets and cuddle up to his person.
Barack is not frightened by sounds such as vacuums, thunder, etc. However, he is very vocal and will bark at anything he finds interesting such as his toys, people and dogs walking by the house, doorbells, animals on TV, the refrigerator when it makes funny sounds, people whose arms are too tired to throw the ball any longer, etc. Barack would not be well suited to an apartment/condo/semi-detached home because of his barking/monkey screams.
Barack is a little gem of a boy who is well worth the extra effort required for his allergies.
Since he arrive into our care, managing and preventing Barack's allergy attacks have been our main focus. Thankfully, Barack's allergies appear to be environmental more than anything else and he has been consistently feeling better now that the weather has turned colder. In fact, the past 2 weeks have been the longest that he has had relief from his allergies since arriving in foster care.
Barack also now has hair on the majority of his body - HURRAY! He has had a small white patch on his chest since he arrived and I have always wondered how it would look once it had grown in. Now that he has hair, I can confirm that he has a lovely white diamond on his chest. It makes him look very dapper indeed.
Even with his allergies, Barack always loves playing with other dogs and any people who are willing to engage with him as well. He is also much smarter than the average pug. He has figured out how to get through both the baby gates in the house as well as the air tight dog food containers. But who can resist an adorable little pug that keeps them on their toes? We can't!
Barack continues to struggle with his allergies. They seem to get better only to come back worse than before. Thankfully, he responds to medication quite quickly and starts to get better within 24 hours of the first dose. We do have a tentative strategy in place for coping with his flare-ups. When he has one, he receives both antibiotics and Vanectyl-P (used to for inflammation and to relieve itching). I did discuss a daily treatment with the vet, but both of us decided that was not in the best interest of Barack at the present moment. We have also put him on the kangaroo diet that we buy at our vet's office and that seems to be helping.
After many discussions with the vet, we are fairly sure that Barack's allergies are environmental and he is most effected during seasonal changes. Additionally, he can have issues if exposed to mosquitos and black flies. His furever parents will need to proactively put him on antihistamines before each season change to (hopefully) prevent his allergy attacks before they even start. However, his attacks might only be minimized and further medication may be needed as each season progresses. His furever parents may need to tweak their strategy as they gain more information about Barrack's triggers.
Even with all his itchiness, Barack continues to improve in regards to his behaviour. He is quite a smart cookie and has learned to sit, lay down, shake a paw and wait for his food in the short time that he's been in foster care. We brought him to the New Market festival in September and he behaved perfectly in the crowd of people and animals.
Once Barack's allergies have stabilized, he will be able to receive his rabies vaccination. Once that happens, we are hopeful that he will be ready for adoption.
Barack has been to the vet for his initial wellness appointment and has passed his overall health check with flying colours. Unfortunately, in the last week, we have been battling a major allergic reaction to some mystery substance. Back to the vet we went and within hours of being on the medication, Barack started to feel better. As part of the treatment, he needed to have a bath, which he enjoyed so much that he fell asleep in the tub and I had to finish the bath holding his chin with one hand and scrubbing and rinsing with the other!
Barack continues to be a little character. His most recent escapades have been at dinnertime. One day this past week, I took too long (in his opinion) to get his dinner ready so he started to scream at his dish. Another day, when I was again "too slow" for his liking, he began to lift up his dish and drop it on the floor in rapid succession until he received his food. His shenanigans continued during his vacation to Northern Ontario. While there, he enjoyed the chipmunks and also the lake...sort of. On the first day that he saw the lake, Barack immediately ran in up to his belly to have a drink. However on the second and subsequent days, he absolutely refused to go back in.
We have been thoroughly enjoy Barack. Even though his allergies have been a bit challenging as of late, he is an absolute ball of joy with a million adorable little quirks!
Barack is a 2 year old neutered black pug, which is a great age. He is old enough that he is past being a puppy, but young enough that he likes to play. He has been here a little over a week and is settling in well. He is a very nice little man who really enjoys the company of people and other dogs. He is gentle with all other dogs and people (especially the little ones). The day that he arrived, we had my younger daughter's birthday party and he loved meeting the kids who stayed later (after the party). He does not bark when people come to the door, but does like to scream at people as they leave. He doesn't like when people leave the house.
He is suffering from allergies, but the medication he is on coupled with his new food seem to be working for him quite well. He will be going to the vet in the coming weeks for a check up.
He is very good on a leash and loves to walk for miles and miles. We have to cut his walks short as he doesn't appear to realize when he is getting tired.
We are working on his house-training and house manners (he likes to jump up on the table when we go outside without him).
In the past couple of days, we have convinced him to start playing with us and he is now engaging the other dogs to play as well.
Basically he is a little character who is just great to have around. He will make his furever family very happy some day soon!
