360 pugs rescued since October, 2005
Some great news in the world of Eve, who will be adopted by her foster father! He has bonded closely with her and has worked on her fear issues over the past 6 months. She is showing signs of improvement as she is getting more comfortable with the regulars she meets on her walks. Eve is happy, comfortable, and joyful in her current home, and so we are elated that she can continue to live life to the fullest, which for her means eating, playing with stuffies and tennis balls to her heart's content, capped off with some evening snuggles.
Eve's heart check went very well. She had an ultrasound taken and the cardiologist says her heart is in very good shape. She could see no cause for the heart stopping during the spay surgery.
We will now be doing a behaviour consultant to determine the extent of her fear and if it requires medication, other treatment or modification.
Eve went to Pickles' birthday party. Pickles is another Pugalug adopted rescue. Eve did very well with her interaction with people. She sat and waited patiently for treats or played with other dogs/ She generally stayed by my side with the occasional excursion out for treats. People held out their hand for Eve to sniff. If there were treats, she sat and waited. If there were no treats she went off to someone else or back to me.
Now that the nicer weather is coming, I take one of her toys to the park. She loves to run, fetch it and come running back to me. If there was a Pug and Stuffy Olympic event, Eve would win gold!
Eve had her spay surgery done in early February and has been recuperating. During the surgery, her heart stopped, given the veterinary team quite the scare! Thankfully, CPR was performed and her heart started again. She was monitored post surgery and there appeared to be no ill effects. I continued to monitor her at home and soon she was the same bouncy, hungry Eve that I have come to know. That said, she will be seeing a specialist at the VEC to check for any underlying conditions that may have caused the cardiac arrest.
Eve's teeth were examined while she was under anesthesia and they are in very good shape. Thus, she won't be needing a dental prior to adoption. Also, the condition of her teeth leads the vet to think that she is younger than her reported 7 years, although how much younger is hard to say.
We continue to make small gains with Eve's fear of being touched. She is head shy and warns people if they try to pet her. However, she has warmed up to a few people that she sees regularly. For those special folks, Eve will come up to their arm and press her body into it. It is her way of accepting their touch. She did that with me when she first arrived, only allowing me to pet her after the trust had been established. My goal is for Eve to feel comfortable enough with those special regulars to allow them to pet her. I'm confident that the trust will come. It will just take some time.
Meanwhile, Eve has become quite the love pug with me. She is right beside me in the morning as a wake up. She rests her head on my chest and rolls over for a good morning belly rub. Perhaps it is also a "thank you" for finding her the perfect winter coat. She did not like the tight sweater that I had initially tried, but her new coat has large holes for her legs and she happily wears it about during our neighbourhood walks!
It will be a little while yet before Eve is ready to find her forever family, but once she does, I am sure they will find her just as special as I do. After she has been assessed at the VEC, we will post another update detailing any concerns regarding her heart so be sure to keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks!
Eve continues to grow more comfortable and secure in her foster home. The winter boots were a bit of a cautionary mystery at first. She would move her head/mouth to my hands wondering what I was doing. I used treats to get her comfortable with putting on the Pawz balloon boots. Now that she has worn them a few times, she is not worried when I put them on her feet.
I know have to train her to be comfortable with other people touching her. I know the love is in her. We just need to gently move past that trigger. We will be working with a couple of other foster volunteers, doing regular meet-ups so that Eve becomes familiar with them. Unfortunately we won't be able to train with Santa so no photo with him this year. However Santa will be bringing her some new stuffies to enjoy.
She loves going out for walks and is not bothered by the snow. I'm glad I got her comfortable with the boots as she can go for a long walk. She does pull heavily on the leash so that will be the next part of the training schedule.
She had her booster vaccination this past week. She is still at 8.5 kgs. Once again I used the pug muzzle for the shot. However, Eve now knows the place and that there are treats in there so she goes right up to the door to be let in.
Her spaying will be done sometime the end of January, beginning of February.
All in all, Eve is a happy little pug who just wants to love and be loved.
Eve had her first vet check recently. As a stray, she obviously did not come with vet records so we are starting from the beginning in terms of vaccinations. There were no abnormalities found during her physical examination. Her blood work and fecal sample were fine and she weighs 8.5 kg. It does appear that her heat cycle is just ending and thus we will wait 3 months before having her spayed.
Because of Eve's fear of being touched, I put her muzzle on her for the vet examination. We had been muzzle training for 2 weeks and Dr. Wozniak was very impressed that Eve put her face right into the mask and allowed me to clip it on. In fact, Eve is so good with the muzzle that her Halloween costume was a Mexican Wrestler. Her stage name was "The Angel" of course. I've included a photo of her in her costume below. She's pretty darn cute!
During our vet visit, I opened Eve's mouth so the vet could get a look at her teeth. They seem to be in good shape. However, a closer examination will be done when she goes in for her spaying.
She got her rabies vaccination at this visit. The vet also did a titer test to determine Eve's immunity for Distemper, Parvo etc. Results showed that she did not have an acceptable level of immunity. Thus Eve will be returning to the vet in 3 weeks to receive her DHPP vaccination.
Behaviourally, I've been mainly focused on the muzzle training and also letting Eve get comfortable with her new environment and neighbourhood. She is still a snuggle pug and loves to cuddle right up next to me any chance she gets! In the morning, she will come up, roll on her back, press her head into my chin and wait for the belly rub. It is now part of our daily good morning routine. The resident pug snores contentedly and ignores us. Once said resident pug is awake, she and Eve continue to get along quite well.
Eve continues to enjoy chasing her stuffy toys and running back to me with it to throw again. Outside on our walks, we mainly keep to ourselves and give Eve a chance to get familiar with her surroundings. She perks up when she sees a squirrel or another dog chasing a ball. If she is unsure of something, then she comes back to me, puts her paws up on my legs and looks directly at me for reassurance.
We have 3 months now to work on Eve's touch trigger. The fact that she is so comfortable with me petting her is an indication that I can get her comfortable with others petting her. We will work slow and steady, but I have confidence that Eve will learn quickly and will soon be enjoying pets from anyone who is offering!
As always, I will update everyone as we go!
Eve is a bright, energetic little female pug who is about 7 years old. She was initially brought to a shelter as a stray, but the shelter quickly realized that she would do best in foster care and thus contacted us. She came to us about a week ago and was severely underweight, not spayed and had at least one litter in the past.
In the shelter, Eve was reportedly fearful of being touched, but I have found Eve to be a most lovable pug. She was a little confused and fearful for the first few hours after arriving, but the same came be said of most new fosters. I did not approach her. Instead I allowed Eve to come to me, letting her have a good sniff and throughly investigate myself and her surroundings. Once she began to snuggle up against me and seemed comfortable, I began to make contact with her, giving her a treat whenever she responded positively.
Over the first 24 hours, Eve went from a fearful little girl to a petting sponge, absorbing up all the love she can get! She rolled over for belly rubs, fell asleep in my lap while being petted and snuggled up close next to me in bed. No indication of a fear of being touched. This behaviour and bonding has increased over the past week. Eve is now beside me all the time. On the walks, if she is unsure of something, she comes to me and looks right at me for reassurance. It's been wonderful watching her come out of her shell!
Although Eve has become comfortable with being touched by me, she will be seeing see the vet in a couple of weeks and I'm not sure how comfortable she will be with that experience at this point. I've been taking her in for visits to meet the staff and say "hi", however, for everyone's safety, I have been conditioning Eve to a pug-friendly muzzle. She is doing quite well and will wear it without any signs of fear or anxiety. Of course, there's always a treat waiting for her when I take it off!
I am also pleased with Eve's weight gain since she arrived in foster care. Her ribs are much less prominent now and when I'm getting her food bowl ready, she shakes with excitement.
Eve gets along splendidly with the resident pug. She has even initiated play! Eve enjoys chasing a stuffy toy and bringing it back to me to throw again.
Eve did not have any vet records because she was found as a stray, thus we will be starting from scratch. Her vet appointment is scheduled for November 6 and she will have a complete physical, blood wellness check, fecal test, rabies vaccination and check for a microchip. If all goes well, we will then schedule the spaying.
I'll provide an update after the vet visit.
