360 pugs rescued since October, 2005
Sammy is such a Buddy. He has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. We lost our beloved 12 year old pug in January 2015. We were mourning and in a lot of emotional pain. However, we knew we wanted the love and companionship of another pug and we knew we could offer a good home to them. We had attended some Pugalug events in the past so I kept an eye on the website and what was going on. When I saw the image of Sammy sitting in the box by the door looking so lost, it brought tears to my eyes. It was evocative of how lost I felt without our pug. I wanted to help take this pain away from Sammy and I felt that I could relate to him in this way. So, when Sammy came up for adoption, we applied. We were so thrilled when we were chosen for a home visit. I remember clearly the excitement and anticipation of Sammy coming for his visit. I remember my wife opening the door and seeing Sammy looking in at us with his foster Daddy. For us, Sammy had us at hello. The visit went really well and what was super special was Sammy suddenly leaving his foster Daddy's side and going to sit with my wife. I had not seen my wife smile like that since we lost our little pug Lucy. When we lost Lucy, it was like the lights kind of went out. The visit obviously went well or I would not be relaying all of this to you. We knew we wanted this wonderful creature in our lives and when the "cool down" protocol was followed, we went to get Sammy.
We brought him into his new home and had taken several days off work so that he always had someone home the first four days. I felt bad moving him again from his foster home to ours. Sammy was readjusting, but was not really responding to his name. Then an e-mail came in with all of Sammy's vet records etc. I remember reading it while my wife was behind me on the couch and Sammy was beside me on the floor. The records clearly had Sammy's name as Buddy and the email said that Pugalug had renamed him Sammy to avoid confusion with a previous Buddy in the system. I turned to the pug I knew as "Sammy" and said "Hey, your name's not Sammy; it's Buddy". The big fella came right out of his shell and made a little yip and started to wag his tail. It was like we were speaking his language for the first time or something. Then my wife started to call him Buddy and his head was cocking from one side to the other. In an instant, the bond between us was strengthened and he seemed home at last. I reached out to his former foster Daddy and we decided to revert back to Buddy's original name as he was obviously so much more comfortable with it. His name may have been changed to "Sammy" but either nobody told Buddy or, being a male, he was using selective hearing!
Since that magical moment things have progressed, albeit in Buddy's typical slow pace. He loves to saunter around our neighbourhood and although he can walk a long time, he prefers to meander along and literally smell the roses. Buddy brings a "can do" attitude to life and although he takes his time with things, he never gives up. We took him camping last summer, to a cottage, road trips and other adventures and he was a super boy on every trip. It took several months, but now Buddy has a small stable of toys which with he regularly plays. Buddy also has a couple of canine companions that he has befriended in the neighbourhood and he will make these sweet cries when he sees them (sort of a humm, humm, humm). He apparently was on the wrong end of a dog fight in his younger years, but you would never know it. He is very good around all of the dogs that he has met and has never displayed any aggression thus far, nor any nervousness. If there are any overly active dogs or aggressive ones, he just ignores them. If they are chill like he is, then he wants to hang out with them. We want Buddy to be as happy as possible. We never wanted Buddy to just live here. We want him to thrive here and be as happy and healthy as he can be. His allergies are still here, but transitioning to a raw diet has allowed us to pinpoint some proteins to which he seems more sensitive.
What else to tell you? Buddy was very quiet in his first few months with us, but has certainly found his voice. One funny event has to do with one of the door to door hydro re-sellers who insist on seeing your hydro bill. I was at work and I guess this guy was not taking no for an answer. Buddy could tell at some point that his new Mommy was not happy with this guy at the door so he ran up and stood in front of her and started to really tell him off. Mr. Pushy Salesguy got the hint and left. Buddy gained a lot of brownie points for that one. :) He will bark when someone knocks and can use his voice to tell me if his dinner is late. Other than that, he has no behavioural issues at all. He is just gentle and super sweet. His foster Daddy told us that he was not the most demonstrable pug when it came to affection. This is true and he is not much of a kisser. However, when you start to be able to read the happiness in his expression or see him do his deer-like hop when he is happy to see you or is getting one of his bones, then it melts your heart. It took months to get him used to being petted on the head and face. Oddly enough, he always gives you his belly for belly rubs and scratches. Now that we have his trust for the head and face stuff, he loves it! He gives these sweet looks and will lick your hand to ask for more. We also recently noticed that he's begun wagging his tail when he sleeps. We obviously love his puggy snores and the little squeaks and barks he will sometimes do in his sleep. The sleep wagging was super cute though and our little Black Pug never did that. One final note: if the people who had Buddy previously read this, I want you to know that we love Buddy very much and that he has helped heal us and rescue us as much as we have rescued him.
Sammy is an easy going, quiet and loving pug. He was at the Pugalug booth at the Pet Expo and behaved very well with adults, children and other dogs. At home he will come to sit or sleep by your feet. If so inclined, he would happily sit beside you on the couch either snuggled next to you or sleeping peacefully in his own spot. His easy disposition at the Pet Expo would make him suitable for a family with children, or a single person in need of a loving companion. He does get into a playful mood from time to time but prefers to just chill with everyone.
At night he prefers to sleep on the big bed but he has also learned to sleep in his own bed. He does have a louder snore than the resident pugs.
On his walk, he enjoys nothing more than to explore his environment. He will stop more often and sniff out the territory. This will give you ample opportunity to slow down, relax and enjoy the rest. But if you want to move at a quicker pace, he will follow contentedly along.
Sammy was on medication for skin allergies. Over the past 2 months, he has been weaned off the medication with no signs or symptoms of allergies. There may be a chance that it is seasonal. Come the summer, he may develop some itching. The vet advises if it is seasonal, he can go back on the medication for the duration of the season. The new owner will have to monitor and consult with their vet should this occur.
Sammy's vision is a little limited due to low tear production and keratitis. Since coming to Pugalug, he has been on an eye medication that has increased his tear production to near normal. However, he will need to stay on this medication to maintain that production level.
He has had a graft on the right eye when he was with his previous owner. He will use the left eye more often to watch a moving object. But it has not affected his eyesight in any significant way.
Otherwise, Sammy is a healthy, happy pug who can't wait to bring warmth and love into your home.
Sammy has settled quite well into his foster home. He romps around with his foster pug sister, plays fetch with a ball in the living room and sleeps through the night in the big bed. He loves to greet me when I come home with an enthusiastic butt shaking and rubbing against my leg.
Now that the nice weather is here, he has been enjoying the walks to the park and has socialized well with the other dogs. He also likes to walk along the path that follows the park perimeter, giving his favourite spots a thorough sniffing.
After breakfast and dinner, he hangs out in the kitchen, hoping for a treat. He is quite the chatty pug, giving little barks and growls to let me know that he could use a second helping. I administer his medication in the kitchen and give out the cookies after so he sits patiently for that event.
Sammy went for his vet visit. He now weighs 11 kg (down from 13 kg). His tear test indicated a borderline dry eye so he is now on eye medication. Thankfully, he is very good about getting the drops and lubricant in his eye. The post-drops cookie doesn't hurt either, I'm sure! Plus, he already knows the routine because we've been doing it with the resident pug and thus, Sammy picked up his own eye drop routine easily. He will have another tear test done at his next vet visit.
Overall, the rest of his vet checkup was excellent. Blood work, fecal and physical are all good. The vet has recommended reducing his dosage of Vanectyl-P and I will monitor his reaction (i.e watching for increased skin itchiness). This medication was prescribed to help control his itchy skin. He has been switched to grain-free Orijen Adult kibble so we're hoping that we will be able to wean him off the Vanectyl-P and maybe transition him to a raw diet.
Sammy is just a little ray of sunshine. There's no doubt that he will brighten the days of his future furever family!
Meet Sammy - an easy going, loving older pug, who will be 8 on April 19. He was a sad little guy when he first came into rescue. He stayed by the door for most of the night. I could tell he was truly loved all his life and was going to need lots of TLC to transition to his new life.
He came with a temporary cardboard box bed, a pillow wrapped in the sheet and a garment from his owner. Sammy stayed in that box for the next 24 hours. The little guy was hanging on to the sense of comfort that came with these items from the past.
But, with lots of pets, butt scratches, cookies and cheese treats, he finally settled into his new foster home. Twenty-four hours after he came here, he cautiously came out of his box to come sit beside me. That night, I let him sleep on the big bed. Sammy relaxed, stretched completely out along my leg and promptly fell into a deep snore.
He's had a few medical issues during his life, which I'll be discussing with the vet. He did get a scratch on the eye and received an eye graft, which was successful.
Sammy does have a skin allergy. I will include more of an update on this issue after the vet visit, but I will be transitioning him to a raw diet in order to alleviate the irritation. He is on Vanectyl-P to control the allergy and it has been working. He barely scratches himself.
Behaviourally, he is a dream pug. Very quiet, easy going and loving. He will sit by my leg while watching TV. When we get up in the morning or when I come home from work, he does the happy dance accompanied with joyful little barks.
He is well house trained and goes out to the backyard without any complaints, sniffs around and does his business. We did try to go out for a walk around the block, but he told me it was too cold for his paws, so we went back. He's good that way.
Socially, it has been an easy integration with my other dogs. He mainly ignored them. Raisin has been trying to get him to play and this morning we had the first reaction. Sammy had peed and then was kicking the snow with his hind legs. Raisin came running over to see what the excitement was about. They did a little staring contest, then the playful shuffle, then Raisin attempted to mount him in play. Sammy backed her off and did the playful shuffle again.
All in all, it will be pure pleasure to watch Sammy blossom over the coming weeks.
