Note to Self:

I knew all this before I got her, so just to remind myself, I found this info here...:

The dog is friendly, affectionate, boisterous and playful. They are extremely mischievous and quick -witted.

They are whimsical. They are excellent watchdogs and are a very intelligent breed. Stern handling can be harmful for pugs since they are extremely sensitive dogs

Pug puppies require a lot of care. First and foremost these pups should be provided with a soft collar and comfortable crates,which should be soft and cozy. Owners should never try to confine their puppies to the crates since they require adequate amount of exercise through out the day.

Pugs are alert and intelligent and can be easily trained. However, they lack patience and hence repetitive training techniques often bore them. Hence, owners should patiently deal with Pugs. Training techniques should be changed occasionally in order to make them disciplined. Obedience and potty training should be imparted from a very young age.

The breed is active but they should never be overexercised since they can develop health problems.

They should get regular exercise like walks with owners. They are robust, enthusiastic, and playful and should receive ample scope to play.

OH TO SLEEP AGAIN!!!!

I cried last night. Not out of unadulterated happiness at being a pug mumma, but out of sheer frustration over Coco's insistent puppy playfulness after she'd spent a very naughty day with me at work in the office and I was knackered and instead of concentrating on toileting (she owed me poo) she was biting my jeans and my shoes and my fingers when I went to pull her away from my feet.

Nobody said it would be easy. But I had no idea she would be so much hard work...it wouldn't be a problem if I had more time at home with her. I can handle the early wake-ups so long as I can get to bed early. However I struggle when she won't settle in her crate when I want to go to sleep for the night. I struggle to concentrate on work when she is biting everything but the array of toys I have for her in the office.

Lack of sleep and never having much patience just leads to the frustration. Then you look down and notice that she looks like Yoda when she's sleeping and you kind of melt inside.

It's not a particularly positive post, no, but it's the honest truth! I don't feel good about writing about this but I can't write about all the goodness of having a little pug of my own. Even my much more patient and easy-going Kien-sen is getting frustrated which scares me cos if that's the case then it must be a not-so-good situation.

My solution at the moment is to knacker her out when I can, heaps of praise and reduced-size treats when she's good (I think she's fattying out from her treats for toileting outside all the time so I've had to make her treat sizes smaller) and to marvel in her cuteness when she's sleeping. There's always her training classes to look forward to!!! October 17th cannot come fast enough. We may even have to ask the nice lady about her home-training sessions in the meantime. Coco's not naughty (at least, not in anyway that could be deem unusual for a puppy) but it's the pressure for me to have a well-behaved pup so my boss doesn't kick us out of the office that's putting me on edge!

Happy Saturday

The sun is shining. Mum's back home post-op with what Kien-sen is calling an elephant leg cast and Coco seems to be adjusting to her new life with us.

Strange thing happened which I hope isn't a fluke. She was hating her crate, showed no interest in going in and definitely did not like sleeping in there. Kien-sen moved it so that the narrow side is pointing towards the room, rather than the widest side and now we've covered the sides a little better so it's dimmer and she seems mildly happier to go in of her own accord. She still whines to come out when she wakes up in there during the night but for the first time this morning, I was awake at 6:50am and not a peep from her to be let out (never mind the fact she was yipping for what seemed like ages at 2am and again at about 3am).

She's been so good today, I somehow took 63 photos of her in the space of 3 hours. My personal favourite being this one:

Whoever Says It's Not Like Having A Baby...

...is playing silly buggers. Losing sleep...can only sleep when she's sleeping...getting up VERY MUCH EARLIER than I've ever had to.

Coco's been going nutso in her crate at all hours of the morning since she's been with us, she just cannot settle in it and it's frustrating as it's obviously a patience game.

She can't go from having her 6 littermates and a big pen to sleep and run about it, to being on her own in a comfy crate of her own and not have a tantrum about it (Every. Time.) when she's in there. I think we must've rushed it but we've no other choice at night as she can't be trusted to wander about our room!

I have bought two packs of earplugs and plan to spend a good portion of the weekend getting her to love her crate a bit more....

As Mum Has Surgery...

We love Coco to bits but she is definitely testing my patience when it comes to her hyperactivity and the in-house, on-carpet toiletting that often results from her playfulness. I know to take her out after naps but I'm never sure when I'm meant to take her out when she's being super-playful until she's already let us know!!

So I'm worried about my mum who's just gone into surgery today for her torn Achilles tendon. My grandma was scaring me even more with tales of the pain that has to be endured post-op with the physio etc...so I get v. upset at the thought of my little mother in any pain whatsoever. So I'm just hoping that we can train Coco well enough so that she doesn't add to mum's discomfort when she's home with all of us!


Rest up Mum and please be good Coco!

Pug + Pug Papa = Wasp Haters

Now our girl Coco and her pug Papa have a shared hatred of wasps. Over lunch in garden, the wee one was innocently having a wander about the garden, face down in the grass as usual. Suddenly she yelped and came dashing over to me, cowering and sitting with a paw up (the sign I take to mean she wants to be picked up) to be held on my lap.

So I picked her up and sat with her in my lap on the grass and she started to try and hide in my cardigan, going so far as to actually get in the gap of cardigan between my back and the outside world, like her own makeshift pouch.

Realising that she was shaking and closing her eyes, I took her upstairs to our room when I also realised that her muzzle was swelling up and worried that her wheezy breaths were indicative of constrictive breathing, I legged it to the vets (I think they thought I was a bit crazy as we'd only been in there yesterday for her registration / vet check).

All good! Slight muzzle swelling, vet said her heart is strong and no throat swelling, so he gave her a little injection and she's since been cozied up to me. *phew*

Other than today's little trauma, she's been very hyper when she's awake, which I'm assuming is a normal pug puppy thing. Playbiting and charging about with the occasional indoor, on carpet whoopsies. Sometimes she'll remember we'd prefer her to toilet on the newspapers laid out for that very purpose should she not make it outdoors in time.

The vet yesterday (Vet Tommy - vaguely grumpy) "recommended" the James Wellbeloved dry food for her, rather than the Pedigree Chum for pups food that Coco's litter were on (which I'm kind of glad to get her off of as I find the smell repulsive). She hadn't been finishing off her lunch time feed of the Chum / Dry food mix but today, with the usual Chum amount, half usual Dry food and half James Wellbeloved, she yammed it all down, leaving a well clean-licked bowl!

You Know You're A Dog-Lover When...

...even your own dad knows you're wake-up-at-a-silly-time excited about picking up your pup. Was woken up at just before 6am today by a long-distance text from my Dad giving me a wake-up 'call' hehe...

So we are most knackered...4 hours drive to Wales at the end of a long week, after work. 6am wake-up for a 9am pick-up and another 4 hours drive back home.

The day's been spent rejoicing every time she's peed outside (and the most ecstatic I'll probably ever get about a creature crapping in my back garden) and slightly less rejoiceful when she pood in her crate when we attempted to shut her in for the first time as a training practice. We giggled as she licked her bowl clean and then proceeded to stand in her bowl to better angle herself to lick the bowl even more. We stifled giggles at her funny squeaky snores, so as to not wake her and spoil our fun. Her favourite finds in the garden seem to be any sort of dried leaves, and the petals of any pink flowers she can get to. We gasped in horror as she ran into the patio window with a "bonk!" and then giggled as she appeared to try to stare it down (and look a bit bewildered at the same time). BIG kisses on her noggin.

Now to SLEEP! For we are new to this pug-parenting thing and it's been an action-packed day. Time for us to rest as peacefully as our new little one is right now amongst her many bed-toys!

Maxwell

Before I embark on the very exciting venture of welcoming Coco into our lives, I just wanted to make a post dedicated to my dog of days gone by. I mean - the reason why I've started up this (yet another) blog is because I want to be able to easily chronicle life with Coco. And Kien-sen. The means to do this wasn't available when I had my one and only other dog Maxwell and as such, it saddens me that all I have are vague memories of him and a few pictures. Coco will be so loved and SO photographed and all her funny little Pug-isms will no doubt be recorded here.

I vaguely remember that I was about 7-8 years old when my parents decided we should have a dog. Our beloved Basset Hound was 8 weeks old when we collected him from a dog show where his Mum was being shown. His full Pedigree name was something like "Brackenacre James" and we called him Maxwell. I sat in the boot with him all the way home, all long velvety ears and the chunkiest softest paws imaginable. He was good all the way home until we parked in our drive and he toileted on the towel in the boot!

After that I remember being annoyed at his constant nipping at the ankles. When I had socks on, he seemed to think they were moving, playful toys playing hard-to-get.


He squashed down a once bountiful bush by making it his garden resting spot. He killed the grass around the laundry pole with his wee. He rescued baby birds that had fallen out of their nests by scooping them up in his mouth. He fell into the pond one year when it had apparently frozen over and he thought it safe to wander across! He LOVED food and would slip and slide and trip over his ears dashing across the kitchen tiles to get to it. He was petrified of baths so everytime he came back from the groomers he'd be oh-so-beautifully soft but would stink of old lady. He was scared of my rabbit. He used to love sneaking upstairs to be with me whenever anyone forgot to close the stair gate properly. He was stubborn as hell - whether due to breeding or lack of training, who knows! We like to think it was just in his character. ^.^

His ears were so gorgeously soft so I was always upset when, in later years, he kept developing blood clots which would make parts of his ear bubble up. He was on the smelly side...which I now think is because back then we had no clue about the need to express anal glands. I don't think I wandered about smelling of dog but who knows - you kind of get used to it when you live with it! I remember him eating a sharp rock when he was still quite young and he had to have an operation to have it taken out. So many times I remember him with shaved squares on his body from having to have something done but he always bounced back, tail wagging and all. My Mum says the vet bills were extortionate but who cares about money when your beloved companion is in pain?!

Despite all his health problems and greying hairs and old-age incontinence he lived till the age of 13. Remembering that day makes me sad as the last time I saw him was him sitting on his bed in the hallway and giving him a quick kiss and pat on the head as I left the house to go to my then-boyfriend's house. About 6 hours later as I was having dinner I had the call from my mum and I remember dropping to the floor in grief (dramatic oooh) but I was so upset and crying for hours (and the then-boyfriend was absolute pants at consoling me as he'd never liked dogs, let alone Max so that was totally doomed in the first place really). The guilt I feel for not being there still weighs down on me, even 6 years on. It may sound faintly ridiculous to want to say "goodbye" to your dog but you just do, so that he could go with the people who loved him most around him.

So with that hovering over me, I've read up and studied and am now rearing to be Pug mumma to Coco to give her the plushy life I couldn't give our Maxwell.

Since we had Max and in the years since his passing, I've strongly felt that a house is not a home without a dog. So with Coco I hope to bring the wagging warmth and unconditional love that Max brought to my home during his time with us!

End indulgent sentimentality =)

On Being A Good Samaritan

On my journey home from work today, I got stopped on two occasions by people asking for some sort of help.

Both times I thought they were about to mug me. Ah, London life.

Fueled by Ramen

I think that's the name of a record label...but also very much what KS's younger brother will be once he's up in Uni.

And I bet it'll only last him a month haha...

You Know You're A Dog-Lover When...

...you get squealingly excited about an ID tag arriving in the post.

Having looked in places like Pets At Home, I was distinctly unimpressed by the lack of quality / awesomeness offered in their range of pet ID tags...unfinished and seemingly rough-edged tags in the shapes of either circles or bones were not what I have in mind for Coco. So I found this fabulous range on an Australian based shop called Pawprint Pet Tags

You don't have to pay extortionate amounts (or even anything) for P&P and I found they were very efficient. I ordered it on the evening of the 8th, an email arrived shortly after processing my order to confirm details and payment telling me to expect delivery from anywhere between 7-14 days. 8 days later (and considering the Royal Mail is having dodgy sporadic strikes at the moment) and here it is - complete with complimentary engraving too. I'd tried to order a similar design on an American site and not only did they want to charge something silly on P&P - they'd also made it so that the line of text where a phone number should go can only fit the digits of an American phone number... (PS - I've photoshopped out my number for paranoid security reasons, but yes - it fits UK numbers perfectly!)

Last Minute Worries

3 days to go till we motor over to Wales to collect Coco and I'm building up a steady stream of first-time pug mumma nerves and worries. Let's see...there's the worry of:

- the daily commute she'll have with me (is she timid? Is she barky? Is she going to poo-pee on the train?)

- London assholes who don't give a crap about a petite woman trying to make her way about the transport system, let alone a petite woman holding a teeny pug.

- tiring and letting Coco walk about as we're commuting and her getting trampled / shoved into harm's way.

- getting into fights and being arrested for Assault and battery upon the London assholes.

- letting her walk on the pavements around Fulham, where my office is, which is frequented by litter, turds and broken glass. Yick.

In other news:

Been listening to Biffy Clyro on Radio One since I've been in the office and I'm loving their rendition of JT & Ciara's "Love Sex + Magic".

Also loving the look of Chanel's new Jade nail varnish.

ALSO very much looking forward to the new series of Peep Show starting on Friday, but alas I'll be halfway over to Wales at 10pm that night. Thank G-d for 4oD.

Pug Puppy Prep.

Eight days and counting till I finally become a pug mumma. Honestly, preparing for Coco has been something like how I imagine preparing for one's first child to be like.

And what a joy it's been :)

Crate, vet bed, Nylabone puppy chews, soft toys, the most adorable little heating pack for her to cuddle up to as some type of security toy, hair brush, toothpaste, food and drink bowls, wrinkle cleaning tools (i.e. cotton wool, baby oil and Vaseline)...waiting for her ID tag to arrive from Australia. Don't ask me why Australia - it was a sweet but simple design and was about three times cheaper (and free delivery!) than the similar tags on the American sites.

Everyone's really excited. My Mum and her boyfriend, my boyfriend Kien-sen, my aunts, my colleagues (Coco will be accompanying me to my office because my boss is cool) and even old buddies on Facebook who I haven't spoken to much in recent times. She will be so well loved that I'm worried she'll be overwhelmed and spoilt. And possibly fat.

Kien-sen and my mum's boyfriend are becoming increasingly concerned with the number of squeals coming from me as I look up cute dog outfits to the point of being called a Dog Pervert. Hmph. Amongst a whole host of other goodies - this -> is still my favourite, cute and practical outfit. At least my Dad backs me up on this hehe.. :)


I've yet to order anything from the Trixie & Peanut site...I LOVE all their stock, but am slightly scared by the $25 p&p to the UK. Why can't the UK have some decent doggy shops?!