BEWARE OF BLACK "PUGS" CROSSING YOUR PATH!!!

"According to the old superstition--black cats are evil. In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast was a black female cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions so they convinced their ignorant followers to destroy the evil demons that were black cats. While they were at it, they destroyed the kindly old ladies who cared for the cats believing them to be witches."

I have always heard that black cats were suppose to be bad luck, but didn't know the rest of this until I looked it up. In my life, I am thinking that I fit a bit of that description (old lady) and instead of black cats, I take care of black pugs. And I hope I am not a witch.........

Anyway, we have four pugs three of whom I have written about in previous posts, Pedro, Pancho, and Lucy. Pedro and Pancho are fawn pugs and Lucy is my dear little black girl pug! Since November, we have been "blessed" with a new little black pug, Diego whose middle name is Diablo--DD for short.

Diego is as naughty a pug as we have had. He is TROUBLE with a capital "T" and I am crazy about him!! However, he has become a VERY EXPENSIVE pug to say the least and has had a bit of bad luck, too.

The first incident we had was about two months ago. I had to run home to get something on a Friday afternoon. I left the garage door open and when I went to leave, Pancho, Lucy, and Diego ran out looking for a better life somewhere. They are totally untrained and ran as fast as their little puggy legs would take them. Pancho and Diego came back and I grabbed each of them by the collar and took them from the garage door to the back door of the house--a very short distance. Meanwhile, my little Lucy is running like crazy all around the neighborhood completely ignoring my calls. I had Pancho in my left hand and Diego in my right. Pancho fought me all the way to the door. Somehow in trying to control Pancho, I pulled Diego's collar too tight. By the time we got to the door, he was flopping and having trouble breathing. I thought I had killed him--it was awful!! I was able to quickly get Lucy back into the house, I grabbed Diego and headed for the emergency vet about a mile and a half away.

We were the only ones there when I got there and the vet immediately took Diego back to examine him. I was so upset. When she finally called me back in what seemed like hours, she said he was going to be okay. However, she had taken x-rays and found water around his lungs--pulmonary edema. She told me that this is common in dogs that have short noses like pugs. Anyway, Diego had to stay overnight in doggy intensive care in an oxygen tent. When I picked him up the next day, he was so glad to see me. Within a few hours, he was back to the naughty Diego that we all know and love.

A few weeks later, Diego got bit by a scorpion, so off to the vet's we go again!! This time we went to our regular vet and didn't have to pay emergency prices. After a shot of Benedryl and some medicine, we came home good as new!!

I had left my prescription glasses on my bed one day, and Diego decided that the glasses were probably his newest chew toy. Not only did he chew the frames, but he scratched the glasses so that I couldn't see out of them--my fault for leaving them on my bed--right???? Anyway, I had already used my insurance yearly allotment so I had to buy a new pair of glasses.

So by now Diego has cost quite a bit of money, but hopefully all of his naughtiness is passing as he gets a little bit older. He is now six months old...

At six months, it is time for him to be neutered. Patrick made the appointment for the surgery for last Thursday. Diego needed a pre-op appointment on Wednesday prior to the surgery. Patrick was going to take him, but he had a meeting after school so I took him--MISTAKE!!!!!!

We get to the vet's and Diego, the Naughty Pug, is actually trembling. There was a Rotweiller waiting to be seen and Diego thought that maybe they should play together. All it took was the Rot's DEEP bark to cause Diego to think twice about that. And so the trembling got even worse..... We finally made it through the appointment and were ready to go home.

I put Diego on the front seat of my Pilot as he was still shaking. The vet's office is on Baseline and I didn't think that I would be able to turn left at that time of evening. So I proceeded to drive onto the street where I could turn either right or left onto Baseline. As I came out of the parking lot and turned left onto the side street, Diego fell off the front seat. I bent over to reassure him that he was okay and I hear this terrible noise--I have jumped the curb and am halfway into the canal ditch. Both the front and the back right tires are in the ditch!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!
Several people stopped and asked if I needed help which was so nice. I had no idea if there was a lot of damage or not. I called my insurance company and they sent out a tow truck. It would take about an hour for the truck to get there. A young man who was out on a walk stopped as did two men in a truck. They decided that they could get me out if the could jack up the front and back end and get some planks to help get me out. Another man came along who lives in the neighborhood and he has a contracting business. So he went home and got the bricks and planks. Just as I saw the tow truck driving down Baseline, they got the car out of the ditch for me. The tow truck driver and the guys all looked underneath the car and felt that there was no damage done. I was able to drive home with no trouble at all.

I would like to blame it all on Diego, but I can't. I truly believe that I was distracted because of everything that is happening right now at school. The night before I had been at the "Bored" Meeting until 11:15.

And Diego continues to make me laugh, as do the other three. They are always thrilled to see me when I get home. Their love is unconditional and I can tell you that is very comforting right now.

What would we do without pets in our lives when the insanity of society is all around us???? I am not sure, and I can tell you that I don't want to know!!!