Tell me how is it possible....

...that my little pug Jaya can ignore most dogs but bark at herself in the mirror. Seriously, she has barked at maybe 2 dogs ever (because they barked at her first) and I took her off the leash around about 15 dogs at the dog park and she completely ignored them all (including the one glued to her side sniffing her butt the whole time) but yet every time she sees her reflection in the mirror she barks. What a nut!!! ;)
k

Life "In the RAW" baby...

On Tuesday night I started Jaya on her "Raw and Meaty Bones" diet. I hate the word diet, as that's not what it is, but rather a change in her food for life. I have heard great things about the benefits of this. Quick summary is that you take your dog off all the processed crap food that you feed it and switch to feeding raw meats and bones. It is supposed to be more natural and improve their health (and lives) greatly. Many success stories specifically on dogs with allergies. And if you think about it, it makes sense...I mean, how healthy would YOU be if all you ate was nutrient-enriched triscuits. Right? ;) If you want more info, I'd suggest the website: www.rawmeatybones.com. A good start is the "Works Wonders" book. :)

DAY 1:
Tuesday night I realized she was out of kibble so I had to get her meat. Why hold off, just go, right?! So I got out of work late (of course) and went to Publix quickly to grab some chicken. I asked the butcher if they carried any scraps for pets and he thought I was crazy. When he finally understood what I meant, he directed me to the pet food isle. ;) Anyway, I got my scale and a whole raw chicken and came home. Jaya was so hungry she picked up her bowl and moved it. I was glad for that, because I wanted it to go well. With my raw food feeding friend Anne on the phone, I hacked off the thigh bone and put it down for her. Without hesitation she started going to town. It was absolutely exciting, scary, etc. One scary bit happened when she tried to swallow a chunk that was way too big. She got it back up and was ok. I held the bone for her and at first she thought it was funny but moments later she started chewing and then chomping on it. She crunched through it in no time, John said she was acting like a great dane the way she ate the thing. I was really proud. Day 1 went well! Even my friend Anne (my support group, someday-to-be-expert-on-the-subject friend) said it was great.

DAY 2:
No a.m. poo, no p.m. poo. Ate dinner WAYYYYY too fast, woofed it down in under 5 minutes. Proceeded to throw all back up 10 minutes later (on the rug, of course). And (STOP READING HERE FOR FAINT STOMACH AND SKIP AHEAD TO NEXT DAY) I scooped the vomited stuff on a plate and encouraged her to go again. She did it, more slowly, was great. :) Phew.

DAY 3:
A.m. had a nice hard solid small poo, very very exciting. P.M. ran outside so fast to have diarrhea. Added pumpkin to meal, ate more slowly this time but still a bit too quick for my liking. We went out after dinner and I took her out late at night and more diarrhea.

Tonight is day 4. A.M. more diarrhea, but wasn't as runny. Dinner in just a few hours...will keep ya posted...

But anyway, has been so exciting. I hiope this keeps her healthy and happy. The only health problem I am hoping to solve is arthritis...I think she may have it a little but I'm unsure. Will see if this helps or if she needs supplements, etc.

K

Having fun with Bubbles and Oscar

Today I took Jaya to the dog park in Holly Hill. We've never been there before. It was really nice, there is a giant fenced in area for small dogs and a seperate one for larger dogs. You can take the dogs off the leash and they can just tromp around everywhere, and it's quite shaded which is nice in the heat.

The best thing was that we met up with Carly, Ian and their two pugs Bubbles and Oscar. They were great dogs, both of them, full of energy yet not overbearing. Bubbles is very tiny and cute, very energetic but not jumping all over you. Oscar was more mellow, still big for a pug but not giant like Jaya. :) They were very sweet dogs, and owners too. :)

Jaya was her typical "antisocial" shy self, just kind of wandering about and sniffing by herself. She's so mellow about other dogs. One dog would not leave her alone, kept sniffing all over her and was by her side almost the whole time. I could see that she was irritated but she didn't do much about it, and finally Oscar came to the rescue and sniffed that dogs butt! ;)

We got to take the dogs out for a walk around a pond too, which was nice. The day was really hot though, so we had to stop and let Jaya get a break and some water. I put a bowl down and before I had a chance to fill it with water Bubbles picked it up with her mouth...I think she was looking for food! It was really cute.

We had a great time and I am excited to find more places to take Jaya and more great pug owners in the area! :)

K

All about the pug picnic...

I still haven't gotten around to writing about the pug picnic! It was a great time, really. A neat chance to get Jaya around some other pugs. It was on the small side but good no matter what. There was a pug that was larger than Jaya (boy was I surprised!) but many that were smaller. One was even very very skinny! And aggressive. Jaya is really shy so she did best with one other pug that was definitely a happy and excited gal but not jumping all over her. :) I know now that Jaya is definitely large for a female, but even when she does lose those needed few pounds, she will still be on the large side with her bigger frame. That's ok, as she's so cute anyway. :)

But all in all the picnic was good. One funny highlight was the story about one woman sending gormet dog treats to her friend who proceeded to eat them herself because she thought they were cookies!!! ;) Another highlight was meeting Delilah and Raven and their mom. They were a lot of fun to talk with and that was great. Delilah is an absolutely beautiful pug so that was great to see. :)

One other thing that was great was St. Augustine itself. Hadn't been there before but it was fun. We even found a pub that was dog friendly! We ate outside (got amazingly good food with new orleans flair) and the waiter brought jaya some water in a little bowl. It was great. And she was so well behaved, it was exciting.

It's fun to have a pug, they get a lot of attention. And what it comes down to is that pugs make people smile. I love that aspect. It's nice to see people smile, and hell, it's nice to smile! :)

K

Pug Picnic Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is the first annual Pug Picnic at Treaty Park in St. Augustine, FL, at 10 a.m. and I can't wait!!! I wish I had a cute costume for Jaya to wear, but for now we're just excited to go and meet lots of local pugs and their owners. Hope to see a lot of people there!!!
K

Dog Funny

I just thought since I had a moment I'd reflect on some of the funnier things that Jaya does...

She:
*barks at herself in the mirror, every single time she sees her reflection. You'd think she'd get it by now, but she doesn't...

*barks so hard that her whole body moves backwards. I'm serious! This is quite entertaining to watch.

*has a knack of walking in front of me to trip me or twisting around me when I have a bag on my shoulder...but ONLY if someone is around to see it.

*occasionally has one side of her lip get kind of tucked underneath so she kind of looks mean. It's just too funny.

*has the funniest, loudest, snoring at night. i am sure i smile in my sleep just hearing her...so peaceful and adorable.

*makes a sound when she first wakes up, a little grunt and then she stretches her whole self out and kind of smacks her mouth and yawns. To damn cute.

*gets kind of annoyed with something (specifically when John is teasing her) and she kind of does a little grunt in disgust.

*looks so adorable when she comes with John to pick me up at work. She puts her paws on the window and just wags her tail and looks so excited.

*goes right in her bed when it's time. I just tell her and she goes...perfect.

*barks at people when she's in the car, for absolutely no reason. It always seems to be the oldest or most helpless person she can spot. Why, I just don't know...

doggie beach again, mirror mirror, and new friends!

doggie beach took jaya to the doggie beach again on saturday, this time just with me. she had a good time plodding through the grass on the hill and even though it was a little crowded i took her to the water. this time i actually took her a bit deeper, so that the water was up almost to her mouth. at first she looked up at me with a little bit of a panicked look, but she calmed down after that and had fun. i love watching her walk through the water, it's like she's trying to figure out swimming because she lifts one leg and then the other, very slowly exploring the water. it's really cool to watch. someday when its a bit warmer we might try to take her in deeper to learn to swim, but we'll be careful. i used to teach swimming (to humans, not dogs!) so we'll see how she does. anyway, she was great when she got out, she was frolicking about and very cute. on the way home she was just sticking her head out of the jeep and getting everyone to notice her. ;)

mirror yesterday i got a bunch of clothes and i brought the mirror downstairs to try them all on. of course jaya saw her reflection again and was barking. what a tough dog! :)

new friends i noticed today that there are some new friends who have joined the Volusia County Pug Phanatics group. so exciting! can't wait to meet some more dogs in the area...especially pugs because they are my favorite!!! woo hoo!

k

A vet, a vet!!!

I believe I have finally found a vet for Jaya!
I have been seeking an alternative vet for some time now and many are far away. I found a vet who is still 2.5 hours away but who can do phone consults too. I am hoping to set up a live appointment for Jaya at some point and then work mostly on prevention. If I need to take her to a local vet I can, and my far away alterntaive vet will review the local vets notes and give me alternative options too. Her name is Robin L. Cannizzaro, and her website is www.wholisticvetcare.com. We have chatted on email and she is very friendly and has a website with good articles. I really get a good vibe about her and I'm excited to be putting Jaya's health in good hands.

I am finally ordering the raw diet book, "Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones" by Tom Lonsdale.
I have been interested in this for quite some time and I am finally going to devote the time to reading up on it to finally determine whether it is best for Jaya. I believe it will be a good thing, but challenging at times. A learning process, for sure, but all to one important thing...GOOD HEALTH!!! I will keep you all posted on the journey, but first I need to get the book! :)

K

the trouble with pilates, pretty in pink?, and the journey- for a vet...

This morning John and I were doing pilates and Jaya was NOT happy about it. She really wanted our attention for some reason, and kept getting in our faces, plopping down right in front of our legs before leg kicks, etc. It was quite cute.

Also, the harness and leash are complete. I don't think the sparkly pink harness and leash is giving anyone an indication that Jaya is a SHE and not a he. In fact, walking her the other day some guy commented to his wife, "That's a fat boy right there." My poor baby! :( I think it's still because she's a bigger pug. A few days ago we ran into a black pug the same age as Jaya and Jaya was almost double her size. I even saw that dog's puppies (a pair of 2 year old male and female fawns) and Jaya was the same size as the male. Oh well...at least she is cute. :)

Still struggling to find a good 'alternative' vet. They are all too far away. I found one that is just over an hour away and I'm going to call her today. If I don't get her, I think I will stick with a traditional vet and do phone consults with an alternative vet. That's what one vet suggested and I may do that. I just feel lucky right now that she's healthy. :)

making me girlie, the doggie beach, and a new addition?!

girlie pug or bust!I decided that since Jaya is a bit large for a pug and since she's been mistaken for a male that I ought to jazz up her harness and leash a bit. The poor thing! Right now her leash is green and her harness is royal blue...but I'm almost done with the transformation! I am sewing two ribbons on top, one is pale pink with white polka dots on it and the other is a sheer white ribbon that has clear iradescent sequins down the middle. That will go on top of the pink to give a nice shimmer. It will take me about an hour more to finish it and then she'll be very girly. We'll see. John is not too excited about walking a girlie dog, but it's ok. :) I took her out last night and the leash was done and it sparkled even in the moonlight. Awesome!!!

doggie beach, again...Yesterday took Jaya to the doggie beach and she kept sitting down randomly. We realized when we got home that we must've totally worn her out. I mean, we did cut out a few hours of precious sleep time to take her to the beach. Oh la la! ;) It was fun though, she always makes me laugh. I still can't quite tell how she feels about the ocean. She's not sprinting towards it but she's not sprinting away from it either. She just kind of goes in the water with me and hangs out. She even sat in the damn ocean yesterday. I mean, she literally just sat down and let the waves flow around her for about 5 good minutes. It's too funny. She is by far the mellowest dog I've ever owned in my life. So low-key. "Eh, the ocean? Sure, why not?"

new addition?!Other big news is that John said today we should get another pug. This is wonderful news!!! We're not in a rush but I am so excited to add to the doggie family I can't wait. And it's exciting since I was the pug lover who got us Jaya. He loves her though, how can you not?! Anyway, we're seeking a fawn, boy or girl is fine, anywhere from 1 year to about 6 years old. The dog will have to get along well with Jaya, that is the most important thing. She couldn't take a super hyper dog, but one to play with her would be great. I'm hoping to find one at a rescue, so I emailed some today to see what's available. We'll wait on this one for awhile if we have to, but in the meantime I'm just so excited. This means twice the laughs. :)

Well that's all. Going to sew some more of that harness and get it done!

K