2 Years!

Phyllis has now been a part of our little family for two years this month! Even though dogs don't care, I wish I knew her real birthday and how old she is, but since we don't know, we celebrate her "gotcha day!" every year in November. Here she is with her gifts!

 We don't give the pugs many treats or chewy toys because they both have to stay on the small side to help with their bad joints. But a few times a year is ok! I got some cupcakes from a local dog bakery, a lamp chop, and new little hand made collar, some omega bones, and even a bully stick. The bully stick really grosses me out but they seem to be a pug favorite online, so I broke down and got one. I can't even type out what it really is, you can look it up if you want. So sick!

 Do you like her pom pom hat? It was made by me. Kills me every time.

 Look at those eyes bugging out over the bully stick! Side note: since getting those teeth pulled it is almost like she is another dog! She is so much more interested in playing, chewing, and running around now! Poor thing, those bad teeth must have been causing her a lot of pain. 

 She actually lost interest in it pretty quickly. I think because it was hard for her to hold in comfortably with just one front leg. 

But her sister had no problem picking up the slack. This is actually the first time Priscilla was ok being left on the floor when I was on the couch. Usually she would bark at me until I picked her up, but not with that gross thing! She chewed it for over an hour, then Phyllis took over. We actually ended up throwing it away after a little bit because it STUNK so bad! Haha, I'm a mean pug mom.

The story of how we got Phyllis starts sad but ends happily. I didn't post much on this blog when it happened so this story hasn't been shared here and I feel like I need to add it in case someone goes back in the archives and sees posts about her and wants to know what happened. 

Before we got Phyllis, we had our first dog, Rose. She was a black pug that we got from a local animal rescue. We waited until we bought our house to get a dog because we wanted a yard for it to run in. We hadn't been looking for a pug, just a small dog that wouldn't chase the cats, but she made us fall in love with the breed. We only had her for about 9 months, but I was totally in love with her. She was sweet and smart and a mama's girl. Sadly she was killed in front of me one day when she jerked her leash out of my hand in a parking lot. It was incredibly traumatic for me, obviously. I don't know how long it would have taken me to begin to heal from the experience if it wasn't for Phyllis. 

About a week after it happened Travis went to a rescue event while I was at work (my first day back) and asked if any of the booths had a pug. Phyllis was the last dog left at the Metro Animal Control booth. She was found as a stray and had been at the pound for almost six weeks. He said as he walked back to the car with her in his arms, people at all the other booths were cheering for Phyllis because they had been rooting for her to find a home. I guess a three legged dog is a turn off for a lot of people? He brought her home and while I had been unsure whether it was too soon to bring home another pug, it was absolutely the right choice. Phyllis needed me just as much as I needed her. 

I still think of Rose pretty frequently, but I can look at pictures and posts about her without crying now. Though I did cry today going through all my photos to choose a few for this post. She was such a great dog and it is terrible that her life was cut short so soon after she was in a real, loving, forever home. Here are a few photos of her.

We were both totally in love with her. I have a tribute tattoo on my foot that I got while she was still alive, that is how rad she was.

(That outfit was for a themed fourth of july party by the way, ha!)

So here is to Phyllis! My little life saver. And also to Rose, for getting me addicted to pugs. Here is to many more years with my sweet tiny tripod!