Gladys is glad, glad, glad.

About three weeks ago I left foster-care to come to my forever home and even though not much time has passed I've got a lot to catch you up on.

Right after we signed the papers!

Before I even got to see my new house or meet everyone I had to spend a few nights at the vet in Casselton.  I was born with stenotic nares, a condition which caused the holes in my nose to be too small.  It is a common problem for short-nose (brachycephalic) breeds like pugs, bulldogs, and boxers.  The surgery was like a "roto-rooter" and widened my nasal passages so they would stop collapsing when I breathe in.

  

Just before the vet.

The vet suggested that I have that done when they spayed me so I only had to go under anesthesia, take pain medicine, recover, and wear the awful cone on my head (for a whole week!) once instead of twice.  I'm pretty happy about that. (It also meant I didn't have to wait to breathe better, which makes me healthier and life easier...and it saved my people lots of money.)  While they were in my head they found a baby-tooth that hadn't come through and removed it from my jaw.

It wasn't the best way to start out with my new life and family but the day after my surgery they came to pick me up (first thing in the morning!) and after a short car ride I finally made it.  Now that it's all said and done I'm glad that I got all the hard-stuff out of the way so I can focus on being a healthy, happy, playful puppy.

Puggin' in to say Hi

The family here doesn't let me have much computer time so please forgive the "few and far between" posts.  But here I am now and I'll try and give you a little recap of what's been going on with my new life.

A week ago, me and my sister Ivy and brothers Mowak and Giz and daddy'o Spike had a veterinarian appointment.  I weighed just over 6 lbs at that time, so still just the wittle sister, but Mohawk didn't weigh a whole lot more than me.  Our Big Brother Giz topped the scales at over 11 lbs!!   The good news is that my eyes are much better now so that goopy ointment in the eyes can stop.  I still have to be given those baths though every couple of days.  That is certainly NOT my most favorite part of the day.  Also they apply some cleaner stuff to my face folds and ears every day, but that only takes a minute so not so bad.  Not like those baths where I have to shiver for 10 full minutes with the shampoo on.  But it's supposed to help my skin heal and does help with the itching.

Beauty comes with a price.

Did I mention I live in ND and it's freezing up here ??  Brrrr ... my Auntie Theresa (another 4 Luv of Dog Foster) came over last week and brought me a red thermal underwear shirt to wear when it's chilly.   It is amazingly comfortable and comes in handy when I have to go outside.

Here I am modeling my new red long-john shirt.  

I think it's my color if I do say so myself.

In general though, I am feeling better and better every day and starting to run and play with the other 3 dogs that live here.  After a rousing game of chase, if I'm lucky and someone's actually sitting on the couch, I can snuggle up a bit for some tv time.  But the people here don't sit and watch tv much so I'm take it when I can get it.

Frankly, I don't even care what's on tv.  I just like this couch/lap thing.

I still have to take oral medication every day and if nothing unusual is going on, I won't have to go to the veterinarian again for another month or so when they'll do a recheck.   They'll also talk about my nose again I imagine.  I'm told I may need a little surgery there, but we will wait just a bit and see if I outgrow it.

Thank you everyone for caring about me and my family, and for all of your help and generosity.  I wouldn't be here without all of you!!  

XO,  Gladys

We are Family

Last night, I got scooped up and brought to a cozy building and when I got there both of my brothers were there!  And my Daddy'O!   It was so much fun to see them again!  Their new foster families were all there as well.   And, best part, so was a newspaper reporter from The Forum who took pictures of all of us and interviewed the smart ladies.  After he left,  in come a television reporter from Ch. 11!  I think we are quite lucky to be on TV at such an early age!  Our very own reality TV show. Wow. 

Here are my two brothers, Mohawk and Gizmo, that were there last night (Gizmo's foster momma Stacie Folmer took the picture of my two brothers here). Gizmo is the one that kinda looks like me, but bigger (coz he's the Big Brother).

It was a fun-filled night, but I get sleepy really really easy so I came home and just wanted to lay by the big shiny metal thing that is warm and toasty.

My new brother kinda likes to hang around me.  He seems so concerned about me and is usually pretty close by.

 

I shiver and shiver a lot of the time, but I can tell you that this heater thing is G-R-E-A-T!  My foster Dad was home from work all day today so I got to be out and about in the house and boy, did I take advantage of all the nap time by the heater.  For right now, other than in a lap, it's about my most favorite place to be!

ttyl!

Gladys Joins 4 Luv of Dog Rescue

Hi everyone!   Although I am four months old, I'm just a 4-month old baby girl and they are calling me Gladys. 

Life is beginning to look up for me, my 2 brothers and Daddy'O!   We were surrendered to 4 Luv of Dog Rescue in Fargo, ND because we were really sick and had never had any veterinary care whatsoever.  I'm super sad that 3 of my brothers and sisters had already crossed the Rainbow Bridge before the Rescue got the rest of us.   

My brothers and I are in pretty bad shape still.  We have something called Demodex mange (I think that's the words I keep hearing).  It got really really bad because we didn't get any medicine or treatment.  Nothin' but Neosporin was all we had been treated with before, and that just did NOT do the trick and then the Demodex mange made a lot of my hair fall out, and my skin get all infected.   But now the nice Rescue people have taken us to the Dr. and I have to take medicine a couple of times a day PLUS  <roll eyes> and I have goopy ointment put in my eyes 3x daily.  (It makes it really blurry and hard to see for awhile when they do that.)  It's because my eyes had ulcers on them because of the mange.

So it's been a busy week for me so far:  

• Saturday Jan. 5, I was rescued.  
• Monday, Jan. 7, I went to see the veterinarian.  
• Tuesday, Jan. 8, I got to go to my foster home. 

My brothers and Dad are in foster homes now too and we are all working on getting better.  Although I am the smallest of my pug family, I think I have the biggest appetite.  But it's probably a good thing that I'm a "healthy eater" coz I am kinda scrawny. (You can see how little I am in the picture below coz I fit in my foster dad's hands!)

My foster home has a little dog that wants to play with me really bad I think, but I just lay down and take a nap and he leaves me alone.  Someday I will give him a run for his money.  There's also a couple of bigger foster sisters here and the little guy tells me that they kinda rule the roost.  I don't think we'll have any problems though because I am happy.just.being.

I will try to let you guys know now and again how it's going. I can't tell you how thankful I am for all of the helping hands so far!   Good night and ttyl!