Letter from Louie!

I got a big surprise in the mail yesterday! It was from my old friend Louie. And it wasn't just a letter, but presents too!!! I love presents. We're going to share it with you!

Dear Vito,
How are you? I am fine. Actually, I'm doing great! I have a new brother. His name is Jonah. He has some super sweet toys! (But I'm not supposed to play with them, so I don't tell anyone about my secret stash.)

How is Jack? What stupid things has he done lately? My mom says I have relatives in Nibraska (wherever that is) and we're going to visit them in a few weeks. My uncle Frodo is a Boston Terrier. My dad says he licks the air nonstop. Weird. My cousin Otis is also a Boston Terrier. He's so hyper that he doesn't take naps during the day. What kind of dog doesn't like to sleep?! I'm sure it'll be a good trip, though, because my Oma (that's what we call her) cooks a LOT, and I've been told she drops scraps. I will try to save some to mail to you later.

My mom said you are getting a foster sister. She said we should make fleece rope toys for you and Pippa, so I helped her make some. Yours is the one with blue in it and Pippa's has pink in it (because she's a girl - duh). If she doesn't end up liking rope toys, you can mail it back to me so I can have it you can have hers (my mom made me change that). Or you can give it to that girl with the dumb Carol Channing haircut. Or Jack (tee hee hee). I hope you like them. I added some slobber. You're welcome.

Well, I hope we can have a play date sometime. My mom says you miss me. Your mom told her that. You're a big softy after all! Well, I miss you, too. Thank you for being my foster brother and friend.

Pugs and kisses,
Louie

PS Please give your mom snuggles from me!

And here's what he sent me!!



I think it made Mom as happy as it did me.

Pippa Update: I think maybe your prayers worked because Pippa is doing great! Her mom said she even walked to the pond today and chased a duck! She is still on steroid pills and they seem to be doing the trick for now. We all just hope that she doesn't relapse again once they ween her off of the pills. Fingers crossed for sweet Pippa. She's still sleeping a lot, but the fact that she's walking and eating and drinking is great news. Her mom and dad are prepared to take her to the specialist if she goes downhill again. We all hope that she was just faking it to get back to her real mom and dad! ;)

Here's a picture that her mom sent my mom!

Later friends!

Prayers for Pippa

Vito's mom here. You might not realize this but sometimes Vito struggles with the English language and Mom doesn't have the patience to translate for him right now to tell Pippa's story.

Pippa arrived on Thursday night (my birthday!). She is a sweet, beautiful girl!

She was very happy!

Her temporary foster mom, Stacey, brought her up from Southern MO, where she had rescued her from a shelter. She had been living with Stacey for 11 days and was doing great! She was very scared and sad at first but had really started to come out of her shell and was just an angel. It was very sad to see them say goodbye. Stacey had strongly considered keeping her but she has 3 pugs of her own and wanted Pippa to have her own family because she seemed so perfect.

Vito of course did his best to be super obnoxious when she arrived! Barking and squealing, his favorite way to welcome people or dogs. :) So we went outside and let them get out their energy and get to know each other.

Look at that beautiful coat of chocolate brown under the black.

We came back inside and Pippa made herself comfortable on the couch, where she stayed most of the night. Early on, Vito realized she wasn't much for playing, so he pretty much left her alone for the remainder of her stay. That night I did notice that she seemed to have a bit of a limp, but I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was - it was actually more of a "head-bob" while walking than a limp on any of her legs. I planned to keep a close eye on it.

She wasn't interested in her rope toy which should have been a sign.

But she seemed to become comfortable and content.

Friday morning, Pippa was still keeping to herself for the most part, which I thought just meant that she was sad. She hated to be picked up, but I also thought that was just from possibly having been a breeder, and not understanding people-love. She wouldn't eat but I thought her tummy was just upset. She slept a lot, but I was in touch with Stacey and that seemed normal. As the day went on, and the more trips we went on outside for potty, she was moving slower and slower. Around 4pm, she had diarrhea, and that was the last time she went potty at all for me. I finally got her to eat some wet food out of my hand. By about 6pm, the limp was pronounced. By about 8pm, when I would make her stand up, she was holding up her left front leg. In between all of this, she was just sleeping.

Vito was honestly concerned about her. He laid on this ottoman by her most of the day.

By 9pm, she wouldn't walk at all. I carried her outside a couple of times to see if she would potty, and she would just lay down in the grass where I put her. She drank only a little bit of water. Late that evening, Stacey and I agreed to meet at the emergency vet's office early Saturday morning.

Precious girl.

Saturday morning, she still wasn't walking. When we got to the vet's office, she would stand briefly but was now holding up both her left front leg, and her back right leg. The vet did x-rays, which came back negative. He was then concerned that this could be something in her brain.

After much deliberation and a few tears, Stacey decided to take Pippa back home with her and get her to a specialist. The vet here gave her a steroid shot, which helped! She was up and walking and eating and drinking! But it didn't last. Sunday the vet called in a steroid pill for her, which had no effect.

Back at home, Pippa woke up in pain early Monday morning, so Stacey took her to her vet in Southern Missouri, where as of last night, she was being kept for more tests and observation. Her vet is also concerned that it may be something in her brain.

Please keep Pippa and Stacey in your prayers. She is just the sweetest thing ever, and Stacey will do everything possible to help her and give her a good quality of life. Hopefully they will find something definitive soon, and that it is treatable. I am happy to know that whatever the outcome, that Pippa is back with her real mom who loves her so much, and who Pippa clearly loves as well.

Another Memorial Day...

Another Memorial Day has come and gone and I bet you know what that means. Yep, Uncle Michael took off again and dumped Jack with us! I'm going to have to have a talk with Uncle Michael about all of these float trips...

We had a pretty good weekend. It consisted of a whole lot of laying around like slugs.

Sporting my multi-purpose Memorial Day/4th of July collar.

Jack was super lazy and Mom was really happy about that!

Of course, we did get in to our fair share of mischief...

How dare that dog walk down our street!

Jack, get down you fool! She sees (and hears) us!!

Man is he stupid.

Stop with the howl already, she's right behind you! Stop trying to get me in trouble!

What? We weren't doing anything.

On Sunday we had a little BBQ. And guess what? We didn't get ANY FOOD. But Mom's friend Lindsay gave me lots of snuggles. You know how much I love snuggles. I mean, look at my face. Oh yeah, I just LOVE snuggles. Way more than food.

Not really.

We hope you all had a great holiday weekend. We are still thinking of our neighbors to the southwest in Joplin and all of the hard times they are having. Mom's friend Laura lives there but luckily she is just fine and her home was 2 blocks from where the damage starts. If you haven't, please consider donating to the Red Cross or the Joplin United Way. They need all the help they can get and every dollar makes a difference.

Later friends!

Here We Go Again...

First of all, since my Mom sometimes forgets who this blog is about, let's talk about ME. I'm going to tell you about my new favorite game. It's called "Mom Tells Me To Do Something and I Pretend I Don't Know What She's Saying, But Then 2 Minutes Later When She's Given Up, I Go Do What She Says & Pretend Like It Was All My Idea." My preferred version of this game involves my Mom saying "Go get your bone" and I tilt my head and stare at her like she is an alien for about 60 seconds. Then I pretend to do something else for about 30 seconds. And then 30 seconds later I run to my crate and get my Nylabone! OMD it is HILARIOUS.

I win the game again!

You lose, sucker!!

Second of all, my Mom had the nerve to go visit my Aunt Valarie (and her crazy dog Sue Ellen who barked right in my face last time I saw her!) in Milwaukee last weekend.

Look how dumb Sue Ellen looks with her Carol Channing haircut.

Well I guess you know what that meant for me. Yep, almost 4 days stuck with JACK. He was pretty good to me so I shouldn't be such a grump about it. But she didn't even ask my permission to go, so I have to sometimes hold a grudge to teach her a lesson and remind her why she calls me "Bossypants." She said she had a great time but that it was REALLY cold and windy and rainy - so cold and windy and rainy in fact that when she got back to St. Louis where it was 50 degrees and raining, it felt tropical! So when she got home, we snuggled for awhile.

I looked adorable for a little while to make her think all was forgiven.

But then I remembered she had left me for almost 4 days so I gave her the good 'ol Stink Eye.

And now I guess we have to get to the title of the post. That's right, my Mom is being ridiculous again. And my definition of "ridiculous" is - taking in another foster pug. Meet Pippa:

She's coming to stay with us on June 2 - my Mom's birthday coincidentally enough. Apparently some jerks who were driving a luxury SUV dumped her at a shelter in Springfield, MO (about 3 hours from where we live in St. Louis). She had just been spayed and even still had her stitches. Weird huh??? Well there were no available foster homes for her (I'm having flashbacks of LOUIE!) so Mom agreed to take her in. They think she is about 5 or 6 years old. Mom promises me this will be the last one, but I'll believe it when I see it, MOM!!! So now she's living in the shelter office until Monday when a lady will take her home with her until she can bring her to us in St. Louis. They said she's really scared so that made Mom very sad.

Speaking of my old friend Louie, he's doing great in his forever home, which makes Mom (alright, and me...) very happy.

Later friends!

Louie is Safe & Sound

Vito's mom here again. Vito is feeling a little blue and said he was in no mood to write yet. Louie's mom sent us some new pictures today from the weekend and boy, did they do the trick (for me, anyway...Vito seems unimpressed)! We had a bit of a melancholy weekend, especially yesterday for some reason. I was missing Louie like crazy. I kept expecting him to run in to the room from getting a drink of water in the kitchen, or trying to trip me as he ran as fast as he could to beat me (and Vito more importantly) to the sofa, and I am really missing him sleeping on my side as we laid on the sofa during tv-time. And Vito has been "off" since Friday. He's been very quiet and slow, and sleeping a lot more than usual. (Now that I write that out, I'm hoping he is just depressed and not something more!) It's funny how much he seemed to dislike Louie until he was gone...

So these pictures made me so happy. Seeing how he is fitting so perfectly in with his new family, and especially his new brother! They've made me feel soooo much better! Enjoy!

Brothers :)

Still giving kisses!

Louie would like to teach his brother about sharing.

He definitely looks comfortable in his new home...

And he's still sleeping with the tongue out...

They went to a local festival of flowers and Louie had his own ride!

And lest I forget who this blog is about, here's another picture of Vito with his forever friend, Louie.

We hope to return to regularly scheduled posts by Vito very soon! And I want to apologize for slacking on reading everyone else's blogs! I had a work event that consumed my life for way too long, and then the drama of Louie leaving - I promise to get caught up soon! Or Vito will make me pay, I'm sure. We don't call him Vito the Enforcer for nothin'.

Later friends!

Goodbye Little Louie Boy

Vito was too overcome to write this post (ok, that might be a little melodramatic and the truth is that Vito's Mom might be selfish right now!), so here goes:

Louie left us this morning. It was harder than I even anticipated, and that is saying a lot. Even when logic enters the picture (as it definitely did last night and today), it doesn't matter when you see that little pug face in his new dad's arms at the car, and you know it is the last time. I know this little boy is going to the most amazing, most perfect home that he could possibly be going to. I know that this family is wonderful and will love him with every bit of them. But it still ripped out every piece of my heart, and I couldn't even control my tears enough to say goodbye to his mom as she was putting Louie's new human brother in his car seat. I just had to run inside and sob like a child. That's all I could do. I wish I could take that part back and have given them a proper goodbye and a proper thank you for giving me such a sense of comfort in being the PERFECT home for this little boy.

So with that, I leave you the pictures of Louie's last night, and morning, with Vito and me:

Vito whispering words of wisdom to his partner in crime on their last night together. :)

Sad Bear. (Disclaimer: no pugs consumed any wine during this photo shoot despite the presence of wine in the background.)

Louie's going-away bag.

Precious little boy going to his new home!

And one last kiss for his foster mom from the King of Kisses!...

Louie's new family! How cute are they???

And we even already got a photo of Louie in his new home - exhausted. That's a good sign.


I hope you all noticed that Lou's new Mom commented on the last post. She is wonderful and Louie is such a lucky boy!! We love you forever Louie, and hope you never forget us. We will never forget you.

Later friends!

Uncle Michael Says Goodbye to Louie...

Well it's official, friends! Louie goes to his new home on Friday! Mom says the new family is absolutely PERFECT (and Louie's new mom might even be reading this right now!), so it's making her a whole lot less weepy knowing he's going to a great (not just good!) home.

Mom had to work all weekend so Uncle Michael came and dog-sat us. Here are his goodbyes with Louie (and me and Jack of course! Let's not forget who this blog is about! Wait, I mean, to clarify, it's about me, NOT JACK.):

Jack & I are annoyed with all of the picture taking.

And Louie is showing his infamous snaggletooth.

Yes, Louie is tiny and adorable, I know, I know, I hear it every day.

And that's enough of that. Have I mentioned how happy I am to be getting my spot back in bed?

Later friends!