Back Again!

I'm back! That's right, I finally wrestled the Chardonnay out of Mom's paws (hands? whatever) long enough to make her do some dictation for me.

Don't worry, you haven't missed much. Well except for some "excitement" over Vinny being in some kind of contest for a COVER SHOOT for a MAGAZINE. Mom entered him in a contest for a local pet magazine's "rescue dog" edition. He made a pretty good run at it (with a LOT of help from our blogger friends over on that "Pug Sluts" - you heard me - page on Facebook). But he ended up coming in third place and instead just gets a little write-up and his picture in the magazine as opposed to a fancy photo shoot and the COVER. I say it's Mom's karma for not entering me (even though I was an "unofficial" rescue) because I think we all know who is better looking - ME, NOT VINNY. Here's the shot that they entered and will appear in the March issue of TAME Pet Magazine here in St. Louis:

NOW that we got that out of the way (is anyone else sick of talking about Vinny?), let's get on to the excitement that's been happening around here. Well, to be perfectly honest, I use the word "excitement" loosely. We did get some Kongs though.

ME!!!

Vinny

We've also done "exciting" stuff like be SUPER lazy. Like this:

Vinny

I can barely keep my eyes open from all of the "excitement."

Oh in case you were wondering, I'm still peeing in the house. Hooray! But stupid Mom has really been making me wear that belly band WAY more often than she was. But if she relaxes it for a SECOND, you better believe I pee all over the furniture! Yes! I still win Mom!

I think that's all. OH and just so you know, Mom is REALLY mad at Blogger because she has been trying to leave comments on some of your blogs for a couple of weeks now and it just spins & spins & she can't! I don't have thumbs so I can't help, but Vinny does and even he couldn't make it work. The blogs that have a "pop-up" comment box work, but the others don't. :( We are sorry!!! Mom says she will keep trying.

Oh and remember Jax? His foster mom sent Mom this picture last week. He seems to be getting along with his foster sister Peggy just fine. The vets still say that surgery won't help his hips. It's super sad. They are trying diet & supplements for now. :(

That's all for now folks! Later friends!

That was too fast...

I took Jax to his new foster Mom on Wednesday. Boy was it sad for only having this guy since Saturday! He is such a love. The sweetest, snuggliest boy ever. Yes, you heard me Vito and Vinny. You could take some lessons.

Vinny: "Who, me?"

Just like when Pippa was here and she was so sick, Vito was really good with Jax. He seemed to know something was wrong with him and he laid on the floor with him a lot (note the belly bands). Jax seemed most comfortable on hard surfaces, and I'm happy his new foster Mom has carpet throughout her house because it's much easier for him to get his footing on carpet than on my hardwood floors.

How precious is this baby? And if only you could snuggle him!

But his new foster Mom came back from vacation so I met her at her work on Wednesday afternoon for the handoff. She instantly loved him and was so sweet with me, who as you can imagine, was a crying mess.

She gave me a hug and assured me she would take great care of him and I know she will. Jax and I got some snuggle time in the Jeep while we waited for her and that's when the tears came. It's a really good thing I had him such a short amount of time because I can't imagine getting more attached to him! I just wanted to cry looking at him most times because his walk is so sad and it's so unfair for such a perfect pug.

He was shaking as we were in the Jeep - I know he knew he was leaving me. Ugh! But his new FM called me that night and said he was doing just great. And I just realized I never updated you all - the vet called on Monday morning and said the orthopedic surgeon did not recommend surgery based on the x-rays alone "because he seems to get around and doesn't seem to be in much pain." I disagree with that and so does his new FM, so she is going to see about getting a second opinion. I do hate the thought of him going through such an invasive surgery - but at four years old, it's heartbreaking to think of him hobbling around with so much of his life left.

The best news is that his FM said I can pug-sit him when she has to travel for work! Hooray!

Hope to have some posts from the Double V's soon! "Hope" being the key word! Miss you all and thank you for still reading as I struggle through this blogging slump! I "hope" to use some of this weekend to get caught up on your blogs too!

Later friends!

Jax is Here

Vito's Mom making another guest appearance. I went to pick up Jax this morning an hour and a half from St. Louis. Pippa's mom rescued him last night and she called and recommended that he see a vet right away, so I took him straight there after picking him up. He is pitiful.

He walks like he's drunk, and falls to the side. He's tiny and his ribs are visible (16 pounds). His back end is much smaller than his front end. His breath is atrocious and Pippa's mom found an ear infection. He sheds like a beast, likely due to his poor diet.

The doctor found a lot of things. He thought at first after visual observation that his walking-problems might be neurological, but after doing a few manual tests on him, he decided to do x-rays. The results showed what the vet called "the worst hips I have ever seen." :( He has hip displaysia and secondary arthritis. He said the hips aren't even in the sockets - and he couldn't really see any sockets for them to be in. He's going to send the x-rays to an orthopedic surgeon to see if anything can be done surgically.

On top of that, he needs to be neutered (oh the marking!), have an infected tooth removed, and he has a yeast infection in his ears. I'm so curious to know the story of what happened to this little guy's eye, and who cared enough about him at one point in his short life to actually take him to a vet to get it repaired.

The good news is that he is absolutely precious. He is so sweet and loves to be held and snuggled, and just nuzzles in to your neck. We just hope something can be done for him.

Vito is alarmed.

He goes to his permanent foster Mom on Wednesday, so I'll just love on him until then. Vito & Vinny are being pretty good to him although Vinny is currently in time-out for barking at him too much. He's 3 years old so he's in for 3 minutes. Isn't that how it works?

We'll keep you updated on Jax's journey.

What's a Blog?

That's the question. I remember what a blog is. But my Mom clearly DOESN'T. And since she's the one who knows how to type, Vinny & I have been totally screwed!!

But don't worry, faithful followers, it's not like we've been doing anything too exciting around here.

I discovered a new perch instead of the ottoman.

And I stretched out a lot. Usually on Mom's lap.

And then there were a few cold days where I remembered where the heat vent is.

And I got a Shut-Up Stick or five.

And we've discovered that Vinny freaks out whenever any animal is on tv. So much for the theory that dogs don't see clearly b/c this weirdo senses an animal on tv even when it's on "Mute."

Mom clearly has no interest in discipline. And that's fine by us.

Seriously, even when it's just a cat or a chicken, he does this. Really - when there is no sound on at all! Or even just Cesar Millan's face!


Obviously Mom has been neglecting us as usual. She went to a fundraiser a few weeks ago. She told Vinny & I it was a fundraiser for dogs so we didn't squeal TOO much when she left (but we were secretly skeptical). It was a fundraiser for Gateway Pet Guardians who feed the strays in East St. Louis every single day (PJ hasn't missed a SINGLE DAY since 2003!) and they also rescue when they can, but they don't have a shelter so they rely strictly on foster homes - so they need lots of fundraisers like that one! And Mom "fell in love" (GROSS!).

Now, my instinct tells me to hate those pictures. But I know that puppy didn't have a home and he was found wandering alone away from his Mom & his brothers & sisters and that sounds kind of sad. His name is Rex. Mom says now that she thinks he's found a home but she was dangerously close to bringing him home to live with Vinny & me that night because he "melted into" her.

Before you go and start thinking I'm a softie, I'm NOT! Because I've caught wind that Mom is doing something Gawd-awful Saturday morning. She's going on a road trip (and not taking me with her!) and bringing someone back with her from Rolla, MO (about an hour and a half from us in St. Louis).


Meet Jax. Pippa's Mom (you remember Pippa right??) found Jax in one of those crazy "free to a good home" ads and she contacted SEPRA to see if they could save him. There was an open foster home (NOT MINE THANK GOODNESS!!) but that home is on vacation right now, so my own Mom is going to get him on Saturday and Jax is going to stay with us until next Wednesday when my Mom takes him to meet his permanent foster Mom at the vet. The people who have Jax now say he has "hip issues" and as you can see, he's missing an eye, so he's got some things to over come. Vinny & I have agreed to take it easy on him while he's here. We DO have hearts SOMETIMES. If it's on a limited time frame. Yeah!

Alright, I'll TRY to make Mom post something this weekend and since Jax will be here, I'm sure she'll be allllll over it. She loves posting about dogs that aren't us. She's a real jerk that way.

And I will MAKE her get caught up on your blogs too, if I have to sit on her to do it! Later, friends!

Welcome to the Family

Yep, you read that right. I just acknowledged that Vinny is officially part of our family. He has to be I guess because now he has a Puppia harness that matches mine AND a St. Francis tag to protect him, just like mine. (PS if you follow that link, you'll find our friend Sue at My Doggie's Closet on Ebay - that is where Mom gets our harnesses and St. Francis tags which she has also bought as gifts for other canine friends! AND you'll see a pic of Yours Truly and my little brother. Disclaimer: this is not a paid promotion! We just happened upon Sue when Mom was looking for my first harness back in the day, and she was so great about making sure it was the right size! PLUS, she has lots of other doggie goodies!)

ANNNYYYWAAAAYYY, I guess that means Vinny's here to stay for good, so I have decided to embrace it (maybe temporarily? We'll see...).

Vinny in blue, me in green. Who's better looking? YOU BETTER SAY ME.

Since I'm embracing him, I will say Vinny looks pretty good in blue.

I decided since he's staying, that he & I should band together and slowly drive Mom insane. Boy has it been FUN! We've been marking on every spot that would stand still in the house! And that is a lot of spots!

But then Mom got wise that it wasn't just me doing the marking. She caught Vinny in the act. (He is still a rookie after all, he has a few things to learn about not getting caught.) Little did she know, months ago I had showed Vinny how much fun it is to pee indoors, and since I'm his big brother, he followed along and has done an amazing job! I'm so proud I could almost cry.

I didn't think this completely through though because something called a "belly band" exists. Mom had tried it on me before but got lazy - imagine that! And Vinny had to wear one til he was neutered and he peed right through those suckers like a champ! But after his neuter he didn't pee inside anymore. Until I decided to get him on my side. :)

But look at this:

DRAT!

We were caught completely off guard with the belly bands. We didn't think Mom would actually go through with it!

I immediately sank in to a deep depression.

And Vinny didn't fare much better. He only lifted his head for the camera.

Well they made us stop marking. But we figured out how to wiggle out of them pretty quick - Vinny was a pro and actually gave me some pointers. Who knew younger brothers were good for anything? And as predicted, Mom got lazy again, and wouldn't you know it? We started marking inside again immediately! Serves her right for trying to outsmart pugs! She keeps threatening us with something called "Craigslist" but we know she's all talk about that too.

Update: just thought you all might want to see my former foster-sister Pippa - in the middle of a fawn pug sandwich, with her brothers Otis and Stuey. And today is her mom Stacey's birthday - so Happy Birthday Stacey!

That's all for now! Happy peeing-indoors, Friends! Winter is here and that's the best time to leave your mark. :)

Later!

"So This is Christmas & What Have You Done?": 2011

FINALLY, I have whined enough to get Mom to do a Christmas post! Seriously, this is the laziest lady you would ever have the misfortune of meeting. Yeah, yeah, she feeds me and my brother, but that's about the extent of it. Sometimes she gives us water and lets us go outside to see the light of day but those are only rare treats.

We went to see Grandma & Grandpa in the Ozarks as usual for Christmas and it was Vinny's first time there. He seemed to like it okay. But since Christmas fell on Sunday this year - we were there from Thursday through Monday and we were ALL (especially MOM!) ready to get back home.

Here goes:

Vinny

Snoozing on Mom's lap

This is my Great-uncle Bobby - he had never met me before so I had to make myself comfortable of course. Great-Uncle Bobby is kind of a miracle and my Mom loves him a whole lot (he's SUPER funny apparently). He has had a liver transplant and TWO! kidney transplants in the last 20 years or so. He wasn't feeling good this day either and went to the hospital again the day after Christmas and just got out yesterday. We all pray that he will be okay for a long time.

See? Great-uncle Bobby liked me. It's clear. :) When Mom was 12 years old, Great-uncle Bobby had his liver transplant at the hospital in St. Louis (where we live now! But is 3 hours away from where Mom & Great-uncle Bobby lived). And my Grandma (his sister) basically lived in the hospital with him for almost a year as he had setbacks and recoveries, so my Mom remembers that year very clearly since Grandpa isn't a great cook.

OK, back to the pictures:

Vinny in Grandpa's chair. Look how much Grandpa doesn't like him compared to how much he likes me!!!

Me and my BFF Trey

Begging for Trey's food

Begging for Grandma's food

Vinny begging for Grandpa's food

Mom's cropper isn't working for some reason so she hates this picture because of all of the mess but we have to have a picture in front of the tree every year so there ya go. (She also hates Jay Leno but that is another story entirely.)

Oh yeah. And Jack was there. Mom loves when he sits like this (which is a lot). But look how fat he is! He's so fat! Ha ha ha ha, Fatty Magoo! (Any "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fans out there?) Fatty Boombalatty! Fatty McFatterstein! Oh, sorry, Mom - you say he runs like 2 miles a day with Uncle Michael and apparently is just a big ol' beagle according to the vet? And I lay around like a slug every day? Whatever.

Grandpa, Jack, me & my day-glow eyes & Uncle Michael

Man I'm handsome

One of Vinny's strange bark-at-the-carpet fits

I try to pretend like I don't know him when he does this

He's just weird!

Jack must have been really tired from those 2-miles-a-day runs because he pretty much spent the whole four days right here. Including when Grandma had to sleep on the sofa one night because Grandpa snores and they had run out of beds what with us all being there. Grandma said she tried to move him but he's...wait for it...TOO FAT.

Ah. All to myself. Me and Grandpa.

I was okay with Vinny coming on Grandpa's lap then because we were engrossed in this awesome tv show that Grandpa introduced us to on the Hunting Channel called "Arkansas Outlaws."

And then there was Jack.

Hanging with Uncle Michael and The Jerk.

Uncle Michael and my brother and my cousin

We hope you all had a great holiday! Kitty & Coco sent us those super-sweet bow ties! I really liked mine b/c it wasn't a sweater or a hat, and it didn't bother me a bit. And Mom said I looked handsome. She said Vinny looked stupid. Or at least that's what I heard.

Later, friends!