I don't know what's wrong...

I know it's been a while... but I borrowed my human's thumbs to update you on my pug life:

1. It's hot. Like, soupy hot in Iowa. Soupy hot = no walks. *pug sigh*

2. I officially like my human's boyfriend more than I like my human. (Don't tell her though, she's the one who feeds me.)

3. I'm still ouchie. My human switched my food over to some prescription stuff (which is NOT as tasty as BOGO Bowl). It's been 3 weeks and just found out from the vet *shudder* I still have the crystals in my urine. What's next?

AN X-RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To rule out any urinary stones. Which would mean surgery. I'm not sure what that means, but knowing it takes place at the vet's *shudder* office I'm pretty sure I won't like it.

Fingers crossed my friends... my human is getting pretty frustrated.

That's me at Petsmart picking up my prescription dog food. Don't let the grin fool you, I barked at every dog in the place. You know, to show them who's boss.

Wet Walk

When my human isn't working at her advertising job, she works part-time for a pet service company. This weekend we have Mazie staying with us.

While she's cute, I had to make sure to let her know who is in charge. My human calls me a bully. I call it being assertive.

Anyway... Mazie has a lot of energy and it's quite exhausting for me and my human. So she gets this grand idea of taking us for a walk.

True to my human's nature, she made us stop and pose for pictures. Sooo embarrassing but at least she recognizes I was made for the spotlight.

My human clearly did not look at the weather forecast before we left, because about 10 minutes after this picture a thunderstorm hit. Loud noises came from the sky and bright flashes of light scattered above us. We walked/ran for about 15 minutes in a downpour to get back home.

A soaked pug is a pissy pug. She sooooo owes me.

I no feel good

*cue sad pug face*

I haven't been blogging much lately because a) I don't feel well and b) my human hogs the computer.

So, anyway... my human has made many visits to the vet *cringe* in the past few weeks. Apparently I have a "bladder" issue thing going on. I don't know what that means... all I know is it hurts to pee.

At first the vet *cringe* thought it was a bladder infection, so she put me on some antibiotics that hurt my tummy. Turns out that didn't help, so it's not a bladder infection. Apparently there are tiny crystals in my pee (so weird) and I'm going to have to go on some special medicated food to make the crystals go away. (My step-grandpa says it won't taste good as my BOGO Bowl food does so I'm hoping this is negotiable) Apparently the bacteria use these crystals like little floating rafts and hang out on them and party. Damn bacteria.

If the food doesn't help, the vet *cringe* wants to do a x-ray to make sure I don't have any bladder stones. My human is REALLY hoping it doesn't come to that... and so do I.

So, my friends, please send some positive thoughts, vibes, chi, dog treats my way. I would really enjoy and appreciate a pain-free pee again.

A farm life

So my cousin Cal moved to a farm in Missouri a few weeks ago. I don't know if I've ever been to a real farm before. He told me that soon there will be chickens and goats running around. I'm not sure what those are but I'm sure I'd enjoy chasing them around this place.

Even my human, a token city girl, is thinking this place is pretty swell. Maybe one day I will have my own farm to run around in. But until then hopefully more farm visits are in my future.

Running?

Could someone please let my human know I don't do running?

Has she not seen me? Pugs were not made for running and I did not enjoy the running yesterday.

So can someone please let her know for me? Please and thank you.

What is a pet pantry?

Most people recognize that there is a huge problem with animal shelters right now - they’re overcrowded. While it is a problem that won’t go away any time soon, there is something that can help reduce the number of animals surrendered to animal shelters. Pet pantries. Unfortunately most people do not know what a pet pantry is. My human didn’t until she moved to Des Moines and became friends with some local animal people.

When people hit hard economic times, like losing a job or becoming disabled, sometimes one of the first things they will do to save money is give up their beloved pet. Can you imagine? Your life has fallen apart and, on top of all the hardships you have to now face, you have to give up one of the most loving things in your life as well? I know it’s unthinkable to my human and me. Organizations like Pet Project Midwest try to help people in those situations. People who need help feeding their animals can go to Pet Project Midwest and pick up free food and supplies so that they may be able to keep their animals until they are back on their feet.

What is even worse is that some people in these situations don’t take their pets to rescues or shelters; sometimes they’ll just let them run away or dump them. The ASPCA says 500,000 to 1 million dogs and cats are at risk of becoming homeless during an economic downturn. Perhaps that’s why I was dumped in the country, who knows.

Giving up a pet for financial reasons is very traumatic to the human and the pet. Most of these pet pantries are non-for-profit and volunteer places, so they need your support. Consider donating to your local pet pantry. Or buy BOGO Bowl dog food and donate the matching bag to your favorite pet pantry like Pet Project Midwest. That way my furry friends can stay with their beloved humans and help give them love and snuggles during their hard times. We all know that’s when the humans need them the most!

Queen of snuggles

I like good food

I’d like to talk to you about dog food. If you’re like me, you like food. A lot. My human found an article about some major dog food brands that I’d like to talk to you about. Do you buy your dog any of these brands?

Beneful by Purina

Alpo by Purina

Ol Roy (from Walmart)

Kibbles N Bits

Purina Dog Chow

Pedigree

Hill’s Science Diet Original

My human read an article, Top 7 Worst Dog Food Brands, and she wanted me to spread the word. If you buy these brands for your pups, you should stop. Immediately. Do you read the labels on the dog food you’re buying? It’s common sense my friends, bad ingredients means your dog won’t live as long as they could. You should always read the labels of food you buy, whether it’s for you or for your furry companions. Doggie diets free of corn can reduce or even eliminate food allergies we may have. That means less illness, allergies and a longer life!

Don’t feel bad, you may not have known. My human used to feed me this cheap stuff before she knew better. Before she found out about BOGO Bowl. Their dog food is made with all natural ingredients with no byproducts or artificial flavors. And the first ingredient is NOT corn. In fact, the first ingredient listed in the “maintenance” food that I eat is chicken! Granted, it's not bacon, but who doesn’t love chicken? Because of all the good, quality ingredients in BOGO Bowl my human has noticed several improvements with me. My coat is much shinier, I don’t have nearly as much eye gunk as I used to have, my stomach doesn’t get upset like it used to and my poops are much smaller. Smaller poop means I’m digesting my food better. Yippee for smaller poops!

Now, aren't you glad you read my post? Now go buy your dog some quality food, like BOGO Bowl. Trust me, your pooch will thank you for healthy dog food! A healthy doggie is a happy doggie. See?

Puppy mills are no bueno

Didn't know I was a bilingual pug, did ya?

I don't remember much about my life before my human rescued me. She was told that I was probably used as a breeding dog before I was thrown out into the country to fend for myself. Apparently I have the maternal look about me. Just think, there could be dozens of mini Emmys running around. It's too adorable to think about, really.

As you can probably tell by now, my human is big on animal advocacy and helping needy dogs in any way she can. If money were no object she run her own animal rescue. She would be out in the world saving as many animal lives as she could. I told her that she has a perfectly good animal at home that needs all her undivided attention. Not sure if she listens to me, but I try.

Hey human, you listening to me?

The idea that I might have been used as a breeding pup got me thinking about puppy mills. My human let me borrow her thumbs and I did some digging and "googling" around. It didn't take me long to find a lot of information on puppy mills. I sort of wish I had just turned off the computer and taken a long nap. Nasty stuff.

According to the article C.D. Watson wrote for www.petadvisor.com, puppy mills are beyond horrible and unimaginable. In his article a “puppy mill” is defined as “a dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits.” And in 2012 there was an estimated 4,000 places that churn out puppies for profit like this. The environments these breeding dogs are forced to live in are disgusting. They are kept in dirty cages 24/7 with no love, vet care or human interaction.  Needless to say many of the puppies born in these conditions are sick. And instead of getting the health care they so desperately need, they are shipped to pet stores and sold to humans who may not be aware of the conditions they lived in. Many of these doggies die soon after going home to their new humans. It's just really sad. And unnecessary!

So, what’s the moral of the story? Do not buy puppies from pet stores! Adopt a dog from your local animal rescue or shelter. You could wind up with a cool blogging dog like me! And how cool would that be? (Pretty darn cool, I say.)

An epiphany

I don't like when one of those ASPCA ads comes onto my television. I like to tell them to go away (nicely, of course) when they do:

That Sarah McLachlan sure knows how to tug at the heart strings. Or so my human tells me. All I see are animals in MY home that do not belong here. When those ads do come on the TV, and I start barking like crazy, my human grabs me and gives me a big hug and says, "don't bark, sissy, you were once a dog like them." Um, excuuussseeee me?

It's true, my friends. Before this posh life I have now, I was a shelter dog. My mom adopted me from Second Chance Animal Rescue in Clinton, Missouri, where I was found roaming around in the country. Miss Shannon at Second Chance took me in, nursed me back to health and helped me find my human.

And it hit me! All humans can help shelters like Second Chance Animal Rescue. My human likes to donate money to the ASPCA (I think it's so she can change the channel when Ms. McLachlan starts singing sad songs without feeling guilty, but don't tell her I told you that.) but she also likes to support a wonderful company called BOGO Bowl. It's a simple concept, buy a bag of dog food and BOGO Bowl donates a bag to an animal shelter. They support a lot of rescues and shelters all over the U.S., giving them quality dog food so the rescue can reserve funds for other things like vet visits (yuck!) You should help other great dogs like me by supporting BOGO Bowl. Just tell 'em the cute pug sent ya.

Want to win some stuff?

Happy Monday, friends! I tried to come up with a great April Fool's joke to play on you... but all that thinking wore me out so I took a nap instead.

I don't know about you guys, but my human LOVES Pinterest. I think she loves it more than me sometimes.

See? That's her. On the Pinterest. I give my best "please show me some attention or I might roll over and die" look but it rarely works. Priorities I guess. Anyway, if your human loves Pinterest even a smidge (is that a word?) as much as mine does, you should look into BOGO Bowl's Pinterest contest. You can win gift cards, dog food, all sorts of fabulous stuff.

Short and sweet, I'm giving the human her thumbs back now. Happy pinning!

Hello, World.

Hi everyone. My name is Emmy and I've been told I'm pretty smart for a pug. My human says she learns a lot about life from me and I told her I would like to start imparting my wisdom on others. You know, do good stuff in between my hectic napping schedule. 

Because I don't have thumbs my human has been kind enough to post my teachings on my behalf. I'm not sure how she will find the time between work, grad school, her busy "social" calendar and everyday life in general, but that's her problem, not mine.

Along the way I also hope to make you smile, maybe make you laugh and perhaps make you say "awwww". (I get that all the time.) 

Short lesson for today? Seize the moment. Like when your human takes you outside to do "business." You shouldn't just stop to smell the roses or nearby fire hydrant, you should seize the great opportunity given to you. So when your moment comes to do your "business" (whatever that may mean for you), grab it like a chew toy and run with it. Because you don't know when the next great opportunity will come your way. And I really wish I had seized my "business" opportunity this morning.

But for now, I'm going to give my human her thumbs back. I'm exhausted and require several naps to make sure I've built up the stamina needed to be brillant for my next lesson.