Merrylog

Apologies to Jamie, who tagged us unbearably long ago for this. I’m so bad at net memes!

Without further ado, 8 random facts about the princess pug:

1. Merry was already CKC registered when I bought her; her registered name is Xena. I couldn’t picture this tiny little girl in a warrior outfit, so I renamed her Merry, to match her personality and to pay tribute to my favorite time of year (Christmas).
2. The princess loves to pose for the camera but has little respect for the artistic need of photographers to capture her sleeping, looking away, or turned facing another direction. If she notices your camera, she will turn to face you head on and usually sit for you. Handy if you’re shooting her front, aggravating if you’re trying to get a shot of the back of a sweater or of her sweetly sleepy face.
3. She loves to roll-over for treats but will only do so on a soft surface – carpeting, couches, beds. No wood floors or cement – she just won’t do it.
4. She’s terrified of all metal things in the sidewalk – she hates manhole covers, grates, even small pipe coverings. She avoids them all like the plague.
5. Her all-time favorite toy is her Weasel Ball, with the weasel removed. She squawks and runs at top speed all over the house pushing it around with her nose. I tried to take a video of it once for the Merrylog but almost fell on my keister, because she runs around so fast with it that I got too dizzy following her with the vid camera. And trying to capture her with a still camera doing this? Forget it!
6. She makes noises like Chewbacca from Star Wars when you rub her belly, particularly first thing in the morning.
7. Every time we visit with my parents my mom and dad each take turns sitting the pug on their laps like a baby. Merry props her front paws on the table and holds high court while we chat.
8. She absolutely adores my boyfriend and spends most nights on the couch ignoring me but snugged up against his thigh like a long stretched out sausage, her legs all tucked beneath her.

And to stay in the spirit of things, we’ll tag Shelby to find out more random goodness about the little miss.

My parents visited us a few weeks ago, and the princess got to enjoy several days of playing with her Grandpa, and getting rubdowns from her Grandma.

Pensive pug, deep in thought. Happy weekend to you all!

As Merry’s eyesight gets worse, it gets harder to get good shots of her smiling or even facing the camera (since she can’t always see it or focus on it – often depends on the light). This is making shoots much more of a challenge – particularly for the Merryvaluations. No word yet on her surgery – the vet tells me it will be at least a few more weeks before they get the part replaced that they need.

The princess sniffing out the adorable burger & fries treat combination from last weekend’s TreatFest.

The Pug Treatfest (with these treats) we had planned for the weekend went off without a hitch. Much snacking was done by Merry and her three pug friends (in the photo, that’s Mack on the left, with Charlie sitting beside him, and the lady to the right of Merry is Abby) as well as running and begging for veggies from the table. Fun time was had by all. The princess, as you can see from her grin, had a blast.

The princess was very happy to go out yesterday and today and play ball. I have a feeling it will be several times a day up till her surgery, since I’m told it should be months before we play ball again after the surgery, even in the house where it’s safer.

Question to all of you: if you have a dog (particularly a pug) who’s gone through this surgery, how long was it till you could play again? Merry’s balls are very soft rubber, but I don’t want to risk her going blind, either…

What a way to make a pug (and her stressed out mommy) feel better! Yesterday, we received a package from the kool folks at Kool Dog Kafe, to thank us for the article we ran on their fabulous cookies this month. When we got it open, we realized they’d sent along this enormous (as tall as the pug) glass canister filled to the brim with their cookies and treats. That’s quite a thank you, indeed!

We don’t usually get perks like this – just in case you were worried that all of our editorial is written for personal gain. :) I choose the editorial for the site strictly based on what I think will be fun and interesting for our readers.

That said, these treats a wonderful way to bring a smile to our faces after the stress and craziness of yesterday. Merry’s invited her three pug buddies over this weekend to have a TreatFest! We can’t wait!

So after a hectic weekend of getting Merry prepped for surgery (playing every day – since she wouldn’t be able to play for quite a while afterward, and 4 kinds of eye meds 4 times a day), after a tense and a wee bit emotional morning meeting with her Opthamologist and dropping the pug off for surgery, I got a call less than half an hour after leaving the clinic.

Turns out they’d sedated her, and then they discovered that the first piece of equipment they needed for the procedure (retinal scanner? corneal scanner? something like that) wasn’t working, and they would need to order in the part to fix the machine. Merry’s surgery was therefore postponed, until the machine is fixed and then we can reschedule.

Merry’s eye doctor was very apologetic and even took pains to assure me that they would get me another round of pre-op eye meds without charging me once the surgery was rescheduled. I’m hoping we only have to wait a week or two but I’ll know more later today when I pick the little bit up from the clinic (since she’d already been sedated, we had to leave her there today).

Still, that was a whole lot of upheaval for an anticlimactic ending! Will keep you all posted about the rescheduled surgery.

The princess has the loveliest eyes you’ve ever seen, yes? It’s one of the reasons I’m nervous about her surgery next Monday, to remove a cataract. (I don’t know which eye yet – she has cataracts in both, and they’ll be doing ultrasound once she’s under anasthetic to determine which eye is worse, and that’s the one they’ll be doing).

My logical mind knows that the princess will be fine (better, in fact, since her eyesight’s been getting quite bad lately) and that the excellent team of docs working on her are some of the best in the biz, but my heart is saying that they’re going to operate on my baby’s eyes, and she’ll be alone, and so scared. I’m such a wussy pug mommy. :(

Merry will be in a “cone” or “Elizabethan collar” for the next month or so – so expect lots of cone shots in the Merrylog for the next little while. I will mix it up occasionally with shots from before her surgery, as I’ve got thousands I’ve never posted here. :)

Will post later in the day on Monday to let you all know how the princess is doing!