It seemed like a good time to talk a bit about what the rescue world is up against.  Not just us, but rescues and shelters generally.  I want to explain why things seem so out of control and why rescues and shelters cannot solve the situation we are in currently. Running an ethical and responsible rescue: Doesn’t sound like it should be all that hard, does it?  But it is.  And gets harder when people are surrendering dogs in record numbers. Running an ethical, responsible rescue has several features to it and if you start to compromise those features, you can easily s ..read more

You've wanted one for years. You hopefully have done some research and think this is the breed for you. Well, read on. There are some things about pugs that aren't in all the books and that may make a pug a bad fit for you. Let me preface this by saying that no two pugs are alike. Don't assume that because your neighbour's pug is a slug that yours will be. It's a HUGE mistake to judge all pugs by your experience with one or two. They can vary quite a bit in energy, intelligence and temperament, ranging from go-with-the-flow to MeMeMe. Gross Generalizations that tend to be true: Blacks tend t ..read more

REMEMBER---credentials are only as good as the person who has them. This is why observing a trainer is important. One CAN be credentialed and still not have good mechanics or skills. What to look for: *Clear statements about what training methods are used. *Photos of dogs in flat collars, harnesses, martingales *Evidence of education/credentials, organizational affiliation with positive reinforcement based organizations *Breadth of experience *Trainer pictures and biographies readily found *Trainer is insured *Evidence of ongoing professional development with organizations and professionals in ..read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pasT9FTGHo&feature=youtu.be Video courtesy of Shana Deitrick's YouTube Channel. When counter conditioning, it is imperative that the process is broken down into as many baby steps as possible. What we might see as 10 total steps, a dog might see as 100, especially if they have a very negative association with you, the room they are in, the clippers or file in your hand, the facility you bring them to, or all the above. Counter conditioning is NOT about rewarding good behavior, it is freely giving food for your dog being exposed to the situation (dremel, fil ..read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT1zygil09w Some of what is covered here will seem very basic to people with any kind of training background or who have lived with deaf/blind animals before. I’ve started from a “square one” approach to make sure I haven’t assumed anything about anyone’s knowledge or abilities. Much of what is covered here is based upon my own experience living with deaf, blind and deaf and blind dogs. And I’m opinionated. I was lucky enough to grow up with deaf Dalmatians and a father who was way ahead of his time in terms of his training with his dogs. My most current blind d ..read more

Hopefully, this article will answer some questions that come up over and over again about “Why didn’t Pugalug just……….” Why did Pugalug force these people to give up their dog? This question most often comes up when someone has to surrender their dog due to financial situations. Most commonly, a medical issue that the owner cannot afford. Pugalug does NOT force people to give up their dogs, but we also cannot pay vet costs for other people’s dogs. Why? We are a charity and we aren’t registered to do that. We can’t just give people money or pay the costs for someone else’s dog. We could potent ..read more

I’m not entirely sure for whom I’m writing this, other than myself. I have no clue if it will make sense; I have a tendency to over think most things, especially where my dogs are involved. But I have a lot swirling through my head in the aftermath of putting Meesh to sleep. So here goes. I have been thinking about damage. Damaged dogs: Dogs born damaged, dogs who have been damaged by inadequate or ignorant husbandry/ownership. And damaged owners. Owners who have been damaged by struggling with damaged dogs. I’ve had dogs come to me with damage. Some from poor care and ownership, some from ba ..read more

I am very careful about using a dog park. I avoid most of them and tend to use ones with LOTS of space. And I carefully check out any park before I use it. I often tell people that dog parks are like large cocktail parties where you may not know anyone, may not speak the language of the people there and it’s a lead pipe cinch that 10% of the attendees will be obnoxious drunks. It takes sophisticated social skills to successfully navigate that kind of cocktail party…..the same goes for the dog park…dogs need VERY good social skills to manage the dog park. Below are my rules and guidelines for d ..read more

I fostered Ty starting the beginning of February and adopted him in mid-March. I generally tend to have my foster dogs for a minimum of 6 weeks before adopting them out (besides myself). The reason is the dog I get as a foster often isn't the same dog by the time they go up for adoption. I tell people to think about the Rule of Three: First Three Days--shock, assessing, etc by the dog. First Three Weeks--the honeymoon--maybe the honeymoon from heaven or from hell. By the three month mark, you are probably seeing the real dog--or beginning to. When I fostered Ty, he was a dream dog for the f ..read more

TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic photos of an abused dog appear in this blog post This topic comes up a lot in rescue work. It’s very much on my mind as I watch puppy millers and backyard breeders dump their dogs on rescues and shelters. And it came up again due to a couple of high medical pugs that ended up with us. And foster folks are, rightfully, feeling a great deal of anger about the lack of care their fosters received in their previous homes. So, I wanted to talk about this as it is prevalent, and we need to know how to grapple with it. A couple of additions to this, given the times we live in ..read more