Adventure is her middle name

Danger Pug takes care of navigation as we prowl the forest roads.

CA politics. Also: Pugoween

To think that I once shared a bedroom with a future PAC chair.

Not to sound like a faux-folksy VP candidate or anything, but here's a big shout-out to the Evergreen School District of San Jose, CA -- and specifically to a certain sibling most excellent activist whose letter in favor of Measure T can be found in this morning's Murky News: yes on T! Did I mention that the Governator has put our schoolkids' heads on the chopping block? He has indeed. Vote yes on T, San Jose people!

In related news, the world's most adorable pug turned four yesterday and is off to celebrate Pugoween with friends and relatives even as we speak. Happy B-day, Princess Lily MunsterPug!

More family: "Your parents were very, very brave," a gentleman [who knew my folks back in the day] once told me. California is all Tiger Woods-y now, but in the old days white people were expected to marry white people, etc. As it happens, in 1948 California became the first state since Reconstruction to strike down an anti-miscegenation statute. We led the way then, and we need to lead the way now:



Thanks to Samuel L. Jackson and all the others who have spoken out against the injustice that is Proposition 8. Vote No on 8, Californians! Visit this site for a terrific bunch of videos and much more info, and please: Vote No on 8.

Cutest. photos. ever.

All your Awww are belong to us.

A trifecta of cuteness...! Pibble, pug and Frenchie... OMG, smooshy-faces rule. Check them out. And if you can tear yourself away from all the great photos, be sure to read the comments on everyone's behavior. Living with a pack takes work, especially when the pack includes a... well, you'll have to read Stephanie's post for yourself ;~)

Stephanie is an artist and graphic designer and a hard-working volunteer for the pit bull rescue group Our Pack — visit Our Pack's home page here. OMG, look at Chubby — this is such a total bully-breed pose...! In the immortal words of Jimi Hendrix: "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." Thanks to Stephanie for the link!

"A warning for dog owners: Pug almost dies after eating breath mints"

Remember Harley? She's the cute elf on the left. Harley lives in the Bay Area and has an adopted sister from Bad Rap, and she's friends with Lily, the pug in the navigation icon at the foot of each post in this blog. I'm very, very happy to be writing about Harley in the present tense: she is alive and well today after a near-death experience with a nasty chemical called xylitol.

Xylitol is used as a sugar substitute, and you can find it in many types of gum, candy, breath mints, toothpaste, mouthwashes, baked goods and other products.

Dog owners [and all people who love dogs] should be as cautious about xylitol as they are with antifreeze or rodent bait. This stuff can kill.

Harley's human, Stephanie Lam, told their story to Linda Goldston of the Mercury News:

"Right before Christmas, my pug, Harley, ingested a couple of small breath mints containing xylitol...

"It nearly killed Harley. Within hours, she went into acute liver distress. Her liver enzymes, which in a normal dog should be in the hundreds, were at 7,500. Her blood pressure was so low that my vet feared she would not be able to administer an IV catheter.

"Harley required two blood plasma transfusions and countless other medical treatments. I was extremely lucky that she even survived. The vet that saved her specialized in toxicology and said that xylitol-related deaths and poisonings are becoming more common. I talked to the dog owners in my group, and none of them knew xylitol was toxic to dogs - nor what types of products contained it."

Here'a a link to the ASPCA Poison Control Center's page on xylitol, and the obligatory Snopes link.

Right now, xylitol is used mostly in cookies, candies, cupcakes and other sweets developed for people who have diabetes. It's also sold in bags of crystals for baking. Because of its bacteria-killing properties, it is put into some oral care products, including Tom's All Natural and Biotene toothpastes.

It also is beginning to be used in a broad assortment of products intended for the general public. Among them: Jello sugar-free puddings and a wide variety of sugar-free gums, including Trident, Orbit, Stride, Icebreakers and Altoids. [Source.]

Stephanie says that xylitol should be as familiar to dog people as antifreeze, and as carefully managed if not avoided altogether. I couldn't agree more. Over at Dolittler, Dr. Patty Khuly has written a number of posts about this sweetener: here's the most recent one. Check them out, and spread the word — xylitol can kill, and it's killing more dogs each year.

[On the right, happy Harley, alive and kicking, vivita y coleando. "I'm well!"]

Pug degrees of separation

She had her nose fixed. Seriously. The poor wee girl on the left is Lily, with pink stitches in her nose. She just got home from the most excellent veterinary hospital at UC Davis, where in addition to the nose business she had soft palate resection and work done on her larynx, which is what happens to pugs that have 1) breathing difficulties and 2) loving owners, the loving owner in this case being my sis up north.

Lily is friends with pug Harley, who belongs to Stephanie Lam, a writer and artist who designed the website for Our Pack, a Bay Area rescue and the current home of former Vick dog Leo, a sweet, happy, charismatic gentleman now working as a therapy dog with owner and Our Pack founder Marthina McClay. [That's Leo in the blue bandana -- Harley is the Christmas elf.] Leo was featured this week in a terrific article by Linda Goldston in the Mercury News.




When she's not busy with portraits and writing and web design, Stephanie organizes pug meet-ups and shows her French Bulldog, Chubby. You may have seen the whole happy family on the BAD RAP blog last month with Stephanie's new dog, Miso.

[BAD RAP photo]

A small, happy, bully world ;~) Yes, Lily is the black pug in the navigation icon. Get well soon, Lily!

Did you feel that?

My sis dictated info for the "Did you feel it?" form. Click the screen grab for a larger view.

So we're on the phone talking about the fires and my sister [up in San Jose] says, "Hey, we're having an earthquake."

Pause.

"It's still shaking."

Pause.

"It's still shaking."

Pause.

"OK, that was big somewhere. I'll call you back, gotta check on the neighbors."

It was a 5.6, and shallow --- just six miles down. The epicenter was maybe ten miles away. A minute before it hit, my sister's pug dropped her toy and sat up with a "What the hell...?" expression. Figures that a Halloween baby like Lily would be in touch with Gaia.

You'll find this terrific earthquake link in the sidebar, though if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Californian you've probably had the local version bookmarked for years. You should be deeply ashamed if you haven't yet completed and submitted the "Did you feel it?" form [assuming that you did, in fact, feel it]. Here's the link. Again. Git 'er done.

Happy Halloween Pugoween birthday to me! I'm three! God, I'm so adorable.