Happy Tails Books

A Rescue to the Rescue

From "Lost Souls: FOUND! Inspiring Stories About Pugs"

Devastated by the unexpected death of our six-year-old pug, Pugsley (a.k.a Puggy), my 1½-year-old pug, Cozmo, who had never been an only pug, was lost and alone. I wasn’t ready for another pug and my husband, who adored Puggy, definitely wasn’t either. How could I get a new pug so soon after losing Puggy?

But I knew Cozmo was grieving, too, so I made the decision to do it for him. I adopted Izzy from Pug Rescue of New England, and I say “I” because my husband really wanted nothing to do with her. His pug was gone, and to him that was it. He loved Cozmo, but there was never going to be another pug that he would have that special bond with.

I was told Izzy was about four months old. She was fawn but had black coloring down her back and on the back of her legs. When I arrived at the foster home, out from behind a chair came this little, scrawny-looking pug. She had a scar on her eye, which made her rather bulging eyes look even more pronounced. She definitely looked nothing like Puggy! I picked her up and held her in my lap, still trying to decide if I was making the right decision. When she looked up at me and licked my face, I knew this frail pug with the buggy eyes was coming home with me.

When I arrived home, my husband came out to greet me. I’ll never forget his first words: “What is that?”

For about two months after adopting Izzy, I slept on the couch with Izzy and Cozmo. Coz was in his usual place by my feet, and Izzy would lie on my chest across my heart. She was so tiny, and those eyes! Sometimes she’d stare at me, and I’d swear her eyes were looking in opposite directions. My husband would often joke, “Who is she looking at? Me or you?” The surgery she had on her eyelids and the tiny purple stitches around her eyes didn’t add much to her appearance.

This somewhat homely but sweet, little pug we took in had a tough task ahead: she needed to help us cope with Puggy’s death. I don’t remember at what point she changed us. Maybe it was how she evolved from this innocent, tiny puppy into the dominant and bossy female that I was warned she would become. She was a handful and I believe her whole “poor me” act was all a scam. She pretended to be innocent and frail. She wanted us to feel bad for her because she was bug-eyed and really not all that cute. But she became pushy, picking on Cozmo by taking all his toys, chasing him around the living room, and biting at the back of his legs, behind, and tail. Outside she would wait for him in this stance that reminded me of a lion waiting to pounce on some poor, unsuspecting gazelle while he did his duties. There would be a stare down, but Cozmo knew it was coming, and Izzy wasn’t quite fast enough for his agile maneuvers (I believe his agility training gave him the advantage).

The truth is, she brought us laughter, and Cozmo was not innocent himself. He would instigate the tug of war games or bring his Nylabone over to her and wave it in her face until she tried to go for it, and he would then growl at her. It was his attempt to be dominant, but it rarely worked.

Besides taunting Cozmo, Izzy developed this annoying habit of leaping in the air from the kitchen floor (almost reaching the countertops) over and over again while her food was being put in her bowl. She will not sit quietly like Cozmo. She jumps on your lap anytime you sit down, she jumps on visitors that come to the house, she doesn’t listen, she is jealous if Cozmo gets attention, she eats poop, she picks fights with her black lab “cousin,” Elle, she takes the toilet paper and runs down the hall with it, she barks and jumps at dogs that are on the TV, even cartoons, and she has even gone so far as taking a piece of food right out of my husband’s hand as he was putting it in his mouth! It was his fault, though, because he lets her sit right next to him on the couch when he is eating.

Granted the training issues are mainly our fault; she is spoiled. But it’s those eyes! My husband says it’s hard to discipline her when she looks at him with that face. Isn’t she just the cutest? She sits on the couch beside my husband at night with her head resting on his leg. When she looks up at him, I know he melts. He now refers to her as his dog, and in his eyes she can do no wrong. She is Daddy’s little girl, and I think she knew it would turn out this way.

I never thought Cosmo, my husband, or I would survive the early and unexpected death of Puggy. There will always be a hole in our hearts for him, but Izzy has wrapped her little paws around our hearts and holds them tightly.

By Amy Palmeri, Pug Rescue of New England

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