365 Photo Project - Day 14

Taken: January 14, 2010, approx. 11:30 a.m.
Location: Healdsburg, CA

You have to trust me when I tell you I never thought I’d be one of those people who showed pictures of her dogs to strangers.  I wasn't. Not really. I am now.

This is the face that did it. A half-blind, almost deaf pug that my husband and I got from a Los Angeles-based pug rescue in 2005. Little did we know how much it would cost to keep him healthy (we’re talking five figures no lie) but more than that, how easily he was able to thread his way into our hearts. I mean there's my life pre-Louie and now and I never want to go back.

Maybe it’s because we’re childless (by choice) or maybe because when he came into our lives we were going through a particularly difficult time in our lives and our relationship. Whatever it was, it’s almost like there is no “us” without Louie the Pug, our Louie, King of All Pugs.

He’s not the world’s sweetest dog by any means. He keeps to himself mostly and he doesn’t like to be cuddled and he sleeps half the day away. Like most pugs, he’s stubborn as hell and there’s his medical bills, which have been enormous. And yet ... he is such a big part of my heart, I can't imagine not having him around me.

I just can’t describe the lightness and joy he gives me, especially at the moment (nearly every day) when he “loses” me in the house and searches in every room until he finds me. And when he does, it’s with tail wagging and I swear to God, a twinkle in his one good eye. 

He’s one tough guy, a dog that clearly loves his life and wants to stick around as long as he can function. And he does function -- even half blind and now completely deaf. He was on the streets for several years before he got rescued and since we've had him, he's gone through a number of surgeries – all attempts to rid him of a nasty bone infection in his inner ear. The most recent operation left him with a chronic gagging cough that won’t go away. We’re scheduled to go back to UC Davis VMTH for the sixth time in 10 weeks to have yet another procedure to see what’s causing his latest ailment. This one will require anesthesia, which is always scary with flat-faced dogs but we've got no choice.  He's up half the night coughing -- I swear it's like living with a newborn.

I have faith in Louie and I know for certain he'll let me know when he's had enough. For now, we're doing the best we can, both of us.

In honor of my pal, my buddy, my pug Louie, he's my subject for today’s photo. Taken with my K100D in the great morning light of a brilliant sunny day (the calm before the storm that we hear is coming next week). Edited in Photoshop where turned it to black and white.