Friday, November 23, 2012

Flashback Friday - White Chang & Mao Yen

 
 
Mao Ling Yen was born on this day in 1989!
 
But before I tell you about MaoYen
I have to tell you about my very first pug
 
White Chang
 

I had been fascinated by the pug breed since I was a teenager
but had not thought much about having one until my daughter came home one day and said there was a dog that needed a home, could we take her.
I told her no as we already had two dogs, a lab and a lab mix.
Then she said the magic word,
it's a PUG.
 

 
They thought she was about 6 yrs old and we were probably her 3rd home.
She had to have been much older,
her eyesight was failing and she had other health problems.
She quickly became devoted to me as she slept by my side each night.
When she became almost blind her sense of smell would always find me.
I only had her about 1 1/2 yrs. before she went to the bridge
but she opened my life to the wonderful world of pugs
and I knew I would always have one (or two or more!) in my life.
 
When the local pet store (back then I had no clue about puppy mills and rescue)
had pug puppies for sale I had to get another
I was recently divorced and Mao Yen was a birthday present to myself.
 


She quickly became queen of the house!
 

 
 
In 1992 after I had met my husband
MaoYen had a litter of 4 puglets
 
 
A C-section and the stress of finding good homes for the puglets
was enough to convince me that breeding was definitely not for me.
We kept one, our dear Char Shu.
Now when people ask "Do you breed them?"
I say "No, I just love them"
 
Somewhere in between film and digital and grandkids
 I could not find too many pictures of
MaoYens' middle years but I came across this picture of her
after she had a growth removed from her head.
She was not too impressed with wearing the bandage wrap
 
 
The tongue was already making an appearence back then
and it was immortalized in this chalk drawing of MaoYen
my husband surprised me with one Christmas.
 
 
 
 
What a sweet old lady she was
 


Her last year or so was difficult.
She started acting lost and confused.
It gradually got worse. 
She would sleep in the day and wander the house at night,
finding herself in a corner and would not know how to get out.
Our Vet told us it was basically a dog form of Alzhiemers.
 

 
Medication helped her (and us) sleep
but she was no longer with us either way.
 

 
Just past her 13th birthday we said goodbye
 
Mao Ling Yen
11/23/1989 - 12/07/2002
 
I will be forever thankful to these two beautiful pug ladies
for coming into my life and showing me the joy of being owned by a pug
 
love, Mom
 
 
 


7 comments:

  1. What a special girl.
    Blessings,
    Goose

    ReplyDelete
  2. This post and its photos share such beautiful stories about two very special pug girls. It brought tears to my eyes. How wonderful that they knew of your love and were so gracious to give it back ten fold, I'm sure.
    Love,
    Christy

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a beautiful tribute.

    My name is Oskar & I'd like to invite you to be featured on my blog at www.PetBlogsUnited.com. It's a great way to meet new blogging friends. If you're interested you can drop me a line at PBU at comcast dot net.

    Nubbin wiggles,
    Oskar

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing these beautiful stories of love with us.
    Yes, they were special little girls and will always be a part that lives forever in your heart.
    love
    tweedles

    ReplyDelete
  5. Spoken and shared as only a pug owner could. Why are we so blessed to be loved by such wonderful creatures? It must be God's affirmation that he loves us despite ourselves. Thank you for sharing those beautiful little girls!

    Love,
    Gampy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh what a lovely dog. Its so hard to say good be our tubby is turning 12 and it scares me I hope he is with us a long time to come

    urban hounds

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a wonderful post. So hard to lose a pet.

    Oink oink,
    Katie and Coccolino the mini pig

    ReplyDelete