Where to start? It’s hard to put into words exactly what APRA and our Pugs means to us. But first let me explain the process we went through to get our first Pug.
Ever since I was a kid I have wanted a pug. My mother had one when I was growing up named Tiny. Tiny was given to my mother. I remember my mother carried her home in her jacket pocket (hence the name Tiny). She grew to regulation pug size and was a typical pug, snoring, lazy and lovable. She slept with me every night and became my “security blanket” as I didn’t sleep well if she wasn’t there. She lived a great life to old age and then she was gone. What a hole she left in my heart!
I have had many pets over the years, but none were able to fill that void left by Tiny. Don’t get me wrong, I had 2 other dogs that meant the world to me, but Tiny was there first and she got the prime real-estate of my heart. So, this 23 year longing was finally sated when Henry found APRA on the net.
I was so excited to have re-connected to a link from my past, I was simply beside myself. Henry had never really seen a pug except on TV, so he was very apprehensive about the breed. He did all his research and tried to warn me about the care responsibilities of the breed and the potential problems they can have, but I didn’t hear any of that, all I heard was PUG!!!!
Henry filled out the application and we waited with our fingers crossed, and waited, and waited. And waited! I now know how thorough Pam is, but then, during the wait, I just knew we were going to be rejected, because the wait was seemingly (to me) forever. Then we got the first email from Pam. We answered the few extra questions she had, and awaited a verdict.
Pam's first concern was that one of our current dogs had not yet been spayed, and there were older dogs in the home that may not take kindly to the endearing, but "in your face" personality of a Pug. It was only after the spay, and the visit by Pam to learn the current personalities and watch the interaction of our "family" that we earned the "thumb's up" as potential adoptors. She is thorough; and now that we are heavily involved in the day to day activities of APRA, we understand understand why she has to be.
We had to bide our time until Pam made just the right match; which of course meant more waiting! Finally, the phone call came. Joan had a big boy and Pam thought he’d be a good match for us. From the time we saw Sambo, and he saw us. we knew he was ours. We took him home that night and fell in love immediately.
Our experience with Sammy was such a success that we thought we’d be brave and foster. We felt it was important to show our appreciation for what Pam had done for us and repay the favor in some way. It was just a short time until the call came that she wanted us to foster a boy who was just getting over some surgery. We were eager to help. Rudy was a bundle of fun, unfortunately, he was only with us a short time. His health problems were too much and he was called to the Rainbow Bridge.
Not long afterwards, Stanley came to us, next was Shelby and most recently Subihdi. We have adopted Sambo & Stanley as ours, the others we love until the perfect home is found. Although, I think Subihdi (Soobi) is going to stay with us.
I don’t really know how else to describe what APRA means to us. We feel like we have made 30 new best friends due to the commonality of the puggers. We so look forward to our monthly meetings, the companionship of the group mean so much to both of us, it’s really not easy to put into words. I hope our feeble attempt to do so got the point across.
I guess words aren’t necessary when you look into those big sad eyes and those sweet Pug kisses show you love that words can’t express. |
