Pug Hollow’s board members, with the help of the Friends of the Hollow, have pulled together a pair of full color calendars to help raise funds for the sanctuary. These photographer signed calendars highlight the Pawtography series of photographs featuring dogs who are, were or have been Pug Hollow Residents.

 

100% of the profits from these calendars will be donated to the Hollow!

 

These calendars will be available for pre-order through November 17^th for Holiday delivery and come in two sizes… spiral bound, upright desk calendar pictured below(4x8 inch) ($10 plus shipping) or a full size 9x11 wall calendar not yet pictured ($17 plus shipping).
All calendars ship media mail unless you request otherwise.

If you’re interested in a beautiful calendar for yourself or as a great gift for a dog lover, and helping benefit a great cause, let us know at pughollow@gmail.com.

 

 

Wheels for Trey

 

Trey is a 14 year old pug.
He is blind and deaf.
He went through an F4 tornado in 2011 and survived.
Over the last two years he has slowly lost the voluntary use of his legs until he can no longer walk without help.

Despite all of this Trey is otherwise in good health and always in good spirits. He has a plethora of different barks that he uses to request everything from water, to a clean blanket. He also makes demands for dinner, location of his people, his nightly stump and stumble around the yard (he stumps, I stumble) and his bi-weekly soak in a hot bath... (Sunday and Wednesday. No exceptions.)

Even though most blind dogs won't use a wheeled cart due to their impaired vision, Trey seems to have been an extreme athlete in a past life. He either has no fear or no sense of self preservation.  Give him wheels and you'll have to report them stolen because he's going to haul butt!

Unfortunately Trey doesn't have wheels of his own.

If you'd like to help give an old dog who has had a heck of a life a boost in the quality of his final years, please donate.

We're aiming for a PVC quad-cart which is around $200. If we get enough we'll get him a fancy cart.
When he no longer needs it, we will pass the cart on to the next Pug Hollow dog and on down the line until we've run the wheels off of it. (If Mr. Grand Theft Treypug doesn't do it for us!)

You can mail a donation to
Pug Hollow Sanctuary
PO Box 244
Prague, Ok 74864

or donate via paypal to pughollow@gmail.com

Let's get Wheels for Trey!

A Happy Placement

Sometimes it works out like a fairytale romance.... A while back we got this from one of our adopters and she gave us permission to post it....

"I should have sent this sooner, but I just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to adopt Archer (Nooshi). He is such a smart (very funny) pup, who has been the absolute delight of everyone we have introduced him too."

Purcell Animal Shelter Needs Your Help!!!

Purcell Animal Shelter needs your help!
They have three great dogs who desperately need homes before their time runs out.

This little man is a black male Chihuahua, that I'm estimating to be about 6-8 years old. He's a lap dog and a sweetie and needs a good place to be.

This boy is a dachshund mix who looks to be about 3. He's also a little lover. Not much else is known about him.

This lady is a senior beagle mix. She's good with kids, dogs, livestock, and likes to ride in a truck, gator or golf cart with you. She is very healthy, but she got old and her people don't want her. She is very much not likely to get adopted because of her age.

If you can give a home to any of these dogs please let us know. If you go through Pug Hollow we will arrange to pick them up and transport them to a vet for their vetting. You will be responsible for the cost of spay/neuter,  rabies shots and heartworm testing.  If we use SPOT clinic this will be about $60.  We will cover parvo shots, 1 dose of heartworm prevention/deworming, and the first month of flea and tick control.

pughollow@gmail.com

Home Cooked Dog Food for Organ Impaired Dogs

The following recipe is a good general use recipe that I developed for dogs with most kinds of organ impairment. This food has been used for dogs with liver, and kidney impairment, heart problems, diabetic and pancreatic problems and food allergies.
I have built this recipe from scratch and put many years and thousands of work into this particular recipe. It has been reviewed by several veterinarians and canine nutritional experts and is backed by a 9 page spreadsheet containing nutrient requirements and contents for everything down to individual amino acids.  While I don't mind it being shared as needed please respect the effort that went into creating it and give proper credit to the author.

"Edgar Food"

2 pounds uncooked whole grain brown rice.
2 pounds ground turkey (85% lean)
5.5 ounces uncooked pearl barley
10 ounces old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup egg
1 cup rice bran oil
1 tbsp Alaskan Salmon Oil
2 "Ultra Minerals by Vitabase" tablets crushed


Place all dry ingredients into a 16 quart stock pot. Add 1.5 gallons of water. Over medium heat, bring to a boil.

In a mixing bowl mix oils, egg, mineral tablets, and thawed, raw turkey until mixture is a homogenous slurry. Add mixture to boiling pot. Stir thoroughly. Allow to return to a boil. Remove pot from the heat, cover and allow to stand until grains have absorbed most of the liquid.

per cup fed nutrient unit amount kcal kcal/ME/day 171.3913 protein g 5.771884 fat g 11.17043 carbohydrate g 3.873913 dietary fiber g 0.362319 calcium mg 525.942 sodium mg 27.18841 iron mg 1.815652 Daily energy requirement for average 10 pound dog: kcal kcal/ME/day 325.8

Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 3 -- Evacuation Plans and Training

There is one last area that needs to be addressed when we talk about disaster prep with your pets, and that is your plan for evacuating to safety, and training your pets for that evacuation plan. I’m going to use evacuation as our word for getting to safety, even if you’re taking shelter in your home.

Evacuation is something that happens suddenly. It's an abrupt change in routine and it's usually accompanied by high stress. If you haven’t provided your pet with at least some training or acclimation in regards to the evacuation, you can have serious problems.

For example, if your evacuation plan includes having your pet crated, you will want to have them acclimated to the crate. If you will need to have them on leash they should be well trained to walk on a leash during hectic and high traffic situations.

The first part of the process is to formulate your evacuation plan. I know that right now everyone is thinking tornado, but that may not be the only time you need to evacuate. You also need a plan for fire, both home and wild, and if you’re in a flood prone area you may need a plan for flood. A good fire evacuation plan can also be put into effect for other emergencies such as bomb threats, gas leaks, or other non-disaster evacuations that might occur.

Whether you’re fleeing a fire or taking shelter from a tornado, your evacuation will begin and end with your “safe zone”. The first thing you need to know is where you’re going to go before you can start figuring out how to get there. For a tornado your safe zone may be a cellar, a basement, a safe room, a shelter, or an interior room of your home. It may be a neighbor’s property or a relative’s home. In the case of fire or flood it will be a location outside the danger zone. Once you have established the location of your safe zone, you need to look at the location and determine how you can best utilize the space. What, besides yourself, your family and your pets can you fit in your safe zone? Is there room for additional emergency supplies beyond your “go kit”? Do you have electricity available? Do you have cellphone signal? How will you contain your pet safely within the safe zone? Will you be sharing space with other families?

Once you have determined where you’re going and how to best utilize the space, you need to determine how to get everyone that needs to be in that safe zone there in as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is where good training comes in. Evaluate your pet’s response to the preparations you’ll need to take for evacuation. Do they like to play ring around the rosy with you when you go to put their harness on? Do they get overly excited and become difficult to handle? Are they anxious about riding in the car?

If your dogs are like ours, putting on “clothes” is cause for great rejoicing and becoming complete and utter spazz dogs for about 15 minutes. Because of this we harness them early so that they have time to settle down. Those dogs that are hard to catch we place in confined areas like our bathroom, so that we can grab them more easily.

For tornadoes, training your pet to enter whatever shelter you will be utilizing on command can be very useful. This will require some pre-work on your part. Take your pet into the room, shelter, or cellar on a frequent basis and make them stay in that location for short periods of time to acclimate them. Use a command such as “go underground” when you take your pet into the sheltered area, and give them a treat. Keep them there for a few minutes and then let them go. If they will enter the shelter on their own praise them voluminously. Even if you have to carry them into the shelter, make a big deal about how good they are to “go underground”, and reinforce that getting into the shelter is a good thing.

If you have to leave your property to reach safety, training your dog to “load up” in the car is also highly recommended.  Take them for frequent car rides. Then train them to unload at their destination and enter whatever shelter you have traveled to utilize.

If you have multiple pets, training them to evacuate on command can be a life saver. It can save precious minutes in evacuation time and help prevent lost pets. You so often hear, “I just couldn’t get the dogs out in time…” But what if you could just open a couple of doors and yell “load up” or “go underground”?

With proper planning and training there should be very few instances where you have to leave your pet behind in an evacuation. Know where to go, how to get there, and make sure that your pet will be ready to go.

Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 2 -- Emergency Evacuation Kit

Probably everyone at some point has heard of an emergency preparedness kit, and what they should have in it for their family. I'm not going to rehash what you need for people. I'm going to address the fact that most of those recommendations don't take into account our pets.

With large animals such as horses there's not a lot you can do to have a kit ready. Their needs as far as food and water are too large to be easily contained in a quick grab kit. The best you can do is have an extra halter and lead per horse.

With pets though you can make a grab and go kit, or a kit to be stored in a safe location.  It it's a grab and go kit you'll want to pack it in something portable... a duffle bag, large back pack, or other quickly portable container.
A kit to be stored in a safe location such as a cellar or basement can be contained in a plastic bin to keep moisture and critters out.

Things you'll want to have in your kit:

1. Water: For a stored kit as with humans you want a gallon per pet per day, and should plan on having at least 3 days worth. Have 7 if you can. For a go kit have several liter bottles of water, at least 1 per pet. 2 is better.
2. Food: Again, three days worth per pet for a go kit and 7 days for a stored kit. If your pet requires specialized food this is especially important. If it's dry food you'll want to store it in an airtight container and swap your supply every few weeks to keep it fresh.
3. Can opener and something to scoop it out with if you're using canned food.
4. measuring scoop for dry food
5. A supply of your pet's medications. I like to keep an extra bottle of each med our dogs are on stored in my emergency supplies. As I run out of the bottle I am using on a daily basis, I replace it with my stored bottle and order a new bottle for the stored supplies. This keeps the meds from going out of date.
6. Copies of your pets shot and medical records an an air and water tight container. All of my dogs that have health conditions have a medical file that we keep on hand along with their shot records. This is useful if we have to see a vet that doesn't know the dogs.
7. An extra collar, harness, and leash
8. Toys and treats
9. Extra food and water bowl: I like collapsible bowls and recommend one of the rubber or silicone bowls such as the Kurgo Collaps-A-Bowl, the Ruff Dawg Ruff Bowl, or the Bamboo Pet Collapsible bowl
10. First aid kit for dogs and first aid guide book for pets
11. A list of emergency contacts and veterinarians around your area, and around the area to which you will most likely evacuate.
12. Extra ID tags
13. Proof of ownership: good clear photos stored in an airtight, waterproof container
14. Extra towels and blankets, and/or a bed
15. kitty litter or pee pads
16. Collapsible cat little box, such as a Sturdibox or Go Kitty Go.
17. A kennel or crate if needed. I like to keep a pop up kennel in my kit in case I need to contain a dog somewhere. Be sure that you've acclimated your dog to the confinement.
18. drawstring trash bags and small trash bags for clean up and lining the kitty litter pan.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, I know, but you can vaccum seal the dry food, treats and the soft items such as leashes, towels, soft toys, and dog beds to reduce the amount of space they take up.  Pack it all into a duffle bag and you're ready to go on a moments notice.

Come back tomorrow for Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 3 -- Evacuation Plans and Training

Disaster Preparedness With Pets: Part 1 -- Identification

Every year about this time I start getting asked to give my talk about how to prepare for a disaster when you have pets.  Everyone who has read this blog, or spoken with me knows that Pug Hollow went through an F-4 tornado in May of 2011 resulting in the loss of all our physical property.
We had one fatality and one critical injury out of 22 dogs, and we were able to quickly locate all but one of the surviving dogs. He came back the next day.
It could have been much worse. It usually is much worse.

The first step is to be aware. Disasters can happen to ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. They can be large scale natural disasters, and impact a whole neighborhood, town, county, or even state, or they can be small and just impact one house (as anyone who has ever lost their house to a fire can tell you). Taking some steps to ensure safety before hand is just good sense.

So let's talk about where I like to start with prepping for unhappy circumstance...

Identification

 I like to have my pets tagged 6 ways to Sunday, and it doesn't just stop with the dogs. It's the cats and the horses too.

1. Microchip:

The most certain way to get your dog or cat tagged is to microchip them. They can also microchip horses and other equines. Collars, harnesses and halters can come off. Rabies tags can get lost.A microchip is going to be there as long as there is a body left.

Microchipping is done at your vet, just like giving a vaccination. It's a one time fee, and there are a number of free microchip registries out there you can use rather than paying for a yearly subscription. Some rescues microchip their pets before sending them out to new homes.

 2. Rabies tag:

A rabies tag is also a point of identification. It provides veterinary information that hopefully links to the owner of the pet. You can also go one step further and engrave your contact information into the back of the tag. A small hand engraver will cost you about $20 to $50 depending on what and where you buy.

3. Identification tag:

These are the simple hanging tags that attach to your pet's collar or harness. If your dog has a medical condition this is a good way to let people know as these can be double sided with engraving.  If you do double sided engraving I suggest your pet's name, and medical condition(s) on the front side and at least 2 contact numbers on the back. Make one of the contact numbers a land line number to someone outside of your immediate household, and preferably outside of your neighborhood. It can be a friend, family member or your veterinarian. This will ensure that even if everything around you including your cell phone is destroyed, there will still be one valid number on the tag.  I prefer to use both of our household's cell phone numbers and my father's land line number.
The downside to id tags is that they can be pulled off of the collar or harness and lost just like a rabies tag.

4. Collar plates:

Collar plates come in three types. Rivet attached, sliding, and adjustable sliding.

Rivet attached plates need a little work to get them in place, but it's not anything that your average person can't do.

1. For a nylon collar you need a nail, a pair of pliers, an oven mitt, open flame heat source, rivet kit and a hammer.  
2. Use the tag to mark where you need to put holes in the collar. 
3. Put on the oven mitt and grab the pliers. 
4. Grasp the nail with the pliers near the head, and insert the other end of the nail into the heat source.  The heat source can be the flame from a gas burner, a small blowtorch, large candle, campfire... Be sure to be careful and not set anything on fire.
5. Once the nail is hot, use it to poke holes where you've marked the collar. The nylon will melt and it will stink but this is the best way to make holes.  
6. Once your holes are the correct size for your rivets you can place the plate on the collar and use the instructions on the rivet kit to set them in place.

For a leather collar you will use a leather punch to make the holes.

If you need to remove the plate from the collar you can drill the rivets loose from the back side with an electric drill and bit.


Sliding plates are easy to put in place, and easy to remove but they only work with standard non-adjustable buckle collars.

Adjustable sliding plates are harder to find but they work with adjustable collars as well as standard buckle collars.

I don't waste space on names on collar plates. I just load them up with as many contact numbers as they can fit. 

5. Embroidered collars:

Embroidered collars can be a more expensive way to ID your dog, but there is no plate or tag to lose. They are however, susceptible to being scratched into illegible fuzz.

6. Tags for Horses

You can get halter plates that screw onto a halter and halter tags that can attach to a halter or be braided into a mane.


Considerations:
If you chose an engraved tag or plate, I suggest one that has been diamond engraved. The engraving lasts longer on a tag than laser engraving.

While I've included some links to several shops that you can purchase identification for pets and horse equipment, you may want to shop around and look for cheaper prices. e-Bay can be a good place for that, but remember... you do chance getting what you pay for.

Placement of identification is important as well.

I like to put my rabies tags on my dog's walking harness.  They don't need it when lying around the house, and it keeps them from losing it in the yard.
I also like to have two rivet plates per dog... one on their collar and one on their harness near the leash ring. If the dog has a medical condition that needs daily medication or consideration (such as diabetes, thyroid conditions, hypoglycemia, seizures, heart problems, liver or kidney problems, Addison's, etc...) I also add a medical tag to both harness and collar.

I suggest a reflective breakaway halter like the Lami Cell with plate or tag for your horse to wear in emergencies and a tag braided into the mane. A breakaway halter will keep your horse from getting into a wreck if the halter gets caught on debris and the tag braided into the mane will give ID if the halter is lost.

And that pretty much covers all the possible types of identification with the exception of tattooing or branding.

Keep an eye out for "Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 2 -- Emergency Evacuation Kit" coming tomorrow.

Happy Tails

It's been a good month here at Pug Hollow!

Out of our nine adoptable dogs we have placed four in the last month!

The wonder twins, Marvin and Martin, found a home with a wonderful retired school teacher. We were glad to place them together as they were litter mates who had been together their whole lives.

 

 

Fennec went to a graduate student who wanted an active companion. It was love at first sight! We think Fenn will be more than able to keep up with him in everything he wants to do, and her social butterfly personality will be a hit at the dog park!

 

 


 Ms. Aster is our most recent placement. She went to an older lady from Texas. Aster has been looking for an older person with a relatively quiet household, and she found it!

 





We hope they will have many many years with their forever families!

Single Black Male Puggle Looking for Long Term Relationship

Up to date on shots, neutered, and house-trained

Age: 3 years old

... Build: Short and athletic

Enjoys: Long walks, fenced yards, soft beds, dining on dry kibble, playing fetch with kids and cuddles

Tolerates: Cats, going out to potty in the rain

Looking for: Long term relationship, lifetime commitment, and a family to call his own.

Offers: Good manners, boundless love, quiet devoted companionship, adorable antics, sweet puggle snores, occasional flatulence, and an ability to drive you nuts with a squeaky toy

If interested contact Kara at pughollow@gmail.com 

 

 

The joy of dogs who qualify for Veterinary Case Study status

Edgar, at age 14, has decided to add another condition to his polyglandular autoimmune cluster. (He's got PGA type 2.) In addition to Addison's, hypothyroidism, and chronic cirrhosis, he has decided to add a pancreatic insufficiency. Because pancreatic insufficiencies don't present until the pancreas is almost non-fucntional we're dealing with diarrhea, anorexia, and weight loss.
But he seems to be responding to famotidine and enzyme replacement.

Then there's Birdie the elderly chihuahua... who can't pee, and isn't eating. She's got a degenerative bone and nerve condition in her hips and her bladder just isn't working right. Because we thought she was constipated, we didn't catch the bladder and she's got a bladder infection. So she's on antibiotics and we're manually expressing her bladder until we can find a drug that helps. (She did pee on her own today!) She's not eating at all and we're syringe feeding her large amounts of baby food each day.

And of course Red the mutt had to start a fight and get his butt kicked, resulting in an emergency call to our vet....

But I may be placing 4 of our adoptables!

Find a Valentine! Pug Hollow Adoption Special!

Pug Hollow is having an adoption special in time for Valentine's day!

Adopt any Pug Hollow Dog for $15.

Currently we have the following dogs available for adoption: All dogs are spayed/neutered, up to date on vet care and ready to adopt out.

Fennick: 1 year old female Shiba-Inu/Sheltie mix.  Fennick is black, fuzzy haired, about 22 pounds and a total love with huge radar dish ears. Fenn needs an active home where she can get lots of exercise. She loves children, chases cats, and is up to date on shots, flea control and heartworm preventative. She is also spayed and housebroken.

Oddity: 1 year old Chiweenie male. Oddity is tan, 14 pounds and a complete clown. He loves kids and other dogs but isn't sure about cats. He's very active and needs lots of exercise. Another dog or kid to zoom with would be great. He's housebroken, neutered and UTD on shots flea control and heartworm preventative.

 Aster: 3 year old liver and white Daschund/Jack Russell mix. Aster is a love who will be just as happy to couch potato as go for walks. She loves kids and older folk, doesn't like cats and is about 15 pounds. She's UTD on shots, flea control, heartworm preventative, spayed and housebroken.

Marvin: 1 year old male Daschund/Shi-tzu mix. Marvin is tan, 14 pounds and wire haired. He loves kids, will chase cats if given the opportunity, and can be a total couch potato. If you have a little girl who would like to put bows in a dog's hair this is one of the two dogs for you! He's UTD on shots, flea control and heartworm preventative, neutered and 98% housebroken (he still marks in new settings but we'll send him with a bellyband!)

Martin: 1 year old Daschund/Shi-tzu mix. Marvin is dark brown/grey, 14 pounds and wire haired. He loves kids, will chase cats if given the opportunity, and can be a total couch potato. If you have a little girl who would like to put bows in a dog's hair this is one of the two dogs for you! He's UTD on shots, flea control and heartworm preventative,neutered and 98% housebroken (he still marks in new settings but we'll send him with a bellyband!)

Fats: 2 year old Puggle. Fats is a beagle sized pug mix. He weighs in at about 25 pounds, and he is black with a smooth coat. If you're looking for a dog to make some miles with you, Fats is the dog. He's a laid back dude who loves hiking, walking and just going places. He does go nose-deaf so he can't be off leash yet.  Fats is UTD on shots, flea control and heartworm preventative, and neutered. He's housebroken but likes to be outside in a fenced yard as much as possible when it's nice.

Pippa: 1 year old black lab-pit bull mix. Pippa is a sweetheart who needs a special home. She came to us from a very abusive situation, and she wants so badly to be a people dog. She is still unsure of directly approaching a human but with patience and love she will be the dog of your heart. Right now she will only approach if she has a toy in her mouth, but when she does come up she soaks up the love.  Pippa doesn't yet walk on a leash, because it scares her badly, but she's getting better. Pippa also doesn't like to be in a house so she would need a fenced yard. A buddy to play with would be excellent as well.  Pippa is strictly no children and no cats.  She still needs to be spayed, but will be ready for adoption to only the most special home after.

Please help us help other dogs by adopting one of the dogs above. Until we adopt these little loves out we are full to absolute capacity and unable to help anyone else!

pughollow@gmail.com