After adopting Maverick, Elsie, and Frank, we had a pretty full household… but then we offered to foster for the 2024 Christmas period. “What about puppies?” Lisa, our area manager, texted. I think I nearly passed out. I had wanted a pug puppy since my teens, but I have focused on rescuing, and they rarely need homes that young. Lisa sent through pictures of three adorable fawn pups, and I chose Dora immediately. She was tiny and looked like my very first pug, Dolly.
We ended up taking all three puppies at first, with Doreen and Douglas going to a friend and fosterer locally. Dora stayed behind, much to the horror of our other three! She had some worrying traits, including spinning and a domed head, so we popped her to the vet to check her over. Thankfully, she was mostly healthy, although the vet does think she may have suffered some trauma, and we must be vigilant for any signs of hydrocephalus.
I think we’d had her around five hours when I realised I was never going to rehome her… my husband took a little longer, but it was him who went out and bought her a ‘my first bowl’ and bunny-eared hoodie on day three! Dora has a very strong ability to make you love her almost immediately.
Having a puppy has been one of the biggest challenges. Dora is healthy and happy, but she has taken longer to reach milestones, has remained very small (5kg) and is very sensitive to changes in her environment. She doesn’t like particular surfaces, but we’ve taught her to request ‘uppies’ in these situations. She has a pouch she likes to sit in, so we can carry her around when she needs some time out.
When she turned one, we threw a birthday party in our local park, and more people came to that than to any of our human celebrations. She has so many lovely friends, and she got spoiled rotten, as she should be.
Dora is unique. She seems very quiet but is capable of chaos. She’s very cheeky, but I will admit we let her get away with a lot because she had a rough start, and she’s just very cute! You say no to her side eye, I dare you! Our other three have gotten used to her antics. Maverick is by far her favourite, and he lets her chew on his ears. Elsie loves that Dora is brave enough to play tug with her (a brutal occurrence) and Frank likes it when she rolls around on the big bed with him and messes up all the pillows.
We couldn’t be more grateful to the PDWRA for letting us ‘foster fail’. Our family is complete (no, really this time), and Dora is a literal life-changing pug. We can’t wait to see how she grows up.
Link to the previous story – ‘Carolyn & the Hairy Heslops’
