Awesome, didn't realize there was a pug thread up... anyway, our pug passed away at the end of last summer. He was only 5-he died after taking a dive off a two story dog house at a local dog park. It sucks 'cause it happened right in front of me, but I couldn't stop it. The second floor was about 4-5 feet off the ground or so, but there was no railing whatsoever. Some other dogs had come up near the house and he got excited... I guess he thought he could make the jump, but he was pretty top heavy even though he was small for a pug, and he fell head first. I don't know if he broke his neck, or what happened exactly, we just saw blood around his mouth and he had what appeared to be mild a seizure. I picked him up immediately and we rushed him to the hospital... on the way over I tried giving him mouth to mouth to keep oxygen in his lungs 'cause he stopped breathing for himself, but I think we lost him somewhere along the drive. My girlfriend and I are still heartbroken over the whole situation. He was the first thing we bought when we moved away to college, had him since he was a puppy. We felt as though we had lost a child. His death didn't go unnoticed though; my sister (who was there when it happened) called the city and made a complaint about the house not being safe for small dogs (it was made for and placed in the area strictly sectioned off for small dogs). Within a few weeks they managed to get up a railing to prevent any further accidents. It's unfortunate it had to happen to our dog, but at least we know that other dogs will be safe in the future. It could have happened to anyone's dog, really. It was a fairly new park, so it was probably only a matter of time before someone's dog got hurt. There's not much room either, so a dog could have easily pushed off another dog by accident.
Funny thing is, he had already escaped death once. That last Christmas, he nearly choked on a piece of chicken he snagged from my father. My dad was tearing up a piece of chicken to give him as a treat, but in the process, the sneaky little guy just jumped up and nabbed the whole thing. He ran away and my dad found him shortly after, stumbling around before he collapsed onto the floor. My dad cried for help and I ran to the living room. He told me what happened and I tried to think fast. My mother, who absolutely loved our dog, was in tears, totally freaking out... she was trying to call a pet hospital to ask if we could bring him in or what we could do to help, but I knew that was pretty much pointless. It was either we save him that very moment or we were going to lose him. He was still conscious when I made my first few attempts to dislodge the chicken, but I saw him losing consciousness over time. I could only pull out tiny shreds at a time, it was pretty far down his esophagus. Luckily, as you all know, pugs don't have much of a snout, so I was able to get my fingers down pretty far. Once I finally got hold of it, I pulled it out as quickly & carefully as possible. At that point he had already lost consciousness. His eyes were open, but he looked dead. He wasn't moving or breathing whatsoever. I quickly set him on his back and began CPR. After about 20-30 seconds or so, I heard a nasty snort/grunt of an inhale, like a snore (I'm sure you know the sound). At that moment, the relief that came over me was like that of no other. He slowly began to breath, coughed a bit, and sat up pretty quick after that. I don't even know if he realized he almost died. He tried to get up as if nothing happened, but I could tell he was still light headed 'cause he couldn't walk very well. He looked like he was ready to eat another peace of chicken, the little beast.
Anyway, I made a couple of animated shorts in memory of the little guy. You can check them out on my YouTube channel @
youtube.com/hbcstudiostv"Fawn of the Dead" was made shortly after his death, the end of last summer, while "The Fawn of Man" was a recent project for a contemporary studio course at my university. You can see a picture of him in "Fawn of the Dead," along w/the only video we ever recorded of him eating an apple (which brought on the concept for the entire animation).
Here are the direct links:
Fawn of the Dead -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDCmQMC-3yAThe Fawn of Man -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s4zzUQmPP0Enjoy!
Love and cherish the time you have w/your pug(s). Life is too short, especially for dogs.
My apologies go out to all those who have lost a pug in the past, or any dog for that matter. It's hard, you'll always miss them, but it gets better.