huga

I lost my mojo when we lost Lola, but I'm still checking in on everyone else's ☺

I can't believe Bella is 5! I honestly don't know where the time goes.

Sid is 5 too and just the most special boy. Finally starting to feel himself again after we lost Lola about 6 weeks ago.

Lola had her femoral head removed at 6 months because of LCP. She skipped and hopped her whole life and eventually lost feeling in her whole back end. She had a lot of muscle wastage too.

I'm sorry to hear about Chloe. I hope you can come up with a good solution for her xx

You know the worst part about this? Not only has Sid lost his best friend, but he's lost his guide dog. Being completely deaf, he relied on her so much.

The kids are ok. Ollie (my eldest) got quite upset saying goodbye on Wednesday morning before school. But other than that they've been quite alright. I think spending the afternoon at the beach with her the day before really did help.

Thank you all so much. She'd been weakening in her back end for some time. She hadn't been able to come out on walks for about 2 years. Nerve damage meant she couldn't feel much at all, but was bearing the brunt of her weight on her front legs, which I'm sure was taking its toll. She'd had fecal incontinence for over six months, which on its own wasn't a big deal. But on the weekend I took her out for a wee and she couldn't squat without falling over and I knew it was time. I told my vet I always thought the line would be when she stops eating, but he said in breeds like pugs, the love of food will conquer pretty much anything and to wait for her to give up on food really would be waiting too long. He took one look at her yesterday and said he would do the same. In true pug style, she fought the sedation every step of the way, even when he gave her extra. I knew she would. He told me that pugs never want to go quietly.

I was hoping I wouldn't find this here

sounds like you gave her the perfect day out, so sad, so hard ... just so sorry

so sorry for your loss for lovely loved Lola

I'm sure Harry will look after her

and poor Sid, very hard

Thank you CM <3

The kids are sad, but did most of their crying when they said goodbye this morning. My husband broke down when he came home from work (one of about 5 times I've ever seen him cry) and Sid is just sad and lost. He keeps glancing around for her, but is very flat. Every night my husband does back exercises on the floor and every night we end up crating Sid because he thinks it's an invitation for a game. Not tonight. He's laying next to him.

Oh that's so sad.

Did Sid see her after she was let go? Sometimes it helps them, but even so, I would still expect him to miss her.

No, we left her with the vet and I didn't want to take him along as I thought it would be more distressing for everyone.

The kids are sad, but did most of their crying when they said goodbye this morning. My husband broke down when he came home from work (one of about 5 times I've ever seen him cry) and Sid is just sad and lost. He keeps glancing around for her, but is very flat. Every night my husband does back exercises on the floor and every night we end up crating Sid because he thinks it's an invitation for a game. Not tonight. He's laying next to him.

I'm so sorry, I didn't know she wasn't doing well, but one line you wrote really struck a chord with me, and it's exactly how I feel, and I hope you can be at peace with your decision. You said :" I didn't want to wait until every day was a bad day" Yes! Exactly! Thank you for having the strength of character and loving her enough to let her go before she reached that point.

RIP sweet, funny Lola. xx

Thank you. Working as a vet nurse in the past has meant I've seen animals continue on for perhaps longer than they should. I didn't want that for her, as hard as it was. My vet reassured me that we were making the right choice.

Oh old girl, today was the day we gave you your wings. I'd hoped the decision would be easier, that somehow you would let us know. But you didn't. You fought tooth and nail right to the end, in typical pug style. I thought I'd feel some peace, but I don't. It just hurts. Yesterday I took you for ice cream and then an afternoon trip to the beach, I'm positive it was the best day of your life. You enjoyed yourself so much. So much that I was doubting that final vet appointment we'd made. But this morning you were tired, you found a patch of sun and snoozed away - not even getting up to greet me when I got home from a very teary school run. It was time. Even though you still found joy in food, your body was giving up. I didn't want to wait until every day was a bad day. So I hope that wherever it is that dogs go when they leave us, that it is warm and you find your patch of morning sun. That you find Harry and he can show you around while you chase him on legs that work properly again. He always was your favourite. I know you didn't love Sid as much as he loves you, but he has already searched the house for you and it's breaking my heart. If it's possible, I think he will feel this more than anyone else in this family. Thank you for being the most lovely, stubborn, happy, tough little comedian we've ever known. We will miss you so much xx

I've always had the mindset to keep them healthy as possible and nutrition is a big part of that. They've always had good quality food and fish oil. They are very rarely treated with food. The last time Lola went to the vet (just before Christmas), it was the beginning of her down hill slide. She had a thorough going over, x rays, bloods and was prescribed pain relief. I asked the vet if she needed to lose weight and he said her weight was decent, especially for an elderly pug - but I could probably get a few hundred grams off her in an attempt to make it easier for her. So over the period of a few months, I did.

That said, you can bet I am taking her out for ice cream in the next couple of days.

They've always been at the higher end. I paid $3000 for Sid 5 years ago.

Exactly, Roova. My vet tells me whenever we're in that Sid has one of the best temperaments he's ever seen and he's not a brachy fan. He's superb with the kids too. I wouldn't change a thing.

We've had Sid for over 5 years. He is the perfect dog for us. I hate how their popularity has led to a rise in BYBing, fad colours etc as this is a breed whose health should be first and foremost when breeding, but I'm not surprised - they are such fantastic little dogs.

Lovely photos Huga

Thank you :)

Another film one this week, as I had an F100 shipped from Japan and wanted to take it for a drive :) Kodak Portra 400 this time. I really need to find a proper lab for processing now.

19/52

We live with the world's worst internet, uploading them bigger is gong to be a pain. Boooooo, flickr! It's done something weird to the colour too. I don't sharpen anything from the 35mm because it's so sharp. Sometimes too sharp.

I've fallen a bit behind too, mostly because I've started shooting a bit of film and it does require a bit of waiting :laugh:

16/52

17/52

18/52 (Not film, taken before we went out to dinner last night for our wedding anniversary).

ETA OMG, flickr has chewed up that last one. It's 1200 on the longest side, maybe I should upload them bigger?

We don't have an actual routine, but I bath Sid about twice as often as I bath Lola. He seems to be a dirt magnet and she repels it. Plus he dries in about 2 seconds and she takes all day. Yesterday he decided to take himself for a swim and ended up rolling in the sand afterwards. So he got his second bath in a week. He seems to wear his nails down by himself, but I have to trim Lola's every now and then. Her dew claws are the worst, they seem to grow so quickly.

I'm really sorry to hear about Justice, Snook. I hope he gets better quickly. Lola had a couple of MCTs removed a while ago, but they keep popping up and I won't keep putting her through surgery so now we leave them. The aging process sucks.

Catch up for me.

14/52 My eldest baby turned nine.

15/52 Photographed my brother and his partner for some promo stuff.

I made several (poor) attempts at a composite Huga and gave up. Instead I used my sister strategically placed and ready to rescue the mouse :)

I'm so impressed ????

How did you manage to keep a goat leg still long enough? So cute!

More to the point how did you stop the goat from eating Marvellous? :laugh:

Well, it may be that poor Marvellous DID end up in Utopia's mouth just after I got that shot . To keep her still we just put her collar on and held her, and I got the pic very quickly lol.

I was sure that was a composite with food or something! :laugh: Well done!

None of my dogs have ever buried food, dogs or bitches. But they're all been giant piggies.

It's geared towards phones, for sure - but you can use it on a PC. I like its simplicity. If I had to choose between FB and insta, I would choose insta every time. It used to be square crops only but that's changed recently. Business wise it's very helpful.

It's a dog beach ???? Lots of people going for walks etc and get curious and come over for a look. Everyone was really sensible and put them on lead when they realised what was going on.

Yep they do! Hatching and making it to the water is only the first step. Less than 0.2% survive to the age of 30.