Buster the scaredy pug

Our little Buster is the product of a mixed marriage. His mother was half dachshund and half pug, his father was pure pug. Unless you see him with other pugs he looks like he us pure pug, but with a few issues.

Buster joined our family almost 13 years ago at the age of 8 weeks. When I first saw him and his litter mates I just fell in love. I went home and told Don "you have to see these pups and talk me out of getting one". I have no idea what I was thinking. He is as crazy for dogs as I am. At the time we already had a rescued pointer mix, a yellow lab, and a shih tsu. Not to mention the giant cat with an attitude problem. The last thing we needed was another dog. Don couldn't get to the car fast enough. As we walked among the pups, there was one that just caught Don's eye and heart. We picked him up 2 weeks later. So much for talking me out of something crazy.

Buster was a goofy little guy. Everyone was his friend. He had no fear of the bigger dogs and dearly wanted to be friends with the shih tsu, Tillie. Tillie had other plans for Buster and since she and the cat were best buddies, the cat joined in. Her first mission was to make sure he didn't touch any of the toys. Shih tsus are very intellegent and she is at the top of the class. She systematically went through the house and yard picking up every toy and putting it on a chair or lounger where Buster couldn't reach. If he was in Don's lap she would tolerate it, but if he was in mine she would wedge in there and shove him off. No matter how mean she was to him, how much she bullied him, he just kept trying. I have no idea what happened to make a change, but one morning about 3 weeks after he joined our family I got up to find him in Tillie's bed. He was covered in stuffed toys, just his little face peeking out. Tillie was laying beside the bed on the floor. It was obvious that she had let him join her in her bed then gone around the house and gathered up all of her favorite toys and given them to him. His curly little tail wagged like crazy, he was finally accepted into his new pack family.

Buster is not the bravest dog on the block. He is also not the sharpest tool in the shed, bless his heart. His first snow scared him senseless. We started calling him chicken little because he acted like the sky was falling. He panicked if it rained and he would walk a mile around a puddle to keep from stepping in water. The other dogs live for an opportunity to scoot out into the front yard. Buster gets just a few steps out and wants right back in. There isn't a fence out there. I imagine him thinking "are they out of their minds? There isn't a fence. Anything could come in this foreign territory and whisk me away." The list goes on and on. The only realistic fear was that the cat would get him. He had good reason to fear the cat. Until recently we had a very large cat. He saw Buster as a target of opportunity the moment he saw him. He would bide his time and watch for the perfect chance to jump Buster when no one was watching. There were times when Tillie and the cat would tag team in this torture. Tillie would lure Buster into a room then watch the cat jump out and scare him.

As time went by his looks began to change. He developed a terrible under bite so that his bottom teeth always show. Another thing we noticed was that his head was not growing at the same rate as his body. Dear Lord, out of all those pups, we picked the one who was micro-cephalic. If you put wings on him, he looks like one of the wicked witch's flying monkeys.

While we can't prove it, we think he is also cognitively disabled (mentally retarded is no longer politically correct). He just doesn't catch on like the other dogs. Case in point, it took him 7 years to learn that he had to sit for a treat. Every day of their lives I line the dogs up for a treat. Every day they all automatically sit without being told, except for Buster. For 7 years I waited for him to sit until one day he finally did it without being told. It was truly a landmark day for the little guy.

One month after his second birthday he had his first seizure. My husband and I have worked with people with developmental disabilities for 25 years. We know what to do and remain calm when a person has a seizure. Not so with the dog. I went into panic mode, totally freaking out calling for Don to come quick. He wasn't any better. Our vet later assured us that we did everything right and also informed us that this was no different from a human with a seizure disorder. It seems that it is not uncommon for pugs to develop seizures after the second year of life. Most do just fine with medication. Buster has been on medication for 11 years now and while he does sometimes have a seizure they are not as severe, but last much longer.

Although Tillie seemed to get a kick out of watching the cat torment him, it is obvious that she really loves him. She demonstrated this deep affection one day when I was home in bed with the flu. I had been sleeping most of the day and was awakened by a loud banging on the open bedroom door. When I sat up to check out the noise I saw that Buster was having a seizure. What was amazing was that Tillie was leaning against him, as though keeping him from rolling around and hurting himself. She was perfectly still, pressing against him and tenderly licking his face. We always worried about him having a seizure while we were not home, now we knew that he did, but that he was being loved and comforted through it.

Buster has always been "chunky". He loves his dinner and any thing else he can get into. In addition, the medications he takes to control his seizures cause weight gain. I've always called him my little pot bellied pig because that is what his funny little body looked like. My son calls him "football" because he says Buster looks like a football with legs. Even though we fed weight control foods and tried to keep him active, he just continued to gain weight. He wasn't particularly interested in anything but food and his fear of going out of his fenced back yard made it impossible to take him for walks.

All of that changed when we moved to the country. The acre of land that our house sits on is completely fenced with chain link. There are so many new things to smell here and he has started following our 3 year old Australian Shepherd everywhere. The little guy is on the go all the time. He has trimmed down to a healthy weight, He is no longer afraid of everything in his environment. Instead he is curious and explores the property several times a day. Of course he tries to eat anything that resembles food along the way. He even enjoys visiting the areas outside the chain link fence and crossing the road to get the mail with us. The cat passed away several months ago at the age of 17, so he no longer lives in fear of sneak attacks. The only thing he fears now are the chickens. That is a legitimate fear. He just had to pester them until one pecked him on top of his head. He no longer feels a need to follow them around. Some fears are healthy.