Nix Bits

Many of you already know that we lost Bugsy on Monday.  He was 14 years old and we will miss him terribly.  We had reached out to friends and family who knew him and loved him too and they’ve all taken it about as hard as we have.  That’s been a comfort to know he touched and brought so much joy to so many others as well.  We always joked that Bugsy had a wider social circle than we did but there was actually quite a bit of truth in that.

Jennifer got Bugsy almost on a whim in 1997.  She’d been thinking about it for some time but really hadn’t actively looked for a pug.  She’d had a really bad supervision at her internship and needed to cheer herself up so she went to look at pug puppies — with her check book.   I suppose it was inevitable that one of those wild little monsters would make it home with her.  He bonded with her immediately following her everywhere and way too close like an imprinted duckling.

Bugsy as a puppy in North Carolina by all accounts was exceptionally crazed even by pug puppy standards. The dominant streak combined with his high intelligence and mischievousness made for lots of infuriating and amusing moments.  She tells me how hard he was to contain behind baby gates that he would manage to scale.  Or the times he would slip out and she’d spend two hours trying to round him up and get him back inside.  You’d get within a foot of him, all wild-eyed and smiling, and he’d dart off in a manic pug circle and stop again waiting for you to make another try.

But he helped her through internship and writing dissertation, forcing her to stop and play and walk the dog.  I haven’t been through the grad school grind but those who have tell how lonely and grueling it is.  Bugsy was there and forced her to have some desperately needed balance.  Even at a young age he was making the decisions and teaching us.  With Bugsy, training meant either making him think something was a game or his idea.  Often things were, in fact, his idea and he was just training all of us to catch on.

He was a little over 3 when she moved here in 2000 for her post-doc job and she and I became re-acquainted and started dating. It is not an exaggeration to say that if Bugsy and I had not gotten along and formed a bond that our relationship might not have eventually progressed to marriage.  We have dozens of early pictures of Bugsy sitting behind and above me or on top of my back, licking my head.  He let me know in no uncertain terms that he was here first.

Late that year, I did him the honor of getting him his own German Shepherd puppy — at least that’s the way he saw it.  We introduced them outside of my mid-city house because he had claimed that location as his own and we needed to introduce him on neutral territory.  We have some pictures of them on the front lawn at their first meeting, Bugsy grinning ear-to-ear at his new pup who at 8 weeks was already almost as large as him.

Callie and Bugsy first meet

Throughout his life Callie deferred to him.  No matter how large she got, he could take a bone literally right out of her mouth if he so desired it.  We taught her a game called, “put something in your mouth besides Bugsy.” So she’d grab a toy and they’d tear back and forth through the shotgun house with Bugsy nipping at yelling at her.  They both loved it.  And we laughed.  Laughter was a constant theme with Bugsy around.

Christmas 2002 in our old Mid City house. Callie and Bugsy

Jennifer and I were married in 2004.  Bugsy thought this a right fine idea and was all too happy to accommodate a second husband.    Some of my all time favorite photos of that day are of him approaching her sitting on a chair in the back room, jumping up next to her, getting a good chin rub and just posing and grinning obviously having a great time hanging out with his Momma looking gorgeous in her wedding gown.

Wedding Day 2004

Man did that dog love to be photographed.  Even the pictures he’s not supposed to be in, he’s often in.  He loved to wear costumes because he recognized they brought yet more attention and tasty treats.  Barkus was one of the highlights of each year.  He was fearless and approached everyone and simply assumed that they were there to meet and visit with him and that he was a part of it.  He wasn’t insecure in his attention seeking, he just assumed that he was involved in all things and that people were there at least in part to be with him.  He was, of course, right.  He taught them how to play his games.

And then in 2005 Katrina struck, the levees broke, and our home flooded.  We had evacuated to our best friends’ home Jackson.  Within the first week fellow evacuee Jimbo drove down and took both Callie and Toby (the cat) to Jennifer’s parents in KY.  Callie would end up living on the farm for 15 months.  Bugsy, stayed with us.  That was non-negotiable as we bounced from place to place. He taught us to laugh through tears and brought us great comfort during those dark days.  He was our little rock of stability, one of the main reasons we survived that time without completely losing our minds.  ”It’s ok to cry, but hey guys..we still need to go for walk in the park..and watch me go after this Great Dane!”  Bugsy earned a special place in doggie Heaven for getting us through that time and the yearlong life rebuild that followed.

Bugsy playing with Ryan & Rachel during Katrina evacuation 2005

Bugsy aged quite gracefully.  His health issues as he grew older were relatively mild.  He remained vigorous and joyful and playful.  Young pug is fun and hilarious, but old pug was just amazing to behold.  While he was always adaptable, he really loved his various routines.  He was crazy smart with a massive vocabulary.  He was a big talker and an amazing communicator.  You never had to guess at what he wanted.  He loved watching TV (Hotel for Dogs, Winged Migration, Meerkat Manor deserved oscars in his mind) often chasing running dogs off the screen to the edge which was next to our back door.  He’d be convinced our back yard was full of dogs, barnacle geese and meerkats.

We were conscious of his aging despite the minimal signs of any decline.  We decided to get Wyatt Earp via French Bulldog Rescue Network before he’d gotten too much older.  We figured they’d get along well but we were surprised just how much they bonded to one another.

Tight Like This

As I said, we were really conscious of his age and we made sure he got plenty of chances to do all the things he enjoyed. We took a couple of Kayak trips this fall. He was just crazy about riding in the Kayak.

Son of a gun we gonna have big fun on the Bayou.

We took him with us to d.b.a on Sundays.  He loved “going to the bar” because that was on opportunity be around lots of people and meet them — especially ladies.  We’d get up to dance and he’d sit on the chair at “our” table and chill and perhaps make a few friends.  We’ve lost count of how many times he’s been photographed by strangers at dba.

In the window booth at dba

His last day was a perfectly normal, happy pug kinda day.  We got up and read the Sunday paper on the couch with him draped over “daddy leg” as he liked to do on Sunday paper days.   He joined Wyatt a few times in front window patrol.   I gave them both a bath later that day and happened to take a slightly blurry photo of them both in the tub.  After the bath he ran around “naked” without his collar on in manic circles as he always did and demanded a cookie for the performance.   He hung out with us later that night as we watched TV.

We woke suddenly at 2:30am to Bugsy experiencing a massive seizure.  I pulled him off the bed onto the floor and tried to soothe and calm him.  Jennifer held him.  He did, unfortunately, wake for a bit and we could see the fear and confusion in his face.  But we were able to comfort him until consciousness slipped away again.  Jennifer held him in the back seat as I drove to the emergency clinic in Metairie with him convulsing the entire time. We knew.  They put enough drugs in him to take down Callie and that finally stopped the seizure.  His temperature had spiked somewhere north of 106 and stayed there for quite a while.  His seizure had gone on for well over an hour.

We picked him up from the emergency vet and took him to our regular vet office.  Jennifer got to hold him in the car.  We were both surprised at how calm and composed we were the entire time.  It was our turn, just this once, to take care of him and comfort him.  We were glad that this hadn’t happened while we were at work with him alone and that we could do that for him.

It was a waiting game to see how he would be once he woke up from the effects of the event and the drugs. The vets were checking every 15 minutes. The whole time his lungs sounded clear and his heart was strong. His heart was always strong.  Sometime around 2pm between 15 minute rounds he stopped breathing.  Whatever had happened to his brain was simply too much.   And in that Bugsy spared us agonizing decisions.   As ever, he made the decision for us. He still managed to take care of us.

It’s going to take some time to move forward.  The house is so much quieter.  Coming home without that face in the window and greeting at the door was rough.  But little Wyatt was there behind his little gate and he’s getting his bearings along with us without his “rudder”.  He will never be forgotten and deeply missed.  We were so blessed and privileged to share our lives with him.  He provided us a thousand wonderful memories filled with laughter… sneaking up behind the homeless guy at the park and drinking his “coffee”, screeching with delight as we’d ask “wanna go to the bar?” or “wanna go kayak?”, frantically trying to stop him from peeing on the people chairs at City Bark (with people IN them)..and failing..I could go on and on.  As the subject of Jennifer’s email to family and friends stated Monday: “The King has left the building.”  With no doubt there will be many other dogs throughout our life, but there will only be one Bugsy, as anyone else who knew and loved this dog can attest to.

Bugsy's such a ham.

Bugsy and Toby in the sun spot