You found Pumba! Hopefully, he was at a dog park. Pumba was an Olde English Bulldogge that I met when he was only 5 days old. He had a cleft palate and was struggling to gain weight like his brothers and sisters because he couldn't nurse. He needed surgery, he needed special care, he needed hand feeding....he needed me!
What I didn't know at that time was, I needed him too. I had just lost my pittie to cancer a few months earlier and although I had other dogs at the time, I had a big hole in my heart. I was missing a soul dog.
Fast forward through the exhausting puppy years, the insatiable play drive and I had myself a full blown pain in the A$$! He was the strangest dog I'd ever known. He had very specific routines and behaviors. He constantly had a toy in his mouth and would plop the slobbery thing in my lap so I would throw it for him, again and again and again and again. He would go until he could barely breathe and I was completely soaked in drool.
I'm pretty sure his sole mission in life was to drive me nuts. But I loved every minute of it. Over the next few years, I went through several difficult things in my life and Pumba was my consistent source of strength and laughter.
I was so wrong the day I met him, I thought he needed me, but truth is I needed him more. He kept me moving on my dark days and comforted me at night as the "little spoon" to my big one. His adult years were an equal balance of him slobbering all over me, then me blubbering tears all over him. My son got into some serious trouble, I lost my house, the Veterinary hospital I worked at closed, I lost my Dad, I lost my Mom. It was a pretty rough few years, but with Pumba by my side, I made it through.
After losing my home to foreclosure, Pumba and I had to downsize to an small apartment. No backyard, no privacy, but an elevator! Pumba loved that elevator. We had to go out for walks several times a day, which at first, sounded like a pain after having a fenced in back yard to play in. But it actually turned into the best parts of my day. We would try to find different locations to check out, especially if there was a body of water nearby to cool off in (and yes, even a puddle would do!) Pumba didn't really like other dogs, so unfortunately we typically couldn't go to public dog parks. However, if the weather was horrible, and "normal people " didnt go out, we were there. We sometimes hopped in the truck and just drove, no real destination in mind, but often I would search wherever we ended up for a dog park.
In Sept. 2020 just a few months before his 8th birthday, Pumba was diagnosed with 2 different heart conditions. We started treatment immediately, hoping to slow it if we couldn't stop it. He did well. He rolled right along with all the vet visits, EKG's, ultrasounds, x-rays, diet change and the meds. OMG, the meds. Between supplements, vitamins and prescriptions, he was taking a total of 18 pills a day. The cost of that was giving me a heart condition, but I would do anything for my best friend, my shotgun rider, my confidant, my ride or die, my Soul Dog.
He got me out of bed every morning, even when we wanted to just stay under the covers and sleep. He got me outside in the fresh air, even when it was cold out. He got me to search out new places and they became our special spots.
A year after his diagnosis, Pumba's heart finally just couldn't handle it, and my heart couldn't either. I lost my sweet boy October 3, 2021. I couldn't function, I couldn't breathe, I could barely move. In fact for the first few days after he was gone, I slept on his dog bed, all day and night. I couldn't leave my apartment, I didn't want to see anyone, especially the neighbors that loved to give him treats and scratch his wiggly butt. Hearing his name hurt and saying it was near impossible. I'm pretty sure what remained of my bruised and beaten heart left with him that cold Sunday. I have never been the same. I never will be. I have yet to step foot into a dog park.
If you stuck with me and are still reading this, that's where you come in!
Please help me honor the best, worst, weirdest, whiniest, wigglyist, slobberyist, most frustrating, most loving, best ball catching, crazy pants dog of all time - my Pumba!