Amateur at large: Truthful Tuesday: The one with P's story

If you follow my socials, you already know the sad news, but if you don't, I'll tell you now. I said goodbye to Pia on Sunday evening. I swear, she held on through her birthday because she knew how badly I wanted to celebrate that milestone with her. But on Sunday morning, she was struggling with her vestibular disease. When I left for the barn in the morning she was resting comfortably, but I was thinking it might be time to see the vet on Monday. When I got home Sunday afternoon, P was still resting comfortably, but she wasn't terribly responsive. She knew I was home, and opened her eyes to acknowledge me, but she didn't want to get up. And after acknowledging me, she didn't want to even hold her eyes open. While her breathing was relaxed and steady, I knew she wasn't well. So I brought her to the ER half hoping she had an ear infection that we could treat, but also knowing it was probably time. It was a bit of a wait there, but she rested in my arms while we waited. The vets checked her over and noted that all of her vitals were okay, but she was delayed in her responses. While she was able to stand, she could only walk in a circle, and eventually would lose her balance and fall over. We've been dealing with that, but on this day, the spark was gone. I knew it was time, and the vets agreed. There was nothing to really be done to help her anymore. And so I let her go to be with her brother Artie over the rainbow bridge. But this isn't going to be a sad post. This post is her life story. And what a life she lived! 17 years!

Funny story about how I found Pia... I have always loved Pugs. There was a pet store near me back in 2006 that did NOT sell puppies, but somehow had wound up with a rescue Pug puppy that they were trying to find a home for. My boyfriend at the time and I went over to see the pup, but I wasn't convinced he was meant to be my dog. We decided to go grab some ice cream and think about. I really wanted a girl dog, and also I really wanted a puppy that was just weaning from mom. (Way back then I thought differently than I do now, and wanted to raise the puppy right from the start. Now I'm just as satisfied to find a rescue that's already housebroken and done teething...) The dog at the store was a little bit older (not much, I think 6 months old) and was a boy pup. Well. BF and I get to Dairy Queen for our ice cream, and what do we see? A flier for pug puppies! Guys, it was fate. I called the number and it was a family that wanted to breed their pug one time. They planned to keep a puppy and sell the others. Or keep them if no interest, but honestly finding homes for pug puppies is pretty easy. (Another aside: I now rescue my dogs. Please don't attack me or this family for back yard breeding. They fixed their dog after this one litter, and responsibly homed all the puppies.) ANYWAY, when we called, they had two females left, and we were welcome to come meet them the next evening. And so we did, and this is the lil girly that I picked:

The day I met P! Just a fresh little nugget!

The puppies weren't ready for weaning just yet. Which was fine since I needed to get supplies and puppy proof the house. I was still living with my mom at this point, but I would buy my house a few months later. I met P in early May and she was ready to come home on Father's Day. The family that bred her was actually coming to my little town for Father's Day brunch at a local resort, so we met at the commuter lot and I was able to bring P to meet her Grandpa on Father's Day. Here she is having a snooze in his arm:

I know. Nothing cuter than that. Seriously. Look how tiny!

Anyway, we lived with my mom and stayed with the BF a fair amount the first few months. And then in September of that year I moved into the house I live in now. P "helped" me paint the house and move in. The funniest story... When Pia was still with her OG family they trained the puppies with pee pads. She was really easy to house train, and we didn't need to use the pads for very long. But you know what is very similar to doggy pee pad? Disposable drop cloths that you use when painting. Hahaha! P would use them as a restroom. At first I was concerned that she was regressing with her potty training due to the move. But then I realized she thought she was doing the right thing. Once the painting was done and the cloths were gone she stopped having accidents.

She was such a fun puppy. She was never destructive, but she did get the zoomies sometimes. She would tear around like she was coked up or something... it was pretty crazy. And hilarious. She LOVED to squeak toys, but was gentle with them. We would have to invite doggo friends over from time to time to destroy a few toys because her collection was quite large and she never destroyed anything.

P was an only dog for many years, but I did wonder if she'd like to have a friend. I mean, I was working full time, plus had the horses so she was alone quite a lot during the day. But I didn't want to rush into it. I was really worried I'd never find another dog as well behaved and easy as P. We had one dog that we did a trial overnight with, but they weren't the right match. A friend of mine wound up adopting her though, so I didn't feel too guilty about it. Some more time passed, and then we met Artie. They hit it off right from the start, and were pretty inseparable. Artie let P be in charge and in return she let him snuggle with her. I really hope they're together where ever they are now.

While Pia was the perfect dog in every way and was super easy to raise, she did have some challenges. As a young pup she would occasionally have seizures that we never fully figured out, but she did seem to outgrow. Over her (many) years, she had a few health scares. Her liver counts were always not great, and she frequently had UTI's and ear infections. She was a frequent flier at the vet hospital, and even had to have surgery on her lady parts to remove some of the skin back there. It helped a lot with the UTI's thankfully and she stopped getting them for awhile until she was quite old when they resurfaced. Her ears we helped with diet. She couldn't eat most meat proteins so she lived on prescription kibble that was fish based. Thankfully she liked it. We never did figure out the liver issues. Her counts were always kind of bad, and I don't know how many times I left the vet in tears thinking she had cancer. But she never did, and she always bounced back. I swear this dog had nine lives.

Her face got grayer and grayer as she aged, but she was always the cutest girl. She regularly looked tired of my shit, but I know deep down she was just laughing along with me. When Rita joined the family, I'm not sure P was thrilled. But she was tolerant and allowed Rita to integrate just fine. I even caught them snuggling once or twice. Not on camera though. Heaven forbid!

It was hard to watch her get old. The last few months especially. But boy did I love that dog. She was by my side through nearly every adult milestone. Relationships and breakups. Buying horses and losing horses. Always there. Always by my side. Or in my lap. Especially on the hard days. I'm not quite sure how I'll tackle the hard things without her here. But I like to think she's still with me. At least a little bit. There will never be another dog like Pia, but how lucky am I to have had her companionship and love for seventeen years?

So here's to Pia!

I'll miss you sweet girl. I will love you forever and miss you even longer.