Pug – Page 6 – Leonberger Life

Yesterday was Daisy’s 14^th birthday. We did not get around to celebrating it until today. Without our Leonberger Bronco it might never have come to pass. That’s because he saved her life from an attacking unleashed German Shepherd a few years ago. Bronco got in between him and his little sister Daisy. In the process he got bit in the leg where he had just had surgery, but he saved her life, and here we are.

Photo of our Pug Daisy with her princess crown and Happy Birthday Cookie. — It is Daisy’s 14^th birthday. Look at her princess crown.

Photo of our Pug Daisy and her brother Rollo a mini-Australian Shepherd. They are sharing the Happy Birthday Cookie. — Daisy and Rollo (mini-Australian Shepherd). It is Daisy’s 14^th birthday.

Another photo of our Pug Daisy and her brother Rollo a mini-Australian Shepherd. They are sharing the Happy Birthday Cookie. — Daisy and Rollo. It is Daisy’s 14^th birthday.

Photo of Daisy our pug from four years ago when she had her 10th birthday. We had our Leonberger Bronco then and he is right next to her. They had hot dogs back then. — Daisy’s 10^th birthday, four years ago. Bronco our Leonberger is celebrating with her. This was before we had Rollo.

Below is a snippet from the book that is about Daisy. I should add that at the time we did not have Rollo, but we had another small dog, Ryu, a Japanese Chin who loved both Bronco and Daisy.

All our children were allowed to choose a dog when they were growing up—but only when they were old enough to understand that it’s a big responsibility. Jacob picked Bronco, Rachel picked Ryu, and David, our middle child, picked Daisy, a pug. However, our dogs were never just birthday presents. We made sure everyone understood that getting a dog is a years-long commitment that cannot be reversed. We needed to make sure we could give each dog a good life before we would consider making this commitment.

Photo of Daisy when she was younger. She has her tongue out. For Daisy, it’s tongue-out Tuesday every day. — For Daisy, it’s tongue-out Tuesday every day.

Daisy arrived the year after we got Ryu. Like Ryu, she was purchased at Petland (not good, see book). Daisy is now thirteen years old and in good health at the time of this writing. She’s an easygoing, funny dog with an unusually long tongue, and everyone loves her, dogs as well as people. When it comes to being liked, she doesn’t have to try—she’s a natural. Ryu and Daisy would become best friends, but they also got along well with our other dogs. Daisy loved to follow Ryu around, and together they often trailed Bronco wherever he went. Pugs are not very energetic or fast, but they have easygoing and cheerful personalities. When the other dogs were being annoying, she liked to hide under chairs and tables to avoid getting involved.

Daisy is a bit of couch potato—a very sweet couch potato. She sits on the sofa most of the day, watching TV or looking out the window. She barks at dogs on TV or passersby outside, but other than that she doesn’t move much. She likes to snuggle, sit in your lap, and sleep with her head resting on your leg or arm. What with our beds, the dog beds, the sofas, and our backyard, she sure has a lot of places to relax. The only thing missing is her glass of wine.

Photo of Daisy hanging on the sofa looking exhausted. — Daisy rests after an exhausting day on the bed and sofa, not quite finished doing nothing.

Ryu used to get jealous when other dogs gave Daisy attention, or so it seemed. For example, he would become hostile to any dog in the dog park who began playing with Daisy. What can I say? She’s Miss Congeniality.

Daisy is the only dog I’ve met who really enjoys sunbathing. Our backyard isn’t exactly Playa Grande, but she frequently goes outside and lies down on her back. While our other dogs easily get too hot outside, she just soaks up the sun.

Daisy our pub sunbathing on the pavement. — When it’s hot outside, Daisy loves to sunbathe.

Daisy our pug sitting in front of a heating vent. — When it’s cold, she sits in front of the heating vents.

Other than following Ryu out on an adventure a couple of times and running out to say hello to Lily, a pug mix who used to live across the street, Daisy will not wander off. On the few occasions she did, we just called her back. She likes being home; she likes the couch and the safety of our house. And while our other dogs sometimes ignored our commands, Daisy never does. Another thing that’s different about her is that she doesn’t like cheese.

Ryu, too, loved the security of the house. In fact every time we made preparations to travel, he and Daisy seemed to sense it. As soon as we so much as took out our suitcases, they knew what was going on. You could see it in their faces and in the way they behaved. They were a bit sad.

One time, as we were packing our bags, we turned around and saw the scene I captured in the photo on below. How would you interpret this? Was it a protest? Did they want to come with us? Maybe both.

Our Japanese Chin Ryu and our Pug Daisy sitting in our red suitcase. It looks like they are protesting. — Ryu and Daisy didn’t want us to leave for our trip.

In what may have been a sign of anxiety during our absence, we once came home from a brief family outing and Daisy greeted us at the front door with a tissue box over her head. While we had been gone, she had somehow gotten her head stuck in it and couldn’t get it off. She was still running around barking. We laughed because it was such a funny sight, but she probably didn’t enjoy the experience. We removed it quickly.

Photo of our pug Daisy with a tissue box over her head — We still don’t know how Daisy managed this feat.

This blog post is focused on Ryu one of the dogs that Bronco grew up with.

Photo of Ryu a Japanese Chin. He was our Leonberger Bronco's little brother. — Ryu a Japanese Chin

Around a year after we got Bronco, we got a fourth dog, a Japanese Chin. He was a gift for our daughter, Rachel, who named him Ryu after a Japanese ninja warrior. Ryu was a very energetic dog, quick and brave—except that he was terrified of thunderstorms. At seventeen or eighteen pounds, he was bigger than most Japanese Chins, but he was still a small dog. He got along very well with Bronco.

Photo of our daughter Rachel with Ryu her Japanese Chin. They are sitting on a chair at the dogpark. — Rachel and Ryu, the Japanese Shin at the dogpark.

One of the things that stood out about Ryu was his singing. Japanese Chins are famous for their singing—well, actually, it’s closer to howling, but Ryu’s was a beautiful howl, and he was very proud of it.

Photo Ryu a Japanese Chin. He is ready to sing or howl, whatever. — Ryu the howling opera singer.

As soon as he discovered that he got a lot of attention for it, he started doing it quite often. Whenever we came home, he would sit politely, look at us intently—it seemed like he was clearing his throat too and howl. Like an opera singer, he would slowly turn his head to look at us, as if he were performing. In fact, I think Ryu’s howling sounded just like a night at the opera—especially when the lyrics are sung in Italian.

Photo of Ryu standing with Rachel. Ruy loved dancing and singing and Bronco partially visible on the left was his big brother and protector. — Ryu loved dancing and singing and Bronco partially visible on the left was his big brother and protector.

We would say, “Good boy, Ryu,” and clap, and he looked mighty proud. Other people thought it was cute and wonderful, too, and they gave him lots of praise, and of course he loved doing it and got good at it. When Rachel played the harmonica, Ryu would howl along. They made quite a duo.

“Good boy” might not be the kind of praise Andrea Bocelli would want, but Ryu was perfectly happy with it.

Left to right in photo, Daisy a Pug, Ryu a Japanese Chin, Bronco a Leonberger. — Daisy (Pug), Ryu (Japanese Chin), Bronco (Leonberger)

The interaction between Ryu and Bronco was sometimes truly amazing to watch. I remember one instance in which Bronco was sleeping in the house and Ryu was outside in our fenced backyard. The door to the backyard was open. I heard Ryu bark a few times. He had evidently seen something he wanted us to notice—or something he wanted other people to notice.

Left to right in photot Daisy (Pug), Ryu (Japanese Chin), and then our Leonberger Bronco. — On the left Daisy (Pug) and Ryu (Japanese Chin). On the right Bronco our Leonberger.

Then I saw Ryu running in through the back door. He was a fast runner. He ran to Bronco, jumped on his stomach, and barked at him. Bronco woke up, looking drowsy and confused. Ryu waited for Bronco to shake off his grogginess and get up, then he ran out the back door with Bronco in tow. They both hurried to the gate that leads to the street. Ryu yapped, and Bronco barked his loud, booming bark. Ryu had enlisted help to multiply his bark power.