THE BASICS

1.) Name and Age: Walter! 3 years old.
2.) Breed: King Pug
3.) Nickname(s): Wally, Wee-wo, pickle butt, angel, kissy face, pooder-pie, peanut.
4.) Where'd ya come from? A house not too far from the one he lives in now. Mompug and Dadpug are near!


FAVORITES

1.) Toy:  Stuffed Pig
2.) Snack: Chicken strips
3.) Human person: A hotly contested topic. Too politically sensitive to post (obvious to me but not to everyone else) answer here.

FUNNY STUFF

1.) Worst habit: pooping on shoe.

2.) Most embarrassing moment: When people take pictures of him whilst peeing

3.) Family dynamic (this is a question for those of you with more than one animal in the house. i.e. who is alpha? who is the cuddler? who is the naughty one? etc. I just want to know how you fit into the family!) Solos Lord and master of Universe. Thenk yoo.

4.) Your humans' FAVORITE thing about you!: Feet that smell like Fritos, Sounds he makes when sleeping, indomitable, unstoppable spirit.

Happy Birthday Anakin!

It's Anakin's birthday, and the poor baby has been going through a hard time lately. He had a surgery that's been difficult and we want him to know how much we love him!!!

Goodbye for now, we love you and will be checking in!

We're off across the ocean on our next great adventure! Email/internet will be tough for a bit, so I wanted to tell you all not to worry, we will be reading your blogs and keeping in touch as often as we can!

Also, Walter and I opened a big box of NEW BOOKS! My third novel, MILLION LITTLE MISTAKES will unbelievably be out Aug 1, and if any of you want to reserve a copy, just call your favorite bookstore or go to Amazon.com to preorder/buy a copy As always, your support makes me (and Walter!) incredibly grateful.

If you're able to tell a friend about Million Little Mistakes or even post a link to the book on your blog, it's always the BEST way to spread the word. A recommendation from a friend is better than anything else! These book sales will help pay for Walters ongoing treatments, which as you know are pricey, but worth it. (The vet says it will likely take a year or more, but if we're able to keep with the treatments, those nerves will keep growing in the right direction!)

MLM is a choose-your-own-adventure book for adults, just like the ones we had when we were kids with multiple endings. Only in this book, you win twenty-two million dollars in the lottery and you can spend it any way you want. You can buy a private island in the Caribbean, or an antebellum mansion in New Orleans, or an underwater hotel. You can take a luxury cruise around the world, bet on horses, give all the money to charity, and a whole bunch of other ideas that many of YOU gave me. You might remember me polling y'all for ideas! (Okay, the really crazy/naughty threads, like going to "Sex Island" and/or where you buy descend into a gluttonous pit of debauchery, those might have been more my ideas...)

The premise behind the book is that eternal question, can money buy us true happiness? Possible answer? Sometimes it can and sometimes it can't! (Does that antebellum mansion turn out to be haunted? Do pirates attempt to hijack your luxury cruise? Will a charitable organization just buy paperclips with your contribution? How will you know who loves you?)

Since I wrote Million Little Mistakes during Walter's accident, injury and treatment, there are a lot of animal thoughts/threads in the book and of course, one ending is creating the perfect animal sanctuary. My personal favorite. You also may notice a WHOLE lot of threads where strangers help each other, where uncommon grace and random acts of stunning kindness are common. What can I say? Writers write what they know, and you all have made those things a part of my daily experience.

We LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.
xoxoxoxox
Wally and Heath

Milton

Walter is so glad to be home, even though we're only staying a short while. He made a new friend, a Pembroke Corgi named MILTON!! I know he's not a pug...but wow. Cute butt award!!

Meanwhile, even though Walter still rolls on his ankle and "knuckles" when he walks without his shoe, I am noticing a definite improvement in how often he walks "correctly" too. (Not on Dorsal side.) He will stand and eat food now with leg held the right way. Could he be feeling more? His leg is still very weak and we're working on new exercises to strengthen the upper "hock" part of his leg. We've also increased his glucosamine and chondrotin, which promote joint health. I'm using "vibration therapy" on his pads, where I massage them with a vibrating massage gizmo.I also massage his hindquarters and back, by the nerve roots.

I'm also looking into a possible nerve grafting procedure using the cutaneous saphenous nerve (Yes, I've learned a little bit about neural anatomy during this time!) Basically, it's where a neurosurgeon takes a part of another, healthy nerve and grafts it to the injured site. The nerves, which grow like coral, will branch out and hopefully reconnect.

one problem, the only surgeon who has done this procedure is in England. So, naturally, I'm going to England.

Home Again

So long since we last blogged! Lots has happened. Wally and I did the long drive back to MN and made it safely home, where it's cool and comfortable. Key West gets mighty hot! Walter has been keeping up with his therapy and the BIG news around here is he took another ten steps without his shoe on!

Another Star for Wallymon

Jeff Baenen's Associated Press photo of me and Walter the Pug won the MN Society of Professional Journalists "Page One" award for news portrait! We all know why this photo won...and it ain't the redhead. I remember when Jeff came to my house to take this shot. I told him to make a strange noise, so walter would look at him, and he made a high-pitched sound, like a tea kettle, causing me to smile and walter to tilt his head, "ba-roo?" Way to go Jeff!

workin on it

Walter has been walking a little pigeon-toed in his shoe lately. I was afraid a bone had shifted, but a second set of xrays shows that all the pins are holding, and that this difference in walking could be due to....wait for it...NERVE GROWTH! Thats what we hope anyway. That those thin strands of nerves are weaving their way down to his toes. I really hope so - even though his foot has compensated for being walked on "upside down" (On the dorsal side) in an amazing way. He has actually developed pads on the top side of his foot. While it looks weird - as though he has truffles stuck on his foot, it's brilliant, because wherever there are pads, he doesn't get scraped up or bleed. It's the body's way of counterbalancing a new behavior. (walking on topside of foot!)Nevertheless, we're maintaining water therapy and accupuncture, as well as fish oil in the food and joint supplements. Pigeon toed looks like progress!

Nothing reduces the odds against you like ignoring them. ~Robert Brault,

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May Alcott

Blackouts, spring storms, spring breakers and NO INTERNET!

HELLLLLLLLLLLLO! So so sorry we've been incommunicado for so long. Living on a tiny island 100 miles out to sea has it's perks, but it has its drawbacks too. Intermittent electricity for one. Also, hella ferocious storms, where torrential rain flies sideways and stings like needles and I think maybe we should lash ourselves to a palm tree, even tho everyone else takes it in stride.

The spring break kids also flood the island and careen around in rented electric golf carts, frequently banging into parked cars, and VERY frequently banging into my car, which is so uniformly dented at this point it almost looks like post modernist design. I'm told every year these youthful party people bring diseases from up north, and sure enough two weeks after spring break started, everyone in Key West started coming down with killer colds and a particularly nasty stomach bug.

The hardest part for us however has been the complete lack of internet access. Whatever dime store router we had went out, and upon calling the office for repair, we learned a little more about "island time." Many businesses here have a captive audience and little or no competition, so getting service can take weeks. I've never gone this long without connection and that combined with all the storm sponsored candlelight and old timey mustard plasters, I almost thought we'd turned Amish.

Then they fixed the internet! Back to civilization! We instantly forgot any of our piddly gripes and refocused our gaze on all things paradisey. Our tranquil backyard (see Walter above refusing to come out of palm grove), the aquamarine ocean, the fact we've made friends with people who have boats and have gotten to spend lots of time on said aquamarine water.

Not Wally tho. I don't want him trying to keep his balance on a speeding boat. He gets to bask in the air conditioning with a butcher bone whilst I play. I've adopted the Hemingway schedule, writing in the morning until 3-4 pm, then heading out for cocktails and sunset. Then I go back home and write some more. Wally gets 2 walks a day, and a long leg massage at night.

We still haven't seen the miracle walking again, but I'm convinced the nerves are growing. I can tell he feels more when I put his shoe on now, and he licks his foot intensely after a full day of wearing his shoes, which means he can feel something. Soaking his foot in warm water and epsom salts really gets the swelling down and seems to sooth the urge to lick, so we do that at least once a night now.

I have to catch up on all your blogs now, I'm terrified you've all moved on, moved away, or decided to forgo pugs for parakeets. Alas, I know I have nothing to worry about really - as it just so happens that pug people are some of the most wonderful and reliable in the world.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

"The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball -- the further I am rolled the more I gain."
- Susan B. Anthony

Deckboy

Walter and I have been enjoying Florida. The main differences between the Sunshine State and the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes is the the presence of blooming flowers in winter, ubiquitous pastel buildings and nonstop pool parties. Also, alot more people come here for vacation. Walter has become king of the city, and my name is officially "Walter's Mom." Love it.

Looks like Wally and I will be able to enjoy our tropical oasis at least through fall. We found a great place (with a snappy deck)and wally likes to sit under the palms, while occasionally chasing a lizard. We found a great little community here and luckily our new place has central air, for when things get hot hot HOT!

miracle

This is Walter sleeping after our landmark trip to the vet yesterday. I have yet to snap him in therapy down here...we do alot and I never seem to have my camera ready. I need a third arm or a personal assistant. Maybe just a roving reporter to follow us.

So I've been writing about relaxing and palm trees since we got here, but what I've not said so much about is the AWESOME vet we found down here. Dr. G is amazing. She specializes in not only veterinary medicine (studied in Switzerland/Hong kong)but she also does accupuncture therapy and therapeutic massage. (There is a miracle here...it's coming after this initial set up...)

Dr G. met Walter when we first got here (bedraggled and road worn) and mapped out the nerve growth in his foot. She was able to pinpoint just where the nerve endings were, what was missing and had to grow and what was possibly already growing. (You may remember from the prognosis after the accident that while we all hope the nerves in his damaged foot will regrow so he can walk again one day without the shoe, nobody could say for sure. It's sort of up to the nerves.)

Thank God for Dr. Julia and the staff at TC rehab, because they were the only ones who did not give up on him. His primary vet in Mpls pretty much gave up on him, as did most "traditional" vets. But because of Dr. Julias work, and the shoes they designed for him, Walter just may walk again! Everyone, including Dr G. says the shoe is 100% essential as the nerves, when they grow, will follow to meet the demand the foot is asking of them, so the foot must be held correctly if the nerves are to grow correctly. tough when Wally can't feel his foot and drags it around like a dead fish!

One big problem is keeping his poor dead-fish foot in tact while being munched in a shoe all day. He gets sore spots, smooshed toes, basically everything that would happen to you if you had to wear a pair of high heels that pinched all day, every day. His toes were getting swollen, cysts were forming between them and I didn't even know for sure if any of this nerve-growth was happening. Getting out of the snow and ice allowed his open wounds to heal (cut them on the ice, skin got soaked in the slush, tore easily etc...) Now being in the warm weather has allowed us to resume walking. Key, key key to his healing!

Dr G. prescribed soaking wally's tootsies in Epsom salts every night, which helped big time with swelling. Then she taught me how to give his legs, toes and feet deep massage (which I'm to do every morning to "wake his feet up" and each evening to stretch them out/soothe them) and she began accupuncture and infrared laser surgery on him. (We had accupuncture at TC rehab too.)

I've been so busy enjoying myself, I was not prepared for what happened yesterday. I took walter in for accupuncture, and set him down. I took off his shoe so Dr. G could have a look at him. She was across the room (big lovely room with lots of Chinese art/furniture) so naturally Wally went over to her. But here's the thing.

HE WALKED ACROSS THE ROOM WITHOUT HIS SHOE.

Fifteen paces or more, normally, like any dog - holding his foot perfectly. I stared as though seeing a mirage. A hallucination. "Did you see that?" I whispered to Dr. G. She nodded and whispered "Yes I did." Walter sat down by now, because his foot was tired from just that little bit of walking and when he stood again, he knuckled like he always does, but it is still an incredible breakthru.

Dr. G. continued with the session but my mind was reeling. I have not seen him walk in EIGHT MONTHS. Her theory is this little bits of unassisted walking will grow over time. She told me he's going to wear the shoe for a long, long time still. a year or more...but the nerves ARE growing my dear, dear friends! THAT MEANS WALTER HAS A CHANCE - A VERY SERIOUSLY REAL CHANCE - OF WALKING AGAIN!!!!!!

I think all this rest, relaxation, increased accupuncture and massage built on the solid foundation of Dr Julia's work with water therapy and designing his shoe - it's finally pushed us into the NEXT LEVEL of healing. All this of course in wrapped up in the amazing love you all send us, and how we need it and use it! You all know I wouldn't be here without you. What can we ever do to repay the world and pug lover community, which has so completely risen to meet us?

I know! I will have a margarita tonight in your honor! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

Welaxing

pillow boy

walter seems quite comfortables here.

We're also sleeping together again! No more scamperland. We're together 24/7, just like the old days and each morning we get belly-on-belly time, which is heaven. He's also going on regular walks and I've got rugs down all over the place, so when he's sans-show he doesn't hurt his bare knuckles. he is still knuckling, like always, but I've been doing more and more research on nerve grafting and regeneration...i don't think we're out of options yet. There's a surgeon in England he's done incredible work transplanting olfactory cells (nose) into injured spinal cords and getting incredible results.

"No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking."
-Voltaire

xoxoxoxo

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy VD Day everybody's! We are settling into our new place...our car problems threw a monkey wrench in getting to the place we thought we were going in time...and whoah, was momma worried about figuring out housing, but then we found a new place with an awesome balcony! We still need to set up a play date with Eric and Louie! (hi Eric! Hi Louie!!) But really our new digs rock. Walter is wearing the purple heart sticker on his head, which the coffee place lady gave him. Everyone here is super sweet to walter and nobody can believe we drove from minnesota through all this snow to get here...but here we are! one of the only freaking cities in the united states without snow! Walter's been thru so much, dang-nabbit - he deserves it. I can't get enough of watching him walk in his shoe, unencumbered by ice as he smells flowers and pees on other flowers simultaneously. We are almost up to pre-accident length walks now. Plus we sneak on the beach and put our toesies in the ocean!
Walter loooves our new balcony. Note leafy palms and American flag waving poetically in the background...
Walter likes to squash his face up to the balcony holes and barkity-bark at passersbys...
more soon!!!!

we're HERE!

After many trials and tribulations, we have ARRIVED relatively unscathed by our travels. Thank you everyone who prayed for us...man, we needed it! I will post pictures when and if I can - right now it looks like internet connection will be almost nonexistent, so stay tuned and I will update everyone when I can. Suffice to say, we have reached PARADISE!! Palm trees, green grass, tropical landscapes and lapping water. We went through hell and voila! C'est heaven. Dreams really do come true!

Break downs, tow trucks and a lost shoe.

Oy. We aren't at our destination yet - we're still hotel-bound. The Gods are hurling every obstacle they can think of at us! First of all, this massive mega storm, which has meteorologists baffled because of it's endurance and erratic movements can be explained by the fact that IT IS FOLLOWING US. First an "ice pellet" storm in Kentucky then sleet and snow in Tennessee and finally, when we made it over to the Georgia border rain, rain, rain.

Then we broke down.

Yup. it happened right at the Florida border. we were so close! Just driving along when I heard a "pop" and all the warning lights in my car came on. I slowed way down, got on the shoulder and eeked off to the first exit/gas station I could find.

Luckily I have AAA (Take anything, but not my AAA membership!) and a tow truck came and got us pretty quick. I had to take everything I needed out of the car, so there's me shoving walter's stroller, bags, supplies etc... into the cab of the tow truck. Walter thought the whole thing was fantastic. barked his head off the whole time and earned the name "tuff lil buddy" from our tow guy.

This was all saturday around 5 pm, and I learned that all the mechanics in this tiny town were closed, and would be closed all day sunday. So we went to a hotel down the street from the shop and that's where we've been cooling our heels for the past two days. Of course, since I used all available cab space for wallys stuff, I only had the clothes on my back, which I have rinsed out in the sink two times.

it gets better.

to my dismay, part of walters shoe was missing. Just gone. The top part, the "ankle cuff," to which the shoe part attaches. Without this part, the shoe won't work. He can't walk. So I freaked. I searched everywhere, but it was just gone. Maybe it flew out the window. The rehab clinic ordered a new one, but it'll take a week to be made...so what do I do? I came all this way just so walter can walk on grass!!!!!!

First I wanted to cry and then I got mad. I said to myself, "Shut up Heather and JUST FIX IT!" So I got Walter settled and took a cab to Walmart. (That is a sentence I never thought I would write in my life btw...) I hunted down supplies. Big Velcro ties from the hunting department, chamois cloth from automotive, thin fishing line from the sporting section. Back at the hotel I built myself a MacGyver cuff! it works way better than the orgiinal, which slipped alot. I think because my velcro was thicker. Also, I lined it with chamois, so it doesn't rub his foot raw.

it doesn't look like much, but it took me an hour to make!

Actually, after I made the prototype, I had extra material so I made two more - for back up. I SHOULD have already had a duplicate - as it's so essential, but you know how that goes - sometimes you don't realize whats essential until it's gone.

Turns out the transmission pump blew and they had to order a part...so I'm now sure how much longer we'll be here in this tiny Georgia town, but you know what? We're having a really good time. There are PALM TREES here and a big GARDEN! I got to see my boy BOUND across the GRASS lawn on the grounds here, and sniff FLOWERS and poop right in the center of a carefully chosen GREEN PLANT. (his signature.) No ice to cut his feet, no snow, no wet soaking his shoe and causing infections between his toes. He's happy, so I'm happy. Plus we had grilled cheese sandwiches by the pool - so it's a certain sort of heaven.


"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
- Melodie Beattie

STORM HAS STOPPED US (but not for long!)

This is what's happening in NASHVILLE people!

Wally and I were over half-way to our destination down south when we got blindsided by a freak storm. "Worst ice storm in a decade hits the Tennessee Valley" and THAT's where Wally and I are! I was too QUICK to say "we're almost there!" After a great start it took us 7 hours to drive a hundred miles today. We saw dozens and dozens of cars off the road. Semis, four-wheelers, trucks, state troopers...an ambulance - wham, all off the road. A combination of ice, freezing rain, snow, sleet and wind created some of the WORST driving conditions this northern girl has EVER seen.

Plus, these Tennesseans and Kentuckians, who are sweet and awesome and helpful do not know a lot about ice driving and why would they? The last time they saw a blizzard like this in the Tennessee Valley was 1996. They have no snow plows and bless their hearts, the DMV treated the roads with beet juice in preparation for the storm. Beet Juice? do beets have some naturally occurring antifreeze element? All I know is juice is liquid, and if they hosed the highways down with liquid before the storm hit - no wonder they were like skating rinks.

but FEAR NOT my dear friends! If there's anything this Minnesota Girl knows how to do - it's drive on ice. I was like a pace car on the highway today...driving "aggressively slow" with my blinkers on. We crawled the whole way from Nashville to Chattanooga at 10-12 mph and led about 20 cars, who also put their blinkers on, down the highway. The good news is we reached Chattanooga and landed one of the last hotel rooms in town. The bad news is there's a teen Christian music convention in town. Kids with guitars. Practicing. In their hotel rooms.

But Wally can sleep through anything!


This is a small set back - a trifle! We will not be stopped! We will however, be delayed. We're staying at a hotel until this ridiculousness ends. Walter has been a spectacular passenger and his backseat apartment has served as an excellent scamperland. The bad cut on his foot is almost completely healed now - it hampered rehab in a serious way - but it's almost totally better and I cannot wait for him to pee on grass!!!!! Meanwhile, anyone know of stuff to do with dogs in a blizzard in Chattanooga? Yup...looks like it's time to start the next book. :)

Eric, Steve and everyone in FL - we're coming! Hold tight!!!!!! Everyone please continue to pray for our safe travels...it's what kept us from going into the ditch today!

almost there

im uploading this from my phone - hope it goes thru. We're almost at our destination!

Ocean, here we come!

Has anyone ever seen this great commercial? A lady is working at her humdrum job when suddenly her little heart bursts out of her chest, goes into the bosses offices and quits. then it marches out of the building. The best part is the very end when it marches out on its little legs. AWESOME! and it reminds me of our upcoming roadtrip.

I know I told you we were going south but I didn't have time to tell you the whole story. Here it is. you all knew I was looking for a place to go - so I jumped on a plane. I had no plan or contact other than to "follow my heart." Goofy, simple, possibly stupid.

But get this.

When I flew down I met a really nice couple on the plane. I told them my story, that I was looking for a place because of Walter and we exchanged numbers in case I got near their neck of the woods near Key West. Then we all go our separate ways and I start my search, wending my way down the coast without any hotel reservations. (this is the week of New Years eve, NOT a good time to not have hotel reservations.) sure enough, by night four I was homeless. I called the nice couple from the plane, and asked if they have any friends who'd rent me a couch for the night. They called their friends and co-workers and whipped us up a little miracle.

One of their co-workers (HI STEVE!!) let me stay in the vacation cottage next to their house and right on the water for FREE. Then the next day we found a little pink house nearby that would be for rent Feb 1st and it's only one block off the beach. It is LESS (half) of the rent we pay now. And it gets better. we learned one of our soon-to-be neighbors has a pug, Louie (HI LOUIE!!!) and so when I met Louie's owners, I started explaining that I have this pug and he was hit by a car and we really need to move someplace warm...and the guy looks funny and he says:

"Is it Walter?"

I'm not kidding. I just stared. Thunderstruck.Turns out they'd been following Walter's blog and knew our whole story. I couldn't believe it. There I am, so far from home...and the people there know Walter. If that isn't faith rising to meet us, baby, I don't know what is.

So OFF WE GO into the wild blue yonder! and you're all coming with us!~!!!!! I am a bit nervous about everything, but mostly in an excited way. I am telling you all - Walter has taught me anything is possible and if you just have faith, the road will rise to meet you.

-Believe that some boundaries are meant to be crossed.
"Do not let your fire go out. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible it is yours."
- Ayn Rand

-Believe there is always, always a way.
"When you have exhausted all possibilities,
remember this. You haven't."
- Thomas Edison

- These quotes are taken from this amazing little book called "Believe." I highly recommend a copy for every household. I've re-read it almost every day - or anytime I get nervous about our trip. It's lovely. We will try to keep you posted from the road. I opted to stay in hotels rather than visit with all of you on the way, only for walter's stamina's sake. He has very sleepy days, and next to no excercise right now, so the trip will be exhausting for him. Meeting new people and pugs on top of that would be too much I think. Please pray for our safe travels. It is a long way to go. (also ice-free roads and fart-free back seats if you have extra time.)

Happy Birthday WALLY BOY!

My big man is THREE today! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Thank you God/Goddess/Universe/collaborative lifeforce for letting Walter live to see this wonderful day!

A Stimulating New Year!

Happy New Year everybody. 2010 has a rather auspicious ring to it, doesn't it? like this is already and important year. If 2009 taught me anything, (and lets face it, I got more lessons than a Rodeo Clown gets from a bull) I learned that life happens whether you're ready or not. It's also short (but sometimes feels long) and filled with beauty (as well as ugliness.) The most important thing is what you FOCUS on. The beauty vs. the ugly, the luck vs. the accidents.

The most amazing part of 2009 was the grace we were shown after Walter's accident. By people, by medical technology, by prayer.

Todays grace comes by way of electrodes and acupuncture. Yes! We have been waiting for this day for a long time. Walter's nerves and muscles had to get strong enough to even handle electro-stim and acupuncture needles. These hopefully help his nerves grow. Nerves, I've learned grow verrrrrrry slowly. We STILL believe walter will walk again. I know sometimes when he's putting on his shoe he flinches, and more than he used to, like maybe I'm pressing on something he can feel.

He really liked acupuncture. he didn't like sitting still, but the vet popped a "happy place" needle in his forehead and he went all melty ga-ga (for anyone unfamiliar with acupuncture, the "needles" are so fine, you can't feel them, so while these pictures make it look like we're doing something akin to medical experimentation to wally, he was actually conking out on my lap.)After the needles are placed they are hooked up to electric wires and receive a very (very) low vibration. It's like someone ringing a doorbell on wally's nerves and saying "Hello? HELLO?" We hope this will greatly improve Walters nerve growth! If you have any prayer time to spare, please pray for that nerve to grow!

The other good news is I think I found a place to stay down south. we are praying PRAYING we can work it out.

We all have the power to give away love to other people. And if we do so, we change the kind of person we are, and we change the kind of world we live in.
- Harold Kushner

You have to pick the places you don't walk away from.
- Joan Didion

WE LOVE YOU GUYS

I love this picture of wally, because yes he's at therapy...but what else do we spy on those black lips? Crumbly cookie treats of course! Nummersons!

Sorry I've been missing-in-action lately. NO lack of love - it's just My third novel, Million Little Mistakes is due on January 28th...hence my woeful absence from the blogs. It's scary when your book is for sale...and it's not even fully written yet!! It's another choose-you-own-story type book. In it, you win twenty-two million dollars and you can do anything you want with the money. Give it away, gamble it, buy gold-plated toilets...and I put a special ending in it just for US PUG PEOPLE! Yes, there is a special ending where you start a dog sanctuary. My idea of heaven. If anyone wants to preorder the book, of course we are most grateful and as you know, all our pennies go to Wally's foot.

Mostly today I wanted everyone to know we love you so SO much and we are more grateful for your love and support than you can imagine. Thank you to Lise in British Columbia for the wonderful dog treats!! We are overwhelmed by everyone's love. I did not get to make Christmas Cards this year...but we will put up a special Holiday Post.

-"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." -- The Buddha

foot

When walter goes out and gets his boot wet, it causes all hell on his feet. His little toes look like hamburger and he's on a week's orders to NOT wear his shoe...which means serious scamperland time. We got really good ointment from the doc, and an "over shoe" to go over his shoe but does anyone else have any sore paw/blistered pad treatment ideas? I am at my wit's, wit's end with all this.

“Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call "Failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

-Mary Pickford

Snow Pug

A big blustery blizzard blew in to Minneapolis today and Walter loves the snow. His boot works so well on ice...I wish I had three more to protect his other feet! I have been working on a deadline (what's new??) and unable to get to the blog in awhile, but for us that's a good thing in a way, we're in a steady (albeit intense) routine and Walter's chugging along getting stronger every day.

We're going to have to head south soon, hopefully just after Christmas. The cold weather isn't good for walter's pins, so We're looking for a place to live somewhere warm, or at least warmer. (ten degrees below zero all week here!) I wish I'd had more time to figure out where to go. Right now I feel like just packing wally up in the car, driving south. We're definitely open to suggestions, if anyone has any. We sort of need a miracle. ;)

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." - Unknown

Blue Stripey

Just showin' off today's blue stripey soxy. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"Come on toesies! Time to wake ups from your naps!"

Let me introduce you to our new family member. Anti Monkey Butt Powder. Terrible name, terrific product. Before we put on Walter's shoe, we powder down walters foot with it and make sure it gets in between his toes and pads. It's a powder that reduces chaffing and sore spots. it also absorbs moisture and keeps the toes dry. It also gives me a chance to massage walter's toes, which many have said is very good for nerve growth. I sing to his toes and say, "Come on toesies! Time to wake ups from your naps!"

Then we get the shoe ready, make sure there's lots of anti monkey butt powder in it.

Then goes on the soxy

Then the shoe goes on (you've seen this pic before, but trying to get an action shot of wally putting on his shoe is like getting an action shot of a hummingbird in flight.

Then we walksie! (In this pic he's wearing a white baby sock, not the orange stripey, because again, getting pictures of the "putting on the shoe" process takes time. It took me about three days just to assemble this little documentary!")

The little man can walk TWO BLOCKS now in his shoe. We still have to be super careful not to overdo it and he has developed some hotspots on his poor feet, but the anti monkey butt powder does seem to help and we alternate between using the dorsi-flex and the wonderful little suspension bridge anklet walter first got awhile ago. Between them we try to keep his boot on for 6-8 hours a day. those nerves are growing a millimeter a day, (or so) and we want them to grow in the right direction. Also we dont want wally to mash his little toesies while they're napping!