One Year Ago Today- August 1, 2015

It has been a year since the passing of my sweet Nando. Writing this is hard because I am still grieving. Percy is a gift and the sweetest boy, I love him dearly and he was just what I needed to help me deal with the pain of losing both of my sweet babies less than a year apart.  There are many happy memories and I will cherish them forever. This is my way of honoring the memory of my babies, you don’t have to comment unless you want to, not obligated. The hole in my heart has a bandaid covering it, it has not healed and never will.

He loved to sit on my lap while I worked

Nando was brave, loving and the best most well behaved dog ever. a kinder or more gentle soul you would be hard pressed to find. He was a real gentleman, more than anything in the world Nando loved to eat, it made me so happy seeing him scarf down his food with such joy and gusto. Within a minute his bowl would be clean and he would sit next to Izzy, patiently waiting for her to finish so that he could lick her bowl clean as well.  Izzy was a finicky eater and often would not finish her food, Nando counted on that.

Izzy waiting for Nando to clean her bowl

It was just 2 months shy of his 15th birthday when Nando passed away from a brain tumor. I have mentioned in many posts how he was diabetic and blind. He developed diabetes when he was  8 years old and lived with diabetes for almost 7 years. The last year of his life was not happy times, he started deteriorating when Izzy passed. They were best friends, I have never seen two dogs so close to each other. Her passing weighed heavily on Nando, and it seemed like he lost his will to live, the brain tumor diagnosis hit hard and he went downhill very quickly.

Izzy was first and what they say is true, you can’t have just one pug. I felt that Izzy needed a companion and I registered with a local pug rescue group saying that I wanted a young adult pug. They told me that is a tough one and I may have to wait a year or longer. I was prepared to do just that. Only 4 days after submitting my application I got a call from them saying that they had a young black pug who was found tied to a pole in Long Island with a note tied around his neck and all his medical records. He was 10 1/2 months old. They asked me if I would like to adopt him, of course I couldn’t get the YES out quickly enough and the next day Nando arrived. I don’t think I have ever seen a pug as big as Nando, he was twice Izzy’s size, a gentle giant. Izzy immediately fell in love with him as did I.

I try to concentrate on the happy memories but it’s hard when the last months of his life were so traumatic. I am so thankful that I was given the gift of caring for Izzy and Nando, taking care of those very special souls was so much a part of my life, when they passed away part of me died with them.

I am so thankful to have Percy and very grateful to Emily for choosing me to care for this special  boy.  I spent so many years caring for Izzy and Nando with so many health problems, it was a lot of work, day and night. At the end of Nando’s life I was not sleeping or eating regularly and everyday I watched him deteriorate and I’m afraid I was deteriorating as well.

Rest in Peace Nando, my sweet boy. I will always love you!