Winston - Black Pug

Winston is a bug Pug with a big bowling ball head which surprisingly doesn't make him tip over forwards because if I my head were a bowling ball that's what I'd be doing all the time.

I suppose drinking lots of whiskey would do the same thing - not that I'd know - but at least with a bowling ball head, one would have a plausible excuse for being tipsy.

"Oops, sorry for knocking you over, miss, but I've got a bowling ball head you see," one could say when knocking someone over at a party and what an introduction that would be.

Winston needs no such ploys to introduce himself. He is a wheezing, snorting, garumphing li'l feller which is cute and very attention grabbing and all but I know if he were sleeping anywhere near me, I'd need one of those noise canceling headphones, preferably one of the newer models because I hear some of the older versions couldn't cancel out a fart from an ant. Stenotic nares is unfortunately not Winston's only problem. He's also got some neural disorder - maybe genetic, maybe from an accident, maybe from living in a cage for too long - which makes him walk funny and thus he drags his feet until the tops of them are bloody. He may also have a chronic cherry eye problem.

Winston came from a puppy mill. Puppy millers are such assholes. Really, they are the sphincters of the dog breeding world. Mr. and Mrs. Sphincter - proudly combining the stink of filthy lucre with the stink of animal abuse. How lovely. Sphincter Family Farms here to serve the Kijiji dog buying public with five hundred plus neglected dogs crying and dying in cages but, hell, no one will ever know, just wash the sickly thing in the sink before the customer shows up, tie a ribbon round its head and, snap, that's a thousand bucks in the bank and then don't forget to give the buyer that "official" certificate the Sphincters' talented progeny banged out on his computer last night between cruising on Facebook for naked pictures of his classmates and porn surfing.

It's unlikely Winston would've made it into general adoption with his health issues. That would've sucked because despite it all, despite all his ailments and worries and ongoing concerns, Winston is a stupendously adorable pooch. His personality is big and wonderful and he's a pro when it comes to getting human affection. Just ask one of TAS' brilliant volunteers. She's offered to foster Winston to try to figure out how to deal with all his various ailments.

Winston's only been with her for a couple of days now but I hear her boyfriend is already in lurve with the bug Pug. She's promising pictures soon.

Thank goodness for the saints who balance out the assholes.