Wally in late September at "The Arb"

The first time I saw Wally, it was November; he was seven weeks old and in the arms of his breeder.  He was wrapped in a turquoise towel, his little face peeking out from the folds.  I was there to think about getting a dog.  Mind you, I say think…up until the moment I laid eyes on him, I was certain I could easily walk away.  He cost what felt like a fortune; I thought this whole thing was a bit excessive, even if it was my idea to buy a pug.  I didn’t have a clue about dogs, no sense of their purchase price, no idea of the time or monies to follow just to keep the old boy upright!  In fact, his purchase price was a bargain given what the next 13 years would bring!  Wally (Wallace when he was wearing more formal attire) was a challenge…he had more trainers than I have had husbands, he couldn’t bear the sounds of air brakes or the color yellow of a school bus.  I like to think this was his worn chino stage, which he wore with a muscle tee shirt with a pack of unfiltered smokes in the rolled-up sleeve!  He was a thug in those days, nearly impossible to train, who slept on sofas and beds and loved the very best to curl up on the coat of some guest…especially if said guest didn’t relate to dogs!  Wally saw me through the death of my partner, my father, my mother, and assorted friends who all left this world way too early.  Wally stuck it out and knew when to be present with grief.  He has aged and is now in his dressing gown stage…I like to imagine it to be one of those silky types with a small print and a lovely silk satin shawl collar and with this he would be wearing a pair of black needlepoint slippers with the image of a fawn pug on each foot.  They would be the sort of slippers that the Duke of Windsor wore when he and the “Dutchie” lounged about with their assorted pugs.  There is no question that Wally is slowing down and that this will be his last winter.  I wonder what will become of Lulu who adores him as much as I do.  She is blind and toothless.  Wally is her seeing eye companion, and he is my long-time beau.  How lucky I have been to have had them both!