I first found out about the PDWRA through Google when I was looking for Pug rescues, and saw that they needed volunteers to collect and foster pugs. Our family of 3 already had a much-loved little black rescue pug, Petal, but we thought it would be a nice idea to give some pugs a loving foster home, and that maybe we would find another pug we would want to adopt at some point.
We were vetted very thoroughly and it wasn’t too long until the lovely Jane from PDWRA contacted us and asked if we would be able to collect an older fawn pug called Vito, and foster him for a few weeks until he was found a new home. We were very happy to do this, although we did say that we didn’t want to permanently adopt a fawn pug, only a black one because we wear so much black clothing which gets covered in hair!
Vito’s last owner was an elderly lady who had had him for 5 years after getting him from another rescue, where he had been previously. She had sadly passed away, and so we collected him from her family about 40 minutes away from us. They were very upset to be handing him over, but circumstances meant that unfortunately they couldn’t keep him. When we met, he walked over to us to be stroked and made a fuss of but was understandably anxious.
His sweet and gentle nature was obvious straight away and he settled in quite easily to being second in command to Petal, despite being twice her size. From day one, he slept snuggled up on our bed – Petal at the top and him relegated further down. The only behavioural issue was that he kept weeing in the kitchen, even though he was able to go outside. Eventually we spoke to Jane about it, who was very reassuring, and she said give him time to settle in and he will stop doing it. Which is exactly what happened!
When he had been with us a few weeks, Jane said they needed to think about finding him a permanent home. Of course, by then it was unthinkable that we would let him go. We absolutely wanted to adopt him, his fawn hair was all over us and our navy velvet sofa, but we had fallen in love with him 😊
Vito was already 10 when he came to us 2 years ago, so he is now an old man. His coat is still incredibly soft and velvety, and he has the look of a teddy bear. He is toothless, so his long tongue hangs out, which charms everyone when they meet him. He loves slowly walking around the town, smelling absolutely every inch as he goes. He isn’t keen on mud though and lets us know he wants to be carried if he comes across any when we are up on the moors.
We work from home, so he’s usually cuddled up to at least one of us at all times. He has found his voice, he puffs out his cheeks, makes little grumbly noises and sometimes kind of honks like a goose. At times, he also has a certain way of hanging his head and looking from under his eyelashes, which really makes us laugh. We’ve named it his ‘Lady Diana’ look!
He loves to lie back in our teenage son’s arms like a baby, while his tummy gets tickled and endearments get whispered in his ears.
We would recommend anyone who is thinking of adopting a pug to do so via PDWRA, they were wonderful. Vito is a real treasure. He has brought so much to our family and we love him deeply.
