TOFFEE
HAPPY TAIL!
Pugalug Rescue #182
Tribute to Toffee
On Monday April 21st, with broken hearts, we said one final goodbye to our Toffee Lobster/ Princess Petunia/Sweetie/ Little One, at the age of 16. After many ups and downs with her health over the past year, we knew it was the most compassionate decision for her, despite being the worst for us.
We adopted Toffee in 2011 from Pugalug Pug Rescue, as a companion for our first dog, Corky, who was experiencing separation anxiety and loneliness while we were at work. Corky and Toffee soon became best buddies and were inseparable. You could usually find them cuddled up in a dog bed together, despite them always having multiple beds to choose from.
When Corky passed away in 2021, Toffee appeared to flourish in her newly acquired “only dog” role. Toffee, her dad and I went on countless adventures - hikes, boat rides, walks, beaches, cottages, events, patios, the drive in, etc. For 4 years, we brought her everywhere with us. She was always happy to be included, and she was the very best companion. She accompanied us in her stroller in her final years, which always had a soft, furry bed, lots of blankets and a battery-operated heating pad in the winter, and a cooling pad and a battery-operated fan in the summer. Her comfort was always top priority, as it should be!
Toffee was made to live in a plant-based household. She LOVED vegetables, and fruits too, especially blueberries, peaches and apples. Every day after lunch I would have an apple and cut up 1/4 of it for her. I couldn’t chop a vegetable without her becoming excited and vocal, even in her final weeks. She is known to have sneakily stolen multiple vegetables from our fruit & veggie delivery boxes-to enjoy in secret, after her dad, Corky and I had left the room. Often she left just a pepper stem as evidence. One time she took an entire English cucumber out of a grocery bag and ate the whole thing in 2 minutes, including the plastic.
Up until the last couple of weeks, Toffee was always the first one awake, bright and early. No alarm clock needed. She woke up happy and excited for each day. She truly lifted our spirits every single day. She loved her breakfast and morning routine, including a meander around the block. She was a stickler for routine, and did not like it if we tried to take her counter clockwise around the block, or turn around early.
Toffee’s health had many ups and downs in the last 1-2 years. We were at the vet monthly, sometimes more, but Toffee was strong willed and always overcame her ailments. She became both visually and hearing impaired, but continued to love life, just with some safety precautions in place.
She contracted pneumonia at the beginning of April, for the second time this year. Unfortunately, her little old body did not handle the mild sedative she was given for chest X-rays well, or the antibiotics she required. After some initial rallying, she declined rapidly.
We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to love and care for her for as long as we did. Our lives will never be the same without her.
RIP our little sweet pea.
Happy Tail Update (2024)
Toffee’s mom here. Just sending my semi-regular update lol. Toffee is 15 now. She continues to be the very best girl. She has lost most of her hearing, but is as feisty as ever when it comes to telling us she wants a treat! Enjoy these photos of the Golden Girl!
Toffee's Happy Tail (2011):
We adopted Toffee just over a month ago now and things are going very well! We have all been having so much fun! We were a little nervous at first about what our 2 year old pug mix, Corky, would think as he had been our one and only, however, we began to feel reassured immediately on the car ride home. We picked Toffee up at her foster home which was a 2 hour drive from our home and Corky and Toffee snuggled the whole way home! Corky has anxiety in the car so Toffee was a very positive role model for him because she does wonderfully in the car.
Toffee has settled in well and it feels like she has always been part of the family. She really gets us all going in the morning, no hitting the snooze button with Toffee around! She hears the alarm go off in the morning and she's ready and raring to go! She makes the funniest sounds in the morning, these really high pitched squeaks and squeals when she yawns.
We initially had quite a few accidents in the house but we've pretty much got her routine down pat now and she's doing very well with doing her business outside. She has even began to give us a 'signal' where she will sit by the patio door and raise her paw, its so cute! We taught her to shake a paw and now she does it whenever she wants something.
Toffee and Corky have had a few spats (they are just like kids, always want to play with the toy that the other one is playing with) but for the most part, they enjoy each other's company. Considering Corky weighs 12 pounds more than Toffee, Toffee sure holds her own in their games of tug! He drags her around but she holds her ground and she wins every once in awhile!
Toffee is an extremely cuddly girl, she loves to snuggle with anyone, dog or human! We have found that she is somewhat shy and timid and even a little skittish and nervous at times, but she is beginning to come out of her shell, sometimes she just needs some reassurance. Toffee is a very loving, well behaved and polite dog, she melts the hearts of everyone she meets.
Toffee and Corky are perfect for each other because they both have lots of energy, they love to play, play and then play some more, then they crash and cuddle for awhile before its back to playing! Toffee sure loves her walks!! She practically jumps right into her sweater and harness because she is so excited to go for her walk.
Toffee puts a smile on our faces from the minute we come into the house as she does her full body wiggle and makes the silliest sounds-her grunts of excitement. We really do feel that our family is complete; Corky and Toffee are snuggled together in between us as I write this. Thanks Pugalug for making this such a smooth process. We are so happy to have added this wonderful addition to our family, we just love her and we think its safe to say the feelings are mutual!!