When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.  ~Takuan Soto

Elvis and Kojak have an everchanging and growing relationship.  They are really becoming like buddies, which is what I hoped would happen when we decided to adopt another pug.  Their rapport did not happen right away, and it is not complete, I hope.  They could still improve.

When Elvis first came to live with us, Kojak acted as if he had lost his last friend on earth.  We have pictures of him with Elvis, and he is either as far away from Elvis as possible, or he’s nearby, but not happy about Elvis’ presence, his head hanging low.  The pictures are funny now, but I was really worried about Kojak at first.  He was terrified of Elvis and ran every time Elvis galloped by.  Elvis caused part of the fright because he asserted himself as the alpha dog in that pack.  And Kojak just let him.  Part of the fear came from Kojak being mostly deaf.  He couldn’t always hear the little tingling of Elvis’ harness the way I can, and sometimes Elvis would just be right by him without any notification.  Being constantly startled in that way would make anyone terrified.

Kojak and Elvis are bonding in spite of their distinct personalities.  Although they are both pugs through and through, thus sharing a love of food and naps, Kojak is more laid back than Elvis most of the time.  Kojak is sweet.  That’s what everyone says when they first meet him.  He looks up at people with huge brown pools of eyes and can change his expression from innocent Bambi to wise old Yoda.  He has a petite face with delicate features, particularly with his steadily graying mask.  Elvis, on the other hand, is big and boisterous in his manner and about twice the size of Kojak.  While he is beginning to gray, he still has that youthful athleticism about him.  He bounds from place to place and barks with a startling vigor.  Kojak hardly ever barks unless he’s begging (yes, I have taught him to beg by giving him food from the table, and my mother taught him to “speak” for human food; thanks, Mother) or when he wants Jim to lie down on the sofa, so he can lie down on his belly and nap.  He also will bark when he wants help getting up his ramp to his chair.  Kojak’s little yipping bark can be just as annoying as Elvis’ “big dog” bark can scare the daylights out of me when I’m not expecting it.   Elvis, conversely, is very still and quiet when he wants human food.  He sits there with his eyes trained on us to see if we make any move to hand something down to him.  He seems to ignore Kojak’s incessant yipping and just bides his time because he knows if one pug gets a morsel, the other pug gets one, too.  And Elvis doesn’t have to yelp to get up on the sofa or chair or bed with us.  Elvis just leaps and whumps into us with quite an impact.

Having pugs of different personality makes me appreciate each of them even more.  I’m always noticing something else special about Kojak or Elvis, and I compliment them on their attributes.  Sometimes they’re so much alike in their intent, they get the universal comment from me and from Jim, “You are such a pug!”  For example, when I finish getting dressed for work in the morning, they quickly line up for our processional to the kitchen to get their food.  If I’m not moving fast enough or if I take a detour, Kojak circles me to herd me along, and Elvis bumps his nose against the backs of my legs to hurry me.  Pugs must have some kind of herding instinct in their lineage because they’re very good at rounding up humans.

This very processional to the kitchen shows how far Elvis and Kojak have come along in their relationship.  At first, Elvis led the way every time.  After a day or two, though, he let me go first and then he followed, and little Kojak trailed along at the rear.  Now, Elvis will often let Kojak go ahead of him in the line as if he’s being courteous and letting the elder pug go first.  Kojak will be so excited to take the lead, that he sometimes forgets and runs ahead of me into the kitchen.  If he does that, Elvis is bumping me along with his nose to make sure we get there as quickly as we can.  Another instance of Elvis and Kojak getting along better is when Elvis will let Kojak go first when I’m indulging them with bits of table food.  Elvis used to run towards the food and knock Kojak right out of the way.  Now, he starts to lunge, but will hold himself back if he sees my hand moving toward Kojak.  I guess he just trusts me enough now to know that he’s next and his portion will be equal.  This just thrills me to watch them interact with each other.

One thing we had a little problem with, though, was Elvis’ reaction to Kojak’s diaper.  Kojak only started wearing the diaper in the past couple of months.  It’s actually a belly band that holds a pad to absorb urine that leaks from Kojak.  At first, Kojak only leaked a little when he got excited while his bladder was full, such as when I first got home from work before he could be taken outside.  Those dribbles were easy enough to clean up on the kitchen floor, but then I began to notice that his blanket he sleeps on during the day was wet when I got home.  So, when he slept, he would urinate without even realizing it.  The same thing began to happen during the night when he was in bed with us.  So, that’s why we got the diaper.

Elvis really showed no interest in the belly band on Kojak until it got wet enough that he could smell it.  Dogs love stinky smells.  I don’t know why; I just know they do.  And they’re particularly attuned to the smell of another dog’s urine.  Even after Kojak’s pad was changed, he could still smell the urine and became obsessed with Kojak’s diaper.  Every time I looked, Elvis would be sniffing Kojak mercilessly.  And Kojak would try to run away, but Elvis is faster, and he would track him down and sniff and sniff.  He even tried to hold Kojak down with his paw so he could sniff better.  Of course, I scolded Elvis for doing that.  I thought, sooner or later, he would just get tired of it or used to it and leave poor little Kojak alone as he finally had with the persistent butt sniffing when he first came to live with us.  But Elvis wasn’t giving up on that diaper, and one day I heard Elvis shaking something and looked to see him with Kojak’s diaper in his mouth, shaking it as if to kill it!  Kojak was just standing there in awe watching him.  I had to wrestle the diaper away from Elvis and put it back on Kojak.  He had obviously gotten it in his mouth and jerked it loose from Kojak’s body.  This whole situation was irritating to me and to Kojak.  Fortunately, since I learned to sprinkle baby powder on the pad before putting it in the belly band and on Kojak, Kojak’s fur doesn’t absorb the odor as much, and Elvis isn’t as fascinated by the smell.   But the other morning when we were in the kitchen, I turned around and saw Elvis licking the backs of Kojak’s rear legs.  I assume he was trying to clean him up.  And Kojak wasn’t running or looking upset in the least.  I told Elvis to stop it, and he did, but both the pugs looked at me as if to say, “What’s your problem?  I was just trying to help a guy out.”

I’m glad we got the diaper situation under control because Kojak is obviously going to have to wear it the rest of his days.  Elvis is probably much happier too because he doesn’t have to constantly track that diaper and try to kill it.  And settling the diaper issue has allowed Kojak and Elvis to get even closer.  After all, if you’ve been licked by someone, who wouldn’t be closer?  As Elvis becomes more attuned to Kojak and Kojak to him, Kojak isn’t frightened of him anymore.  He still maintains a healthy distance if Elvis breezes by him, so he doesn’t get knocked over.  And just this morning when I gave Elvis a chewbone, Kojak went right over to him as he lay chewing on the kitchen rug and sniffed the bone in his mouth.  Kojak doesn’t like chewbones, but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t something that he might be interested in.  Elvis didn’t even growl as he once would have;  he just spun around to the reverse side where Kojak couldn’t get the bone.  Brave Kojak.  Patient Elvis.  They are such pugs!