In our ongoing quest to protect Bebe's feet from the freezing ground, the dog shit abandoned by our neighbors and the shattered glass empties also abandoned by our neighbors, I purchased these sneakers:
FouFou Dog Booties. Or Pink Fouma Sneakers. Or something. They have a long name. The point is, these were the best I found. Solid bottoms that would protect Bebe's feet, even if she dragged them across the pavement. The stores around here didn't have any in stock, so I had to order them online. After a couple weeks it occurred to me that they should've shown up in our mailbox by now. Tracked the package and was informed by the post office that the package had been delivered eight days earlier.
Oh, really?
After one email and two phone calls which resulted in only the phone number of our postal delivery guy and the time he could be reached and a small assortment of bewildered apologies (nope, that's not what I ordered....I already have enough bewildered apologies in my collection, thanks) I took Beebs for a pissed off stroll around our broken-glass-and-dog-shit slathered neighborhood. I'm assuming it got that way because one or more of our neighbors or their visitors routinely get roaring drunk, take their dog out to shit in the grass, step in it themselves by accident, slip, fall and shatter their alcoholic beverage on the sidewalk, attempt to scuff the shit off their shoes all up and down the sidewalk -- leaving a funky trail -- before realizing they forgot to leash their dog and it's disappeared. They then angrily yell for their dog from the shit smeared and shattered glass littered patch of sidewalk as though the dog deliberately crapped on their shoes and made them spill their beer before leaving the scene of the crime. Either that or it's human shit that fell out the leg of their jeans as they staggered around drunk in public, before finally passing out and shattering their bottle of Hennessy in the process.
My husband was treated to this bitter little rant during our walk, but he got the uncensored version. Isn't he lucky?
When we returned from our walk, there was a package on our doorstep. The same package that the post office claimed had been delivered eight days earlier. Bebe's booties.
My cell phone had a message from the post office. The guy said he called our postman. Postman said our package contained "checks" and that he left it in our mailbox eight days ago. "If this is not true, please call us back," said the guy.
Checks? From Jake's Dog House? Really?
That's his story? I'm betting our mailman lost Bebe's booties somewhere, couldn't figure out where the package went, figured he must've delivered it, marked it as delivered and forgot about it. Not until eight days later when I called did he look for it. Anyway, I called the post office and reported that my package had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.
So that's how the pug bootie odyssey started.
Let me just state right here that I'm no stranger to measuring my pug. This is her third set of shoes. I have successfully measured her for many items of clothing, from head to toes. I even measured her for a custom built wheelchair. No snags there. But this set of booties is cursed. If you didn't know that by now, you weren't paying attention.
Bebe has two inch feet. Her front paws are bigger than her hind feet. The booties fit great on her hind feet. However, they were too tight on the front feet. Beebs was not pleased. She stomped her little front paws in protest. The booties twisted around until it looked like she was walking on her ankles. She wasn't, but still...it looked awkward. These would take all the fun out of her walks, which defeats the purpose of getting the booties in the first place.
But we're in luck! I'm crafty! I can create just about anything! I took apart two of the booties, added some white fake fur, some pink faux suede, stitched them back together and Beebs had her own pair of furry sneakers for her front paws!
They are stylish! They are warm! Bebe is not stamping her feet when I put them on her! They are cute and they even match her outfit! Yay!
She takes her first steps:
She looks silly, but the booties stay on and she doesn't complain. She hits her stride, moving faster than I can capture clearly in photos:
The booties are working! Yay!...wait.......what the....is she walking on her ankles?......what the hell?!?
Um....
FAIL.
EPIC FAIL.She's not actually walking on her ankles. But still...it looks awkward and we're back to square one. At this point I'm afraid she'll do a face plant if she stumbles in these things, so I took them off her. I left the booties on her hind feet, which always fit just fine and she never minded at all:
She took off as though to prevent me from changing my mind and putting those sneakers back on her front paws again, "You'll have to catch me first! I'd rather walk barefoot through glass and dog shit than wear those booties again!"
Too bad she doesn't really need the booties on her hind feet as much since they don't touch the ground. I only put them on her to keep her feet warm.
So it's back to the drawing board for her front feet. That's OK, though. I've got plans. I've gathered together some materials. We will find a workable solution. In the meantime, I think Beebs looks damn cute in her sneakers.