Colorado Pug Rescue

May 17, 2009

Kentfield, CA – During the night of May 17, 2009, Selena Brinckerhoff the Pug passed away after a full rich life, including five years at the Feeley/Brinckerhoff pug retirement home(s) in Denver, Basalt, and Kentfield, at the age of 15 (105 in dog years). She is survived by her husband/brother Chatto and her approximately 40 estranged children, as well as her people (Nora, Coleman and Merritt).

She will be remembered for her queen-like stature, the way she always managed to be literally underfoot at all times so as to never miss a moment with her people, the way her tongue hung out of her mouth with no teeth to keep it in place, her ability to coax small children (and adults) to part with their food, her quick study of English as a second language to her native Spanish tongue, her constant protection of Merritt from the day he came home from the hospital and Chatto tried to eat him, and finally – her unwavering grace which was only necessarily absent when thwarting Chatto’s continued romantic advances. And let us not forget her trademark snake like snow tracks, which could only be created by the dragging saggy parts of she who birthed double digits of litters. Our gratitude goes out to the many vets who saved her life during her soft palate surgery, her ACL surgery, the removal of most of her teeth, the incident with the large bowl of dog food she stole from my sister’s 120 lb great Pyrenees, the seizures, the overheating episodes, the problems with the nose which kept falling off, and the oxygen tank stints in Aspen including the overnight visit to the vet’s home with the homemade oxygen cone.

If Selena had a human voice, she would have sounded just like Bette Midler. She was a strong, confident survivor who despite her humble roots from the trailer park in which she was raised as a breeder, to the various foster homes which led to her eventual rescue, was always a lady.

We will miss her dearly and remember her fondly.

– Nora, Coleman, and Merritt