Poor Sid spent all day lying in bed, feeling neglected, while I typed furiously on my laptop, writing an article that I was supposed to turn in to my editor three days ago.  The broad think-piece approach to the article’s structure and my editor’s ongoing flurry of emails extolling the high expectations she had for this piece, which she seemingly felt compelled to send at a rate that rose exponentially as my deadline drew closer, caused massive writer’s block and anxiety.  Well, I finally got the dang thing done, so in celebration of overcoming my neuroses, I’m posting one of my favorite videos of Sid, shot back in California while on route to the vet for one of his many “emergencies.”  Enjoy!

Somebody’s feeling all depressed and left-out because he discovered we’d spent the last year writing a blog about him without letting him join in on the fun…

We let Sid read and comment on his friend’s blogs, like Noodles’ pug-poetry jam, or Minnie Moo and Lincoln’s southern adventure stories, or Payton’s journal of pug perseverance, but we never told him about Pug Slope.  Sid already thinks the world revolves around him – we worried that if he knew we were spending all of our free time writing about him and his antics he’d totally forget who’s in charge around here.  And now, with him knowing that all of the pugs he’s been humbly following on the web are also following him? We may as well just put out an endless supply of dinner and toys, never take him on a walk again, and surrender to complete anarchy here at Pug Slope headquarters.

Well, whatever.  The cat’s out of the bag, and now somebody has insisted on having his own commenting account so he can reply to his friends’ comments and clarify anything Brian and I “got wrong” in our accounts of his daily mischief and mayhem.  And, if he’s really well-behaved and stays off my new pillow, he may even get to contribute a post every now and then.

Sid is anxiously awaiting your comments…

Last week, Jenn got a new body pillow and the plan was to give her old pillow to Sid. He had always liked the fluffy, over-sized pillow which apparently was the perfect material for nesting / thrashing around on. We indulge him occasionally, but since he has many of his own beds/cushions, we try to keep our own pillows off-limits.

Well, as you might have guessed, as soon as the new pillow arrived, Sid decided it was his. He zipped up on the bed faster than we could blink and planted on it.

As most of you know, pugs are quite immovable once they decide to plant, so we had to break out the big guns (i.e. apples and peanut butter in the kong) in order to get him to budge.

All ended well, though, and he actually prefers the old pillow as it smells like his mom.

Sid always gets a treat (or three) when he comes inside from his walk.  His post-walk treat is his top priority when we come inside, meaning he won’t go straight for the water bowl no matter how badly he needs to refresh and cool down.  This lack of regard for his own health and safety is slightly terrifying to me; he gets soooo absurdly pumped up about food that I’m pretty sure, someday in the near future, the combination of extreme treat anticipation with his high body temperature and mild dehydration is going to cause him to have a heart attack before I can even open his pouch of venison jerky.  So, I’ve been mulling over various plans to provide him with a treat that is both deliciously satisfying and cooly refreshing.

And thus we present to you Pug Slope’s Famous Frozen…Pump-sicles?  Pumpkin-Pops?  Frozen Pumpkin Cubes?  Whatever!

Completely organic and additive-free – perfect for the dog who’s allergic to everything!!

A refreshing and healthy treat for ravenous pugs and their panda-bear friends!!

Helps promote regularity!!

Your dog will get crazy eyes for this ice-cold pumpkin surprise!!

But…pumpkin cubes are not an instant-gratification-type of treat.  They’re currently in the freezer, slowly solidifying in their custom compartmentalized tray.  One must be patient to enjoy frozen pumpkin.

Lucky for Sid, the most impatient pug in all the land, the whole can of pumpkin wouldn’t fit in the ice tray.  So Sid got to test out some room-temperature pumpkin in order to ensure that this orange goo was up-to-snuff, treat-wise.

Apparently pumpkin is so lip-smacking good, it’s worth storing a few morsels on your muzzle.  You know, for later.

Tomorrow: We unleash the pumpkin cubes!

The ninth installment of TWISB and apparently Payton and Sid are on the same wavelength today.

NOTE: Sid was actually standing like this, with his head propped up on the Trader Joe’s bag, for about 45 seconds before I had time to grab my phone and start recording.

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since we packed all of our belongings into a Penske truck and drove from Los Angeles to Brooklyn. This may come as a surprise to you, but Sid is a great traveler.  The cabin of that truck became our cozy little home for about eight days, and Sid was happy as a clam.  Seriously.

We put a rubbermaid container between the two bucket seats and put his bed on top so he could be up at our level.  His water dish sat on the dash between our cup holders, and his Petco safety strap kept him buckled in but gave him a little freedom to move around.

Oh, and we quickly learned that the only way to avoid mass mayhem on the highway was to store his food / treat supply inside the rubbermaid container he was perched upon.  You gotta learn some lessons the hard way.

Click through for a few photos from the first days of our trip:

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