So, thanks to Myko’s awesome suggestion, we spent much of this weekend posing Sid in his new confidence shirts (you’re welcome, lady pugs).  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

Hey guys, so Sid really wanted to write today’s follow-up post on confidence shirts, but Brian (wisely) only gave Sid a commenting account for the blog, not a full-fledged write-your-own-posts type of account.

So, while Sid is stewing in the corner muttering about how life isn’t fair, I’m going to transcribe his written notes into a blog post that I’m sure he’ll say isn’t half as awesome as it would’ve been if we’d just let him write it himself with no supervision whatsoever.

So, here it goes, an unedited transcription of Sid’s notes:

1.  Point out that I don’t need some stupid shirt to give me confidence because everybody knows I’m awesome and maybe I wouldn’t have such obsessive compulsive anxiety problems if Mom and Dad would just listen every once in a while when I sit really loudly and then sit even louder and HELLO, I’M SITTING so give me the stupid venison bits that are barely even treats but whatever they taste good and I should get them whenever I want them because it’s not like they’re Twinkies or something but even if they were Twinkies, whatever, I’m an adult, and in fact if we calculated this whole age thing fairly like the way you’re biologically supposed to according to the scientists or whatever then I’d be at least forty-two which is older than Dad and he’s the “oldest” person here so I’d totally be in charge and Mom would be the baby and Dad and I could make her go to her stupid bed or shake our hands or Jimmy for FORTY-SEVEN SECONDS whenever she’s soooo hungry that she feels like she’s about to starve to death and then maybe she’d start scratching her armpits with her feet all the time because she feels so trapped in her life and I could just throw a really tight shirt on her and say “all better!” but still not feed her whenever she’s sooooooo hungry or just, you know, wants a treat because treats taste good and who in their right mind doesn’t want a treat but MAKE SURE TO POINT OUT THAT I DO ACTUALLY LIKE THESE SHIRTS because they emphasize my broad chest and they look pretty cool for a dog shirt and I guess I don’t really scratch my armpits as much when I wear them, so yeah, tell Noodles that I don’t scratch or lick as much when I’m wearing them.

2. Tell Payton that she’d TOTALLY be a medium (even though the mediums look really small) because Mom and Dad got me a large once and, like, it started out okay but then like four hours later the neck was all baggy and Mom kept saying something about “Flashdance” which doesn’t sound very cool but they still didn’t take the shirt off me and then I went outside to “water the lawn” and when I came inside there was pee all over the bottom of my shirt which was totally HUMILIATING and totally something that stupid Edna would’ve done, not me.  Post picture of Edna looking stupid.  (Be careful not to write anything about how I secretly miss her, but maybe post another picture of me spooning with Elly because Elly was awesome and everybody will think I’m cool if they see me snuggling with her.)

(Picture of Edna Looking Stupid (Remember: don’t accidentally write anything about how much I secretly loved her))

(Picture of me spooning with Elly to help street-cred)

3.  Tell everybody to make sure that their parents use those scissor things to cut a tiny little slit in the neck of their shirts so that you don’t leave the house looking like this: (Insert stupid photo of me looking stupid and not confident with my head stuck in my shirt).

(Picture of me looking stupid)

4.  Tell Myko not to give my parents any ideas!  A fashion show?!

Well, unfortunately for Sid, we thought Myko’s idea was FANTASTIC.  We’ll be taking photos of Sid posing in ALL of his new shirts over the weekend!!

So, you know how Sid has…issues?  And you know how Sid likes to wear his confidence shirts as a means to combat those issues?

Like I need an excuse to post my favorite Sid pic.

Well, those shirts ain’t cheap.  We’ve found that American Apparel’s baby rib dog T’s have the best fit for his big ol’ pug chest, but they typically cost about $10 apiece.  That’s how much we paid for his awesome blue shirt in the photo above.  INSANE.

The white dog tees were once on sale at 3 for $21 on the American Apparel website, so we splurged and bought three of those, but after two years of heavy use, they’re pretty dingy looking and full of holes.

Anyway, last night I was walking around Manhattan, and I noticed that American Apparel was having a huge warehouse sale in an empty storefront on 6th Ave.  Brian was on his way into the city, so I sent him a text about it, and the next thing I know, the two of us are sitting on a cement floor digging through giant boxes of American Apparel dog shirts like frenzied maniacs, searching for size mediums.

THEY WERE THREE FOR THREE DOLLARS, PEOPLE!  THREE SHIRTS FOR THREE DOLLARS!!

I’m pretty sure Brian and I purchased the last remaining size mediums of the approximately 300 dog shirts that were hidden in a back corner of the store.  Out of all those shirts, there were only seven in Sid’s size:

To even out the purchase to a multiple of three (why not?), we grabbed two size smalls for a certain tiny puglet that hangs around the Pug Slope headquarters every now and then:

When we finally made our way to the registers with the nine shirts, our purchase rang up to NINE DOLLARS!  That’s $90 worth of confidence shirts for NINE DOLLARS!!!

And, of course, all this newfound confidence has gone straight to Sid’s head!

First of all, Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas and New Year’s have already passed and I’m sure everyone is eager to get on with 2012 and return to normal life, but we wanted to do a quick recap of our trip with Sid to Chicago for Christmas with my side of the family.

I’m sorry, Sid – but all those presents aren’t just for you!

The three of us stayed with my sister and her husband in their amazing pug-proof house. See, they are also familiar with a food-motivated dog – their Bichon/Poodle mix named Sweetie has an appetite on par with our flat-faced wonder. Sid had met Sweetie before when we passed through Chicago on our cross country drive from California to New York. For the most part they got along well – although Sid was a bit of a jerk and commandeered all of Sweetie’s favorite toys. Luckily, Sweetie lives up to her name and was kind enough to let him chew on her prized possessions.

Sid and Sweetie teamed up anytime someone was in the kitchen. They would turn on the charm, do tricks, create distractions, basically anything they could think of to obtain a morsel of what was on the counter. We were extremely diligent in assuring that nothing fell down to their level, but that didn’t squash their optimism.

My sister’s house is very sunny and Sid quickly discovered many warm, cozy spots to lay down and relax in. In addition to taking over Sweetie’s favorite toys, he also found her favorite spot on the back couch cushion and after a few spins was soon nested in. (Sorry, Sweetie! Sid can be a turd sometimes.)

Sid received many nice toys and treats for Christmas, including a Christmas neckerchief handmade by my sister and a new plush frog toy from my parents. Almost immediately after getting the frog, one of the little legs came off. Sid forgot about the rest of the frog and carried the little lone leg around with him the whole night. He loved that little leg.

Um, Sid – you sure you want to play with just the leg?

He also got a package of his one of his all time favorite toys – plush potatoes. Yes, these seemingly simple toys are one of Sid’s favorites. His favorite game is catch and these potatoes are the perfect size for him to catch. Plus – they have a squeaker inside which he adores (and quickly destroys).

Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday. We’re hoping to get back to regular commenting and posting now that we are slowly getting back to normal life. We have a few more stories and photos from Sid’s trip, including a special “in-the-fur” meeting with one of Sid’s pug-blog pals, Payton!

P.S. Thank you all for your tips for flying with your pug – I think we used just about every single one. I’m so proud of how good Sid did! He’s a flying ace now.

Sid was a shark.

Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking.  Does a shark hoodie that Sid already wears all the time really count as a Halloween costume?  Shouldn’t Brian and I, two seemingly creative people with endless time on our hands, be able to put together something a little more special?  Pug Vigoda, say?  Or Pugs Moleman?  Or Pugs Moleman dressed as Bart Simpson?

Well, what if we told you there was a matching PENGUIN in the house?

And what if we told you that Penguin’s name was TIMOTHY BUTTONS?!

That’s right.  A few weeks ago, we discovered that Timothy has a Penguin hoodie made by the same brand that makes Sid’s shark’s hoodie.  When fate presents you with a perfect marine-based halloween theme for your pug and his girlfriend, a theme which requires no output of money or effort, you listen to fate:

True, penguins and sharks don’t exactly get along in the wild:

File photo illustrating the universally-feared Great White Shark’s feelings of mild annoyance toward the universally-loved Emperor Penguin.

But Sid and Timothy used this opportunity to present an alternate reality – an aquatic utopia in which penguin and shark coexist harmoniously, like the yin and the yang of the sea:

In this utopia, when the shark licks the penguin, the penguin licks him right back:

In this utopia, sharks and penguins spend their evenings slow-dancing to the operatic wailing of the humpback whale:

In this utopia, sharks and penguins have mutually-beneficial, symbiotic goals; by working together to conquer the humans, the shark hopes to gain control of the treat supply while the penguin hopes to gain a better vantage point from which she can lick sharks:

But just when our aquatic utopia was becoming a reality, Sid overheard a small child on the street say “TRICK OR TREAT.” It was then that Sid put two and two together and realized that today was THE DAY when all of our neighbors were HANDING OUT TREATS.  FOR FREE.  And all that you needed to do to get these treats was WEAR A COSTUME.

The flap-flip of stubborn indignation was immediately deployed:

To be continued…

I know we’ve left you all with some open-ended stories over the past couple weeks, so I just wanted to give everyone some closure with today’s post.

1. The Curly Tail Pug Rescue 2012 Calendar Contest:
As you know, Sid became a finalist in the CTPR 2012 Calendar Contest, but, unfortunately, another pug’s photo beat out his at the last second. Thank you all for your votes and positive juju. While we are sad his photo didn’t win, we’re still really happy that he was able to raise a large amount of money for pugs in need. Congratulations to our friend Macho who won his month! Way to go, little buddy!

2. Sid’s Pee Problem:
This past weekend, Sid had a pee malfunction which resulted in two same-day vet visits, antibiotics, a cathater, and some bladder flushing. I think the whole thing may have been more traumatic to me than to Sid himself. Anyway, he’s been doing great now and his leg lifts are back to normal. The antibiotics will help with the UTI and since Dr. Quim did notice some crystals (struvites), we have this “gel” that we need to put on his food to prevent those crystals from forming.

3. The Final Chapter of the Story of How We Got Sid:
Okay, sorry this one’s a lie. I just needed a third item here – and the more I mention it, the more likely Jenn will finish the story (guilt is an effective motivator). She claims she’s still organizing all of it in her brain. We’ll have to leave you still hanging with this one. Sorry.

P.S. I know some of you might be wondering where Sid got such a cool looking bandana – well, it was a hand-made gift from his Aunt Erin who visited us last weekend. She also made him two others that are equally as stylish and have nice fall colors / a Halloween theme. We’ll be sure to post the other designs soon. They are actually pretty ingenius because they attach to the collar so there’s no need to do any fancy tying or wrapping or anything. I told her she should start a website and make them for pugs everywhere. If you think your pug would like one, let me know and maybe I can convince her to start selling them!

Sid believes he can fly.

Sid believes he can touch the sky.

He thinks about it every night and day.

He’ll spread his wings and fly away…or, at least, man the controls of one of those new-fangled flying machines like the great Amelia Pugheart and conveniently “disappear from the radar” while flying over that magical warehouse in the Bermuda Triangle where all of the treats that exist in the universe are stored.

Pug pilot cap designed by the awesome Jessica Lynne at All You Need Is Pug – her pug hats and scarves are AMAZING!