Sid and I hope everyone had a great holiday. We’ve been laying low the past few days, watching some movies at home, and trying our best to stay warm. Ever since the Christmas festivities wound down, Sid has been predominantly in a horizontal position, purring like a 4-stroke engine.

The reason why Sid is so tuckered out is because he went on a twinkling-light-filled bender last week. Here’s a collage of his descent into holiday madness (double-click to enlarge the image…that is, if you can handle the insanity).

One incident of which no photographic material exists, but I’m sure Sid will never forget, involved a certain pug hurling himself into the air, batting an entire shrimp cocktail platter onto the ground, and chowing down on said shrimp cocktail platter while all humans present looked on in horror. Based upon the speed at which Sid normally inhales his dinner and how many seconds had elapsed before I was able to intervene (approx. five), I suspect he slurped down about 4 or 5 shrimp. Probably the tails, too. And some of the sauce.

Sid’s rampage continued into the living room where he tore open numerous presents, many of which weren’t even his. He thought the new puffy coat for my brother-in-law was his new bed and started digging/nesting in it. He rummaged through the bag of discarded wrapping paper, certain that a package of venison treats must have slipped through the cracks. On numerous occasions he tried to recreate his earlier moment of triumph by awkwardly batting at any and all items that were within 6 inches from the edge of a tabletop. He does have amazing reaching skills but I’m happy to report his further attempts proved unsuccessful…well, to him anyway.

It’s no wonder the dude needs to recuperate.

Sid is going to hate me for posting this, but I think you all need to get the FULL STORY about Sid. At Pug Slope, we strive for HONESTY. Sid’s not always the calm, chilled-out dude he purports to be.

So, today I present another side of Sid. A side that makes an appearance every day precisely at noon – when I prepare his favorite lunchtime treat.

Today my dad said something that my little pug brain could not understand. I tried my usual technique of tilting my cranium to the left…

And then flopping it over to the right.

I then repeated the steps a few more times, but I still could not process what he meant when he said, “We need to buy more baby carrots because we ran out.”

Um, what does that mean exactly?

Or do I not want to know?

This past weekend, two flat-faced fawn snort-beasts showed up on the doorstep of Pug Slope H.Q. They must have been brothers because they bore an uncanny resemblance to one another.

In an unusual show of generosity, Sid invited the smaller of the two pugs to play with his Wigzi ball.

The small pug didn’t respond. Sid was baffled. Sure, he had already thoroughly cleared the Wigzi’s pockets of all treats and peanut butter, but still, didn’t the tiny dude want to even sniff it a little? Had he never seen a toy before?!

Sid tried to sniff the little guy’s butt to see what was up, but the lack of any stink quickly confirmed Sid’s suspicion: this non-stinking-butt guy had NO PERSONALITY WHATSOEVER.

Sid’s attention shifted to the bulkier big brother. Perhaps this guy had some interesting stories to tell. Perhaps he was an adventurer, a rule-breaker. Perhaps he had munched upon delicacies more scrumptious than Sid could ever imagine.

NOPE.

Sid’s official conclusion was that the pair were a couple of “total duds”. He then proceeded to show them the door.

Hi there all you adorable Pug Slopers –

I’m totally knackered after a full week of partying for my 8th Birthday (which was technically on Friday). So this week I plan to SLEEP, EAT, and then SLEEP SOME MORE in order to recuperate. But first, I wanted to share some photos from all the B-Day festivities.

First, was my TOWERING Birthday cake that dad “baked” for me.

The cake consisted of alternating layers of sliced apple and peanut butter topped with a FULL-SIZE CARROT (a significant upgrade to the baby c’s I am known to devour). To “fancy it up”, he placed some raspberries around the perimeter. He knows I’m not 6 years old, but said he ran out of raspberries (I’ll forgive him). I couldn’t wait to eat the cake. I stared goggle-eyed at the creation as it was being built on the kitchen counter. I may have even whined like a puppy the whole time.

Next was a fresh new toy – a skinny squirrel with squeakers at both ends. I take pride in my ability to crustify any new toy no matter how soft and fluffy it initially is. After a couple days of intense chewing and hiking it through my legs, the squirrel now has crispy saliva-spiked fur and both squeakers have been silenced. I’m a professional, kids, don’t try this at home.

As a grand finale to Birthday week (which technically extended into this week because Dad took the day off on Monday), we went to the Foster Dog Beach! I got to run around like a maniac on the sand and also swam some laps in Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to edit together a sequel to PUGWATCH, so you’ll have to use your imagination with these still photo highlights:

All in all, it was a total blast and I can’t wait for my next Birthday! I hope you all got to celebrate along with me and get some EXTRA TREATS!

This weekend, Sid and I took a road trip to visit our friends “Aunt” Anna and “Uncle” Andrew at Delmonte Lake up in Wisconsin. We had taken a trip up there a couple months ago and Sid had taken a refreshing dip in the lake. The weather was quite a bit cooler this time around, so unfortunately, swimming was out of the question. Instead we opted for a ride around the lake on a “surf bike” with Anna.

As you can see, the surf bike is basically two surfboards fused together with bicycle seats and pedals to power the propellers below. It’s actually a lot more stable than I had expected. Sid was a bit reluctant to board at first, but once he got his “lake legs” he had no trouble keeping his balance.

See, he even laid down for part of the excursion. And there weren’t even any treats on board!

After the aquatic adventure, the humans played some poker while Sid kept an eye on the poker chips. He quickly lost interest though when he realized the chips were not edible. He did however get ample amounts of baby carrots which lifted his spirits.

It was a really nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the windy city. Thank you to Anna and Andrew for such a fun time!

Despite Sid’s recent weight gain, it’s really hard to resist the urge to spoil him with treats. I mean, it’s not like he just eats treats matter-of-factly. Each treat is THE MOST AWESOME THING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE to him. So when my kind neighbor offered me a hunk of watermelon, I just had to give Sid a taste. After all, the poor dude has never had the joy of eating fresh watermelon before.

As soon as the mysterious pink chunk was placed before him, his pug instinct kicked in and he confidently decided it was in fact food and bowed down accordingly before his new watermelon overlord.

Once he got the “OK” to dive in, mayhem soon followed.

Of course the first step was to ditch the dish. At least he was kind enough to continue chowing down in the kitchen instead of carrying his juicy friend onto my bedspread.

It actually took him a lot longer to work his way through the chunk than I had anticipated. The watermelon appeared to alternate between being stuck to the roof of his mouth and being wedged under his tongue.

Watermelon juice started oozing everywhere. Again, thank you, Sid, for staying clear of my bed and the couch. If anything, you’re a courteous glutton.

The chunk eventually met its demise and Sid was ready for more. Unfortunately for him, that was the only TOTALLY AWESOME BEST EVER TREAT he was going to get today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.