No, 24.4 is not the current temperature in degrees Celsius (well, actually it’s not too far off thanks to unseasonably cool summer weather), it’s HOW MANY POUNDS SIDDHARTHA “THE FAWN BRATWURST” LAMONT WEIGHS! On my!

Yesterday we went to the vet for a regular check-up and I did a double-take when Sid got on the scale as he usually clocks in around 21 to 22 pounds. I reset the scale and had him try again. Still 24.4.

I mentioned to the vet tech that I was confused because I had actually been taking the little potato-with-legs on much longer walks the past week and a half since the weather has been unusually cool for this time of year. She said then he must be putting on muscle. I had to stifle a laugh, and suggested he must have been working specifically on the one muscle that wraps around his mid-section (the PUGNACIOUS TUBEIUS??) as that’s the only area where he’s been “bulking up”. No offense to Sid as it’s not like he gets to determine his eating schedule – if he ever did I think he’d actually become circular and instead of walks would have to go on “rolls”.

ANYWAY, so it looks like we’ll be back to the ol’ tried and true GREEN BEAN DIET for a little while. I’m sure THE FAWN BRATWURST will be thrilled.

Well, the day has come.

Today we pick the winners of our BE COOL LIKE SID prize give-away. I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for this day – well get ready for the exciting results.

To make picking the winner as fair (and hilarious) as possible, I recruited Sid.

“Are you saying I have to get out of bed for this?”

His idea was to put bags of baby carrots in front of each person’s name and whichever bag he devoured first and second would be the winners. I modified his original vision slightly by reducing the “bags of baby carrots” to individual chunks of sliced apple and adding a third “consolation” prize of a Wigzi and potato for the LAST apple chunk he ate. He wasn’t too happy about my first change but decided he was still game. Sid will do anything for apples.

Here are the prizes at stake:

Here’s how the field looked:

And here’s how the mayhem all went down:

So our two winners (based on which apple chunks Sid ate, I mean SWALLOWED WHOLE WITHOUT CHEWING OR BREATHING, first and second) are:

DONALD & DAISY!!! (from Pug-a-Boo)

and

SCARLET!!! (from The Scarlet Sutras)

And our consolation prize for the LAST surviving apple chunk is…

IZZY!!!

Thank you to all the participants and congratulations to all the winners. Thank you all for your tips on how to stay cool this summer. We are definitely going to be using them as I’m sure we’re due for another heat wave soon.

Poor Sid.

When he got up from his bed to follow me into the kitchen (ever hopeful that I’m going to give him something to snack on) one of his toys got hooked onto his tail.

As one would expect, hilarity ensued. I was able to grab the camera to catch a few action shots of him wildly spinning in a futile attempt to get his jaws on his green alligator. He did eventually get the gator in the end.

I guess there is perhaps a downside to having a curly tail…

P.S. There’s still time to enter the “BE COOL LIKE SID” give-away. Just visit this past Friday’s post (click here) and leave a comment with your favorite way to stay cool during the summer. We’ll be picking the winner tomorrow!

People, Sid has come down with a severe case of Beaver Fever.

Um, no, not BIEBER FEVER, I said BEAVER FEVER.

Yes, BEAVER FEVER. Wait, no, not that kind.

I meant something more like THIS:

I’m not sure there is a cure for this condition (though Sid doesn’t seem to mind one bit).

Has anyone else come down with a case of B.F.?

Hope you all had a relaxing FLAT PUG WEEKEND!

I know Sid mentioned in his last post that he was beat from all the activity last week. Well, today’s video will provide further explanation as to his strong desire to remain an F.P. all weekend long…

Even though Sid is quite an athletic pug (I’ve come to accept that my boy is a “jock”), I was still shocked to find him utterly obsessed with baseball. I mean, I guess it is the “American Pastime” and everything, but he’s usually not interested in playing with a ball unless it’s stuffed with peanut butter or salmon treats. Boy was I wrong!

I think if we keep up training, he may be ready for the majors some day!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

On Sunday morning, I took Sid over to Urban Pooch for some de-skunk-ification. This was his second visit to U.P. and while he was still squirmier than when bathed at home, he seemed more relaxed than the first time we went.

While I was busy scrubbing him, two different pugs came in and had their nails dremeled. Both seemed pretty calm during the process so I thought I’d see how Sid would do. He runs away and hides whenever I get out the nail clippers (hoping to trim his dew claws) and refuses to let me so much as touch his paw so I didn’t have high hopes for the dremel, but I figured I’d at least give it a shot.

After I dried Sid off, the Urban Pooch assistant, Luke,  popped Sid up on a table and started dremeling away. My job was to distract Sid with a constant flow of venison jerky straight to the muzzle. Luke was super quick and gentle with the dremel – I don’t think Sid even really had time to process what was going on until it was already over. Sid actually kept his cool for most of the process, and wasn’t bothered at all by the noise (it was a lot quieter than I expected). He started getting super-squirmy near the end so we conceded to let him get away with two nails un-trimmed.

So it looks like two (nicely trimmed) dew claws up for the dremel!

Like Sid mentioned on Monday, we did head to the Montrose Dog Beach this past weekend. The sun was certainly nice and bright but it was still pretty cold out and the wind was quite blustery. Still, we had a blast.

Sid went bonkers when he reached the water. You probably are aware by now of his strange obsession with water. I was afraid he might head out to sea so I brought him a little further inland so he could sprint on the sand. Here’s a short video of the little guy at top speed!