Ever since we left Sid with Fun Aunt Liv for the weekend and his bowels exploded a week later (two completely unrelated incidents), we’ve been a little…um, permissive…as to where Sid sleeps at night. What can we say – It’s nice having a warm pug in the bed now that it’s chillier outside. I’m pretty sure that GUILT and PITY play a huge role in this as well.

But we’ve got to put a stop to this. Now.

“What’s the big deal,” you ask? Why do we not just enjoy the fact that we get eight extra hours to snuggle with the Hooth?

Well, after about a week of sleeping in the big bed, Sid starts to forget who’s in charge here at the Pug Slope Headquarters. And I don’t mean that he starts wandering around aimlessly, looking for a leader. What I mean is that his little pug brain decides that it’s going to dictate the frequency and volume of his meals, and he starts demanding food at all hours of the day.

Here’s a video of Sid – who, bear in mind, had a full breakfast and a gigantic lunchtime treat bone filled with peanut butter, apples, and venison – aggressively hilariously trying to demand that I serve him his dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon.

We’ve created a monster.

Sid’s dreams of aviation are about to come true!

That’s right!  The Pug Slope team will be putting on their brave faces this holiday season as they zip Sid into a bag, head to a jam-packed airport, remove him from a bag, walk him through security, zip him back into a bag, carry him aboard a plane, and then stow him under the seat in front of them for the duration of a two-hour flight to beautiful Chicago where they’ll be spending the Christmas holiday with Brian’s family!

This is our first time flying with Sid, and we’re pretty sure it’s his first time flying EVER, so we’re trying really hard to not be neurotic about the whole fiasco.  Really hard.  That being said, the brand new Sherpa bag that we ordered from Amazon already came in the mail – we wanted to make sure Sid had enough time to get accustomed to being inside it before taking off.

Sid’s taking his travel-bag training VERY seriously:

Any advice for staying calm while flying with a pug?  We’re kinda freaking out… Tell us it’s all going to be okay!

Now that the barf-tastic events of this Thanksgiving are behind us, Sid can barely contain his excitement for his favorite holiday – Christmas!

So, Sid now has to take this super-thick, molasses-y, brown, gooey gel twice a day to help him with his pee problem.  The vet warned us that most dogs have a hard time eating this, and we might want to mix the goo in with some food to make it more palatable.

You’d think the vet would know by now that Sid is not “most dogs”…

“Hey, sugar-tongue, wanna see somethin’ real neat?”

“Oh, here we go again with the ‘somethin’ neats.’  Sid, you spent all last night showin’ me somethin’ real neat, and, you know what? That raccoon toy you got was pretty neat and all, and, sure, you look real handsome when you was playin’ with it, but I spent ALL NIGHT watchin’ you play with that thing and now I want to go out DANCIN’ at the SAVOY like you PROMISED ME back when you first asked me out!”

“Aw, come on, trust me, baby.  I’m gonna show you something that’s gonna make TREATS fall from the SKY – metaphorically speakin’, of course.”

“Ooooh?  That does sound neat.  What’s the treats gonna metamorphse into?  Some dancin’ shoes?”

“Ain’t you lucky you’re nice to look at.”

“Awww, Sid, you’re the sweetest…LET’S GO DANCIN’!”

“Just- Would you just hold your horses?  We’re gonna go dancin’, alright?  But first you gotta see this.  You’re really gonna be really impressed.  Cross my heart, okay?”

“Whateva.”

“Okay, now, here’s how it works.  My folks are gonna come in here, and we’re gonna sit, you know, like good pugs sit.”

“Sure.”

“Then, see, my folks are gonna do this dumb thing where they ask us the same question over and over again.”

“Sounds like a blast.”

“Would you let me finish? See, each time they ask a question, alls you gotta do is tilt your head!  Left, right, left, right.  They’re easily amused, you see, so they think it’s HYSTERICAL and then they give you tons of treats!”

“How long do we sit there tiltin’ our heads before we get to go out dancin’?”

“AS LONG AS IT TAKES!  Shhhh!  Here they come!”

“Sigh.  I bet Eddie woulda taken me dancin’ at the Savoy, no problem.”

“Alright, baby, START TILTIN’!”

You work hard all day long to bring home the bacon.  You spend eight long hours in that rat race, and when you’re finally off the clock, you just want to sit back with your newspaper, spend some time alone, and unwind.

But your impossibly young and adoring wife has spent all day home, alone, watching the soaps and folding the laundry, dying for a chance to talk to somebody – anybody – about all of the thoughts and ideas and dreams that run through her pretty little head and she just wants to play, just for a little bit – why can’t she play, huh?  Why can’t she have a little excitement in her day?

But you work so hard. All you want is some peace and quiet, a hot home-cooked meal and just some time to relax, take your mind off things, perhaps chew on your favorite potato. But there she is.  This beautiful, needy, exquisite young woman for whom you have to keep working so dang hard to keep happy. Because, really, would this hot little lady be with an old curmudgeon like you if you weren’t bringing home that bacon?

You could’ve settled down with a woman your own age, a more mature woman with an established sense of self and a little less energy.  But, more than silence, more than serenity, you want to be able to look up from your newspaper at night and see that face – those perky ears, those big, black, beady eyes, that tongue that seems to go on for miles and miles. And so you give in. You roll over.  You play.  She wins.

Today’s video may tarnish Sid’s well-honed reputation as a toy-tossing, couch-climbing, gate-jumping party animal with a taste for adventure and a total disregard for authority.

Pump up the volume to hear some major pug purrs from your favorite sleepy-eyed tough-guy.