The past few weeks, I’ve noticed Sid sticks his tongue out more frequently. I’m not sure if it’s commentary on the fact that he is only provided two meals each day by his human (like every other dog!) or just a side-effect of his dental extractions this past Spring. It’s very subtle but not easily missed. I know the “tongue-out look” is pretty prevalant amongst pugs. If you recall, Sid’s lady-friend from Brooklyn, Timothy Buttons (affectionately known as T Buttz) had a pretty huge section of surplus tongue that was out pretty much all the time. I guess Sid is trying it out, but only taking baby steps.
Also, sorry that Sid and I have been MIA for the past couple weeks. I went on a week-long vacation while Sid stayed home and worked on his new nylabone. I’m not sure he missed me very much while I was gone as he was spoiled with lots of baby carrots the whole week. We hope to get back on track with more regular posts and comments.
An interesting episode took place at Pug Slope HQ the other night, although the bulk of the action destruction took place while I was out to dinner. I think it might be time to resurrect the Sid Cam.
A day prior, I had picked up a new basil plant from Trader Joe’s and plunked it on my window sill so it could bask in the summer sun.
The photo above isn’t my actual plant (image is from couponconnections.com), and although mine didn’t look as lush as this particular plant, it still had a good amount of healthy green leaves on it.
Earlier in the evening, Sid kept paying excessive attention to the Basil plant. I thought it was pretty funny because normally he pays no mind to all the houseplants I have strewn around the apartment. Well, in hindsight this should have been a warning sign because later that night I came home to find the apartment floor and all the dog beds covered in clumps of dirt.
Scattered amongst the soil clumps were a couple remaining basil leaves – partially-chewed of course. As for where the rest of all the leaves, the stems, and the roots all went, there is only one logical explanation:
Yep. Don’t let that sweet, tilted face fool you. Sid is one cold-hearted basil killer.
*** FOOTNOTE: Of course the first thing I did was search the internet to be sure basil is not toxic to dogs and I was relieved to find it was not. In fact, basil can supply them with “positive mood altering effects” – well whoopee! Too bad sweeping up an apartment full of dirt clumps at midnight on a weeknight didn’t produce any positive mood effects for this human.
It’s a fact: pug butts are adorable. It’s near impossible to resist the urge to grab ahold of those furry plump haunches and give them a squeeze. Sometimes I have to be content just to sit and stare because any tiny movement I make will…
“Wait, were you going to squeeze my haunches again? You humans are so weird.”
Just in case you were wondering, this is what happens when you have a pug sitting on your lap during work and suddenly remember that your laptop has a webcam.
Our apartment building is having all kinds of work done to its exterior so life has been pretty chaotic the past couple weeks at the ol’ Pug Slope HQ. Poor Sid was finding it hard to relax with mysterious men walking around on scaffolding outside all of our windows. The work seems to require lots of really loud drilling of bricks which releases brick dust everywhere.
This past weekend, Sid was finally able to find solace from all the noise and commotion with his new plush lion toy.
He located all the good sunny spots around the apartment and would trot from spot to spot with his gigantic floppy lion in tow.
I’m hoping I can find something to serve as my own comfort lion before all the drilling makes me lose my mind.
OHMYGOSH – I don’t even know where to begin. Well, how about at the beginning.
This past Sunday, my normal late-morning snooze was interrupted by the sound of my travel bag tumbling from the closet shelf to the floor. My dad was flying around the apartment gathering up a bunch of things including a beach towel, sunscreen, my portable water dish, and a bag of treats. I figured we were heading out to the Foster dog beach. But then we got on the El train which was weird because we usually would walk or take the bus to get to the dog beach. Where the heck were we going?
After about 45 minutes of traveling (which I don’t mind at all since I was the recipient of a pretty steady stream of venison jerky treats the whole time), we arrived at a place called the Pet Care Plus “K-9 Oasis”. I have to say, it looked pretty amazing.
The Oasis had two huge sections: one where dogs could romp around on various platforms and beds, and another which was pretty much just one ENORMOUS DOG POOL!!!
It was a hot and sunny day so I dove right in to cool off. Boy did that cool water feel great! As I started walking I noticed the water getting deeper – turns out the pool starts off shallow but gradually slopes down to a deep end.
I enjoyed wading around the shallow end and sometimes venturing a little deeper so I could float a bit. My dad tried to encourage me to go into the deep end to try some swimming but I adamantly refused.
“DEEP END? Um, no way, dude – unless you’re prepared with handfuls of treats.”
Soon, I started to notice I was not alone. There was another pug hanging out in the pool.
And then ANOTHER. A pug pool party was forming before my very eyes! SWEET!
My dad explained that the Chicago Pug Meetup group had rented out the K-9 Oasis that day. So I guess he knew about this pug party all along but wanted it to be a surprise for me. Well, I certainly was pleased to meet so many cool pugs and have pug-obsessed humans fawning all over me.
One of the other humans brought this awesome pink ball and I was totally smitten with it. I couldn’t stop batting it around with my paws or trying to catch it in my jaws.
For some reason my dad couldn’t stop laughing at my ball-catching technique. He even recorded a video of it. I don’t think there was anything funny about it – I mean it works for sharks, right? And of course I made my dad go retrieve the ball when it started floating towards the deep end. I was not going to let my ears wet!
Sometimes I’d lose track of the ball and another pug would play with it for a while. That little pink ball was a hit, that’s for sure.
“Yo, anyone see a ball? Pink. Floaty. Perhaps with some pug teeth marks in it…”
I played in the water non-stop for over two hours, so by the end of the party I was starting to fade.
I had so much fun. Thank you to the Chicago Pug Meetup group for planning such a fun afternoon. I can’t wait to to do it again! And to all you other pugs out there – if you have a dog pool in your town, BY ALL MEANS get your curly-tailed butt down there pronto! It’s the best thing ever!
Let’s just say I had another one of the best weekends ever this past weekend. It’s amazing what happens when you combine a hot sunny day, a large body of water, a squishy pink ball, and like, you know, TWENTY OR SO PUGS!
PUG SLOPE chronicles the adventures of a pug named Sid as he navigates his way through the world. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, started the blog in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and is currently calling Chicago, Illinois his home.
