Last weekend, I got to meet the pugrent of one of our faithful pug slope commenters, Socrates – a fellow Brooklyn-ite. Or Brooklonian. Brooklynian? Whatever.

Anyway, the reason for the meet-up was two-fold: (1) so that I could deliver the portrait of her fine gentle-pug to her, and  (2) for an in-the-fur meeting of two great philisophical minds – Socrates & Siddhartha. Here’s the portrait of Socrates:

Unfortunately, we’ll never know what forms of deeper understanding or insight Socrates and Siddhartha may have come up with because Carlos got in the way. Or was it his cousin, Carl, Jr.? Since Sid’s muzzle wart entourage are contagious (only for other dogs that have never been exposed), Socrates had to stay home this time. But his mom still wanted to meet Sid (who doesn’t, right?!).

Not only was Socrates’ mom super nice and as pug-obsessed as we are, but she was kind enough to bring a toy and some yummy treats for Sid (and for us, too!). One of these gifts in particular made Sid weak in the knees – a piece of real honest-to-goodness DEER ANTLER! What’s particularly cool about this special treat is that the antlers are something that the deer shed naturally each year, so no animals were harmed in its making!

After so many attempts to obtain human snacks from high places, Sid has developed amazing dexterity with his paws. He pretty much uses his dew claw like a thumb (I think that’s how he was able to hack our computer and take over the blog last month!). Lucky for us, that day he was only using his amazing reaching ability to position the antler for the maximum chewability angle.

After an hour of chew-time, he was knackered. But of course he wouldn’t let the antler out of his sight.

“I keep all my prized possessions under my head. And then I cry a little.”

Thank you to Socrates’ mom for such fantastic treats! Sid said he wants to move out of our place and get a two-bedroom with Socrates up in the North Slope.

Sid wonders why we always think he’s up to no good.

Because it’s totally normal for a pug to splay himself out on the couch in a completely unnatural position that implies he is hiding, under that pillow, something highly valuable that either a) is technically edible, or at the very least chewable and swallowable, but not on the “approved to eat” list, or b) implicates him in a crime.  Right?

Shifty eyes, a furrowed brow.  Yep, totally innocent.

Dum-dee-dum.  Just goin’ about my day.  Definitely ain’t hiding anything delicious or incriminating under this here pillow. Doop-de-doo.  

Finally, we wrap up Sid’s epic trip to Manhattan.

Sid’s new friend, Fu, lead us to the brand-spankin’-new small dog park in Washington Square.

So many small dogs!

So many new butts to sniff!

So many new people to try to get frogurt from!

I ❤ NY!

After about an hour of running around like a maniac, Sid had to be carried out of the park.

Then is was time to give Grammy Grace a big kiss good-bye, and head back to Pug Slope.

Whew!  What a trip!  Can’t wait to do it again!

Hey everybody!  Part Two of Sid’s Manhattan adventure starts NOW:

So, Sid survived the subway, and after meeting up with Grammy Grace, Uncle Jay and Auntie Chiho in Washington Square Park, we made our way over to the West Village.

We were looking for a place to brunch, but stumbled onto a street fair / farmer’s market – dangerous territory for a food-crazy pug.

Luckily, we were able to get a table at a great wood-fired pizza place with outdoor seating before Sid noticed any of discarded churros or abandoned squash blossoms that lined the pavement around the farmer’s market.  We were seated right near the sidewalk so all the passersby could see that this was the place where the cool pugs eat.

Sid’s Five-star Yelp review: “OMG, I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE, BUT THEIR PEANUT-BUTTER-FILLED KONG BONES TASTED JUST LIKE THE PEANUT-BUTTER-FILLED KONG BONES MY MOM AND DAD MAKE FOR ME AT HOME.”

After the meal, Sid was ready for a nap, but there was still more fun to be had!  Back to Washington Square!

Manhattan can be exhausting.  Some tired tourists make their way through central park in a horse-drawn carriage.  Others rest their aching feet in the back of a pedicab en route to a Broadway show.

Sid gets carried around Greenwich Village by his mother.

Yup.

It’s okay, though, because he needed the rest.  See, he met a new friend out on the street, and his friend told him about this “spot at the bottom of the square where all the small dogs get their ya-yas out, and it’s real hush-hush, ya’see, but if you’re cool and speak their lingo, you might just find yourself havin’ a real good time – a real good time, if you catch my drift.  ‘Cause these small dogs aren’t like you Brooklyn small dogs.  These small dogs live in Manhattan, the island of opportunity, the island of down is up and up is down and who’s walkin’ who?  That’s right, Mom and Dad, I’m walkin’ you.  These small dogs eat treats for breakfast, and treats for lunch, and treats for snacks in between breakfast and lunch – and for dinner?  MORE TREATS.  So if you play your cards right and do what I do, you might just get a taste of what we’re cookin’ out here, but just a taste, my flat-faced friend, ’cause IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.”

So, we’ve finally wittled down the ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY PHOTOS we took of Sid’s Manhattan adventure into a slightly-more-managable three-part photo essay entitled “Pug in the City.”

Today we present part one – Sid’s Subway Spectacular!

One last Brooklyn smile for the camera before Sid hops into his Sherpa bag and heads downstairs into the 7th Ave station!

Sid gets carried deeper into the abyss.

OMG THE TRAIN’S A’COMIN’!!!!!

Sittin’ in a bag on Daddy’s lap, playin’ it cool on the F train.

We made it to Manhattan!

“Hey!  I’m walkin’ here!”

We met up with Grammy Grace, Uncle Jay, and Auntie Chiho in Washington Square Park.

Sid just wanted to keep hangin’ out inside of on top of his bag, as if there was someplace else he wanted to go.

“Forget Carnegie Hall. How do I get to Carnegie Deli?”

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to win a giveaway over at Urban Hounds and the prize was an accessory from P-Dawg Accessories. Since Sid already has a few bandanas from his Aunt Erin, we opted for a nice new collar.

Erika over at P-Dawg was so helpful and directed us to her fabrics that would work best for the collar. We ordered a bright green fabric with little circles that remind me of tiny cheerios (I think that’s also why Sid approved of the fabric choice). Even though P-Dawg features accessories designed for bulldogs, Erika makes everything by hand and has no trouble scaling down the accessories to “pug-size”.

Within a couple days Erika emailed us that the collar was finished. She sure is a whiz to be able to create a collar by hand in such a short amount of time!

Not only did the new collar arrive quickly, it also had a very cute little personalized note for our flat-faced wonder that featured a photo of Erika’s bulldog, Pippa-Lou.

Here’s a better view of the collar itself and the brightly-colored fabric.

And here’s our little dude sporting the new look for spring!

Thank you so much Urban Hounds and Erika @ P-Dawg Accessories!!!