This weekend, Sid got to go on a super-special-day-trip that involved going OVER a CANAL, UNDER a RIVER, and ONTO an ISLAND! It also involved some of his human relatives and some other pugs that he had never met before. So, did you you figure out where he went yet?!

As usual, Sid had to ride in style – in his bright red Sherpa travel bag, of course!

Be sure to tune in later this week for all the exciting details of his travels!

Okay, so the other day this tiny box arrived at the main command outpost of PLANET COOL SID (Hey, guys.  It’s Jenn.  He means the Pug Slope Headquarters.  Sigh…) and the tiny box was all like, “You!  Yeah, you!  I’m talkin’ to YOU, flat face!  I’m not gonna let you sniff around on top of the space food preparation unit (he’s referring to the kitchen island…) anymore because I’m a tiny box and I’M GOING TO TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSE,” and I was all like, “Oh, yeah?  OH YEAH? Let me show YOU who’s boss!” and then there was an EPIC SPACE BATTLE in which I was Han Solo and the tiny box was Pizza the Hut (Jenn again…I tried explaining to him that Star Wars and Spaceballs are not the same movie… ) and I made my mom videotape it with her iPad, but then when I wanted to put it on YouTube she was all like, “Come on, Sid, I gotta do work work work on my laptop right now.  I don’t have time for this silliness,” and I was all like, “But I’ll give you a back rub” (…???!?!…) and then she was all like, “No, don’t worry about it.  Just make sure you eat these treats because putting videos on YouTube is much harder work than the work that your daddy and I do.  We love you SO MUCH and just want to make sure you are NEVER EVER EVER HUNGRY,” and I was all like, “Thanks, Mom,” and then I put the video up on YouTube:

“The Boss” had to be carried home from the park that day…

Today’s marvelous flap-flip celebrates the arrival of Sid’s new friend, Carla!  Carla’s cousin Carlos checked in this morning, too, but he must be camera-shy or something.  He’s hiding on the inside of Sid’s muzzle flap, right above Carla, the extrovert. Apparently the recently-evicted Carl sent post cards home to his entire extended family, and now they’re all eager to vacation on Sid’s face.  Can you blame them?  Look at that mug!

Well, in response to the Orange Escapade last Sunday, we ended up raising a few shelves on the bookcase that houses our fruits & veggies in order to place the edibles further out of Sid’s reach. If he can manage to get to them now, we’ll need to sign him up for the high-jumping agility circuit (if such a thing exists).

Anywho, I finished another Pug Portrait recently. Well, actually this one is a Brussels Griffon Portrait. It’s of Dr. Zira, one of the Urban Hounds. She crossed over the rainbow bridge a couple months ago but will always be remembered as an important member of the Urban Hounds pack.

Hey, everybody.  Jenn here.

As Brian mentioned on Friday, we sat down with Sid for some peace talks and as a result we’ve regained partial control of Pug Slope.  Sid gets to keep his crop of carrots, and his spooky handsome giant visage will continue to leer stare lovingly at you from the masthead, but the Pug Slope name flies high once again.  But that doesn’t mean this is the end of Planet Cool Sid.  As part of our negotiations, we’ve given Sid a weekly “Planet Cool Sid” column in exchange for all of his online shopping passwords.

So, in light of our recent success, Brian and I decided we deserved a night out on the town to celebrate.  We got all dolled up and headed out to attend a celebration of Gertrude Stein’s Paris at the SymphonySpace way way way up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

We got great seats, and after enjoying Stravinsky’s music for the Ballet Russes and some readings of short works by Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes, it was finally time for some jazz – the main attraction, for us.

And just as the jazz band started playing, I stupidly decided to check the Sid Cam, just to see what ol’ Sid was up to.

Now, we check on Sid using our web cam all the time while we’re out.  Occasionally we’ll see him sleeping in his bed, but most of the time he’s not even on screen because he’s cuddled up in our bed in the other room.

Yet, this is what he was doing when I checked in on him while we were out on Saturday night (I think the images – screenshots from my iPhone – will speak for themselves):

At this point I’m remembering that there’s a GIANT naval orange on that shelf…

Yup.

And then, around 9:57PM, he rolled the orange off camera towards our bedroom and never came back…

So, needless to say, our night was ruined.  True, dogs can conceivably eat oranges in moderation, but this orange was HUGE and for all we knew he was chomping it into a pulpy mess on our bed.  Since we were no longer able to enjoy the music without worrying about the mayhem that was happening back at our place, we called it a night and got on the train back to Park Slope.

Here’s what we found when we got home:

Hi all –

We just received word from Mr. Chewy (Thank you, Mr. Chewy!) that Sid’s brand of dog food, Natural Balance, is part of a large recall taking place with the many brands of food made by Diamond Dog Food. This only applies to certain date codes on the bags, but since we’ve already tossed the bag and emptied the food into his food container, we’re not taking any risks.

Diamond Dog Food actually makes the food for many brands, so please visit this link to see if your pet’s brand is affected.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/diamond-dog-food-recall-summary/