Well, after surviving the mildest East Coast Winter EVER (did we even get any snow?), today we celebrate the official arrival of Spring.

We implore all of you to follow Sid’s simple guidelines for a successful Spring Equinox Celebration: go outside for a nice, sunny walk in Prospect Park with your favorite treat-giving humans, and while you’re there, be sure to take some time to stop and eat smell the daffodils!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: SID DID NOT ACTUALLY EAT ANY DAFFODILS DURING THIS PHOTO SHOOT, AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU! After making what I thought was an innocent joke, I hopped over to our good friend Google to do some Googlin’, and apparently Daffodils are highly toxic for dogs.  Like, beyond toxic.  Lethal.  Especially the bulb but apparently a small nibble of any part of the plant could make you guys sick.  So, yeah, DO NOT EAT THE DAFFODILS!!!

So, I told Sid how much you guys loved the video he made about his favorite new potato toy, and now he’s sitting in the corner moping and listening to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” on repeat.  He says he can’t believe that I posted his private video on the blog and now everybody’s gonna think he’s all sappy and mushy, and he says that video was for Tater’s eyes only and if he knew how to use YouTube better he would’ve password-protected it because it was personal.  I tried to tell him that the ladies like a sensitive man, but he’s not hearing it.  He suggested that I could repair the damage to his reputation by posting some of the photos I took of him and Tater where he looks like a tough guy:

So, if you’ve been paying attention, then you know that Sid really, really, really loves his potato toys.  Yesterday we gave him a brand new yellow potato to bring on his evening walk in Prospect Park, and he held that little potato in his mouth throughout the entire 40-minute walk.  We brought along the camera so we got a lot of nice shots of Sid with his new best friend.  Here’s a few:

Cute photos, but nothing you haven’t seen before, right?  Well, I accidentally left my photo editing software open on my computer when Brian and I left for our trivia night.  When we came home, Sid was passed out at my keyboard, a notepad by his side.  The note read:

Start with photos of me walking down the street with Tater looking super cool and then zoom in to me still walking down the street with Tater in my mouth but try to crop out Mom because nobody needs to know that I need to wear a leash and I love Mom a lot but she’s not going to get between me and Tater and Mom just has to understand that I’m not a baby anymore, okay?  Then show me and Tater in the park near those wood chips that I like to rub my face into, and make sure to include that photo where Tater is hiding from me as I peek around the tree and find her, and you know what?  I’m gonna do it.  I’m gonna include the photo where I’m peeing on the tree with Tater in my mouth because THAT WAS SO AWESOME. Imagine me and you, I do, I think about you day and night, it’s only right, to think about the toy you love, and hold it tight, so happy together. I wish Mom and Dad would let me eat Honey Grahams.  But do they have that song?  Ugh, no.  I’m gonna have to buy it on iTunes.  What’s Mom’s password?  Oh, and then, after the photo of me peeing, cut to the photos where Tater and I are lying on the grass, and I get to hold Tater in my paws while I chomp chomp chomp, and then maybe some of the photos where I stand all studly with Tater in my mouth, and then the ones where Mom wants to take Tater from my mouth so she can throw it and I’m all like “nuh-uh, Mom,” and then…Hmmm, Ken Burns effect, or no Ken Burns effect?  Ken Burns effect.  Oh, man!  How do I upload to YouTube?

Well, Sid must’ve figured out how to upload, because when we went to our YouTube page, we found this:

PS:  We found this message scribbled on the other side of Sid’s notepad:

Remember to think good thoughts for Payton so that she can feel better and get excited about food and toys and other exciting things again without feeling sick because it stinks if you can’t be excited about all of the exciting things in life and Payton is cool and I miss her.  

I’m very excited about today’s announcement. Due to the positive response, I’m going to be taking orders for hand-painted portraits of your very own pugs! I’m very excited about this project and appreciate all your positive and encouraging comments.

If you didn’t see the previous post about the pug sketches, click here. Here’s another example of some pug portraits that I did based on some photos from a pug magazine.

Here are the details:

• Each portrait will be done in ink and watercolors.
• I’m aiming for the image to be about 3-inches square.
• The portrait will be unframed, but will come with an 8-in x 8-in matte to allow you to use whatever 8-in x 8-in frame you’d like. Of course you can cut down the matte to a smaller size if you’d like to use a smaller frame.
• Each portrait will be $20 (matte and postage included).

Here’s how to order:

1. Place your order by clicking the Buy Now button in the Pug Portraits area on the right-hand column of pugslope.com. This will take you to payal where you can use either your paypal account or a credit card if you don’t have a paypal account (you do not have to sign up for paypal).
2. Email pugportraits@pugslope.com a good photo of your pug which you’d like the portrait to be based on. Please make sure the photo is in good focus, isn’t blurry, and is in JPG format. If you also include a couple other reference photos, perhaps from other angles, it will allow me to capture your pug more accurately. Please include your name and your pug’s name in the body of the email.
3. I’ll email you when your pug portrait is complete and has been mailed.

Since this project will be done in my spare time, I’m not certain what the exact turnaround time will be. Three to four weeks would probably be the maximum time and, unless I get a bunch of orders at once, you can probably expect the turnaround time to be shorter.

If you are unhappy with your sketch, I will happily refund your payment or do a second portrait for you at no additional charge.

Most of the $20 will actually be covering the cost of the materials (paper, paints, ink, matte-board, etc.) and shipping. Any leftover money will be going to Sid, or rather Sid’s vet, as he seems to enjoy getting in to some sort of mischief that lands him at the vet at least once a month.

Thank you in advance for your order!

Sid has a new best friend.  He also has a new gigantic wart on his muzzle.

Sid named his best friend “Cubby.”  We named his ginormous wart “Carl.”

Cubby’s here to stay, but we’re hoping that Carl can find a ticket on the next train home to Wartsville.

But, you know what? If Carl decides to stick around for a while, that’s fine with us.  Just as Sid’s love for Cubby can withstand a broken squeaker or a dousing of Timothy drool, Carl’s warty presence could never diminish our love for Sid.  We love this pug, warts and all!

A couple weeks ago, our neighbors took a trip to rural Pennsylvania to visit Amish country. While they were there, we tended to their adorable little plump cat, Snip. According to Sid’s allergy test from a few years back, he’s highly allergic to cats and so, unfortunately, we didn’t get to do a photo shoot with the two side-by-side.

Our neighbors are very thoughtful and brought us back an amazing gift that has actually come in handy now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse (e.g. it’s freezing outside!).

So – not only are the Amish adept at making rugged, hand-crafted wood furniture, apparently they also know a thing or two about knitting rugged cable-knit sweaters – for dogs.

This truely is a distinguished gentlepug’s sweater. Sid just needs a few accessories – a cup of tea, a pipe, and a good novel – and he could be on the cover of The Gentle Pug Quarterly.

Sid has donned his full Leap Day garb today in hopes that Leap Day William‘s bucket of sweets also contains TREATS!!! Happy Leap Day, everyone!