When Sid and I went for our morning walk the other day, we made a slight detour. I know from the photo above, with the retro lockers, space-age chair, and sparkly floor, that one might think were in a bowling alley. Unfortunately for Sid, were not going bowling but were instead going for something else that starts with the letter “B”.

So, um, like where do I rent my shoes?

The weather here for the past couple of weeks had been very wet and that, coupled with some major road and sewer construction underway in our neighborhood, had led to large swaths of mud and puddles of water the size of small lakes. Our walks took us right through the heart of this mucky territory daily. In summary: the pug was filthy.

This explains why we were not rolling strikes but were instead squeezing bottles of pug shampoo. The caked-on mud required a bit more shampoo than normal, but soon our flat-faced wonder was squeaky-clean and smelling of coconuts.

Now, Sid, don’t forget to dry off!

Hi there everyone! Sid reporting today.

Don’t worry folks, I didn’t actually get sprayed by a skunk; I just smelled like I had been sprayed. Directly and repeatedly. I guess weeks of skipping my usual scrub-down had left me with that dreaded “wet dog” smell, even when I was completely dry. In my experience, you are more likely to be showered with treats and belly rubs when you are fluffy and smell like coconuts than when you look greasy and smell like an old sock. My dad and I both agreed it was time for a bath.

As you can see, I’m usually not very pleased when I first get put in the tub. But once the warm water starts flowing and the suds start bubbling up, I get very relaxed. I might even start purring. But my energy starts to get a boost during rinse-off, and once the towel comes out I’m a full-blown maniac. My legs operate independently and at different speeds. I think it might have something to do with that fact that after I’m dried off I get bombarded with treats (My dad just said “Well, DUH!”).

Hello all you beautiful Pug Slopers!

Sorry that it’s been a while since you heard from me directly. As you know, I lead a pretty busy life so I usually delegate posting duty to my unpaid intern (aka “Brian” or “Dad”). Well, this time I’m typing with my very own paws. Notice, however that you’re not hearing the usual tap-tap-tap…that’s because I got my nails trimmed. See I am entertaining some special guests this weekend and I have to make sure I’m in top form.

My intern, er, Dad, is going away for the weekend to someplace with waterslides and go-karts and other things someone his age should have probably long outgrown. While he’s away, I’ve got two awesome humans coming over to man the PugSlope Headquarters and administer my treats (they’ll be taking me on walks, too, but let’s be frank – treats are the numero uno priority-o). I want to make a good impression, so in addition to my nail trimming (technically “dremeling”) I also got a full-service bath and all my beds were washed and dried (again, by my intern). Everything smells like coconuts.

I’ll let you guys know what I get up to when my Pops returns. Let’s just say I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be S-P-O-I-L-E-D!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

On Sunday morning, I took Sid over to Urban Pooch for some de-skunk-ification. This was his second visit to U.P. and while he was still squirmier than when bathed at home, he seemed more relaxed than the first time we went.

While I was busy scrubbing him, two different pugs came in and had their nails dremeled. Both seemed pretty calm during the process so I thought I’d see how Sid would do. He runs away and hides whenever I get out the nail clippers (hoping to trim his dew claws) and refuses to let me so much as touch his paw so I didn’t have high hopes for the dremel, but I figured I’d at least give it a shot.

After I dried Sid off, the Urban Pooch assistant, Luke,  popped Sid up on a table and started dremeling away. My job was to distract Sid with a constant flow of venison jerky straight to the muzzle. Luke was super quick and gentle with the dremel – I don’t think Sid even really had time to process what was going on until it was already over. Sid actually kept his cool for most of the process, and wasn’t bothered at all by the noise (it was a lot quieter than I expected). He started getting super-squirmy near the end so we conceded to let him get away with two nails un-trimmed.

So it looks like two (nicely trimmed) dew claws up for the dremel!

This past weekend was The Weekend of Spring Cleaning and General Pug Maintenance.

First up – Sid’s three beds. As you have probably seen from recent photos, Sid’s beds were looking downright unruly. The worst of the bunch, his “dirty bed”, is named as such because that’s where I give him Wigzi balls and/or Kongs stuffed with PEANUT BUTTER every day for lunch.

Despite Sid’s best attempts at devouring every morsel, including the remnants of peanut butter that get mashed into the fabric, the bed was looking pretty grimy. The fabric resembled some kind of animal print, only the “spots” were really peanut butter grease stains. I actually think Sid may have preferred the bed stay in this condition – sorry dude.

Once the beds were thoroughly washed and dried at the laundromat down the street, I washed my own bedding. My outer blanket is a light brown color which hides the pug hair insanely well. This plus can also be big minus though because you never realize how much pug hair has built up until you take a very close look – yeah, it needed to be washed too.

And last but not least – the pug.

We tried something new this weekend and it turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Sunday morning I walked Sid over to Urban Pooch, a hybrid pet daycare/groomer/store which provides, among many other nifty services, self-wash stations where one can bathe one’s dog, DIY-style. While waiting for a self-wash station to open up, Sid met another pug named Maxine who was there for a nail trim. I guess technically it was a nail grind because they use a dremel to gradually file down the nails. Maxine’s mom said Maxine preferred the dremel over the clippers. Has anyone ever had their nails DREMELED?! Knowing how much Sid hates to get his dew claws trimmed perhaps dremeling might be a better option.

Anyway, a tub soon opened up and we headed to the washing room in the back. As soon as the door opened, the roaring whoosh of the air dryers overwhelmed us. Sid immediately put his jets on reverse and made a quick dash back towards the front of the store. I actually had to pick him up because he planted himself so flat that he resembled a squashed cockroach.

Once the dryers had stopped, he eased up a smidge but was still freaked out about what the heck was going on in this strange place. I plunked him into the tub, got on my vinyl smock (which came in handy!), and started hosing him down. Unlike the usual zen-like state that baths invoke upon Sid, this crazy new environment prompted a squirmfest. He did manage to finally calm down by the time I applied the conditioner though I did have to squelch numerous attempts at escape.

After I dried most of the water from Sid using the towels provided (another nice element), I thought maybe we’d try the hair dryer out. But a desperate look from Sid made me realize that was probably a bad idea. So we nixed the idea and I just gave him another going over with a towel and popped a clean t-shirt on him for the walk home.

Coconut Fresh!

Sid had his lady-friend, Miss Timothy Buttons, over to the Pug Slope Headquarters for a play date yesterday afternoon.  The weather was so nice outside, they both wanted to go swimming at the Prospect Park dog beach.  Unfortunately, I was taught that you don’t go swimming before Memorial Day (I have no idea where my mom came up with that one), so Sid and T-Buttz had to settle for the “beach” in our bathroom.

This deception compromise was a win-win for everybody, because these pugs were kinda ripe.  And, really, is the bath all that different than the beach?

Sid loves baths so he was on board right away, exclaiming over and over that he finds the beach to be sooooo relaxing, but by the time the suds were applied, I could tell that Timothy Buttons was getting suspicious.

Luckily, by the time she brought up the fact that her parents don’t normally slather her fur with conditioner at the beach, the official “bath time” was over and “post-bath-beach CRAZY time” had begun:

Phew!

Once we got the post-bath ya-yas out of everybody’s system, Sid and T-Buttz were ready for some strollin’ in the park.  Gotta show off those squeaky-clean coats!

Sid loves baths. I mean really loves baths. Once he gets soaped up he seems to enter some zen state of mind. I don’t know if it’s the soap suds or the chest rubs, but his usual pug purring becomes amplified and he is barely be able to hold his head up. Even though we have to leave his special medicated allergy shampoo on him for 10 minutes, he doesn’t seem to mind. It just gives him more time to meditate.

Witness Sid’s entrance into bath zen: