Hey fur-riends!

It’s Sid with you today. Reporting live from the nerve center of Pug Slope HQ. Yes, I know it just happens to be my bed.

The reason why I’m in bed is because I’ve been taking several extra naps each day to store up energy for this weekend’s pug meetup in Chicago. Along with from my fellow flat-faced Chicago pals, Violet and Timmy, dozens of pugs from all over the country will be coming into town by air, by rail, and by dog stroller. This is the weekend the pugs will take over Chicago!

There are several activities taking place over the weekend including a pug cruise. I sailed on the cruise a couple years ago (in appropriate nautical attire, natch) and so I will be skipping it this year, but I am planning to be at the meet and greet at Lake Shore East Dog Park. I was there last summer for a pug party and it was absolute mayhem.

Let me know if you are planning to go!

For more detailed information on PugsTakeChicago click here.

Hi everyone! Sid reporting. I’m so glad you’re here today. I want to tell you about the insanely fun time I had last weekend. Now that I’ve had a few days to recuperate, I’m ready to tell you all about it.

Well, I first knew something was up when my dad starting digging around in the closet and out flew my red travel bag. Last time that got pulled out we ended up going on an epic adventure in Lincoln Park. This time, however, we didn’t ride on the El train but instead got on a city bus. When we arrived at our destination in the west loop – Pet Care Plus – I was greeted by a handful of friendly pugs. Some of them were wearing flotation devices which I thought was odd, until I set eyes on… THE POOL!

I began by doing a few laps around the perimeter. To make sure the pool was, you know, up to all the proper regulations and such.

There were a few pugs swimming and some bobbing around in their floatation devices. I noticed a few other pugs just hanging out at one end of the pool, where the water was only dew-claw deep. Aha! That looked like a good place to start.

It was very hot and the sun was beating down, so getting my feet wet felt splendid and instantly cooled me off. Then all of a sudden I saw something familiar in the water. It was my glow-in-the-dark WIGZI ball!!! My dad had brought it with so we could play in the water.

It floats, and sometimes it would drift out of my reach into the deep end…

See how I put on the brakes?! Luckily my dad or some of the other awesome humans there would toss it back in my direction so I could try to bob for it in the shallow water again. Trying to catch it in the water was really challenging. I eventually found the best strategy was to quickly dunk my whole head under water to grab hold of the ball.

I decided to take a break from playing with the WIGZI ball so I waded back into the shallow end of the pool. Well, guess who I ran into?! None other than my friends that I met last month on the pug boat tour – Violet and Timmy!

That’s me and Violet – isn’t she cute?! She’s very petite. She just celebrated her 10th birthday and brought home-made mini cupcakes for all the pugs. They were delicious! Full disclosure: I actually ate two cupcakes. Thank you so much for the cupcakes, Violet!

I was feeling a bit mischievous and saw Violet trying to take some glamour shots, so I thought it’d be funny to photo-bomb them (with my blue potato, of course). Hee hee!

My dad and I played a bunch more with my blue potato, I met a bunch of other cool Chicago pugs, and I was the lucky recipient of some complementary butt scratches. Yes, that is the spot!

All in all, it was the perfect day for a pug.

And now you can hopefully understand why I was soooo pooped when I got home! I can’t wait to go to the next pug pool party!

—

Thank you so much to Violet’s mom, Christina, for taking the bulk of these photos. See, my doofus dad, in the heat of packing all the beach towels, toys, sunscreen, and other items, FORGOT to bring his good camera! So Violet’s mom was kind enough to take a bunch of shots of me! THANK YOU, CHRISTINA!

Also, THANK YOU to Chris and Dee Dee for organizing and hosting the event. If you live in Chicago and are interested coming to the pug meetups, the group’s website is: http://www.meetup.com/chicagopugs.

Sid is still talking about the ice cream he ate this past weekend and his fun visit with Christy, Tim, Donald, Daisy, Gammy, and Gampy. In addition to taking Sid out for some amazing ice cream, they also gave him a gift bag with some awesome plush toys in it. There was an ample supply of plush potatoes, which, as you probably already know, are one of his all-time favorites, and an extra-large and extra-floppy plush lion.

Sid has become smitten with the lion and now he carries it around with him when moving from one room to another. He also likes to bring it onto the bed at night and hike it through his back legs REPEATEDLY. I guess we all got to have our bedtime rituals, right?

Thank you guys for such great toys! You certainly know what Sid likes!

Sid and I hope everyone had a fun Fourth of July. It was so nice having a three-day weekend. Not only did we have amazing weather but we were graced with the presence of a whole car-load of special guests!

When the packed car pulled up at Pug Slope HQ, Christy and Tim (pug-rents of Angel Payton the Pug) and their pugs, Donald and Daisy, hopped out followed by two other humans. Humans whom Sid and I had never met in person before: Christy’s parents – a.k.a. Payton’s “Gammy” and “Gampy”! Sid’s mind was blown.

The beach was packed for the holiday so we opted to hang out at Winnemac Park. We spread out the blanket, kicked back, and let the pugs do some serious sniffing. Daisy was happy we didn’t end up going to the beach as she is not very crazy about sand and surf. The recently-mowed grass of the park was much more her speed.

I was armed with venison jerky treats and as soon as Sid noticed this fact, he got into super-model mode and did whatever pose would ensure promptest treat delivery.

Donald caught wind of what was going on and joined in on the action. If you ever wish to have a pug in your presence, and you don’t see any around, just hold some venison jerky in your hands. Within seconds you will have at least half a dozen sitting in front of you staring unblinkingly.

We all hopped in the car and rolled over to Crosby’s Kitchen for lunch. All pugs were on exceptional behavior! I guess they might have had some premonition of joy in their near future and didn’t want to do anything stupid that would spoil what was in store for them after lunch.

After a delicious meal, we all made tracks for Scooter’s Frozen Custard which was one of three places on Gampy’s Chicago checklist. The other two were also ice cream joints. The man has his priorities in order, that’s for sure.

Not only did the humans get to indulge in delicious frozen custard concoctions, but each of the dogs were given their own complementary mini cones filled with vanilla frozen custard! The teeny cones were adorable but I didn’t get a photo of them. You know why? Well, I was busy dealing with another situation. I’ll let the photos tell the story…

If there would have been a third photo, it would have captured Sid’s muppet arms swiping my ice cream right off the bench and onto the ground. Remember when I said the pugs were behaving exceptionally well during lunch? Well, a CERTAIN PUG WHOSE NAME STARTS WITH AN “S” couldn’t contain himself in the presence of the sweet sweet ice cream and knocked his poor dad’s cup onto the ground.

Thank goodness Scooter’s was very understanding of my predicament and gave me a replacement cup for free. I’m pretty certain Sid felt no remorse for his actions and probably would have knocked my second cup of ice cream on the ground if there was a 0.001% chance that it might end up in his mouth.

Before we parted ways, Sid said he wanted to be sure he got a photo with Gammy because she’s one of his biggest fans.

Thank you to Christy, Tim, Donald, Daisy, Gammy, and Gampy for visiting us and for making this one of Sid’s best days ever!

If you happened to stop by Pug Slope HQ on Monday, this is what you would have seen:

Now, it’s not usual for Sid to be chillin’ in his bed most of  the day. While I work from home, he usually is catching his much-needed Z’s (being cute and demanding treats is exhausting work, people!). But on Monday, he was sitting in this position, fully awake, the whole day.

Here’s the reason:

Meet “KC”. At the time this photo was taken, we didn’t know that was her name. Let me back up a bit.

The day started out pretty normal. While Sid and I were out for our morning walk, a frisky, friendly black pup ran up to greet Sid. The odd thing was that there was no human accompanying her and she had no collar, harness, or leash attached to her. The city streets are certainly not a safe place for a dog to roam around like that so I plucked Sid into my arms and wrapped Sid’s leash around her neck to prevent her from darting into the street.

As you can tell from the photo, KC ended up accompanying us back to Pug Slope HQ. Then began the hunt to find her family. Lucky for her, the local vet found she had a microchip and had been adopted from a local dog rescue called PAWS Chicago. Unfortunately, the phone number that came up on the microchip was out of date and was disconnected (*). I posted on craigslist and a Facebook group called Lost Dogs Illinois. I also ran into a local dog walker who pretty much knows every dog in the neighborhood by name – she said KC looked familiar but she wasn’t sure who her owner was. I also put up a few signs around the neighborhood on my way to pick up some carryout lunch (trying to multi-task!). While I tried to get some actual work done during the day, KC whined in the kitchen and Sid sulked in his bed and gave me the stink eye. I think he was afraid KC was going to be a permanent resident of Pug Slope HQ. After a few hours of constant whining and barking from KC and no response to my lost dog posts, I was starting to share Sid’s fears.

Near the end of the work day, I got an email reply from my craigslist posting. Was it really KC’s parents? I wanted to be sure she was being returned to her proper home and not some weirdo. The friendly folks at PAWS Chicago were actually able to verify that the people that had contacted me were in fact KC’s real parents. So KC ended up getting home just in time for her dinner! Turns out she only lives 3 blocks away and had escaped from her yard that morning.

Sid was relieved. So was I.

(*) If your pet has a microchip, please be sure to keep that information up to date!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend. I was glued to a pillow about 85% of the time but the other 15% was filled with an ADVENTURE! Not only did it involve the dog beach, but it also involved some very special guests.

Guess who?!

Why it was none other than the petite pair, Donald and Daisy (from Pug-a-Boo) along with their ‘rents, Christy and Tim.

When we arrived at Foster Beach the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was pleasantly warm but not pug-melting, and there was a nice breeze coming in off the water. Donald and I immediately took off through the sand and barked “hello” to the other dogs also out enjoying the fine day.

The two dudes cruising for adventure.

It is an understatement to say that Daisy wasn’t a huge fan of the sand, and although she did hobble around a bit, her tail expressed her true feelings on the subject.

The lovely, though a bit perturbed, Daisy and me.

We tried to get some group photos but all three of us pugs did not feel like sitting still. There were far to many new smells to sniff, dogs to chase, and humans that potentially had treats.

Tim was able to wrangle Donald and Daisy for a nice photo, but I was off romping through the waves at this point. I guess it truly is a challenge to keep three pugs in one place at the same time!

I’ll have to tell you all about the insane waves and our outdoor lunch later this week! To be continued…

While I was away this past weekend, Sid got to enjoy a staycation at home with his special guests / pug caretakers extraordinaire, Aunt Anna and Uncle Andrew. The overall report was generally good and although A & A had to deal with Sid’s mopey/stubborn side, they also got to experience his sweet/cuddly side.

Here’s a few photos that Aunt Anna took during her weekend at PugSlope HQ:

Look how low I’ll go for a baby carrot!

Mr. Grumpy-face McGee

LOOK AT HOW PATIENTLY I’M SITTING HERE! NOW MAKE WITH THE BABY CARROTS!

Oh, that? It’s just my SUPER AWESOMELY DELICIOUS CHEW-CHEW-CHEWABLE DEER ANTLER, that’s all.

Thank you to A & A for taking such great care of my loveable, difficult, cuddly, hilarious, grouchy little dude.