… the Pug Will Play!

Hi everyone! Sid here today reporting to you live from Pug Slope HQ.

Now I make look cute, sleepy, and innocent in the above photo, but let me tell you, while my Dad was away on vacation for a few days earlier this week I PARTIED LIKE A CHAMP!

My two awesome pug-sitters, Lauren and Pam, loaded me up with excellent treats and belly rubs the whole time. I even took advantage of the fact that my overnight pug-sitter wasn’t familiar my normal schedule so I woke her up EXTRA EARLY so I could get breakfast as soon as the sun came up! Hee hee! Score one for the Sidster.

“TIME TO GET UP! I really do eat breakfast at 5:30am every day. I swear.”

I got to go on really fun walks to new parts of the neighborhood that Dad never took me to before.

“I have NO IDEA where I am and I’M OK WITH IT!”

I even got to EAT PIZZA at a restaurant that had outdoor seating! And guess who got a bunch of blueberries for dessert?! It was heaven.

I had so much fun, guys!

I did miss my Dad a little but my pug sitters were so awesome that they made the time he was away fly by. Thank you, Pam and Lauren!!!

(Now I just need to find a way to secretly hide these extra pounds I gained so I don’t have to go on a DIET!)

Has everybody taken their sunbath today?

Sid, the self-proclaimed “King of Sunbathing”, insists that a daily sunbath is essential to living the complete pug life of leisure (only eating/acquiring treats is more important). He firmly abides by the motto: “Why snore in the shadows, when you can lounge in the light?” I guess I agree with his philosophy – although my fair skin doesn’t handle direct sun exposure very well. I do love the warming effect though, especially since this Midwestern Spring keeps coming and going!

P.S. I also wanted to post a picture of some lovely pink rhododendron flowers I saw over the weekend at the Garfield Park Conservatory (sorry, Sid, pugs were not allowed). These flowers reminded me of Sid’s good pal, Payton the pug, and I’d like to dedicate them to her memory. We miss you, Payton!

We hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving. Sid and I journeyed out to the suburbs and got to hang out with my parents for a few days. Sid had an unbelievable time. He spent most of his waking hours in the kitchen, attached to the ankles of anybody that happened to be in there.

I lost count as to the number of snacks/tid-bits/morsels he scored based solely on his proximity. Not only did he immediately snatch up anything that accidentally fell to the ground (sometimes even BEFORE it hit the ground), but he also was GIVEN pieces of food just because he was in the right place (at the feet of the food preppers) at the right time (ALL THE TIME).

Based on this experience, he told me he’s “ready for a new career”. I thought I’d at least hear him out, even though I’m still unclear what his current career actually is, or if he even has one. I mean, he seems to just sleep most of the day.

Anyway, he desires to get a job at a restaurant as a “Prep Chef Assistant”. Preferably at a restaurant that serves a lot of dishes requiring chopped baby carrots, Fuji apples, or sweet potatoes. He’d also prefer that his superior, the actual Prep Chef, not be that great at bending over to pick things up off  the kitchen floor. OK. I see where he’s going with this.

So if any of you know any job openings that would fit the bill, let us know. Sid would probably need to be paid in cash since he’s under 16 years old. Oh, also the restaurant manager would have to be ok with having a stray pug hair or two in like 99% of their dishes.

Thank you to everyone for the Birthday wishes for Sid. Saturday was the big day and I tried to go all out with his Birthday cake this year.

This year’s model was pretty similar to last year’s, with the main part of the cake fashioned out of a de-cored Michigan apple  sliced into layers with peanut butter spread in between each layer. However, those brown sticks are a new addition. They are called “Jumpin’ Sticks” from Natural Balance. They pretty much look like Slim Jims for dogs. The perimeter decoration consisted of two of his favorites edibles: baby carrots and watermelon slices.

While I was busy slicing and dicing and assembling said cake, Sid was doing his best to manage his excitement. There was a lot of panting, heavy breathing, squeeking, and scurrying around taking place. I mean, how much anticipation can a pug take!

I set up the cake on Sid’s play blanket because he is known to make a huge mess when he eats watermelon. He employs his patented “gorge and regurgitate” method when consuming large watermelon chunks. It’s a bit disturbing to the uninitiated and the main impetus behind the super-tiny cuts of watermelon on the plate.

He could barely hold that pose for one photo and then he dug in full stop. Yum!

Happy 9th Birthday to my best little buddy!!!

This week is Sid’s Birthday week. His actually Birthday is on Saturday but he likes to extend the period of celebration – mostly because it means he gets spoiled with treats for a whole week instead of just one day.

I was browsing some potential Birthday items online the other night and I noticed Sid snooping over my shoulder. I told him that his Birthday presents are meant to be a surprise and he should cover up his eyes so he couldn’t see what I was ordering.

He bolted to his bed and ducked under his lion toy. I went back to the computer to load more things into my shopping cart.

About ten seconds later, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed this:

C’mon Sid! I said NO PEEKING!

* SQUISH *

* KOOOSH *

* SLURP *

Oh, Hi. Sorry, did you say something? I was just busy working on my mid-day Wigzi. I think there’s still a smidge of peanut butter left inside.

* QUEEEEEEK *

* SQUOOSH *

Our apartment building is having all kinds of work done to its exterior so life has been pretty chaotic the past couple weeks at the ol’ Pug Slope HQ. Poor Sid was finding it hard to relax with mysterious men walking around on scaffolding outside all of our windows. The work seems to require lots of really loud drilling of bricks which releases brick dust everywhere.

This past weekend, Sid was finally able to find solace from all the noise and commotion with his new plush lion toy.

He located all the good sunny spots around the apartment and would trot from spot to spot with his gigantic floppy lion in tow.

I’m hoping I can find something to serve as my own comfort lion before all the drilling makes me lose my mind.