Love,
Mom and Dad

So, some local genius set up a pet boutique called Paws in Paradise next to a Mexican restaurant that serves $4 margaritas. We basically bought a million toys for Sid that night, including this lovely lass:

The pink pony was a risky, possibly-tequila-induced choice, but apparently our judgement was rock solid.  Derpy, as we’ve named her, instantly moved to the top of the toy hierarchy. Move over, potato, Sid’s a pink pony man now.

Well, like I mentioned in a previous post, not only did we get to hang out with my family over Christmas, we also finally got the opportunity to meet up with another pug blogger and her family. Yep, we got to meet “Pugnacious P” herself – Payton!

After some initial meet-n-greet circle-n-sniff (by the pugs of course – the humans shook hands), Payton’s dad brought out a bag of dried apple treats, immediately gaining the undivided attention of the flat-faced two-some.

Even though the treat is out of the frame, its location is pretty obvious to gauge. Just follow the intense stares emanating from Sid and Payton. Sid had never eaten dried apples before but that didn’t stop him from immediately bowing down to the unknown-but-sure-to-be-tasty enigma (as he often does with anything in a bag).

Still, the treats were held captive by the humans. While Payton chose to do the aloof  “I don’t care about that stupid treat” reverse-psychology technique, Sid went even deeper down, into a Full Jimmy. This pug wanted one of those delicious dried apple treats – and he wanted it NOW.

And finally the treats started flowing!

Payton’s dad was lucky he didn’t lose a finger in the nosh-fest that followed.

Oh, and not only did Payton’s family bring treats, they also brought a present for Sid. Without even being told about it, he dug the wrapped present out of their tote bag and started tearing into it while we weren’t looking – c’mon, Sid, really? We need to work on those manners, dude.

While Sid paraded around the living room squalking his giant plush duck, we sat down with Payton and her parents, ate a little pizza and talked shop – pug shop. Among other interesting stories, we found out Payton’s name comes from running back Walter Payton of Chicago Bears (aka “Da Bearce”) fame. I’m not really a huge football fan, but I certainly was in 1985 and can recite the entire Superbowl Shuffle verbatim at the drop of a hat (don’t make me do it!).

After the pizza and pug-talk, we moved over to the living room for a shot of the whole gang.

 Thank you to Payton and her family for meeting up with us and for the gifts. We hope to hang with you guys again the next time we’re in Chicago!

First of all, Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas and New Year’s have already passed and I’m sure everyone is eager to get on with 2012 and return to normal life, but we wanted to do a quick recap of our trip with Sid to Chicago for Christmas with my side of the family.

I’m sorry, Sid – but all those presents aren’t just for you!

The three of us stayed with my sister and her husband in their amazing pug-proof house. See, they are also familiar with a food-motivated dog – their Bichon/Poodle mix named Sweetie has an appetite on par with our flat-faced wonder. Sid had met Sweetie before when we passed through Chicago on our cross country drive from California to New York. For the most part they got along well – although Sid was a bit of a jerk and commandeered all of Sweetie’s favorite toys. Luckily, Sweetie lives up to her name and was kind enough to let him chew on her prized possessions.

Sid and Sweetie teamed up anytime someone was in the kitchen. They would turn on the charm, do tricks, create distractions, basically anything they could think of to obtain a morsel of what was on the counter. We were extremely diligent in assuring that nothing fell down to their level, but that didn’t squash their optimism.

My sister’s house is very sunny and Sid quickly discovered many warm, cozy spots to lay down and relax in. In addition to taking over Sweetie’s favorite toys, he also found her favorite spot on the back couch cushion and after a few spins was soon nested in. (Sorry, Sweetie! Sid can be a turd sometimes.)

Sid received many nice toys and treats for Christmas, including a Christmas neckerchief handmade by my sister and a new plush frog toy from my parents. Almost immediately after getting the frog, one of the little legs came off. Sid forgot about the rest of the frog and carried the little lone leg around with him the whole night. He loved that little leg.

Um, Sid – you sure you want to play with just the leg?

He also got a package of his one of his all time favorite toys – plush potatoes. Yes, these seemingly simple toys are one of Sid’s favorites. His favorite game is catch and these potatoes are the perfect size for him to catch. Plus – they have a squeaker inside which he adores (and quickly destroys).

Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday. We’re hoping to get back to regular commenting and posting now that we are slowly getting back to normal life. We have a few more stories and photos from Sid’s trip, including a special “in-the-fur” meeting with one of Sid’s pug-blog pals, Payton!

P.S. Thank you all for your tips for flying with your pug – I think we used just about every single one. I’m so proud of how good Sid did! He’s a flying ace now.

The past twenty-four hours have been so awesome that we have TWO exciting topics to explore in today’s post.

First up, Miss Timothy Buttons came over last night with her parents and her brand new red Sherpa travel bag.  Her bag is just like Sid’s, except it’s Timothy-sized.

Yes, the bags are slightly different sizes, but we humans are bozos sometimes, and as soon as Sid and Timothy got inside the bags, we forgot which pug was where.  It’s in situations like these that a pug’s obsessive love of treats comes in handy:

Next, Sid woke up to find this package under the Pug Slope fiber-optic Christmas tree!

At first he thought Santa Pug had visited, but then he read the return address and realized someone even more awesome than Santa sent him this package – PAYTON!!

Sid wanted to open the package as soon as possible, but first he begrudgingly posed for a photo.

Inside the package were two wrapped presents and a little card!  Sid impatiently posed for another photo before unwrapping the gifts.

Seriously, guys. 

OMG, Payton!  An APPLE!  With a WORM!!!

Payton, it’s almost as though you regularly read a blog about Sid or something and know that apples are his FAVORITE things EVER!!

The apple toy was such a home run that Sid didn’t even wait to open the second present before going into full-on apple attack mode.

Sid quickly figured out that the worm comes out of the apple!  It’s like a mini puzzle toy!! He’s loves puzzle toys!!

When Sid finally calmed down from playing with his new BEST TOY EVER, we unwrapped the second present – a tiny Cuz!!!

Sid hasn’t quite figured out how to play with the Cuz yet…perhaps we can get some great photos and video of the amazing Miss Payton teaching Sid how to Cuz it up WHEN THEY HANG OUT NEXT WEEK IN CHICAGO!!!

Sid told me to say thank you SO MUCH to Payton and her parents for such an awesome and thoughtful surprise, and he can’t WAIT to learn how to Cuz from the master!!

We want to start out with a little apology.

We normally like to get at least three to four posts up on the blog every week, but December has been a crazy month.  On top of the aggressive travel-bag training Sid has undertaken in preparation for his big trip on the airplane, I’ve been taking the Greyhound bus back and forth every week to my hometown upstate for a root canal – it was much less expensive than what I would have paid in Brooklyn but required THREE separate appointments with the endodontist.  Brian and Sid have been holding down the fort here at the Pug Slope Headquarters, but the general craziness of the past few weeks means the blog has suffered.

Anyway, my final trip upstate was on Tuesday, and Sid’s Grammy Grace sent me back to Brooklyn with a suitcase full of Christmas presents for her favorite grandpug. One of those presents was a cozy new bed, and we decided Sid could get that present early since we didn’t really have a place to hide it in our super tiny apartment.

Well, as you can see in the video below, Sid was a bit confused over this present.  Overjoyed, elated, and enthusiastically thankful, sure, but still…confused:

Eventually Sid either realized that the bed was indeed A BED and NOT a gigantic fluffy sheet of awesomeness meant to be hiked between his legs, or he thought that he finally hit the jackpot when it comes to sleeping on top of his favorite toys.

Thank you Grammy Grace for this fabulous gift!!

Thank you all so much for all of the amazingly helpful tips on flying with pugs!  We’ve got some smart readers, huh?  I think Brian and I are both starting to feel a little less anxious about this endeavor, thanks to you guys.

As a token of our appreciation, we present to you this newly discovered photograph of a rare and mysterious pug phenomenon – the Bolster Sandwich: