Sid always gets a treat (or three) when he comes inside from his walk.  His post-walk treat is his top priority when we come inside, meaning he won’t go straight for the water bowl no matter how badly he needs to refresh and cool down.  This lack of regard for his own health and safety is slightly terrifying to me; he gets soooo absurdly pumped up about food that I’m pretty sure, someday in the near future, the combination of extreme treat anticipation with his high body temperature and mild dehydration is going to cause him to have a heart attack before I can even open his pouch of venison jerky.  So, I’ve been mulling over various plans to provide him with a treat that is both deliciously satisfying and cooly refreshing.

And thus we present to you Pug Slope’s Famous Frozen…Pump-sicles?  Pumpkin-Pops?  Frozen Pumpkin Cubes?  Whatever!

Completely organic and additive-free – perfect for the dog who’s allergic to everything!!

A refreshing and healthy treat for ravenous pugs and their panda-bear friends!!

Helps promote regularity!!

Your dog will get crazy eyes for this ice-cold pumpkin surprise!!

But…pumpkin cubes are not an instant-gratification-type of treat.  They’re currently in the freezer, slowly solidifying in their custom compartmentalized tray.  One must be patient to enjoy frozen pumpkin.

Lucky for Sid, the most impatient pug in all the land, the whole can of pumpkin wouldn’t fit in the ice tray.  So Sid got to test out some room-temperature pumpkin in order to ensure that this orange goo was up-to-snuff, treat-wise.

Apparently pumpkin is so lip-smacking good, it’s worth storing a few morsels on your muzzle.  You know, for later.

Tomorrow: We unleash the pumpkin cubes!

After a non-stop string of daytime temps in the high eighties, it’s clear that we’ve hit the dog days of Summer. Those of you who’ve been keeping up with us for a while know that, much like a chef planning a menu at a Park Slope restaurant, we keep our masthead seasonal. And now it’s time for the debut of our Summer 2011 Masthead! Woo hoo! (In case you missed them, here’s Spring 2011 and Winter 2010).

Here’s how the photo shoot went down:

This time we came armed with plenty of tastey potato & venison morsels to ensure Sid would hold his poses. We made it plain and simple for him: If there was trick, there would be treat. 

He was skeptical about this agreement as unfulfilled promises of treats at the Spring masthead photoshoot left a sour taste in his mouth – well, um, actually make that no taste. We also had some problems getting the exposure right. Determined to get our shot, we thought that perhaps a new location might perk the little guy up and provide us with better lighting conditions.

“OK, buddy, we know you’ve got places to go and pugs to see, but can you give us a little less ‘tude and a little more cute & cuddly?” I think he was also tapping into his sass reserve that was left over from Flap-Flip Friday.

“There we go! That’s more like it. We know you had it in you.” OK, yes, we only got the adorable smile because we offered him double treats.

“That’s a keeper! Good work, Sid!” Triple-treats got us a coveted smile-with-full-tongue-exposure. He may have a high compensation requirement, but Sid sure can deliver.

We had a nice weekend away visiting Grammie Grace upstate where Sid received many treats – many more than normal.

Evidently, he still was not satisfied (is he ever?).

We’ve never given him a tomato, but somehow he just knows they are edible. Or maybe he just assumes that anything on our countertop must be a delicacy. Either way, he’s still a doofus.

Well it’s finally getting warmer here. We had a day last week that was just gorgeous. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Sid was feverishly chomping on his Kong.

Let me back up a minute.

Jenn and I both work from home, so we were lucky enough to be able to bring our lunch outside and eat on the stoop. The stoop is a great place to hang out as there are always people, dogs, and kids passing by. As an added bonus, the front of our building gets a lot of sun, so it was nice to be able to soak in some rays and replenish our Vitamin D supply.

In order to keep the Hooth occupied while we ate, we loaded up the Kong with his favorite comestibles: apples slices, venison jerky, and peanut butter. Yeah, I know – It makes me a little nauseous to think of it all mixed together, too.

He, however, has no such fear of exotic flavor combinations and within minutes had propped up the Kong into the ideal peanut-butter-slurping position.

Who needs a knife and fork when you’ve got a well-trained tongue?

Unfortunately, the poor little guy doesn’t realize that the Kong eventually does get empty. He has tried barking at the Kong, but so far that hasn’t proved successful. He’s wizened up a little though, and now he gazes at us when he wants the Kong refilled. How can we say no to that happy face?!

I don’t know what inspired this…The fact that Brian and I were both immediately on board for this experiment without any hesitation whatsoever makes me wonder if perhaps Sid is chanting suggestive mantras into our ears while we sleep:  “You will feed me straight from the peanut butter jar.  You will feed me straight from the peanut butter jar.  You will feed me straight…” and so on and so on.

In our defense, the peanut butter jar was basically empty.  We just needed some way to clean out those last morsels…you know, so we could toss it in the recycling.  I mean, why waste water when there’s a pug on hand who will be more than happy to lick that jar clean, right? Water is a precious and limited commodity, but a pug’s appetite for peanut butter is renewable and unrelenting. We did this for the planet, people.  We did it for YOU.  Okay? OKAY?  *hangs head in shame*

(Just in case you were wondering, those are apple slices on the counter…one of Sid’s favorite treats.)

If there’s one thing that a pug knows, it’s that life is hard.

Sometimes life is so hard you want to just flop halfway out of your bed onto the cold, unyielding floor, just so you can feel something, you know?

Like, when your favorite treat bone has been empty for two whole hours, and it’s just sitting right there!  Right there on the floor! Taunting you, reminding you of the good times you once had, when treats were bursting from each of its chewy ends, peanut butter, apples, and venison jerky spilling in every direction, a bounty so plentiful you could hardly keep up…

And now?  Nothing.

Just an empty bone…

and nothin’ but the cold, hard floor to make you feel alive.

The End.