Olive, it's just a camera!

 

OK, this cute girl over here, almost in your face, is named Olive. She is one of my friends and she's spending a few days with us because her Mom is out of town and her dad is in Iraq. I don't think Olive has seen a camera quite as fancy as my Mom's. Or maybe Olive's Mom is not a "camera-in-your-face-all-the-time" type of Mom. But Olive will get used to all the picture taking.

Well, it's been exciting around here this evening. Olive plays with me a lot. We chase each other around and she is always grunting. She's a very vocal pug... Mind you, I am still not very comfortable sharing my parents' laps with Olive. I know she loves to cuddle and all but she must respect my home and my cuddling time has priority over hers. Now Stella, she can have my Mom's lap at any time because she's my beautiful little sister of whom I love to take care.

By the way, my sister Stella is sleeping. She can sleep through all the chasing, barking, and running, bless her heart!

But I think it's time for us to go to bed too. We will be having a busy weekend! I'll let you know how it turns out later.

I love it here, seriously

I suppose I would love it more if my parents got rid of this dinosaur of a computer monitor. That way I could spread out and take naps. I may need to have a talk with my folks...

My itty bitty sister

I like my sister Stella. She is older than me, so technically she is my big sister but she is itty bitty so she is a little sister. I hope that as soon as she gets used to our house, she'll become more playful. She is really quiet (except for the light snoring and breathing) and she never barks. But that's OK, I can do the barking for the two of us.

Last night I woke up and Stella was missing so I scratched on the bedroom door. Dad opened the door and I went looking for my sister but could not find her. It turns out Dad was holding her in his arms. As soon as I saw she was well, I just went back to the bedroom and went to sleep. She's so tiny, I worry about her all the time.

Make Do

We got my little sister Stella on Friday evening. She's a tiny little thing, very cute. She sleeps a lot and I think she's still very shy, so she is not playing very much with me. But that's OK because I am a very patient pug; besides, yesterday I went to Pug Play Day and I had the best of times. But I digress...

My sister Stella loves my basket and now I am basketless. Luckily, my Mom still had an old bed that my parents bought me when I was a puppy (and that I never used) and she put the bed next to the window so that I could tan. Of course, I just grabbed Froggy and off we went to the tanning salon.

The bed is tiny (or maybe I'm too big, but I like to think of myself as a healthy Super-Pug...) but it works fine. Mom said she'll try to find me another basket but apparently, PetSmart is out of wicker baskets so we'll have to check Petco.

A tiny seizure on Monday

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I had a seizure; the good news is that it was a little one and I had not had one in almost two months. This was my fifth one and it was very, very mild. It happened when I was taking my afternoon nap and my dad got home from visiting my mom at her new work. I woke up startled and I had my little seizure. Dad said that I was very brave and I was not even scared. He just stayed with me and comforted me until it was over. Thank God for dad...

The waiting is killing me...

Dear friends,
It is official! Next Friday I am going to get an older sister. My dear sister is five years old and she has been living with some nice ladies from the Northwest Arkansas Pug Shelter. Her name is Stella and of course, she is a pug. She is very cute but you best watch out because I am a big pug (25 lbs, mind you!) and I will protect my little sister--she's only 14 lbs! Here a picture of her. Isn't she precious?

Horrible Things

You know that my parents are really nice people--although, I have to say, a lot of it is because of the good values that I have instilled in them. They have been trying to find me a little brother or sister, preferably a doggy that needs rescue. So they have been spending many, many hours browsing rescue shelters and now they are very depressed.

There are so many puppies and doggies that need a home that it is really sad. The other really bad thing is to read all the horrible things that humans sometimes do to my fellow canines. There are doggies that are left at home for a couple of weeks without food or water, others are always kept outside whether it is below freezing or steaming hot, and that's not all. The horror stories go on and on and when you think it can't get any worse than that, bam... Another story even worse than the previous one.

Here's some of the shelters' websites may parents have visited (by the way, if you are an emotional person, don't visit these sites because they will make you very sad):

Pugs in NW Arkansas:
http://www.echoesbleeding.com/pug2/adoptable.htm

Pugs in Oklahoma City, OK:
http://www.homewardboundpugs.com/available.html

If you can help any of my little brothers or sisters, I'll be forever grateful! And don't forget, if you live in NW Arkansas, March 8 is Pug Play Day. You can take your doggy to meet all the great pugs in the neighborhood and you'll be helping to raise funds to help those that are not yet fortunate. And who knows, maybe you'll meet the pug of your life...

Getting ready for the summer

One of my favorite things to do, as you dear readers might have noticed, is to tan. Unfortunately, the winter is still with us but I am already preparing my tan every time I get a chance. Not even my dad's illness (poor dad has a cold or a sinus infection) gets in my way. A couple of days ago I even had to wake him up so that he could open the door for me. You see the sun was out just for me and who am I to not worship the sun? Sun, sun, sun, here I come...

Baxter and Me

Yesterday, I had a canine visitor. It was Baxter, a Boston Terrier that has become my newest buddy. Shhhh, don't tell Tink and Macy. Baxter and I had a blast. We chased each other around and I showed him our big backyard and our house. I showed him the bedroom where I sleep with my parents. My Mom was not around, so Baxter did not get to meet her but I told him how nice she is. At night she is just a big pillow that I can lean against and sleep. I told Baxter that there was enough room for him on the bed if he ever decides to move in with me.

I like having friends to play with. I wish my parents would adopt a little sister or brother for me, but no, they're just too self-centered and keep thinking about menial things like jobs and money. It's just not fair. After all the work I have put into making their lives comfortable and joyous, I just cannot fathom how they can be so selfish...

P.S. Sometime after Dad took this picture, Baxter and my Froggy hooked up. I was a little suspicious of Baxter when he just grabbed Froggy and took off. Luckily my Dad rescued Froggy and put him in his cage. "It's for your own good Froggy!"

Look at these cuties...

Look at this! J. Crew has a doggy clothing line Crewmutts that is totally adorable. And they are showing it off with these cute little puppies--I call this unfair competition! Although I must say that they did resit the urge to use pugs as so many other brands have done. The only thing that I don't understand is why are their sizes so small. Most of the items come in XS and S, quite unsuitable for a healthy pug like myself. Plus, it's like they think that only puppies need clothes, which is absolutely not true!

How Embarassing!

This morning Mom and I got up and she let me out so that I could go take my morning restroom break. It was really cold this morning too! When I took my poo-poo, a little piece of it got stuck on my bottom. I was so embarrassed that I did not even want to go back inside. When Mom came to check on me, I was sitting in a corner away from the door. She called me and I went inside and she saw immediately my problem. I went and sat under the kitchen table to hide my shame. Mom was really nice. She got a paper towel and wiped my bottom. I was happy right away. Thanks Mom...

My Epylepsy Update

I know that it's been a while since I posted. Oh, hush my fans, everything is fine.

About a week ago I had my fourth epileptic episode. This one was not too bad and I wasn't as scared. My parents and I now have enough information about these episodes to be able to observe a pattern. So here's what we know so far.

All my episodes took place at night. I would be sleeping restfully, when my dad would arrive from work and I would get startled with the noise of his arrival. I would sprint out of the bedroom to protect my mom (I didn't know for sure that it was dad coming home, you know!) and then BAM! my limbs would become stiff and I could not move properly. All four episodes happened like this.

On my last one, dad picked me up while I was having the seizure and took me to my mom. She held me until I was O.K. I wasn't very scared this time, so my legs were not as stiff and my face did not look as terrified. That made my mom happy. She thinks that maybe my seizures are getting weaker and maybe they'll go away. We'll see, I'll keep you posted.

I'm so glad my parents are here for me. I'm a very lucky pug!

Wishing you a happy 2008!

Hey everyone!
Here I am with my Mom. Can you tell that she treats me well? I wish all the pets out there could be as well taken care of as I am. So my resolutions for 2008 are:

1. Work on my "pity me" look so that my parents feed me more treats
2. Sleep more, possibly try to develop a way to make the planet rotate slower so that I can have a 25th hour to sleep. Hey Superman, lend me a hand will you?
3. Pamper my humans more, although that will be almost impossible as they already are pretty pampered
4. I want people to treat their pets better, do you hear me? This means: take your doggy on a half-hour stroll twice daily, feed it proper food, and spend some time training it. If you can't figure out how to do this, then maybe you should not have a pet dog.
5. Last, but not least, I hope 2008 will have less pet abuse and less homeless pets than 2007!

Peace to all from your loving pug,
Alfred

It happened again

Last night I had another seisure. This is my third one and my parents are concerned. They wonder if I have any other seisures while they are at work. I don't know because I can't remember. My last seisure happened around midnight. Dad had just gotten home from work and I went over to greet him. I had to work a little bit to get the bedroom door open because mom had closed it. When I got out and I went over to see dad, it happened. Dad said that it lasted a couple of minutes. He stayed with me to comfort me and watch over me. Then he took me to the bedroom and he woke up mom and told her. I layed on the bed and hugged Froggy.

We are now wondering if I am always going to have these seisures. So far they have happened about once a month and always at night. Maybe I get really excited when I dream and that triggers them. I don't want my parents to be worried but I am glad that they are there for me. They're the best pug parents ever!

I'm going to visit Santa

I can't wait to go visit Santa at PetSmart! Mom said that I'm going on Saturday or Sunday, we don't know yet. I'm going to tell him how good I've been all this year. I hope he gets me some really good yummy treats and maybe an apple. Let's see all my accomplishments...

1. I ride in the car with my own seatbelt. And most times I don't try to escape. However, when I go to the Farmer's Market, I do have trouble containing my contentment and I pull a Harry Houdini.
2. I eat healthy. I always eat my veggies and fruit. I love my tomatoes, apples, and peaches. And I even love popcorn, which is pretty healthy--at least it works for the Weight Watchers people!
3. I work out and I keep a healthy weight. Even my vet is impressed with my weight control.
4. I am the cutest pug ever as you can see all over this Blog (and I even work for a living)!
5. I pet my dad all the time and I always try to keep his face warm by sitting on his pillow.
6. I stopped peeing on the bean bag!
7. I have excelled at training my parents who pamper and give me treats every time before they leave the house.
   

There, I think that's pretty good, don't you think?

Bubbleless bath

Mom thought that I was a little bit stinky (Dad told her Nooo, how can the cutest pug in the world be stinky?!?) and she finally decided to give me a bath. I kind of like baths. I mean I'm not crazy about them but they're OK.

First mom filled the tub with warm water, then she grabbed me and put me in there. She got me all wet and washed my wrinkles with a washcloth before she used any soap. Then she started scrubbing me really well with soap and then shampoo. She tickled my back, but don't tell her that!

Mom likes to use this soap that she got at the Bath Junkie when they were still on the Fayetteville Square. (Then they closed and moved to the NWAR mall and then they closed again! Good grief...) And the shampoo she got me does not make my eyes cry in case it ever gets in them, but mom is always very careful.

While mom was washing me, dad warmed up my towel in the dryer. After my bath ended mom called dad to bring the towel but he did not hear, so I took the opportunity to jump out of the bathtub and off I went running like a mad pug around the couch. It was fun! Then dad grabbed me and dried me off a little bit and then handed me to mom to finish the job.

I like the toasty warm towel. It's better than when I go to the spa and they put me all wet in a stainless steel crate with a cold air fan blowing my way to dry me off.

My Christmas Tree

We finally put up the Christmas tree. This is my first one ever because my parents did not trust me before this year. Well, I guess they still don't trust me considering all the No, No, Nos I hear. But, I mean, seriously, if you don't want me to mess with the tree and the decorations, then don't put stuffed animals under it. It's going to drive me nuts to see Pooh and Tigger and Woodstock and not be able to chew on them. I'm gonna try really hard to resist temptation, but I'm not making any promises!

P.S. On the left bottom corner, you can see my pictures with Santa from two years ago!

Not to me!!!

On Friday around 2:30 a.m., something odd happened to me. I got really stiff and I started to get really scared. Mom woke up and saw me leaning against the closet door. She called me but I did not go to her. Then dad came by to check on me. He got scared too. I tried to walk away from them but I was stumbling. I felt really dazed and confused. Dad told mom about my other seizure that happened about a month ago. I don't know what happened either time but, on Friday, mom took me to the doctor. I like going there because I always see other doggies, there's tons of nifty smells and, hey, at the vet's office I am a star. Everyone loves me--my doc has a thing for pugs, eh eh eh...

My doctor thinks that I might have epilepsy but he's not sure. He asked mom many questions but as far as mom could tell, everything in my routine is normal. He told Mom to keep a journal of my seizures to see if we can find a pattern. Then he took me to another room and took a blood sample. I had a little drop of blood on my right arm after I was done. I don't like getting my blood taken.

Mom doesn't want me to be sick. Maybe I'm not that sick. We'll just have to wait and see. The doctor called later on Friday to let us know that my blood work was all normal. Thank God because Mom was afraid that maybe my food was made in China and I was suffering from melamine poisoning.

My Razorback Frog

My mom knows how I love froggies. Unfortunately, my favorite one is getting old really fast because he's so pampered with all my love. Mom has been on the lookout for a good substitute for my favorite frog. She found this Razorback red frog that does an adequate job but he's not as flexible as the other bean-baby frog, my one and only favorite. We'll see how this plays along. Red frog will do until mom feels so guilty that she'll have to give me her back-up bean-baby frog, the one she got at the Orlando International Airport. Yeah, I've seen him lurking around, way up in a shelf, away from my loving teeth... But I can wait, I'm a patient pug!

Winter Sun Slave

I don't like winter that well. I looove the sun and I miss being able to go outside and just lay around working on my tan. Luckily, my humans have caught on to me and they have rearranged the furniture on the south-facing bedroom so that I can still tan in front of the window. I just love feeling the warmth on my back...