Friday, December 19, 2014

Santa and His Reinpugs

This is my favorite time of the year! I've never really decorated my own place or gotten a tree since I always celebrate at my parents' and sister's places and I never felt the urge to do anything with my apartment. I'm known in my family as the "Holiday Nazi" and yet I'm also extremely lazy and never really cared about how my apartments looked.   Now that I have a house to call my own I've been slowly doing more, starting with my first Christmas tree (artificial, but hey, baby steps), lights and stockings. So despite all the stress of the season, family dramas, and work demands, I'm just sticking cotton in my ears and singing falalalala! So in the spirit of the season, here are some reinpugs guiding Santa's sleigh. I'm sure his bag is filled with tons of toys and treats for good lil boy dogs and girl dogs!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

No Poopin' in the Rain

The recent combination of cold weather, rain, and fallen leaves everywhere has been making for some really unpleasant walks. Even with a yard of their own Sunny and Rosy continue to hold pee and poop strikes. They're actually worse in their yard than when I take them on walks! And I miss having a hallway for the girls to wipe their wet and dirty paws on before entering our home. How I wish for a good mud room!

One upside to the leaves everywhere is there have been times when I'm walking the girls and I turn to look at Sunny and she has a leaf on her ever present tongue. But it always manages to blow away before I can get my phone out for a picture! Leaf conspiracy.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

New House

So I've been MIA for a while because work was crazy busy. While my big project ended recently (kinda) I'm still super swamped with other assignments. Plus I've been busy in my off hours with a big personal event. If you follow one of my social media accounts then you already will know that I bought my first house! We just moved in last week and Sunny and Rosy have been getting adjusted to the new house and neighborhood. They are loving their yard but are not fans of the hardwood floors and stairs. Homeownership is definitely rewarding and hard work, especially with an old house like ours! I'll do a longer post on Lil Smug Pug one day about my house search and the tweaks were making to help the house feel like home. But until then, you can look forward to some more regular postings here!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Stay

Every morning Sunny and Rosy try to train me to stay. I've managed to stay for up to a minute, but can never manage to stay as long as they'd like. Hopefully with more training sessions we'll get there.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pugling Rivalry Dummy Book

I've been working on a Pugling Rivalry book idea I had while doing the series on my blog.  I finished a dummy book which is text paired with rough illustrations.  I would love to one day publish this book (along with other pug-related book ideas I've had) but getting your foot into the publishing world is hard, especially when I've been so busy with my regular job and other life stuff.  So I thought it would be fun to post a few pages from the dummy book I put together. 

While Sunny and Rosy are best frenemies for life now, these pages pretty accurately capture what must have been going on in Sunny's head the first few months with Rosy. 

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I may post some dummy book pages from another idea I had called One Sad Face.  I think I posted a few color drawings when I was working on it earlier and some of those drawings are what led to A Girl and Her Pug drawings.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Absence

Sorry for the recent absence! I have been swamped at work and it'll be like this for a while (at least the next month or two). I'll try to post when I can.

Sunny and Rosy really wanted to post themselves while I've been busy but their typing and drawing skills need some work.

Hope everyone is having a better summer than me!

Friday, August 1, 2014

Catch!

In the summertime we love to eat lots of blueberries! Sometimes I toss them at Sunny and Rosy, and they almost NEVER catch them. Seriously, their aim is so bad. Most of the time they just back up, wait for it to fall to the ground and then pounce on it. Silly pugs.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Pug Turtle

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr then you already know that Sunny and Rosy (and I) have recently become obsessed with their new tiny turtle toys. We got one in our monthly BarkBox and at first I was disappointed with what I thought was a dinky stupid toy. I was so wrong!

The girls love the tiny turtle and will carry it around in their mouths all the  time! They also love when I throw it for them to catch. I ended up buying more turtles and have also discovered the fun of sticking the turtles in their tails as they search for it and plopping it on their heads and backs. So much turtle fun!

So in honor of our beloved tiny turtles, here's a pug turtle! Rosy's not as small as pictured in this drawing since she's become a bit of a chubb chubb lately (I've been cutting back on her food and she's slimmed down a little).

And for those who haven't seen the tiny turtle photos, behold!

Friday, July 25, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #18 (Jailed)

7/25/14

Dear Diary,

Woe is me!  Our home was damaged by stupid water from a sprinkler that went off several weeks ago and now every weekday we are locked in the bedroom.  No more roaming freely.  No more lounging on the big couch.  No more sunbathing while sleepily gazing out the window.  No more sniffing around the kitchen for hidden crumbs.  No more access to our ginormous toy collection.

No more fun.

Instead, we are stuck in a tiny room where the windows are covered with blinds.  This is going to lead to some terrible tan lines in our sunbathing.  And we only have a small fraction of our toys to play with during the day now. 

Sigh.  I just want our home back to normal!  This is the worst!

:(,
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #18 (Jailed)

7/25/14

The only thing worse than begin stuck in one small room all day long is being stuck in one small room all day long with a needy Rosy. 

No escape.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Fragile

I like to do Illustration Friday because the weekly topics often force me to think outside my usual comfortable box. However, this week's topic, "fragile," is perfect for my pug themed drawings. The only thing more fragile than a pug's plump sausagey body balanced on a set of dainty thin legs is a pug's sensitive emotional health. Don't you dare leave your pug alone too long or raise your voice even a smidgen! Can't you see the tears inside those big soulful eyes??

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Summertime

Sorry I haven't been posting as much recently! I had a short vacation and my brain just didn't want to do anything other than laze about. I blame summer! Something about the heat and humidity just makes me want to do absolutely nothing.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #17 (Teeth)

7-1-14

Ow ow owow. Feel weirdd. I not have break fassst and so mad. Stuck alone. Vet! Blergh. Made me sleeeeepy and now mouth feel funny and I'm droolling. Amr shaved and bandage? What? Cage lonely. Not fun. Hungry. Tummy funny. Hehe tummy funny tummy funny tunny.

No place like home (even with rOsy). no place like home...

SUnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
y

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #17 (Teeth)

7-1-14

Dear Diary,

Yay she's back! She's back!

SUNNY'S BACK!!!

Today was the longest day ever. Sunny was at the vet all day long and after a torturous 15 minutes during which I was left at home all by my lonesome self, the human brought Sunny home in the evening. She smells strange and is acting a bit loopy but she's home and that's all that matters.

Ok, time to go and snuggle with Sunny on her bed!

XOXO,
Rosy

Friday, June 20, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #16 (Change)

6-20-14

Dear Diary,

Yesterday the human said it was getting too hot for our usual comforter and she replaced it with a new coverlet!  Noooooooooo!!!!!!  I don't care how hot it gets, I need my usual, old comforter and its green cover with the bleach stain on the upper right corner.

This new coverlet doesn't smell right and it has no pug hairs on it!  It's also not as soft or as squishy as our old comforter.  This sucks!  So what if I wake everyone up from my panting when I get overheated under the covers?  So what if I make the human sweat like crazy when I glom onto her like a backpack?  None of this is a big deal so I don't see why we can't just keep our tried and true comforter with its green cover.  I tried staying on our old comforter for as long as possible, even when it was on the floor, but then the human pushed me off and put it away. 

Sunny doesn't even seem that upset about all this.  It's like we didn't have that beloved comforter for our entire lives here.  Oh well, I guess I'll have to put up with this thin, unsoft, unfun coverlet until summer's over.

I hate it.

:(
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #16 (Change)

6-20-14

NO.  Change is wrong!  Change is scary!  Change is bad!!!

Deep breath.

I must be strong in front of Rosy and show no weakness or sadness.  I will put up with this new coverlet on the bed and wait until fall when we can have our trusty old comforter back.  I pray that this will be a short summer.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Behind the Scenes

I know that my dogs absolutely adore me, but sometimes I think I get on their nerves. All for the sake of my Bah Humpug followers!...ok I admit I do all this for my own amusement.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #15 (Sharing)

6-12-14

Dear Diary,

I hate Sunny!  I hate her so much!  She's the meanest sister in the world and I'm never speaking to her again!

Every time I get really excited while playing with a favorite toy, she comes barging in and steals my toy away.  She does this all the time, even when she doesn't really like the toy.  I've seen her snatch a toy from me and pretend to play with it only to get tired of it a couple minutes later.  She just wants it because I love it!  I hate Sunny!

Grrrrrr,
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #15 (Sharing)

6-12-14

MINE.  All these toys are mine.  They were mine before the interloper arrived and they always will be mine.  Every toy that was, and ever will be, in this home is mine.  Rosy may borrow a toy from time to time, but only for as long as I deem appropriate.  Because they are all MINE.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #14 (Imitation)

6-5-14

Dear Diary,

Sunny and I are best friend sisters.  We hang out so much and we're so close that we're even starting to look alike!  Everyone gets such a kick out of how both of our tongues naturally stick out all the time.  You can tell right away from looking at us that we're best friend sisters.  Boopity boop boop boop!

XOXO,
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #14 (Imitation)

6-5-14

The only thing worse than having an annoying sidekick following me everywhere and harassing me all the time, is having one that copies everything I do!  I have certain expressions that I've mastered for optimal treat and petting reactions.  I'm known for my trademark tongue sticking out look, called "Boop Steel."  This is MY thing.  And now Rosy has been sticking her tiny tongue out and claiming that it happens all the time naturally.  Well, that is a bald-faced lie!  I've seen her using her paws to pull out her tongue when she thinks no one is looking.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I say it's the most disingenuous form of sycophancy!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #13 (Disturbance)

5-28-14

Dear Diary,

I am soooo tired!  Every night just as I'm sound asleep for my evening nap Sunny wakes me up with her spastic barking!  Sometimes she just growls, but most of the time she jumps stares out the window barking her head off.  I mean there's nothing out there!  Maybe she needs to get her eyes checked since she's practically ancient.  Or maybe she needs to get her brain checked out.  She's totally losing it.

Ugh.

Thanks for letting me vent,
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #13 (Disturbance)

5-28-14

Sometimes at night I see things.  Things no one else seems to see.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #12 (Shedding)

5-20-14

Unfortunately, Rosy and I were subjected to a bath this past weekend. Sigh. And to add insult to injury, we had our nails trimmed too. How am I supposed to repel Rosy's obnoxious attacks if my nails are shortened and dulled?!

Rosy keeps making a fuss about the fur I'm shedding, but I think it's unnatural that she doesn't shed much. Where's her winter coat that she should be discarding now? No wonder she's always so cold in the winter if all she has is her measly single coat of fur. This is just another example of how I'm superior to her, as I have a beautiful plush coat that adjusts for the seasons.

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #12 (Shedding)

5-20-14

Dear Diary,

OMG furplosion! Sunny is shedding like crazy! It's hard to take her seriously when she's rolling around like a giant furball! ROFL!

But seriously, it's getting out of control! You don't know how many times I've gotten a stray hair in my eye or nose and there's fur on all my stuff! It also makes drumstick attacks a little tricky since there nothing worse than coughing up a pug hairball. Blech!

XOXO,
Rosy

Monday, May 19, 2014

Furry Mood Boosters

This is pretty much my daily routine when I come home. I'm almost always crabby from work and commuting (I also apparently talk like an old person lately, using words like "crabby," "doohickey," and "smut") and sometimes my pugs manage to make me smile right away and sometimes it takes a little longer. But no matter what, they always cheer me up eventually! My little, shedding, demanding, stinky mood boosters!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Ennui

Ever have one of those periods where just day-to-day living is exhausting? I'm feeling kinda like that lately. Part of it is I've been busy at work, another part is my sleep schedule is wacky, another part is that I feel stuck in a rut, and another part is that I'm just by nature super lazy with some things and freakishly obsessed with other things.

I'm basically a pug but I don't have someone to take care of everything for me and pamper me. Sunny and Rosy don't know how good they have it!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Awkward and Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Cut Off in Traffic

This isn't really awkward, but it sure is annoying. I can get pretty bad road rage and nothing drives me crazy like when a car abruptly cuts me off. This is especially annoying if they didn't even have the courtesy to signal. I'm not a big honker, except in emergencies or to alert someone, but I am a big fan of yelling and shaking my fist, or making eye contact and shaking my head at them in a disapproving manner. I had to censor what I'd normally be shouting since my niece and nephew like to look at my drawings.

But replace that annoying and rude driver with some pugs and the situation becomes so much better! Make way for puglings!

Sunny and Rosy love cutting me off all the time and I've ran into them or almost stumbled more times than I can count. But every time that happens I end up apologizing profusely to my pug and getting cuted out by her confusion and anxious tail wag (you'd think by now they would have figured out that cutting across my path leads to bad scary bumps, but no, each time they're mystified as to what happened).

[Random note: Every day I regret having gotten a black fabric interior car. I bought it before I got Sunny and Rosy, but if I could do it again I would have definitely gotten one with a light and/or leather interior!]

Monday, May 5, 2014

What Separation Anxiety?

Pugs are serious lap dogs. My two are happiest when they're with me and somehow making bodily contact. Sunny is generally more laid back, but Rosy has separation anxiety, which was really bad when I first got her. She used to scratch at my door whenever I left (which I did not love) and follow me room to room (which I love). Anytime I leave my apartment now I give them "goodbye treats" in separate corners and then dart out the door as quickly as possible, hoping I haven't forgotten something that'll require a return (accompanied by a major guilt trip from the pugs). That's helped a lot but I know that Sunny and Rosy would still prefer to be with me 24/7 forever and ever.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Pug Clique

Happy Friday!!!

Just a simple drawing today of some snooty clique-y pugs. I noticed that while Sunny loves everyone, she gets more excited meeting other pugs or smushed face dogs. Rosy gets riled up by most dogs but she usually gets along ok with some smaller dogs (though I can never tell what makes some good and some bad). Her absolute favorite is a pomeranian that lives on my floor who I'm sure she'd like to make pugeranians with if she could. Once a dog is on her bad list though, that dog is on that list for good!

Rosy can be such a mean girl! Stop trying to make fetch happen Rosy!...I'm tired of repeatedly throwing your toy.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #11 (Begging)

5-1-14

Dear Diary,

There's only one thing I love more than my toys and Sunny, and that's FOOD! I will do anything for a bite of deliciousness, especially human food deliciousness! It just seems totally unfair that humans get to eat so many different things with fun flavors and textures and then they feed us boring ol dog food.

What is this chocolate that they keep talking about and yet refuse to share with us?! What about sharing some of that yummy smelling garlic and onions getting stir-fried on the stove top?! Feed me grapes like I'm a queen!

Sunny is terrible at begging and just sits in the kitchen doing nothing. WRONG. You have to be loud and aggressive - remind the human that you're there and you want that food! The squeaky wheel gets the oil and I'm always the squeakiest wheel in the kitchen! I also like to make my presence known by digging my little paws into the human's legs, triggering certain pressure points to help persuade the human to feed me. That always gets the human's attention and she'll dance around while making excited noises.

Every day is a new opportunity to eat more delicious things. Challenge accepted!

XOXO,
Rosy

(Human editor's note: Sunny and Rosy do not get fed chocolate, garlic, onions, grapes, or other human foods that are bad for dogs.)

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #11 (Begging)

5-1-14

Rosy's young and foolish, as many pups are. She simply bulldozes her way around without any grace. There is an art to begging that requires patience and subtlety.

Rosy can whine, jump around, and paw at the human's legs all she wants. I know the true secrets to getting the good stuff - sit in the human's line of vision and give your best, most pathetic-looking slump and sad face. If needed, add a cute tongue sticking out and/or uncurl the tail.

Works every time.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Bumps in a Crowd

I've never been a big fan of large crowds and that's only gotten worse the older and crankier I get. There's nothing fun about being squashed among strangers as the air gets hotter and stuffier. And how disturbing is it when a stranger's sweaty body part makes contact with your back or arm?! Having lived in New York for several years I often had to put up with crazy crowds. Sometimes subway rides were so packed people couldn't hold onto any poles and so they just stood like sardines in a can and swayed with the crowd, hoping that collectively everyone could support each others weight at each jerk and turn. The only thing I could do in those situations was to put in my ear buds and go to my happy place.

But turn that into a pug crowd and you've just turned a nightmare into a dream come true! Even the word for a pug crowd is so much better and cuter - a grumble of pugs! I'd much rather be amidst a grumble of furry, squishy, snorting lil pugs.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Vanity

Sunny and Rosy are getting ready for a night out on the town! Gotta make sure their hair is perfect and their tails are perfectly curled!

My sister and I used to love rolling the ears of our first pug, Cookie. If she was sleeping, they'd actually stay perfectly curled and we'd call her Martha Washington (I don't know why since I don't think she wore her hair curled like that). We used to do that all the time when we were little with our Pound Puppy stuffed animals and Cookie was our real live Pound Puppy! Man we were such weirdos.

Rosy's too finicky with her ears to do that now and Sunny's just don't hold a curl very well (I think they're too big and heavy). I should ask my sister if she does this with her current pug, Doughy.

Happy weekend everyone!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Pugling Rivalry - Rosy's Diary Entry #10 (Intruder)

4-23-14

Dear Diary,

DANGER! DANGER! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!

There is a strange dog in our home! The human and Sunny seem unaware of the stranger or they are so frightened they're frozen in their seats. It is up to me to protect my home and family!

Rosy to the rescue!

XOXO,
Rosy

Pugling Rivalry - Sunny's Log Entry #10 (Intruder)

4-23-14

Sigh, there she goes again. We can't watch a single tv show, or even a commercial, without my not-so-bright sister going ballistic and trying to attack the tv. How does she not grasp the concept of tv?! Can't she tell the dog on the tv screen isn't actually in our home? At first the human and I found it amusing, but now it's just tiresome.

I think we should lock up Rosy in another room while we watch tv, but the human doesn't seem to be on board with the idea. So I guess we'll just keep watching my idiot sister in her annoying dance of leaping and snapping at the tv. Sigh.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Leash Struggles

I love having two pugs. But I don't really love walking two pugs at the same time.

Just this morning I had to deal with a tangled harness, a runaway pug, dirt getting kicked on me in a particularly enthusiastic post-poop kick, and a poop bag flying out of my hands when I tried to open it. My sister used to think I exaggerated in my drawings but when she visited me over the holidays she realized that everything I draw is truth! (For the most part.)  She especially gets a kick out of my "pulled apart" pose, which she refers to as my crucifixion pose.