Problems Every Small Dog Understands

Rosy has a weird relationship with our neighboring dogs. She generally fears/hates strange dogs, especially big ones, as I don't think she was properly socialized with her prior family or maybe she had a bad experience. But she sees our neighboring dogs on a daily basis so she's kind of used to them and super intrigued by them.

The German Shepard mix that lives next to us is so patient with Rosy. Just a few days ago, Rosy barked at her (as usual) and then calmed down enough to sniff. But Rosy's so tiny she can practically walk under most big dogs. Next thing I know, Rosy's standing up on her back legs, her front paws planted on the big dog's butt cheeks, and sniffing deeply. She really got in there!

Sunny and I were mortified.

Hot and Humid

I complain all the time about the heat and humidity, but now that it's late September I feel like my complaints are totally valid and justified. I also had the wonderful idea to cut my hair a little shorter than usual this past weekend and now it's curling and frizzing like crazy.

It's time for summer to take the hint and go away and take all the bugs with it too. This week is summer's last hurrah here and it's so muggy and gross and the mosquitoes are going crazy for their last bites.

Of course, no matter what the weather is like, my super warm, barnacle love bug pugs want to glom onto my body and snuggle 24/7. Normally I love it, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much and overheats me. The humidity also brings out the delightful pet store aroma from their usual fritolicious scent. (Ooh that reference to a pet store just reminded me to buy more dog food before we run out).

Summer, it's not me. It's you. Go away. Come back next year when we're all tired of the cold.

What To Do When You See a Bug in Your Home

I hate bugs.  I hate them with a passion.

One of the things I hate about them the most is that they like to hang out on the ceiling of my bedroom.  I don't know if it's because my bedroom is essentially the attic or they like the sloped ceilings or what.  By now I've developed a tried and true method that I've outlined in this illustration. Enjoy.

Weekend Plans

Happy Friday!

I don't know if it's because summer is ending or what, but I've been feeling extra lazy lately.  So this weekend, I'll be relaxing with my pugs.  Hope you all have a great weekend too!

Battling The Sads

I've been in a bit of a funk recently. Not wanting to do anything and yet feeling restless. Tired of things and wanting change, but also fearing it. Feeling gross and lazy and tired.

Good thing I have my pugs. Pugs make everything better. They're like magic.

No. They ARE magic.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!]

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.

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.

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.

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.

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - Small Talk

I am the worst when it comes to small talk! I am bad with eye contact, I can never think of interesting things to talk about, I bring up topics I really shouldn't, and I can't help but use idioms that I realize halfway through I don't really know. I am capable of having normal conversations with people once I know them better, but even then there are still some people that I just don't click with and as a result our conversations continue to be awkward and stilted. I dread holiday parties and work events.

But I have never met a pug that I didn't love and there is never any awkward conversation or weird lulls. It's either filled with happy talk or comfortable, content silence (although pugs are rarely silent).

Awkward & Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs - The Long Hallway

Don't you just hate it when you see someone you know at the end of a long hallway or street? When do you acknowledge each other's presence? When do you say hi or wave? Should you pretend you have to stop and tie a shoelace or duck into another room? All these worries are wiped away if you replace the approaching casual acquaintance with cute lovey dovey pugs!

I am the queen of awkward social situations and am a big ol grump when it comes to having to deal with most people. So I think I'll embrace the humor of my flaws and do a series on my blog (in addition to Pugling Rivalry) called "Awkward and Annoying Situations Made Better with Pugs." This is the first installment, "The Long Hallway." This is something near and dear to me as I encounter this situation everyday because my workplace consists of a super duper long hallway and I work at one end of it.

And Like That, Poof. It's Gone.

You only have yourself to blame if you're not keeping a constant, vigilant watch over your food if there are pugs nearby.

Temper Tantrum

I love my pugs but sometimes they drive me crazy. I used to have a pretty bad temper which has calmed down for the most part but sometimes I just lose it and throw a temper tantrum.

Last night I fell asleep on my couch because I've been tired and stressed at work. I woke up at 2am, exhausted and cranky. I hurried to take the girls out for what I thought would be a quick pee. I was wrong.

Rosy did everything real fast, but Sunny refused to do anything and would barely move. After standing outside in the freezing winds, with my legs and fingers going numb Sunny started circling and then pooped. I totally didn't expect that so then I had to fumble with opening the poop bag all while angrily whispering "Come on, pee! Pee! Pee! Do your business!" The bag flew away and Sunny tried running back to my apartment and I just felt so tired and cold, I did an angry stomping dance, blinking away tears of frustration. Luckily no one was outside at that crazy late hour to witness me losing it like a little kid.

After a couple more minutes Sunny finally peed and we all ran back inside and tried to get a few hours of sleep before we'd have to wake up in the morning. Not my proudest moment of course but at least I can look back on it with humor. Seriously, I am done with these freezing temperatures, crazy wind chill, and poop AND pee strikes by Sunny.

Rough Week

It's been a bit of a rough week going back to work and having everything crazy busy. My natural introverted, antisocial, depressed, lazy, overeating, alcoholic, narcoleptic, and cranky tendencies are fighting each other for top spot. They're all winning at this point.

Well at least it's Friday. TGIF.