The Many Faces of Pug

To people unfamiliar with pugs pugs may appear to have only one facial expression. For the first two months I had Sunny my 3 year old niece and nephew kept asking me, "Why is Sunny so sad??" But pugs are capable of a wide array of hilarious and adorable faces. Here are a few of Sunny's and Rosy's favorites.

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side.  And it just needs some pug pee on it to kill the grass and turn it yellow.

I am having fun with the sketchbook app again.  In some ways it's easier than doing it on paper but in other ways it's harder and takes longer.

Smelly Pug

I recently started playing around with a drawing app on my phone. Having a larger screen and stylus makes it a lot easier and more fun. A quick doddle ended up becoming my new header. I've been meaning to update it for a while to include Rosy so now it accurately reflects my two-pug household!

Lately one or both of the girls have been letting loose some really stinky farts. Some have been so bad they'll sniff their butt in surprise and then walk away leaving me gagging in disgust. Here's another sketch from the Sketchbook Mobile app!

Pug Yoga

After hearing about the Boston Marathon bombing, I came home sad about the tragic events. When things like this happen I become obsessive with reading all the news updates. Luckily this time around I have Sunny and Rosy who managed to bring some brightness into my day. They seemed to know they were needed and proceeded to have the snortiest, funniest, and laziest pug battle ever. My thoughts are with the people of Boston and those affected. At the same time I know that we must endure and continue to find the good, even the silly, in the world.

So in keeping with this mentality I wanted to post a new drawing I did inspired by the girls' favorite yoga poses. Sunny's favorites are the kinda lotus pose and the sloppy tree pose (aka dancing and reaching for treats). Rosy's favorites are downward facing pug, upward facing pug, and pawstand (aka peeing handstand weirdo).

Here's Rosy doing a downward facing pug.

Followed by a smooth transition to upward facing pug.

Here is Sunny doing a sloppy tree pose for some baby carrots.

And Sunny's all time favorite is the kinda lotus pose.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of Rosy's pawstand because people tend to look at me funny when I take photos of my dogs while peeing. I still try but it's hard to capture the pawstand since it happens so quickly!  I do have a photo of Rosy doing a pawstand! I had forgotten about this one.  She can get her butt even higher in the air sometimes!

And here's a video of the girls' silly fight that cheered me up.

Viva La Pug Resistance!

When my pugs don't want to do something they use various resistance tactics.  They have done all of these at one point, but Sunny and Rosy definitely have their preferred methods.  Sunny's a fan of immovable object, dead weight, and pretending to not hear me.  Rosy on the other hand is a fan of the tucked butt run and stink eye.  But they both love the wiggle defense which makes nail trimmings and wrinkle cleanings a joy.  I thought of this theme after posting a recent video of Rosy's tucked butt run when I was trying to wipe her bottom.  She runs around crazy fast and I only halfheartedly try to catch her because I'm usually laughing too much.

Viva la pug resistance!

When Sadness Covers My World...

I fight back and cover myself with pugs!

Last night I was watching a King of the Hill rerun where they discover Kahn's manic depressive when after a crazed manic phase of building a mega grill with Hank, they find Kahn curled up in a fetal position in his dark house as he mutters, "Sadness cover me like a blanket. Tuck me in. Let me die." I find this scene hilarious and yet it accurately captures what depression feels like with three simple lines.

I often feel down sometimes for real and specific reasons but sometimes for no solid reason at all. When this happens I try to focus on the little things that make me feel happy each day. The one thing that always makes me feel better no matter what is spending time with my pugs, Sunny and Rosy. Even though they both came prenamed (with different spellings) their names really are perfect because they make everything seem sunnier and rosier!

Awkward Positions

I've done many posts about the funny poses pugs have but this time I'd like to do a post on the funny poses that we (the humans) are forced into by our pugs.  It's amazing the awkward and uncomfortable positions we are willing to put up with for our pugs' comfort and entertainment.  These are all pretty common for me.  The "behind and around leash dance" kills me - every day Rosy (and sometimes Sunny) does this non stop on our walks and I have to either twirl out of it or step awkwardly over the leash.

Pug Curfew

I have terrible sleeping habits and often go to bed really late at night.  Sunny and Rosy are pretty good sports about it but sometimes they just get fed up and give me subtle and not-so-subtle signs that they are ready for bed.  Sleeping on the couch and in the dog beds is all fun and good, but when it comes time to catch their beauty sleep, they need quality sleep in the big bed.

Pug Alarm Clocks

When I first got Sunny I told myself that I would never let her sleep on my bed and she would have her own separate bed next to mine.  This lasted for several months but I noticed that I kept falling asleep on my couch at night only to wake up in the middle of the night (or even pre-dawn) and make my way to my bedroom for real sleep.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my sleeping habits until one night I was about to fall asleep on my couch yet again and I caught myself thinking, "Ooh I'll just close my eyes a bit so I can snuggle with Sunny some more."  Aha!

Because I work full days I don't have that much time with my dogs so when I'm home I want to spend as much time as possible with them.  So Sunny and Rosy sleep with me on the big bed.  I don't know if my sleep quality is necessarily better though since they have some unique ways of waking me up every single day (including weekends).  Still, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Pugs - Descended From Wolves?

Domesticated dogs have come a long way from their wolf ancestors.  This is probably more evident in pugs with their unusual physical features.  Whenever I spend a ton of time or money on my dogs, I often think to myself about how far they've come from their ancestors and how they wouldn't stand a chance living in the wild without a human to take care of them and pamper them.

Food Pugs

Maybe it's because pugs love food so much but have you ever noticed how so many of their positions resemble food?  The pug loaf is well known and is also referred to the puggerpillar, but do your pugs ever do any of the other positions?  Most of these are based on Sunny but Rosy is often doing the donut and popcorn.

Why Pug, Why?

One of the things I love about having Sunny and Rosy is how they do so many strange things that crack me up.  It almost never fails - if I have a bad day, as soon as I come home I completely forget about it once I see Sunny's and Rosy's happy dance and the other silly things they do.  So here are a few things that I love to wonder about - why do they do the things they do?

Live Like a Pug!

I always find it odd that I ended up an attorney because by nature I am very lazy and hate stress.  My perfect day would be to lounge around, eating good food, watching tv, reading a book and napping.  Basically my spirit animal is a pug.  So really it was inevitable that I'd end up a crazy pug lady.  I think we could all take some advice from pugs about how to live our lives.  Pugs, and dogs in general, live life in the moment and without any filter.  They love absolutely, they relish every morsel, and they balance their frenzied outbursts with long and deep naps.  We should all live like a pug!

Let's Get Ready To Pug Ruuumbbble!

Sunny and Rosy get along pretty well nowadays and don't get into any real fights that often.  Most of the time  their tiffs are because Rosy's harassing Sunny and just being a pesky younger sister.  Sunny is pretty patient, but when it gets to be too much she fights back!  Sometimes I think Sunny actually enjoys it because afterwards she'll get into the play stance and stare at Rosy and then they run around my apartment with their butts tucked under as they make crazy snorting sounds.  So here's a few pug (really applies to all dogs I think) maneuvers when play fighting (not the real scary fighting usually over food and treats).

And if you'd like to see a bit of this in real life, here's a video of Sunny and Rosy.  I especially like Sunny's peg leg attack of waving her straight legs in the air totally ineffectively.  And notice Rosy loving stare as she gazes up at Sunny at the end.

Sunny v. The Beast

Every single time a truck drives by (garbage truck, mail truck, grocery delivery, any rumbly truck or suv), Sunny gets fixated on it and stares at it with her alert, ears forward pose.  As soon as the vehicle moves Sunny pounces into action and tries to chase after it as she makes these weird high-pitched yelping noises (not quite barks, more like pug screams?).  It can be really frustrating but also entertaining.  Rosy doesn't care about vehicles at all.  I like to imagine that this is what Sunny sees when a truck drives by.

X-Pugs!

If Sunny and Rosy were X-Pugs, Rosy's super power would be flight, wagging her tail and using it like a helicopter, and Sunny's super power would be her immense, immovable weight (like the Blob).  Their nails also grow super fast, so maybe they'd also have some Wolverine-like claws.  And ability to camouflage themselves by shedding copious amounts of pug fur in their surroundings.  So many superhero possibilities...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Love,
Sunny and Rosy

Pugs Want To Go To There!

Essentially, pugs want to be wherever you are, or wherever there might be food.  Here are a few places that I'm sure most pugs wish they could go to.

Nurse Pugs

Last week I had a slight cold that I thought I recovered from by the end of the week.  But then on Saturday I had a bit of a cough.  I was scheduled to do a long run that Saturday and I didn't want to miss it so stupid me  did it and now I am miserably sick.  I ended up having to stay home from work and I sound terrible.  Luckily my nurse pugs are taking good care of me.  They really do help me feel better, except when I'm feeling hot and feverish.  Then their warm bodies feel uncomfortably hot as they lay next to me or drape themselves over my lap!

I almost didn't post this because my pen slowly dying on me plus my inability to draw a steady line while sick made for some shaky lines.  It also didn't help that Rosy licked my sketchbook, not once but twice!  I don't know why she thought she'd taste my sketchbook since I can't imagine pencils and pens taste any good.  Anyways, I decided to go ahead and post it after cleaning it up a bit, because it accurately reflects how I feel when sick, both in the drawings and in the way it was executed.

Pug Poop Cycle

Pooping for Sunny can be a long, drawn-out, and complicated process.  Rosy just starts sniffing, circles a few times and then squats and does her business.

Sunny has to sniff every inch of grass near her until she finds a potential spot.  Then she'll circle, sniff, circle, sniff.  If I see her pawing at the ground, I get hopeful that she's finally going to poop.  But this is no guarantee.  Scratching at the ground means there's a 40% chance she'll finally do her business.  More often than not she'll circle a bit and even go so far as semi-squatting until, for some unknown reason, she realizes that this is not the right spot and she dashes off to find a new place to poop.  This process can repeat for up to 5 times.  Sometimes I feel like a ringleader in a circus with Sunny running in circles around me and then making tighter and tighter circles until she finally poops.

I never see any other dog in my neighborhood do this so I'm thinking it might be a pug thing?  Like they need the centrifugal force to poop?  This can be frustrating when I'm in a rush in the mornings, but it's always entertaining and hilarious!