Archive for September, 2007
September 30, 2007 at 10:22 pm · Show more about: halloween
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This is the first time that Tricia and I have lived together in a place where there are Trick-or-Treaters going around, and Tricia’s excited to give out candy to all the kids in the neighborhood. So, this weekend, we got prepared, putting up some initial decorations. We put up a door “Happy Halloween” poster, some “spider” lights, some regular lights, and a bunch of fake spider webs.
Well, i’d like to just say that Gizmo got caught up in things and got the fake spider webs on him, but that’s not what happened. I put them on him because it’s really cute and a really funny picture.
Gizmo with a big white beard of spider web.
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September 27, 2007 at 9:12 pm · Show more about: portrait
Have you ever wanted to get a really good portrait done of your pet? Have you ever wanted to immortalize your pet in a real work of art, worthy of being placed in an art gallery?
Well, Eric Bossik is the person who can make it happen. Now, I know many of you have Pugs, and you might want proof that an artist can actually capture the essence of a Pug’s face. I asked Eric about this, and although he has never had the opportunity to paint a Pug (he’d love to, though), he has done a portrait of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a breed that’s related to Pugs, sharing a high Cephalic index (smooshed face).
Additionally, Eric’s paintings have been exhibited all over — he’s been shown at the Society of Illustrators, the Salmagundi Art Club, the Art Director’s Club of New York, the Heckscher Museum, and the Roslyn Fine Arts Museum, and the Cornell Museum in Delray Beach, Florida. As for awards, his work has won the HTAL award of excellence at the Heckscher Museum and a Grumbacher award for portraiture. Eric was a recipient of an AAPL Grand National Award for oil painting in 1998.
You can have this award winning oil painter paint the portrait of your pet. His prices are by no means “cheap,” but you get high quality when you pay for it. Erik Bossik
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September 27, 2007 at 7:09 am · Show more about: allergy, closeup, gadget, swelling
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Gadget has recovered just fine. His face no longer has any of the swelling it had yesterday. He’s back to his normal happy (hungry) self now. It appears as though it was some kind of an insect bite, we just don’t know how he got it, as he had not been out yesterday morning yet.
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September 26, 2007 at 9:05 am · Show more about: allergy, gadget, health, swelling, vet
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We woke up this morning, and everything was fine. However, a little while later, Gadget’s face started to swell. It was almost like he had a bug bite! (it turns out that may have been what it was). However, we’d never seen anything like this on either G or G before. We didn’t know if it was going to get worse and possibly cause problems breathing, so we decided he needed to see the vet.
It was no problem for them to see us, so we just went over first thing. Gadget had to have his temperature taken (oh oh!) and the doc gave him a steroid shot and some benadryl. We’ve got to give him benadryl 3 times per day for the next two days. I think the steroid shot really worked, because his face is a lot better now, though you can still tell that something was wrong. Hopefully everything will be back to normal again soon.
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September 24, 2007 at 10:09 pm · Show more about: Pug
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Gizmo loves corners. He always positions himself in places where his back is completely to the wall. He sits in the bathroom all the way to the corner, halfway underneath the shower curtain. He sits in the den all the way against the door, away from everyone (when he’s not sitting in Gadget’s chair). He sits underneath my desk in the corner between the back of the desk and the computer cables. He sits in our *other* bathroom in the corner between the sink and the wall.
Gizmo loves corners. He just keeps going there. I dont know why, exactly. Do you know why? Why does he love sitting in corners! TELL ME!!!
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September 23, 2007 at 11:26 am · Show more about: meetups, Pug, Pugs
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Trixie on her Mommy’s lap
We took Gizmo and Gadget to this month’s New Orleans Pug Meetup event. G&G had fun, talked to some of their friends, etc. Anyway, the pictures are up.
If you’re looking for the site for the group, click here to go to the site.
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September 22, 2007 at 9:11 am · Show more about: costumes, halloween
If you’re planning on getting costumes this year for Halloween, it’s about time to start thinking about what you want to do for your dog. Fortunately, FunnyFur has just updated their selection of costumes.
Check out their costume selection!
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September 20, 2007 at 10:23 pm · Show more about: teeth, tumor, vet, weight
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Today, Tricia took Gizmo and Gadget to the vet. We take them to Metairie Small Animal Hospital — they see Dr. Martin. Tricia took them for just a simple, routine visit, but there were two outcomes from this visit — one surprising and another not-so-surprising. First, as we already knew, Gadget’s a bit hefty. Today, he weighed in at 26.1 pounds. Now, that’s big for a Pug, you say. And yes, it is big for a Pug. However, both Gizmo and Gadget were bred to be show pugs, and they’re both champions.
Their body frame is different than many Pugs you might see around — it’s somewhat bigger, with thicker bones. Moreso than Gizmo, Gadget’s frame is VERY stocky. It’s just how he’s built. I know this is the old, “I’m not fat, I’m just big boned,” argument that’s been told over and over again. However, it’s really true with Gadget. Even though he’s 26 pounds, he only stands to lose a few pounds. Under 22 pounds for Gadget would be REALLY underweight for him! Anyway, the outcome for Gadget is that we’re going on a diet. Both of the boys will be getting two smaller meals per day, and their caloric intake will be monitored. We’ll also feed them such that they eat small enough meals such that we can put two plates of food down, they’ll eat (and finish) the food, then we’ll pick things up. We’re going to stop the “here’s a plate of food, eat it whenever you want, we’ll refill it tomorrow sometime” routine.
The SURPRISING news, however, is that Gizmo has a small tumor in his mouth!!! If you look in his mouth the right way, it appears as though there’s a mass of tissue right above one of his teeth. It’s like his tooth is coming out of a little ball. The vet seems to think that mouth tumors aren’t good things, but right now we’re hoping that either it’s just a benign growth or that we caught it early enough such that it’s not a big issue. We’ll find out in a couple weeks when they both go in for teeth cleaning (and Gizmo gets a biopsy)
Regardless of everything that went on at the vet today (they even got shots!!), Gizmo had a GREAT time, and both Gizmo and Gadget LOVE all the attention they get at the vet from everyone who “just wants to squeeze” them because they’re “like little teddy bears.” (especially Gadget)
The picture is of Gizmo, Gadget, and Dr. Martin. Gizmo’s on the left, and he just looks incredibly happy!
P.S., the moral of the story is that you should TAKE YOUR DOG TO THE VET! You never know what he/she will find!
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September 20, 2007 at 6:36 pm · Show more about: review
This is a sponsored post.
GreatDogSite.com is a site containing general information about dog breeds. This site has a page about almost every dog breed you can think of. Each dog breed’s page includes information about the breed’s appearance, health issues, and training. Additionally, each breed’s page includes the ever popular dog pictures.
Interestingly, anyone can upload their own pictures to the site. So, if you just love seeing your dog’s picture on the internet, you can go over to the pug page to post pictures there. What is more is that the site lets anyone ask questions. While most of the users here know about our forums, if you have another breed, like a Borzoi, you could ask Borzoi specific questions there.
I have a feeling there’s no UrbanBorzoi.com out there for people to ask breed specific questions on.
I feel like this site is a great resource for people who are just curious about dogs in general, and are trying to research what breeds are out there. Also, the site is probably really good for kids. For an informational site like this, I’d like to see a more “clean” design, because that leads you to trust the information more – right now, it appears as though much of the information (at least about Pugs) is straight from Wikipedia. If the site’s going to be a “resource,” I’d like to see more than that.
Finally, since I think the site’s appeal is to people researching dogs, I think a “dog breed match” service would be a great addition, as well as articles about choosing the right breed. Such a service would be great for prospective dog buyers, giving them an easy way to narrow down the type of dog that’s right for them.
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September 18, 2007 at 7:05 am · Show more about: bath, furminator, shedding
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Bathtime has come to be dreaded for both pugs and people. Gizmo and Gadget really don’t like having to get wet in the tub. We don’t mind that part, but we do mind the days of excessive shedding that come afterwards. Of course, we do things to minimize the shedding, like add olive oil to their food, furminate them, etc. It all helps, but they still lose lots of hair for a few days because we’ve just pulled all the oil off their coat (which helps it stay intact).
This picture is of the aftermath of one brief furminator session.
Just look at those piles of hair! Click on the image, and it becomes a little bit more evident just how much hair there is right there.
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September 13, 2007 at 10:08 pm · Show more about: pillow, Pug
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Tricia recently got a body pillow, one that wraps all the way around your body and can support your neck and your back at the same time.
Gadget has found this pillow, and he likes it. It’s the perfect size to wrap entirely around a pug. Will Tricia get to keep her pillow? Or will it be taken over by the pugs?
Stay tuned, and find out.
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September 8, 2007 at 10:17 am · Show more about: closeup, gadget, tile
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So, last post, I mentioned that Gadget likes to lie down on the tile floor to cool off. Well, this is a close-up of him doing just that. He’s bigger than Gizmo, and he’s got more / thicker fur, so he has a harder time staying cool.
Also, I just found these totally awesome pug pillows (via design talk)
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September 5, 2007 at 9:27 pm · Show more about: bed, gadget
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This is Gadget, getting ready for bed. During this phase, he hops into bed and sits on the side of the bed with his paws and sometimes his entire front legs hanging off the side of the bed. He sits there for a while, drifting off to sleep. Gadget is different than Gizmo, in that he gets in and out of bed all night, while Gizmo stays in bed for the most part. Probably, this is because Gadget gets hot — he gets out of bed and goes over to the bathroom, where there is a tile floor to cool off on.
After he’s slept on the cool tile floor for a while, he’ll hop back up into bed … until he gets too hot again!
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. They work great!
are great for cleaning up messes, and are reusable.