Tricia bought Martine a monkey costume this year, and we took pictures out in the front yard with the pugs and our pumpkins.
After we did that, though, my dad somehow found out about a “special” costume for sale at K-Mart, and he got this “special” costume for us. It was so perfect for us, that we had to take another set of pictures.
I don’t think this requires any extra explanation. Happy Halloween!
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So, as this picture shows, Martine is now capable of standing. However, she’s still a ways from doing it without holding on to anything or actually going somewhere once she stands up! I thought this picture was good because it shows Gizmo and Gadget doing what they always do — Gizmo is sitting on the chair, and Gadget is sitting underneath — except that now they’re doing it with Martine in the picture, too!
Oh, and I have a funny story about Oopsy. So, for some reason, and only at certain times, Oopsy acts afraid of me, and this only happens when it’s time to eat. She won’t take treats from me, and she won’t eat her food right in front of me. She’s also a little bit the same way around Gizmo or Gadget, only eating after they’ve left.
Anyway, whenever we leave the house, we put all the pugs in the kitchen, which has two exits. We close the door at one exit, and we have a dog gate on the other exit. So, usually, we just give G and G a chicken jerky each, and we’re on our way. Well, with Oopsy, I can’t do that, because she won’t get it — she’ll let Gizmo or Gadget have it (and they WILL take it if she doesnt!!).
I didn’t want her to be the only one not getting any chicken jerkies, so I had to do something about it! Well, the dog gate on one of the exits to the kitchen only goes down so close to the ground because of the molding at the bottom of the walls. Basically, there’s about 8-12 inches of molding from the floor up, and the dog gate can’t expand to fit properly in the whole space. This leaves that 8-12 inch space below the gate. Also, Oopsy is smaller than both G&G, and one day I realized (when we got home and she wasn’t in the kitchen) that Oopsy was capable of shimmying underneath the dog gate!
Once I realized this, it became clear that the easiest way to give her the chicken jerkies (and her food generally) was to put it on the other side of the gate! She can get it whenever she wants, and she’ll be protected from either Gizmo or Gadget’s taking it.
And, yes! It works just fine. However, it’s worked SO WELL that there’s an unintended consequence! Normal pug behavior when chicken jerkies are about to be dispensed is to BEG. Well, Oopsy’s behavior is now to run into the kitchen, past Gizmo and Gadget begging, and to shimmy under the gate as fast as she can!
Who says Pugs aren’t smart?
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This is the recipe for the cake I made for Gizmo and Gadget’s 5th Birthday. Just as a note, I think dog cake recipe I made last year came out better, except I like the icing on this one a lot better. It’s essentially peanut butter buttercream, and who doesn’t like that?
This recipe is relatively easy to make. The only part to note is that it does take a relatively long time to bake and cool, so plan ahead. And don’t ice until it’s all the way cooled down!!
For cake:
2 cups water
2 ripe bananas
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour (whole wheat preferred, but I used all purpose
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
For icings:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (or butter)
food coloring
enough powdered sugar
Instructions
Heat oven to 350.
Mix cake ingredients.
Place in one 8 or 9 inch cake pan.
Cook for 60 to 75 minutes.
For icing, mix cottage cheese and if you’re feeling nice, a bit of powdered sugar and food coloring in a food processor until smooth. Use this to top the cake. Then, take the peanut butter and shortening or butter (at room temp) and mix really well. Then, add powdered sugar a little bit at a time, incorporating it into the icing completely before adding more. Keep adding until it’s sweet enough for your birthday dog.
Cover the cake with the cottage cheese icing, then decorate with the peanut butter icing. The peanut butter icing has extra sugar in it, so don’t use too much. However, this is a treat, so you be the judge.
To decorate, you can put the icing in a ziplock bag with a corner cut off, and use that as a piping bag. If you have icing piping nozzles, then you can do some really nice decorations with this icing. If you NEED a piping bag and nozzles, you can get them from Amazon relatively cheaply.
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. They work great!
are great for cleaning up messes, and are reusable.
I can’t believe it. They’re FIVE!
I baked a cake for them again this year. I didn’t use last year’s dog cake recipe. Instead, I modified another recipe on the internet to make a peanut butter and banana cake — they loved it! (and that peanut butter icing was really good by human standards, too!)
I took several pictures of the making & eating of the cake, and posted them in their own gallery.
I’ll do a separate post on the cake recipe itself.
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First, Oopsy just turned THREE years old this week. Happy Birthday Oopsy! Now, some of you may have been wondering, “why is a dog named Oopsy? that is such a strange name!” — Well, yes, it is a weird name, but she got her name (officially, her show name is “Oops”) because Tricia’s parents (who breed pugs) did not intend for Ipsy (Oopsy’s mother) to get pregnant. Therefore, she’s an “Oops”
Also, here’s another funny thing about having a dog that responds to a commonly used word – whenever through circumstance we actually USE the word “oops,” Oopsy thinks we’re talking to her. She’s very good about coming when called — she will come running from the next room whenever she hears her name called. However, because we say “oops” in other context, she ALSO comes running whenever we’ve just made a mistake!
Talk about living up to your name!
The picture is of Oopsy taking a nap on our bed with Martine. Oops is really hyper, but when she calms down, she’s very loving. She just (still) needs to learn not to step on us!
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