We’re just a few weeks away from crawling, and things are going to get very … interesting … once Martine becomes mobile. However, right now, she’s still learning to lift her head and look around, which is exactly what she’s doing here. She just happened to be on the bed next to Gizmo, who was in a very similar position.
Martine started doing it, and Tricia just about exploded it was so cute. So, I ran downstairs and picked up the camera to grab a shot. Fortunately, there was enough time to get a good shot in before she got tired and moved on to a slightly less cute activity.
Here is a picture of Martine in the morning – after we’ve brought her from her crib to our bed. Actually, Gizmo and Gadget get to sleep with us, but Martine does not. However, in the mornings, I bring her into the bed and she will usually sleep for a little while longer. That’s better than one of us having to get up early to take care of the baby – it lets us get a little bit more sleep.
Anyway, this morning after I got out of bed, Gizmo and Gadget both snuggled up with her, and it was so cute that I just had to get a few pictures.
Gizmo and Gadget are getting used to living in Baton Rouge, though they like their “real” home better. The past few weeks have been extremely busy with little to no time for anything fun like taking pictures and posting to urban pug. However, we’re going to be starting to get back into the swing of things soon, so expect more pictures coming soon!
I’ve been working with a digital point and shoot for years now, and I think it’s time to upgrade to a better camera. Unfortunately, they’re expensive!!!
Do you use a digital camera? What kind? I would really like to know if anyone has any recommendations for a good camera.
July 2, 2008 at 10:36 pm · Show more about: baby, gizmo, martine
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I took this picture today, and OMG IT IS SO CUTE. This is Gizmo and Martine sharing her Baby Papasan chair, and it’s just about the cutest picture I’ve taken in a while.
In other news, I’m starting a 6 week law school summer job in Baton Rouge next week, and we’re moving up there tomorrow. It’s hard to believe the summer is half over already! It seems like we just got back from Hilton Head!
Last week, Gizmo cracked one of his nails, and it was really deep. We noticed when there was blood on his paw and we had to figure out how it got there. As soon as we noticed, we cleaned him up a bit, and Tricia put some antibacterial stuff on his nail. However, we’ve really just had to deal with pain this week. He hasn’t been running around as much, and he’s walked with a limp, not wanting to put pressure on his paw
Because he hasn’t been walking as much, it’s been just me and Gadget on walks in the morning this week, and Gadget has totally loved the extra attention he gets. I think he feels “special” getting to be the only pug on the walk. In the mornings, he’s actually been getting up and wanting to go out, rather than staying in bed like he usually does. It’s really kinda cute that he likes going alone so much.
Anyway, Gizmo’s nail is healing well, and he actually did go on a walk this morning. It still looks kinda gross, and it probably will hurt when I try to trim his nail later, but I really don’t think there was much we could do for him. Well, besides keep it clean (which he does a good job of himself, actually) and try to keep his nails trimmed (in order to keep this from happening again).
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Actually, if you want to trim your pug’s nails, I recommend a Dremel tool for the job. They even make a “pet” version of it. Dremel tools will give you a better looking end result than just a regular old nail clipper.
Also, here is a picture of Gadget and Martine, sleeping together. She really loves them, and they get excited to see her when we’ve been out. They totally think of her as one of the family, which we think is great. We’ve been really busy for the past few weeks, and it’s not going to let up anytime soon, but I really hope to get more pictures up. We keep taking them, and they continue to be cute. We just need to get the time to SHARE them!
This first picture is of everyone in bed early in the morning. You can see Gadget and Martine next to each other — she’d just been playing with him. And, you can also see Gizmo over on the right still zonked out in his most recent ridiculous place — between the pillows, half stuck between the headboard and Tricia. He loves being up there sleeping on Tricia’s head, and I think he got into this position when she woke up and sat up in bed, kinda sliding underneath the pillows as she propped herself up on an extra pillow.
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Anyway, Martine continues to grow and learn about the world around her, including the pugs! Whenever they walk by her, she now smiles really big at them, and she will also reach out at them. If one of them (usually Gadget) sits down right next to her, she will kinda-sorta try to pet them. It’s really, really cute when she does it. But, I just haven’t been able capture a candid moment like that on video, just yet.
June 5, 2008 at 9:49 pm · Show more about: gadget, martine
This is just a quick post, only one video, and probably not as cute as it was in person, but it’s of Gadget and Martine. They’re looking directly at each other, and he’s licking her, and she’s laughing at him.
A few weeks ago, we went on vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC to visit Tricia’s dad, hit the beach, and hit the outlets. We also visited with his pugs. The one in these pictures is Outy – He reminds us a lot of G&G because, well, he’s almost like another version of them. Very similar looking, except Tricia’s dad keeps him on a very strict diet, so he’s much skinnier than Gadget!
Anyway, the one very unique thing about Outy is his tail. Instead of the relatively more common “one and a half twists,” Outy’s tail has “two and a half twists.” You don’t quite notice it at first, but if you go down and look at it, it really does twist another turn, and it looks EXACTLY LIKE SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM!!!
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On top of visiting, we took the pugs to the beach a few times, as Tricia’s dad lives a short walk from the beach. When we went, the weather was really nice, so the pugs could run around quite a bit and not get too hot.
Here’s one of the videos we took on the beach. The smaller pug is Oopsy, and she’s a little brat! She’s very tiny – full grown and her head is half the size of Gadget’s head. She’s light too, as she required less effort to pick up than Martine — I’d guess oopsy is between 10 and 12 pounds. However, she’s completely full of energy. Tricia wanted to bring her home, so Martine could have her own dog — and she’d give G&G another pug to play with (G&G are laid back, Oopsy is not!)
Last thursday, I finished finals. I’m taking a week off before clerking this summer, so we’re spending the week in Hilton Head, SC to visit Tricia’s dad (and hang out at the beach!)
At any rate, here is a close up photo of Martine and Gizmo I took before we left for vacation. Martine does not mind letting her brother use her head as a chin rest. We think this picture is really cute, and we really want to get some fun comments on this one. So, everyone, here’s a question for you to answer — “What do you think Gizmo is saying in this picture?”
I think he’s saying, “I’m totally the cute one in this picture!!!” Post what you think in the comments.
April 29, 2008 at 11:26 pm · Show more about: bed, martine, sleep
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This afternoon, Tricia put Martine down for a nap. A little while later, Gizmo made his way into his spot. After both were asleep, Tricia noticed this, and called me into the room to get a quick picture of brother and sister napping together in their “bunk bassinet.”
Do you see Gizmo in there, with his head poking out? He’s actually doing the pug-classic “chin rest” on the side bar of the bassinet.
Oh, and they’re both sound asleep in this picture. How cute!
April 26, 2008 at 4:42 pm · Show more about: collar, Pug
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Seersucker is a fabric that’s commonly worn in the South between Easter and Labor Day. Generally, you see older men wearing Seersucker suits in the summer. It’s also common to make children’s clothing from seersucker. Indeed, we have several small dresses for Martine that are made of the fabric. However, I couldn’t find anything for Gizmo and Gadget.
I looked all around, and I couldn’t find anything out there. So, I eventually made my way over to Etsy.com, which is a site that’s all about hand made crafts. I used their “Alchemy” feature, which allows you to request custom items to be made, and various craft makers bid on what you want created. I used this, and eventually found someone who had a track record of making good dog collars to make one using Seersucker for me.
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Everything was fine, except for the fact that the seller lives outside of the South, and there was no seersucker to be found! We really wanted these collars, so I went to a local store and found some fabric, bought a small amount, and sent it to the maker. Don’t worry, though, we arranged it so that the price was fair in light of my providing some of the materials.
The whole process of looking for Seersucker collars took a while, but once I got the materials to the maker, making them was very fast. So after a while of working on this project (but only a little time waiting for the collars to be made), I finally got them, and they look great! Really cute, and we like the way they look on G&G.
We had a green and white collar made for Gizmo and a blue and white one made for Gadget. Now, we’ll be able to take a picture of Gizmo, Gadget, and Martine all in their seersucker outfits!
The seller is Nomorenekkiddogs on Etsy.com. If you have a special fabric or design, you can get a custom collar too! I highly recommend using Etsy.com for this kind of thing, AND they have all sorts of really well-made crafts that make great gifts.
Martine is 11 weeks old, and she’s becoming more aware of the world every day. Those in the world, specifically her brothers, are also becoming more and more aware of her every day. Gadget is really shy, but he’s also extremely loving, and licking is one of his ways of expressing that. He’s started to want to snuggle more with Martine, and he’s started licking her feet whenever he gets the chance! He’s learning more about her, and he’s showing that he treats her just like he treats his parents.
Gizmo, on the other hand, does not lick. He’s a bit more possessive than Gadget, as he thinks he’s higher up on the totem pole. He knows that I’m number one, but he’s right up there in the #2 spot, with everyone else in the house below him.
When we go places, sometimes, he will “mark” Tricia, signalling that she is his, and those other pugs best be stepping away from her. Well, when we got home last night, Gizmo “marked” Martine. Ack!
Well, it actually wasn’t that bad. She was in her car seat still, and nothing got on that, just on the floor. We’ll be a bit more careful next time.
April 17, 2008 at 10:33 pm · Show more about: Pug, sofa
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We’ve had bad luck with sofas. In fact, I have a whole website that spawned from my misfortune at having acquired a Microfiber Sofa. You see, the problem with microfiber is that while it looks great, it has a really hard time holding up to spills and dogs. Some microfiber sofas are better than others, but the one we got is especially difficult to care for.
We also “inherited” a sofa when Tricia’s dad moved to Hilton Head. Unfortunately, that sofa had lived in a house with lots of pugs — and their smell. Gizmo and Gadget got into the habit of marking the corner of that sofa, and even with repeated cleanings, we couldn’t break the habit. Making it worse is that cleaning the fabric on an upholstered sofa is especially difficult, so I don’t think we ever got the smell out, entirely.
So, our solution was to get a leather sofa. There’s no fabric to soak up smells or spills, and it can be cleaned with a washcloth. So far, it seems to be holding up fairly well, but only time will tell.
Pictured is Gizmo on the new sofa, next to one of our Pug Pillows featuring Lt. Otto Von Puglish. I can’t remember where Tricia’s mom got them, but I did find a few on amazon click here, here, and here.
We’ve had excellent cool spring weather this week, and Gizmo and Gadget have been enjoying spending some time lounging in the yard outside. It won’t be long before summer comes along and the heat is way too much for them to handle outside for very long. So, they’re getting their fill of the really nice weather while they still can.
This picture is of Gadget (with Gizmo in the background) just chillin in the grass.
April 12, 2008 at 10:30 am · Show more about: guides, Pugs, puppy
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Are you looking for a free Pug puppy? Or, are you just looking for a cheap pug? Either way, you need to read the rest of this post.
First, you are incredibly unlikely to get a free pug. Like it or not, there are expenses involved in breeding healthy puppies. Unless you happen to get about as lucky as winning the lottery, you’re not going to find someone who will just “give” you a free pug. However, there are people who want to sell you a pug, for cheap — but should you buy a Pug from a “cheap” breeder?
First, you must understand that all Pugs are not created equally. Getting a good price on a Pug is not the same thing as getting a better price on a new camera, TV, or new car. Different breeders are selling you different things — from one, you might get a Lexus and from another you might get a Yugo. What makes it a little bit more complicated is that price does not always indicate whether you are getting a good dog. You could find a disreputable breeder who sells their puppies for as much as possible. On the other hand, you may find a very good breeder who is only trying to cover her costs and would be willing to sell their dog for less than it is worth. You might also find a good breeder who charges a fee only to make sure that they give their dogs to good homes, on the theory that people who are interested in a free pug do not have the dedication or resources to take proper care of a dog. However, you are more likely to find a breeder who is selling you a cheap dog because the breeder is set up to produce a large number of puppies without regard for the health and quality of those puppies.
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They are running a fast food joint. Just as burger places serve cheap food that will cause you health problems, breeders selling large numbers of cheap pugs will sell you dogs with health problems.
You will get very attached to your puppy, I promise you. Pugs, especially those from puppy mills, are prone to health problems, and it can be very painful to lose a pug early because of this. Also, health problems are EXPENSIVE. While it might save you a small amount of money now, getting a cheap pug will cost you a lot more if you end up with one that has serious health issues. Finally, in the long run, the difference in price between a pug from a reasonably priced reputable breeder and from a puppy mill will not be that much, relative to the cost of regular vet visits, heart worm pills, dog food, and dog toys you will buy.
Also, you should definitely consider a rescue pug. They are definitely not free most of the time, but they are a good way to get a dog. I will talk more about rescue pugs in a future post.
To learn how to tell a good from bad breeders and for more about why it is so important, you absolutely need to read my earlier article on pug breeders.
P.S., If you agree with what I’ve said here and you have your own blog, please link to this post.
. They work great!
are great for cleaning up messes, and are reusable.