Halloween

I am SO tired. I must go to bed. But Halloween was really fun w/ the pug (up until Mike's nice new car got egged so badly it broke the paint!). I took A TON of photos of Riley with pumpkins, IN pumpkins, etc. I am still going thru them, I'm just so tired right now I don't know if I'll get them online tonight or tomorrow.

Riley sat in my lap out front during trick-or-treating and was SUCH a good boy, IN COSTUME! He didn't fidget (well, not much) and everybody loved him! He was a big hit! I really think he ate up the attention. The only time he DID fidget was when there were no trick-or-treaters pouring attention over him. It was only in-between groups that he got bored and started to fidget.

What was funny tho' was that when M took Riley off to the side of the house to potty on the leash then Riley got even MORE attention! It was weird. When he was in my lap in costume people saw him and loved him and all, but when he was just in the yard as a little pug puppy w/ only the bandana on, people were MORE crazy over him. Not sure why. Maybe he's just cuter without the costume, idunno.

He wore his Franken-pug costume, here he is in that costume but these pix were taken a couple weeks ago:

(Canon D60)

(Canon D60)

(camera phone, Nokia 3650)

Pug-O-Lantern

Somebody made a Pug-o-Lantern!
http://www.austinpugs.com/4images/details.php?image_id=1388

I'm trying to get M. to carve one of our pumpkins that way, but I don't think he's going to do it. Shucks!

Screech!

I'd heard that pug fanatics are unlike any other breed lover, and that more often then you'd think, a fellow pug owner (or pug lover) will slam on his brakes and hold up traffic just to see your puggy and talk to you about it.

Well yesterday we were walking to our car and a big sport-ute went by and stopped suddenly in the parking lot. I just knew. The lady rolls down the window and says "Where did you get your pug?" (A common question.) She got out and just loved Riley up and asked if she could get the name of my breeder. She didn't want to buy from a pet store (thank god)* and couldn't find a good breeder anywhere. I'm so thankful that she knows not to buy from a pet store. So many people just don't know. Heck, even back in August I didn't even know.

But it was just so funny. It's true, pug lovers really are fanatical. I've never seen any other breed illicit such a response from people.

Every time somebody stops me, it's:
How old is he?
What's his name?
Is it a boy or a girl?
Where did you get him?

I wasn't expecting all the questions about where I got him. That took me by surprise. I'm not sure why everyone asks that. But hey, if it gives me the opportunity to say "at a breeder I found over in whatever-town, because, you know, you should never buy from pet stores", then that's a good thing. (Most people never ask for specifics like the breeders name or anything, it's just a general question.)

Anyway, I just thought that was funny re. the lady stopping in the parking lot to see Riley.

--
* You DO know never to buy from a pet store, right? All pet stores buy from puppy mills of one sort or another. A responsible breeder NEVER sells to pet stores. Never let a pet store employee tell you otherwise. A responsible breeder will keep her dogs until she finds a suitable home for them and will ask a million questions before agreeing to sell to you. Most responsible breeders have a waiting list. Any breeder that sells to a pet store is either a puppy mill breeder or a 'backyard breeder' (a well-intentioned pug lover who breeds for all the wrong reasons and does not do any research into the medical history of the bloodline to ensure the health of your pug). Responsible breeders research the medical history of the bloodline, do genetic testing to determine how this litter would affect typical hereditary ailments of pugs, and have very specific ideas about why she is breeding THIS litter (to enhance certain qualities, etc.). "Backyard breeders" simply take two pugs and without any testing or genetic research say "wouldn't it be fun to have pug puppies? I'm sure we could probably find them all good homes, everyone loves pugs!" Please never buy an animal from a pet store. Please read http://www.prairienet.org/bark/PuppyMills.html

Punkins!

Today we took Riley w/ us to pick up some pumpkins today.

On the way home he was so tired he kept nodding off while sitting up in my lap. It was so cute cuz he just kept fighting it. Here is a small video (without sound) [taken w/ the Sony U30*] of him falling asleep:

..::VIDEO::..

Here are some snapshots from today [taken w/ the Sony U30]:

..::PHOTOS::..

[* I use many different cameras for photos and video. I'm going to try to remember to make note of which cam I used for those that would be interested.]

Pix

Some pix from yesterday and today [cam: Panasonic Lumix FZ1]:

..::PHOTOS::..

You know, I go to take one photo, so that I can say I took one photo today, and I end up with a bunch. :)

Ok, NOW I'm going to bed! (1:42am)

Friday night

How is Riley today?

He's doing so good. I can't belive how big he's getting, how heavy. He doesn't look fat or anything. It's just his legs are getting longer and his face is getting more pug-like.

For some reason he's hating the leash more today (even before I got the new leash). He fights me SO hard. I hate it. It's a complete and total battle of wills. What's weird is that he WAS getting REALLY good about the leash! He'd walk walk walk, and sometimes even run all on his own. All the books say never drag the dog, never pull. Just stop the battle of wills and "when he moves forward, praise him". May I just pause here and say: "bull sh*t!". If I stop the battle of wills, he runs the other way. There is no when he moves forward. He wants in neighbors grass. He wants back to the house. He was doing so well on the leash up until the last few days or so. Not sure what to make of this.

I plan to get him in w/ a trainer asap. Meanwhile he still SITS and DOWNS on command.

His cold is much better, although it's not gone. But he's happy and bouncy and has more energy than I know what to do with.

Housetraining... idunno. He only goes inside if I take too long getting home from errands (that's during the day). He's in his larger pen in the day. He was going at night in his smaller crate, but I decreased the amount of room he has in his crate now and the first night he #1 and #2, but so far the last 2 nights he's held it. But I'm getting up after 4 hours of sleep or so to take him out. Therefore I'm exhausted and sleep deprived. I'm not dragging the smaller crate downstairs for daytime, it's too heavy. I might try folding his pen down smaller when I leave the house to see if I can stop the peeing inside. But he only does that if I take took long. I wish puppies came w/ larger bladders.

I'm still waiting for him to wag his tail for the first time, and I'm still waiting for forehead wrinkles.

I'm tired and I should be in bed.

Stuff

I got an I.D. Tube for Riley today at Petco.

He got microchipped last weekend and has a tag for that which has AVID's 800-number and microchip ID number. But it's nice to have something w/ a name and phone number on it too. I'll probably get him an engraved tag too, but the ID Tube is pretty cool in the meantime.

The I.D. Tube is a small metal tube that u put paper inside. And me being me, I measured the paper, figured out how much BIGGER I could make it and still have it fit inside, and then I got on the computer and fired up Pagemaker and created a template and typed my information out, cuz more would fit that way than if I had hand-written it. Then I printed it out and cut it and stuck it in the tube. It's great.

And what's really neat is that you can change the info on the fly. So like if you move, or are taking the dog on vacation, or having him stay w/ a friend or boarding facility while you are away, you can put the pertinant information for THAT week in the tube. I really like that aspect of it. The one I got is metalic gold and blue.


It's really tiny. Mind you this close-up is on tiny Riley.

I also got (mainly for me) the Bags On Board retractable leash. I didn't really want a retractable leash right now (before he's fully trained and while he's so small) but it's cool cuz it holds rolls of bags so that if you forget or he takes you by surprise by going #2 twice while out, your not caught off-guard without a bag. It's AWESOME.

Yesterday's trip to the vet

Camera-phone image from the trip to the vet yesterday (camera phone: Nokia 3650).

Yeah, more pix

Here are some more recent pix of Riley. Yes, I'm obsessed. But that's what happens when you get a cuter than cute pug puppy and couple that w/ an obsession for photography and a compulsion to document daily life w/ photographs. :)

..::PHOTOS::..

Flashback

For future reference, here are pictures from the day we took Riley home [10-8-04] (he was 2 days shy of being 8 weeks old)...

..::PHOTOS::..

...and the very first entry to this blog has photos from the week before we took him home [10-4-04] (the day we went to see him at the breeders).

At least from an owner's perspective, we are really starting to see a difference in him.

The breeder said that as he gets older, his coat will lighten.

What I'm wondering is, will he get forehead wrinkles? He has none now, and I've seen puppies with them. I hope he gets forehead wrinkles soon.

Getting Big!

My little pug puppy is getting big!

Riley just looks like his legs are longer and spindly. His belly is above the grass now when he stand in it. I put his harness on today and had to adjust it to make it bigger.

He was about 2 and a half pounds when I got him. Then a week or so later he was about "three three", so I guess 3 pounds 3 ounces.

Today he's 4.25! When I was there last the vet figured he was gaining about an ounce a day and said that was good, although it looks like more than that now. Right now while he's fighting a cold, the vet wants him to eat as much as he wants.

Thursday 10-28

Today Riley went back to the vet for a follow up. Because he still has his cold, the vet is going to put off the vaccination that was due today until next week.

The vet put Riley on the floor and played with him with his shoe and it was SO funny because Riley went ape-sh*t! He was pouncing on the shoe, and BARKING! I think I heard Riley bark like once the entire time I've had him, and he was barking like MAD! Growling and all. But it was definately playful. He'd bark then pounce then bark then pounce. Too cute!

Before the vet I ran thru the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru for my lunch and I think Riley has learned to BEG. When he sees treats in my hand he automatically Sits (sits real upright and deliberate) hoping for a treat. So after he had a tiny taste of chick-fil-a, he started doing that un-asked-for and very-deliberate SIT. I think he's starting to learn to BEG. Heheheh.

Meetup.com

Find a Pug meetup in your area!

Meetup.com is a neat site where you can find people in your town that have the same interests as you. There are meetups for everything you can image, from politics to hobbies to fan clubs and more. M and I go to computer-themed meetups all the time.

You can go to meetup.com and type in your zip code or browse for your town and then see a list of the most popular meetups for your area.

Or you can go to meetup.com and run searches for things you are interested in, like photography, john kerry, linux, etc.

Of course there is a pug meetup. Just go to http://pug.meetup.com and find one in your area.

Meetups happen once a month. :)

and then 10 minutes later

... and then 10 minutes later, after making me so proud w/ his Down command, he goes and pees on the couch. This, just hours after I posted to the pug message board about how he never goes in the house anymore except over night.

Oh well, nobody's perfect, not even Riley! :)

The Down Command

I can't believe how SMART and GOOD Riley is!!!

He's only 10 weeks old and not only did he learn the Sit command a week ago at 9 weeks old, but today he learned the DOWN command! He repeats it perfectly almost each time. First he sits and then he goes into the Down position. It's just unreal!

Video of this can be seen here:


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos
..::VIDEO::..

I'm so proud of my little guy! :D

Sweater!

AWWWWW! I can't stand it, he's so cute! (If I don't say so myself, LOL!) I picked up a sweater for Riley yesterday and the black and tan colors complement his fawn coloring so well! Take a peek!



I couldn't stop laghing and going "AWWWWW!" when I saw it on him! :D

UPDATE: Here is a link to the sweater we got Riley. I got it at Petco. It's the "Royal Ruff" sweater, SKU #776840. They have a great selection of dog clothes going from extra-small (Riley's size right now) to extra-large. They have sweaters, tees, raincoats, sweatshirts (hooded and not), blanket-style cover-ups, denim-like jackets, parkas, and more! I love this Fall Leaves coat. If you go to petco.com and do a search for "dog apparel" you'll see tons! It's actually really funny to see that HUGE selection. Everything from tweed-like sweateres to "wild child" jackets, LOL! And not expensive either, ranging from $9.99 to $14.99 or so.

Fotki.com

I host my images at Fotki.com. For $30 a year, you get unlimited web space for your photos. It's really fantastic. However, today, some of the images are offline. There's just an icon that says "Sorry, this images is temporarily offline" and I have no idea why. I contacted them to find out but have not heard back from them yet. Anyway, so, if it looks like some images on this site are missing, that's why. Just fyi.

Dogumenatry

Back in August I saw this really cute special on Pugs. It's called "A Pug's Life: The Dogumentary".

I actually wasn't thinking of that program when I named this blog. I was thinking of the kid's movie "A Bug's Life" and thought it'd be cute to use "A Pug's Life". Then later on I realized that I invadvertantly named it after that Pug special I had seen before.

Anyway, you can get a video or DVD of the special at PugVideo.com. If you buy the DVD now, it has 50 additional minutes of commentary from the producer and director that I have not seen.

There was a thread on a message board, here, where somebody had made a downloadable copy and was sharing it, but I don't think it's available now. I don't know if someone will post there again soon w/ a new working link.

I think this was originally shown on PBS, so maybe it'll be on tv again. If you have TIVO you can do a wishlist for it to see if/when it'll be on again.

It's a really cute documentary. If you love pugs, you should check it out. :)

Todays Pix

I've uploaded some more photos. The first few (the photos have dates in the file name) are from 10 days ago, the 15th. A 10 week old puppy can change alot in 10 days. I think he actually does look a little older/bigger now.

There are pix from the 15th, the 23rd, and today, as well as a couple pictures of our cats wearing one of the Dog Bakery t-shirts that came in the gift bag Riley won when he won "Cutest Costume" at the dog bakery Halloween Costume Contest. Pretty funny! Check 'em out:

..::PHOTOS::..

Found dog park for future reference

Today M. and I checked out a dog park that is real close to our house. We wanted to check it out so that when Riley is older (and has had all his shots) we'll know where we can take him to run and play.

We have a huge back yard, but we don't want to fence it and also the lake in our back yard has this guy as a resident:

The lake actually has several gators, but we see this guy the most.

Fresh air

Riley getting some fresh air. :)

The cutest thing

The cutest thing from yesterday that I forgot to mention, was this little girl, probably 6 years old or so, when she saw Riley, she says, in that kind-of slow deliberately-pronouned way kids often talk:

"He's cuter than a potato!!!"

We laughed so hard!

Got Chip?

Today we took Riley to get microchipped. (He did not like THAT process!) They had a pet event at the local "Animal Services" (the county pound) and they were doing chipping for only $10, so we took him. We saw LOTS of pugs, but I didn't get pictures of them all. Here are some pictures from today:

(Riley is the little pug puppy w/ the candy corn bandana.)
..::PHOTOS::..

The number of the beast

We took Riley to get microchipped today! Everybody loved him, as usual! :)



Later on he fell asleep right on my Mom's arm. Awww...

Public Pugs Moblog

I created a public PUG moblog.

It's at: http://pugs.textamerica.com

Anyone who has a pug (or just loves pugs) can send a camera-phone image to the address on the top of that page to post a photo of their pug (or a pug).

It's intended for camera-phone images, but you can email pug images taken w/ another camera so long as they are small images because there is limited space.

Enjoy! I hope to see pug lovers participate!

There are all kinds of public "community" moblogs (that anyone can participate in) with different themes, such as weather, fast food, sushi, my desk, gnomes, dog blog, cat blog, and more.

Editor's Pick!

Yay! Riley's cute little mug helped my Moblog be editor's pick for today at TextAmerica.com!!!

("Moblog" is short for "mobile blog", which is an online journal made up solely of pictures that were taken w/ my camera phone and emailed directly from the phone to the web.)



Textamerica: www.TextAmerica.com
My Moblog: laserone.textamerica.com

Pug in need - SAD

Warning, the following link has pictures of an emaciated Pug. But this is about a Pug who needs help. She was left abandoned, near death, and the vets are trying to save her. The Southeast Pug Rescue and Adoption, Inc. is hoping that the vets can save her and that they can then find her a new home. She may not make it. Meanwhile the vet bills are piling up and this Pug can be "Virtually Fostered" (where you make a donation of any size). I cried when saw this, but she needs our help and positive thoughts:
http://www.rescuepug.com/adoptions/pugsinspecialneed.html

(Thanks to Kim from the message board for pointing this out.)

Pug Cam

Haha, I just saw this on a pug message board. Somebody has set up a PUG CAM! A webcam to watch his pug all day:

http://www.mrbreeze.com/

I'm also going to add a link to it on the sidebar.

Eye: Vet

Riley went to the vet again today, this time because he kept getting a film over his eye, probably from his cold. Pug eyes are so sensitive, that I didn't want to go flushing his eyes without checking w/ the vet first. Here is Riley being a good boy at the vet:

Feeling better, learning to sit.

What happened to Tuesday? I have no idea. Oh, Monday night I had a cold so I doctored up and went to bed for 14 hours. Tuesday I was better (no sniffles) but was feeling very run down, so I didn't blog much, or take many pictures. Taking the dog out and feeding him and giving him medicine and entertaining him took alot out of me. All of that is harder when you are sick/run-down.

Riley is doing so good. He continues to test his boundaries, but overall he's doing really good. I think he's getting bigger. His first vet visit a week ago Monday he was about 2 pounds 7 ounces, and this past monday he was "three three", so I guess 3 pounds 3 ounces. And he just looks a little bigger.

Riley learned to SIT! It wasn't even intentional. When he first wakes up he is SO sleepy and docile, so I take that time to clean the crud off his face. He still has that cold so he wakes up w/ two oysters on his face (sorry) and a tons of crusties on his face and in his facial folds. When he fusses I sit him down and say "Sit" real firm but not mean. And if he is real good about not struggling, I give him some treats when we're done.

Well, today we were playing w/ his toys, and I got out the treat bag. He went ape-sh*t, jumping on me, acting out of control. So I got out a treat, and on a whim, said "Riley! Sit!" and he backed down off my leg, backed up along the floor a few inches, and then very deliberately sat down and looked at me! He was completely out of control a second ago. And in one fell swoop backed off and sat very deliberately. I gave him a treat. He's 9 weeks old! :D

I didn't want to start a treat-reward system, but he's really responding. So I have to see if I'm on the right track here. I'd prefer a praise-reward system, but I don't know if that works well w/ pugs or not. Pugs are quite food motivated. That could mean that treat-reward training works like gold, or it could mean that the day you don't have a treat in your hand it'll be all over (plus Pugs don't need the extra calories). I intend to consult a trainer asap. Riley seems to be very intelligent, and I want to take advantage of that and get started w/ training early.

What's really funny is that I got a really good SIT on video w/ my camera phone. I played it back so I could view it, and when Riley heard my voice on the camera-phone say "Riley! Sit!", he stopped play and SAT RIGHT DOWN! LOL! I totally lost it! It was so funny!

Anyway, I got video of him doing the SIT w/ my camera phone, and I uploaded it to my moblog, and you can see it here:

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Sick

Great, now both Riley and I are sick w/ colds. Oh man I hate this.

Riley went to the vet for a follow up today. He is SUCH a good boy.

Then when M came home they took an even longer walk than yesterday, this time all the way around the block. He's so full of energy!

I'm on Nyquil and am heading for a nice hard Nyquil-induced nap. But here are some pictures from Friday 10-15:

..::PHOTOS::..

What a good puppy.

Riley is being SO GOOD today! I fell asleep on the couch tonight and I woke up to his crying and whimpering. So M took him out for a walk and was gone an awful long time. Turns out that Riley wanted to run and run all down the block AND around the corner! He's stop to rest and then w/ a little coaxing would get right back at it (a RUN!).

He did this earlier w/ me as well, but he just ran down the block halfway and then back, and then did it again later. It's like every time he goes out he wants to go further.

And he piddled. Twice. He really was trying to HOLD IT until he got outside. What a good tiny little boy! =:D We are so proud of him.

Pug Picnic Today

Today we took Riley to his first Pug Picnic! It was the Annual Pug Picnic put on by the Pug Club Of South Florida. My breeder told me that last year 500 pugs showed up. There were tons of pugs and Riley was SUCH a hit! EVERYBODY kept coming up and going "AWWWWWW!" and then "How old is he?" and then "What's his name?" and then "AWWWWWW!", even big guys w/ tattoos. :) We couldn't even WALK cuz we kept being stopped. Riley loved taking in the sites and sounds. He slept like a coma on the way home.

I only let him down once to go potty and he went NUTS!!!! He ran and ran and ran and bounced and bounded. Some grown pugs came up to meet him and he was SO rambunctious! He kept lunging at these poor pugs (I held him back) and trying to bite their faces. As soon as he's old enough he's going into KPT (Kindergarten Puppy Training class) because he needs to be socialized w/ other dogs.

Today there was a costume contest but we didn't enter it. We got there late and were just taking it easy, walking around, grabbing a burger, etc. I used his Pet Pocket today and it was so handy, except that later on it was too hot for him to be inside it.

I'm all red in spite of using sun screen. Again. What's up w/ that?

Here are a bunch of photos taken today. Riley is the little puppy that you'll see with the thin blue harness on, or in his leopard print sac (Pet Pocket). Also, photos with Riley in them have titles with "Riley" in the name.

..::PHOTOS::..

Video

Here is some video I shot of Riley the other day (with the Sony Handycam DSC-HC20). He's just so cute:

..::VIDEO::..

Riley Won!

Riley won "Cutest Costume" in the Halloween Costume Contest at the local dog bakery!!!!!

He won a HUGE gift bag full of all kinds of goodies including a leather collar, a stretchy bunggee-cord leash, treats, note pads, a ceramic doggie hot plate, and tons more!

Below is a gallery of photos from today including the spoils!

..::PHOTOS::..

Costume Contest

Today we are taking Riley to the local dog bakery/botique where they are having a Halloween costume contest. We'll put his Frankenstein costume on but I've been to this event before and you should SEE some of the original costumes people come up with! I don't expect Riley to win (unless his cuteness wins someone over) but it'll be fun to see the dogs. Rile will stay in my arms though as he is so small and young.

This is a pug (I don't know who) from the same event in 2002:

Halloween Preview

I tried Riley's costume on today. The photos came out blurrier than I thought they'd be, so I'll have to do better ones out in the sun. Here's 1 for now:



So cuuuute!

Cujo

Riley's testing his limits today.

Up until now he's been so good. Sleeping alot, going potty mainly outside (except for one day where it was mainly inside), redirecting his biting when told NO and presented w/ a chew toy instead, playing with his toys at playtime.

But today something snapped. At playtime he would play with his toys for a second and then bolt (and he can't have full run of the carpeted house yet). He would NOT stop biting the furniture, our shoes, our hands. And then tonight he bit my face, hard. I yelped like a dog and he looked startled, for a second, and then he lunged at my hand and bit it HARD.

I know to never use the crate or pen as punishment, so I didn't want to just put him in there. So I took him out and ran him around. Usually vigourous playtime or running around on the leash makes him good and tired and we have (had) a really good routine. So I took him out and he pottied and then ran around. But this time it didn't tire him out and when he was in his pen he kept trying to shred his potty pad (when he has chew toys and a fleece sheep-ie he could wrestle with). Now there's a predicament. If I sternly say NO! and push him away from the potty pad (cuz NO does nothing with him) he might think I don't want him to use it. So what do you do? I honestly don't know. M said to take the pad away for a while to redirect his attention and that he'd clean up any messes that Riley made. He's calm now, so I guess I'll put the pad back in. But geez, he was so rebellious and wild today! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. It probably is, but the question it: who will win the dominance war?

Thursday adventure

Today Riley and I took a car ride.

We went and visited my mom at work:



... and then we went to Petsmart for some supplies:



On the way home Riley was pooped:

Catster: Crystal

Riley's sister Crystal has been added to Catster. Here is Crystal's page:
http://www.catster.com/?79913

Catster: Sasha

Riley's sister Sasha has been added to Catster! Here is Sasha's page:
http://www.catster.com/?79909

New Pen

Riley's new pen came today. I got it on ebay. I love ebay. It's 8 panels, so I can make it as big or as small as I want to. He really likes it. He's so quiet when he's in there and just entertains himself and then falls asleep.

Riley wrote this post :)

p;h'yp[;gtfgrizhyiukofpotgforkiopgvvf059r54r0focoe,rf

Christened

I've been christened. I stepped in dog sh*t. Riley has had diarrhea. Diarrhea is hard to pick up w/ a bag when it is in long, thick, Florida grass. Sometimes you can't find it after you've gone in for the bag (he's so small) and other times you just can't GET it cuz it's... diarrhea. Well, I've stepped in it and tracked it all thru the house. Yay.

Links added

I have added some more pug blogs that I found to the sidebar on the left. If you have a pug blog or know of a good pug blog, let me know and I'll link to it!

Talk about having to wake up!

This post over at Puggy Blog reminded me of my morning, which I totally forget to write about!

I was out front w/ the puppy on potty duty, and M leaves the house to go to work. As he drives away, I have the worst thought: Did he lock me out?!?!?!? Sure enough, he did! Luckily I was able to grab Riley and RUN behind the house (mind you I'm not awake!) and out to the main road where M would soon be passing by. There I stood in my PAJAMAS, half asleep, just rolled out of bed, hair everywhere, standing in the middle of the road w/ a puppy in my arms with tons of cars and school busses going by! Thankfully I was able to flag him down and get his house key.

GRRRRR!

Sleep

Sometimes when Riley sleeps, you can see all 4 of his feet going like he's dreaming that he's running.

And sometimes he suckles the air in his sleep like he's dreaming that he's nursing. He's just a tiny baby! :)

Also, sometimes when he sleeps, his ear flips up and he sleeps w/ his eyes open and his tongue sticking out a bit, and he looks like a monster. With the ears up he looks like a bat. SO CUTE!!! :)

Tuesday

Monday Riley went to the vet for the first time... no, he went to MY vet for the first time. He was such a good boy. He has a little cold which has gotten worse, as well as some digestive problems. We are taking measures to improve his health, and I hope he will get better soon! I hate that he is sick. :(

He is such a good little boy.

Monday morning I woke up to find he'd gone runny-poo all over his crate, so I had to give him a bath. He did NOT like that. But I did get a picture or two, along w/ some playtime pictures from tonight:

..::PHOTOS::..

Dogster!

Riley has been added to Dogster.com!
Here is Riley's page at Dogster: http://www.dogster.com/?79105

Dogster is like Friendster, but for dogs. They even have a Catster.com for cats.

It's basically a website where you can find dog friends for your dog. You can search by breed, by town, etc. You can do an advanced search and look for, as an example, Pugs that are in Florida.

Want Riley to be your dog's friend on dogster? Log in to dogster, then go to Riley's page and click "Save Riley in your Corral".

Sunday

Today was fun. We went (with Riley in my arms) to the Dog Bakery and to Petco and to see his Nana.

At the dog bakery, I got him a tiny little bandana with candy corns on it, too cute! See photos below:

..::PHOTOS::..

I'm still real tired, but then again, I'm always tired.

Falling asleep in the car seat

Riley falling asleep in the car seat.

We went to Dudley's Dog Bakery today. He was a big hit. :)

Photos

I'm too tired to think straight, on my way to bed, but here are some photos I took today:

..::PHOTOS::..
First Day Home.

Home, Tired

Written by L. :

(I'm not sure yet who is going to write in this blog mainly; me or the puppy.)

We got home and are quite tired. Riley (we're going with the name Riley) seems happy. He went potty in the yard, he's had dinner, he met "Nana", he took a nap. I need a nap, but I haven't had dinner yet. I took a ton of pictures w/ the camera phone, and also took some pictures of him in the grass w/ the D60, but have not downloaded those yet.

Dogster

Written by L. :

Do any of you use Dogster? It's like Friendster, but for dogs. A site where your dog can "network" with other dog friends. You can set up a dog page, share photos, and link to your dog friends (and make other dog friends in your town). It looks like fun!

I'm moblogging (Getting Puppy!)

Written by L. :

Tomorrow (Saturday) I go to get the puppy! Of course when I get back I'll have tons of photos, but in the meantime, you can check my moblog* for camera-phone pictures. I'll be sure to take photos with the camera phone while on the trip and send them right to the moblog from the phone. :)

I love the internet (and camera phones!) (and pugs!), lol!

*A moblog is where I take pictures w/ my camera phone on the road and then email the photos directly to the web. My moblog is http://laserone.textamerica.com. If you have a camera-phone, you can get a free moblog at TextAmerica.com

More Fl. pug gatherings

Written by L. :

In addition to the 10-17-04 Pug Picnic I mentioned earlier, there's also the Pug Rescue of Florida's annual Pugs-Giving on November 6th (thanks to N. E. for the info!).

So with the monthly pug meetups through meetup.com, and the two events listed above, there's plenty of pug stuff to do in Florida! :)

1 more day!

Written by L. :

19 hours to be exact!

I'm so excited!

His toy from petco.com came today. I got a $69 (+ 6% sales tax) exercise pen for $46 with shipping/no tax, off ebay. I also got a pet pocket for $18 with shipping/no tax off ebay, they are $25 plus tax in town. I love ebay. :)

Pug Picnic

Written by L. :

For those of you in Florida, there is a Pug Picnic coming up on 10-17-04, the Annual Pug Picnic by the Pug Club of South Florida, click for info:

2 Days and Counting

Written by L. :

2 Days, I can't wait!

3 days and counting

Written by L. :

3 more days!

I went puppy-stuff shopping today.

I just got a couple things cuz you can't overwhelm the puppy w/ too much stuff and they can get confused as to what they can chew and what they can't.

I have two different chew toys, one for the pen and one for the cage. I have two different stuffies for him to lay on (one for each place). Got collars, etc.

I found the triangle toy at petco.com. It's a toy that the breeder has and all the puppies just LOVE it. They try to curl up in it when they are little, and when they are older they love to rest their head in it.

I have to order the pen. Thanks to "Margo" on the pug board for recommending PetEdge.com They have REALLY good prices on all kinds of pet stuff. The folding pen I need for puppy is like $60, but they have it for way less at Pet Edge.

I'm also hitting the web to find a cheaper Pet Pocket. They are too expensive. But I'm sure I'll find a deal on one.

I also got a car booster seat so the little guy will be able to see out the car window (no, I didn't pay that much for it).

I just realized that every single paragraph so far has started with "I".

I... I... I...

Pug Sites

Written by L. :

Do you have an active Pug Blog dedicated to your furbaby? Let me know, so I can visit it and add it to my links list! :)

Did you know:

meetup.com is a website where you can go to find other people in your town that have the same interests as you. It's a great way to make new friends. Meetings happen each month for any number of topics. There's a Pug Meetup, and owners and lovers of pugs all over the world get together on the same day to spend time together and chat- and in the case of pug meetups, have their pugs all meet and play. Go to pug.meetup.com to see if there is one in your area, there probably is!

4 Days and Counting

Written by L. :

Puppy comes home in 4 days!

Background

Written by L. :
Here is a little background.

I've liked pugs for a long time. I've loved pugs for a long time, too. This is a good time for me to get a dog since I work at home (I own a web design business) and now have the time to devote to training/bonding, etc.. Also, there's finally plenty of room w/ the new house and all.

I fell in love w/ a little pug puppy at the pet store a few months ago and that started the ball rolling for me to find a reputable breeder and learn more about the breed and learn more about training and puppyhood, etc. After much searching, I found a great breeder. It's so hard not to take all the darling babies home from the pet store. But I just don't want to support the puppy-mill industry. Although there are different levels of puppy mills, I just didn't want to support that industry. Also, since dealing with a purebred dog, I wanted to increase my chances of getting a healthy dog by buying from a responsible breeder. It took a lot of searching and it was worth the wait.

M is a programmer, and I'm hoping to move away from web design and more into photography. I love doing web design, but not for a living. I'm really hoping to focus more on the photography. M and I have two cats:


Sasha, a 17.5 year old tabby who acts young and is so wise, and:


Crystal, M's Turkish Angora, who is about 2.5 years old and a complete nut-ball bundle of energy and play.

5 days and counting...

My First Post

Hi, my name is... oh wait, I don't have a name yet. My new owner just met me yesterday, so a name hasn't been decided on yet. But L is thinking of "Riley". I'm a 7 week old Pug puppy who will be going home with his new owner in 5 days. L just met me yesterday for the first time. I have no idea what is in store for me. On Saturday I'll have a 2(?) hour drive to my new home where two kitties will be waiting for me. They won't bother me. The next Monday I visit my new vet. My new owner is very excited and plans to take me all kinds of places. When L and M came to meet me yesterday, they took tons of photos, this is me:

..::PHOTOS::..

L also took video of me, too, but that's hasn't been put online yet. Soon, I guess!

Written by puppy...