Go Pug Yourself

Shelby's Halloween Costume

Presenting Yoda pug!

Shelby was excellent during the photo shoot. She sat patiently waiting for us to finish taking the photos. This was particularly good considering that she was wary of the pumpkin, no thanks to Steven. He teased her by pretending that the jack-o-lantern was biting his hand earlier in the day.

I ordered this costume at buycostume.com, but it's was a bit big, so I had to alter it a bit. Shelby was a tad short for the costume. But the results are great! And with the magic of Photoshop, Steven gave her a light saber.

Shelby shows her toys who's boss

Some of you may recognize the black pillow case containing Shelby's toys that she uses to dig. Sometimes I swing it around for her, and let her attack it. Now that she's 11 months old, she has an additional use for it... humping practice. Shelby's a girl, so this behavior is somewhat suprising, but we have heard from one of our friends that their girl dog also humps. And what kind of Web author would I be if I didn't provide the video. Click here to watch Shelby get romantic.

Nail trimming

I have yet to meet a dog that doesn't mind getting their nails trimmed. With Shelby, it's a 2 person job. Sometimes we try trimming Shelby's nails ourselves. Other times, I've taken her to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed. It costs 8 dollars, but the last few times, they had me hold her. It seems like I should get a discount for needing to be involved in this miserable process. I've tried to convince Steven to help, but he's washed his hands of it. He would rather pay the 8 dollars. I can't say I blame him.

Patriot pug

The Democratic National Convention is upon us, and Steven and I are feeling politically inspired. Even Shelby got a little taste of America... by chewing this flag. Mmmmm. Democracy tastes good.

Pug day at the park

Saturday was the weekly pug get-together at the park. Steven and I have never been to any dog events, so we decided to check it out. There was a wide variety of pugs. They varied from puppies to seniors. Some were show quality, some were rescue pugs. All the pugs had a really good time, including Shelby. When she was younger and smaller, she was tentative around other dogs, and would hide between people's legs when other dogs approached. In the past couple months, Shelby has grown to like playing with other dogs, and sometimes whines when I don't let her. So it was nice to finally let her play with other pugs. Shelby is the dog in the foreground with the red harness in the photo above.

There were two puppies there that were younger than Shelby, one of which looked a lot like Shelby when we first brought her home. (That's the same worried expression that Shelby had on her first dog park visit.)

The athletic pug

I'm quite suprised how athletic Shelby is. I read a lot about how pugs don't need that much exercise, and therefore assumed that they weren't strong dogs. Shelby is quite strong. But she overheats so quickly because of her short snout that I wouldn't describe her as having "endurance." She's more of a sprinter. Sometimes, Steven has taken her jogging with him on the trail. He gives her walking breaks and water breaks, and Shelby keeps up pretty well for about 2-3 miles.

Here is a camera phone photo of Shelby walking up a hill with us on Memorial Day weekend. It was pretty hot, so we kept the walk quite short. Shelby had a good time, but as you can see she's panting to keep herself cool. We kept an eye on the hawks to make sure none of them had an eye on Shelby.

Afterwards she was quite tired, and found a spot in the sun to take a nap.

A salty dog

Shelby had her first visit to the beach today. We went with her friend Mocha. She loved it. There were other dogs, and some horses to meet on the beach. Shelby's first act was to taste a big lump of horse poop. Gross!

It was the most exercise she's had in a while. We played fetch-the-ball. Mocha's a faster bigger dog, so mostly Shelby chased Mocha, who chased the ball. A couple times Shelby got brave and decided to take on a wave. Luckily, she wasn't "stupid brave." She was soaked, but we never had to rescue her from the water.

Coming back, we realized she had enough sand under the eyelids, to fill a contact lens. If there's any question of how this happened, check out the pictures of her digging in the sand. She didn't rub her eyes; in fact it didn't seemed to bother her at all. So no harm done. We used a baby's ear syringe and flushed all the sand of her eyes.

She smelled like a sea puppy after the trip, which smells like a combination of salt water and puppy food. See the photo album for more pictures of her first day at the beach.

Two pugs or not two pugs

I have often heard that pugs are better in pairs. They can keep each other company, and it's not twice the work. We were awfully tempted to get Shelby's half-sister because of this.

Shelby's little puppy friend came over to play yesterday for about 5 hours. What ensued was the equivelent of a pug tornado throughout the house. (See photo album for proof.) I think the biggest issue with raising two pugs is that when I find a puddle of pee, I don't know who to scold. Last time her friend visited, Shelby was too excited and forgot she was house trained. I was not amused because she decided to forget, all over my bed. This time was much better, but I don't see how two pugs is not twice the work.

Protecting Shelby's Eyes

Here we have Shelby in her Doggles. Since she's always leading with her eyeballs, we felt it was important to protect her. This way, she can stick her head out the car window, ride in the motorcycle, and tear around the beach without stuff getting in her eyes. If you check out Pug Rescue sites, a lot of pugs have eye trouble. Sometimes due to genetics, other times they have a minor scratch on their eye, but exacerabate it by scratching at it. As a result some pugs have had to have their eye removed. I figure Doggles are a small investment to try and prevent Shelby from scratching at her eye if it bothers her. Doggles are frequently shown on dogs with a snout. Shelby can push the doggles down, right off her face. For flat faced dogs, I think a strap on top of her head might need to be added. Also, we are still trying to find the right tension on the straps so that she can breathe properly.

And oh yes, she hates them. But we are hoping that some bacon treats will fix that over time.

Licking

If you don't care for licking, then a pug is not for you. Anytime Shelby is not asleep, or eating, she is licking. Some licking is very cute and affectionate. She frequently licks new people, familiar people, stinky people, everybody. Sometimes she really goes and it borders on obsessive cleaning.