Yes, Lola. Merry gets your bed when she’s in the car. It’s all part of being a good host. Park your puffy lips of disapproval somewhere else, please. Well. Okay. They’re kinda cute. You can keep them.

 

I picked a place that would have LOTS of smells, and would be relatively stick-free for the sensitive eyeballs of the snorfelling, not-always-so-careful-when-surrounded-by-sharp-objects pugs.

Look, Girls!

Nature!

 

Jeeze. Tough crowd.

Lola seemed to be more concerned about the warning signs of doom…

 

…but, really, there never was and never will be any chance of us even getting close to the edges of those cliffs.

Merry struck a pose, and was all provincially proud and beautiful with a field of white trilliums behind her…

 

All in all, although the walk was more of a meandering mosey than a hike, the girls were worn out from the adventures and the sniffing (and the pre-hike nail dremeling).

 

Despite the pugs trying to convince me that kibble and comfy beds are all they need, I know better.

There is nothing better than a happy, tired pug.

(And for those who will ask – Merryweather’s fashionable hoodie is by Ready to Wag London, and Lola Pug’s sweater was handmade with love by her late Grandma)

Despite having extremely limited vision (you can see she is down to one, cataract-y eye), she bravely makes her way around, and she *always* manages to be where the food is.

Alas, her strategies to get food out of me are all for naught, as Casa Lola is strictly a non-begging household. But that doesn’t stop Merryweather…

 

The tiny claws of pain were raking the flesh off my legs this morning. I need to remember to wear thicker long pants in the kitchen from now on.

Merry is interested in ALL kinds of food.

She’ll snorfle for kale salad…

 

…she’ll even come and see what I might be eating when I’m in the bath.

 

I actually wouldn’t put it past her to jump right into my mouth to retrieve whatever it is I might be chewing at that moment….

 

Yah. I’m a little besotted with Miss Merryweather, if you can’t tell.

I think that Lola Pug might have tried to tell Merry that I’m a party-pooper in the food department, but hope springs eternal with this one.

It usually takes a few days for our guests (and us) to settle into a routine that works for everyone, but Merry has fit in with our daily life pretty quickly.

She even helps me when I sit down to get to work…

 

…yup… there is space for me somewhere on this chair…

 

…if I could just squeeze in a little bit more, Miss Merry…

 

…that’s about right.

Nothing like starting a Wednesday with a great big smile on my face.

Oh. And you can stay here forever, little one. Just so you know.

Lola and Merry have known each other for about six years now, and they have always been buddies, due, in part, to Miss Merryweather’s unbelievably delightful personality (more on this in an upcoming post).

Unlike Nelly and Roxy, Merry is not *technically* family, but I have long maintained that family is who you choose it to be, and we overwhelmingly and most definitely choose Merry.

 

…even if we do have to share our beds with her when she comes to visit.

To all the mothers out there with two-legged, four-legged, three-legged!, winged, scaled or angel kids – Happy Mother’s Day.

 

…perfect.

I mean, what could be better for morale than seeing a PUG come out to cheer you on?

 

Ah. Yeah. Maybe not this pug.

She *did* bark at a few runners on our walk back home, so I take that as showing support. …although if I spoke fluent Pug, I would likely have heard something more along the lines of, “What! Are you people INSANE? Go back home and GO BACK TO BED!”

So much energy wasted, eh, Pug?

You’re right. Time for a nap, little one.

Too much excitement for one morning.

Oh, Lola Pug.

Dogs tend to hide pain, so it’s VERY important to be vigilant about *any* change in behaviour – drinking more water than normal, unusual accidents in the house, hiding under furniture…. Often, these early signs of disease and injury are overlooked, and by the time we take notice, it’s too late to do anything.

And besides, isn’t it better to spend a bit of time and money at the vet now than spend even more time and money at the therapist’s office after it’s too late?

That being said, LP had an incident this week that had us sitting in a neurologist’s office all morning yesterday.

I think we’re up to four specialists now, in addition to her awesome Uncle Deji, who is her (awesome) vet GP.

Making friends everywhere, little one….

 

All seems to be well again, thank goodness, and we’re on a “watch her closely” protocol for the next few weeks.

And as long as I don’t give her *too many* kisses, I think that Lola Pug doesn’t mind the extra attention.

Well. Okay. Maybe she does. But that just means she’s back to normal again.

Love you, Pug.

Thankfully, this is not the schedule I need to keep these days, but old habits die hard (or just never die), so I often find myself with a relentless, dancing pug on my face at the most inhumane of hours.

Well. To cut to the chase, I decided a few weeks ago that I would get more sleep if I brought her water bowl to bed so that neither of us would have to get up for her post-breakfast morning water break.

Yup. I brought the mountain to Mohammed.

 

…and now Mohammed has learned that I am the source of All Things Room Service, and I SWEAR she now “boofs” at the bowl beside the bed JUST for the thrill of watching me serve her water on command.

I’m brilliant.

Once again, outwitted by my pug.

I shudder to think what clever thing I’ll teach her next.

Although stabbing some people sounds like a lot of fun to me, in a hypothetical sense, of course, it would be a Bad Thing to do. The knitting thing seemed a bit intimidating, so I decided to teach myself how to crochet, instead.

And I hereby declare my first project to be a SUCCESS!

 

…I’ll bet that someone is sure regretting dancing on my face at 4:00am this morning to get me up to feed her.

Oh, this is just the beginning, Pug. This is just the beginning.

I might want to think about hiding my wool, though. Something in her look speaks of revenge.

This doesn’t, of course, mean that I appreciate the snow and sleet and general grey that’s happening outside right now, though.

The Pug knows what’s up out there, and she won’t even get out of bed anymore….

 

Getting her harness on when she’s in this mood pretty much involves magic and slight of hand…

 

…but somehow, it happens.

And thank dog she’s only 14 pounds, because – yes – I do have to carry her limp, passively resistant self outside.

Okay.

Time to pick up The Great Resisto and head outside.

Wish us luck!

UPDATE:

 

Lola’s passive protest reached new levels of limp today, and when we got outside, I could see why. It was crappier than I had even guessed. But, with some encouragement, the pees and poops were quick and efficient, and I think that I’m going to change Lola’s name to Gandhi. …but no hunger strikes, of course. She IS a pug, after all.

]]> http://lolapug.com/2013/04/12/spring-has-not-sprung/feed/ 10 pugmantis Noooobody here - just us pillows and comforters. I don't need to poop, mama - I'm one of those self-absorbing pugs. This mere shell will not protect me from the forces that lie outside, mama. http://lolapug.com/2013/03/31/pug-bun/ http://lolapug.com/2013/03/31/pug-bun/#comments Sun, 31 Mar 2013 13:20:34 +0000 pugmantis http://lolapug.com/?p=3099 Continue reading →]]> I love holidays.

Love them.

It’s not even about the chocolate anymore (WHAT?) – it’s about raiding someone’s substantial closet, and pulling out the seasonal favourites….

 

Oh, this makes her soooo happy.

At least she has a little friend to keep her company this year.

 

Yeah.

Nothing I do seems to impress her anymore.

Heh.

Happy Easter!

She loves none other than these, specific bones. I have tried MANY others, but these are the only Pug Approved bones on the list. I  really can’t call the bones “toys”, either. They are more like an essential element for Lola Pug’s day-to-day living.

Bonie for The Pug is rather like an after-dinner glass of Port for me, and she only entertains it when The Man or I are with her. We need to pick it up for her, give it to her, pick it up again when she delightedly (and repeatedly) flings it off the sofa … just don’t try to take it away from her when she’s settling down for the evening….

 

Yes. Bonie is also her favourite teddy bear.

You just don’t mess with a pug and her bonie.

So birthday cake at Casa Lola must be special, yet still consist only of her kibble.

EASY!

 

I was evil again, I’m afraid, and made her wait to eat it while I took the photo…

 

…but as soon as I told her she could eat it…

 

PUGGIE CARNAGE!

Heh.

Happy birthday week, babycakes.

I promised wee Lola that this year for her birthday, my treat to her would be to NOT dress her up in any outfits or costumes.

Well…

 

…I suck.

And The Pug tells me so at every opportunity.

Alas, the weather is wreaking havoc with us today, as well, and it’s not exactly Pug Perfect…

 

But have no fear. All is not lost for The Pug.

At Casa Lola, our birthday celebrations go on all week, so there are plenty of happy events in the works that we will be sharing with you in the days ahead.

And that’s a promise I can keep.

Happy Birthday, my little soul. You are my light in the world, wee one.

 

…you’re just too darned cute to be intimidating.

And the pink doesn’t make either of you any tougher.

…just sayin’….

 

(because sometimes, even a bad photo is a good photo, y’know?)

]]> http://lolapug.com/2013/03/13/wordless-wednesday-sisters/feed/ 5 pugmantis ... http://lolapug.com/2013/03/10/friends-and-family/ http://lolapug.com/2013/03/10/friends-and-family/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:47:56 +0000 pugmantis http://lolapug.com/?p=3058 Continue reading →]]> All of the “escaping to not-so-warmer climes” traveling that we have been doing recently has left Lola Pug and I a little bit worn out, so what better way to recharge than to hang out for a few days at home, and have family and friends over to visit.

The mood is, needless to say, casual and relaxed – VERY relaxed – at Casa Lola these days….

 

You met little Frankie a while back, when his now angel-sister, Bradie, had eye surgery. (nice tongue there, mister!)

But what of family?

Well, we are lucky to have LP’s big sister, Nelly, here with us for a few days.

And lest you think she felt left out of Lola Pug and Frankie’s little lap-fest, I can assure you, she didn’t…

 

Always a happy girl, that Nelly.

And with a little bit more sofa snoozing under our belts, we should be ready for some serious adventuring.

Or maybe some more naps!

Well, it’s NOTHING like it sounds. It’s simply wet. Wetwetwet.

It’s been quite a while since we saw our West Coast pug friends, so we jumped at the chance to go to a pug gathering, despite the weather warnings.

Lucky for us, the Express held off for a bit, so we were able to see our buddies again, and have a rollicking, puggie time.

We met old friends…

 

…new friends…

 

…and even our buddy, Dickens, who has just celebrated his 11th birthday….

 

Being a public park, it wasn’t ALL pugs, of course. I’m a *total* sucker for Basset Hounds, so it was a real treat to meet this tennis ball obsessed girl…sweet lord, I mean LOOK AT HER BAGGY LEGS!

 

We were really looking forward to seeing Lola’s friend, Winston, again, but the weather wasn’t appropriate for a man of his nature, so he ended up staying at home in his cozy, warm bed.

We were very excited to meet Winston’s new brother, though. Here he comes…

 

The handsome and slightly camera shy Sam Cooper!

Sam Cooper came all the way from Midsouth Pug Rescue in Tennessee up to his perfect, new home in Vancouver, BC, and he couldn’t be happier!

 

Sam Cooper doesn’t seem to have much patience for larger dogs – a feeling that he and Lola Pug seem to share.

Sam Cooper and Lola Pug seemed to sense that our lucky spate of semi-decent weather was coming to an end…

 

…even little Meadow was bracing herself…

 

We should have been paying closer attention.

The heavens opened, and there was no staying dry, despite umbrellas and boots, so we ran back to the car, lead by a very unhappy Lola Pug.

 

Did I mention that she was unhappy about being so wet?

 

No worries, though. We got home, got dry and curled up in front of a lovely fire to dry off.

The fact that the sun came out (for the first time in over two weeks) that afternoon *almost* made up for the bone-soaking we got.

We can hardly wait to come back and see our buddies again – in the sunnier, dryer months!

The Pug thinks that socks are quite wonderful, as well, but for slightly different reasons….

 

There are very few times when I won’t take up the chase and try to get my sock back after she steals one off my foot…

 

…it’s just too much fun to play this game with her.

I mean, if you can’t have fun and play when the opportunity presents itself, you’re really missing a major point of being alive, no?

 

And that’s kind of one of the reasons dogs are here. To remind us to stop, drop and play.

Now. About that sock, Pug. I think I’ll need a slightly … dryer one now.

But all is not lost. At least Lola Pug still gets to experience the thrill of having sand, not snow, in between her tootsies…

 

…and she loves having a non-arctic, ocean wind in her ears…

 

…not to mention the smells and the new pee spots and the new buddies that she meets whenever we travel.

But this sunny day was one of only a couple that we seem to have been granted on this particular escape.

As for the eternal rain that we’re now looking at … we’ll find a way around it. Or we’ll just hunker down and become couch potatoes. Again.

Oh, Springtime, we are soooo ready for you!

Among the MANY kinds of dogs in the world, we have herding dogs, scenthounds, sighthounds, guard dogs, retrieving dogs … so many dogs with so many amazing abilities.

Pugs, along with a few other fabulous breeds, were bred pretty much solely to be little companions and to keep their human’s lap warm. Yup. Lap dogs.

Lola Pug does her ancient breed proud. If I’m going to be honest, she shows traits of all of the above mentioned dogs, but she is most at home when on her mama’s lap.

So much at home, in fact, that we have taken to calling her “The Loaf” when she gets into Ultimate Lap Mode.

I present the Evolution of the Loaf….

Getting Cozy

Preparing for the Loaf Pan

Into the Loaf Pan

I don’t know why being aerodynamic plays such a huge role in her pug loaf pan comfort, but it’s all about what makes her happy, right?

Thanks for the impromptu history lesson, Pug. You do the ancient Emperors proud, little one.

Dead animals, wayward poop, litter, dropped food, and … stickums?

 

I often think that Lola looks a bit like a baby seal – not only because of her big, liquid eyes, but also because of her sleek, black coat that has – up to now – managed to repel most fauna that seeks to attach itself to her.

 

…not so the “stickums”.

I have no clue what these are, but they stuck to MY skin, too!

 

Legs, footpads, chin wattles, lips – even her NAILS! These suckers were stuck on with little hooks AND with sticky outer layers.

Not so good for your beautiful baby seal eyes, Bean, so until I figure out where these come from, your roadside snuffling is curtailed.

Being cruel to be kind comes with being a good mama, I guess.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Maybe she’s looking for yachts.

The Pug does have expensive tastes, after all.

 

One thing is for sure – we’re thankful to be missing the worst of the storm in the Northeast of the continent this weekend.

Stay warm and stay safe, friends!

We are about as inert as inert gets.

From cccccold weather to warmer weather is always a bit of a pleasant shock to the system, but leaving behind the hustle and bustle also seems to bring on the need to nap a lot, and The Pug and I have certainly not been denying ourselves the nappage.

We might get up every now and then to eat, then we might have a wander around the yard, looking for little geckos or (gah!) centipedes…

 

Oh! Hai, pug!

 

But that’s been pretty much the full extent of our adventures so far.

Maybe something a bit more ambitious tomorrow.

Or not.

I don’t think Lola Pug minds all that much, to be honest. The more pug-like I become, the more naps she can squeeze in, so we all win – in the short run, at least.

Yah. We got your winter right here, baby.

Lola Pug and I deal with winter the only way that delicate, little flowers can.

We escape to warmer climes for a sanity break.

No more snowstorms, no more sleet, no more salty little feet…

 

…at least for now.

This trip is going to have to tide us over through the wet, grey days ahead, so we’re getting in our (UV protected) sunshine while the getting’s good.

Oh, the adventures we can have. Or the naps. And knowing The Pug and me, there will be a LOT of naps.

Don’t understand the rules, don’t know any of the teams or the players, don’t know what the fuss is all about.

Hockey? Different story.

But for Christmas this year, Tilly’s people gave Lola Pug a little football jersey. It was as if they knew that I had been depriving her all these years.

She was captivated.

 

…wouldn’t take her eyes off the game…

 

I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t watching. I was in another room, doing other things.

I assume that she was barking for the Patriots (she *does* pick teams, much to my amazement and amusement), so perhaps her funky mood this morning is due to their loss last night.

Ah, well, there’s always the NHL.

 

LP and her eye surgeon, Dr. Klys.

So let’s add up the weeks. An eye ulcer in May, another one in October – that’s somewhere around five months in a cone for 2012.

I’m going to put her in a bubble, I swear.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some sniffing and running and playing to catch up on….

 

I might have to ask them to make a few modifications to her title, though.

Pugs are not mere dogs.

Clearly, they have never met her in person.

]]> http://lolapug.com/2013/01/05/lola-the-pug/feed/ 13 pugmantis Dog? DOG? Don't you know who I am??? http://lolapug.com/2012/12/28/sno-cone/ http://lolapug.com/2012/12/28/sno-cone/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2012 13:33:23 +0000 pugmantis http://lolapug.com/?p=2954 Continue reading →]]> SNOW!

FINALLY!

It’s been a pretty green winter for us so far this year, and that’s suited Her Royal Pugness just fine, but we got a big old dump of snow the other day, and I simply couldn’t resist going for a walk in all of the wintery gorgeousness.

Alas, when one has two pugs who pretty much have opposite personalities, the term “walk” takes on an entirely new meaning.

Camera One…

 

…Camera Two….

 

Thank goodness they’re small beasts, ’cause I was not in the mood (nor will I ever be) to be drawn and quartered, thank you very much.

Roxy had no issues diving through snowbanks, exploring buried smells and generally romping in the gorgeous winter wonderland.

Lola Pug, however, had slightly different feelings….

 

I guess, for some creatures, no amount of fashionable cold weather gear can make up for the fact that it is … you know … winter.

]]> http://lolapug.com/2012/12/28/sno-cone/feed/ 9 pugmantis GET ME OUT OF HEEEEEEERRRREEEEE!!! Can we go this way? This way looks like fun! Come on! Hurry up! Um. I thought we had a talk about this LAST YEAR, mother....