Monday, May 24, 2010
Benjamin has a bit of an obsession with ping pong balls. He has been this way since he was a pup. Playing with a ping pong ball is the closest Benny comes to fetching. Toss the ball across the living room, making sure it takes a few wild bounces, and Benny happily bounces behind it, jumping and bumping into things.
Once he finally tracks it down, he rarely picks it up on the first attempt. Instead, in his excitement, he attempts to pick it up, but it just bounces away. Not at all discouraged, Benny goes bounding after it and keeps at it until he finally picks it up. With the ball in his mouth, he runs back to you and gets sorta close before he drops it and is ready for you to throw it again.
We repeat the whole process again and play our little game until Benny inevitably crushes the ping pong ball and it thuds instead of bouncing.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I must admit, in Benjamin's old age he has become quite a rule follower. When he was a pup I thought he would be impossible to train. But once he learned a command, he really mastered it. Henry would always learn a new command or trick first, but you could always count on Benny to perfect it.
Take the command "come" for example. Henry learned it way before Benny even had a remote clue of what we were trying to get him to do. But call out the word "Come" at some random point in the day and you will get Henry about 80% of the time. Benny, on the other hand, will run over, full steam ahead, every time. Without fail.
The other night I had a good laugh at Benny and his follow the rules self. We were going out, so I told the pugs to go to bed. They ran off to their crates and I was giving Benny his treat for going to bed when we fumbled the exchange and the treat bounced onto the floor and about a foot away from Benny's crate.
The crate door was still open and being the treat lover that he is, Benjamin craned his neck as far out from the crate door as he possible could, but there was no way he was going to be able to reach the treat. He stepped as far forward as he possible could in his crate and craned his head out the door one more time to try and reach the treat. Again, the treat was too far away.
Then he looked up at me with a look of sheer panic on his face. In his compartmentalized, command filing brain, he knew he needed to be in his crate to be eligible to receive a go to bed treat. If he left his crate, he couldn't eat the treat. A true conundrum for rule following Benny.
Meanwhile, I am watching all of this unfold and I am shocked. I knew that he was a stickler for the rules, but even this is surprising me because food is involved and Benny is all about rounding up fallen kibble.
So, I told him to go "take it." He looked at me and again I told him to "take it." He ran out of his crate, grabbed the treat and then ran back into his crate as fast as his little legs could take him. I closed the crate door and he settled with a look of relief and a touch of guilt on his face.
For all his crazy antics, Benny is a very straight-laced pug. He takes the rules very seriously.
Monday, May 17, 2010
I feel like Benjamin is waiting for his dinner party guests or something. He's relaxed, but not too casual.
But, wait. Benny would never hold a dinner party because he would have to share his food. Hmm...maybe he is waiting for the pizze guy.
Friday, May 14, 2010
I think Benjamin's wrinkles are one of his best features. Not only do they add to his charm, but they are also very kissable. But, take Benjamin's deep wrinkles and throw in a bit of the FL heat and humidity and you have the perfect recipe for stinkles.
So, when the temps start to rise we really need to be on top of Benny's wrinkle cleaning. If we miss just one cleaning, you can tell. Plus, if his wrinkles get too dirty he will take cleaning them into his own hands and will start rubbing his face on his paws and scratching at them with his hind paws. I hate for him to be uncomfortable so we do our very best to never let them get that dirty. But, it is amazing how dirty his wrinkles can get after a long walk or a quick trip to the dog park.
So from now until sometime in October, Benny has a date with me each morning to get a deep wrinkle cleaning. Plus, he gets one more quick face wipe before bed. Nobody said being so darn cute was easy.
Monday, May 10, 2010
To say that pugs are guard dogs would be a stretch, however, to say they are of no use in keeping an eye on things would be an understatement. I think the problem is with the word guard. My pugs don't really guard anything. I would imagine they would guard a piece of pumpkin bread with their life, but that would imply that they wouldn't eat it right away and actually have something to guard. But, I digress. Perhaps, a better word is surveillance? My pugs are great surveyors. Because surveillance requires observation, it does not require them to take action. And I would say that observing is a very strong pug quality. They observe me go to the kitchen, they observe me get a blanket out and beat me to the couch.
While most of their observations are made in areas that don't really need observing, I have to say that the pugs do a very good job of letting me know when anyone is around the house. Mailman - check, neighbor's lawn guy - check, delivery man - check. Most of the time, they alert me to routine things, but there have been a few times that they let me know about things we weren't expecting.
Just a few days ago, Henry alerted me in his patented "woo, woo" that there was a cat hanging around our side yard. Which was good, because Cupid does not take too kindly to other felines pawing around her territory.
And the true genius is that pugs have their paws on the pulse around the house and you would never know it. They do all their surveying from the comfort of the couch or a cozy dog bed or a lounge chair by the pool. And they always look strangely disinterested. But maybe that is their modus operandi - make others think they are not paying attention when they really are.
But make no mistake, the pugs are in surveillance and not the guard dog business. Because unless doggie kisses are kryptonite to those with ill will, the pugs would not be of much assistance. But the good news is they would alert the proper authorities and have them take care of it. Delegating, another pug strength.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
A week or two ago we were in Walmart making a quick stop to get milk, when we saw this cute baby toy hanging from an end cap in the baby section. It immediately reminded us of Luna so we plucked it off the display strip and made a mad dash to the checkout with our milk.
We only ever buy stuffed toys for Luna anymore. We used to bring home a stuffed toy for each one of them and the boys would take theirs hold it on their mouth for a second and then drop it and look at us like, "What did you bring me that is edible?"
Luna, on the other hand, still gets excited to get a stuffed toy and plays with them the most. The boys are happy to play with one from the bin from time to time.
The little girl mermaid toy reminded us of Luna because she loves kids. I don't know why, but she just about pulls herself out of her harness if she sees a child when we are out on a walk. She sure as heck didn't get that from me. So, we thought the little girl mermaid with its little pony tails would be a fun toy for her.
Luna was very happy to get her new toy and played with it the entire night. The next day, I noticed the boys were hanging out with the mermaid. At first, they were trying to play it all cool, like, "Well, Luna just left it on the pillow and we just wanted to sit here, ya know?"
But, then I spied Henry playing with it and then just sitting there like this, which I found to be a little disrespectful. Have some manners, Hank!
An then later that day I saw this:
To which Benny replied, "That will teach her to take my puffy!"
Thursday, April 1, 2010
For one week, and one week only, I have a 6 year old pug (Luna), a seven year old pug (Henry) and an 8 year old pug (Benjamin). Then Henry will join his brother and officially become a senior pug. Can you believe the boys are considered seniors now? I sure can't!
« Older Posts
| More Recent Posts »
Want more? Wander through our archives.
