Last Saturday, a local Doggie Bakery held a fashion show. Luna, of course, wanted to take part and who were we to say no. To make sure everything went smoothly they held a rehearsal the night before the big event. We brought along Benjamin & Henry to cheer on their li’ sis even though they were not participating.
The boys got caught up in all the excitement and before I knew it they were participating in the fashion show as well. Luckily, they had a couple of outfits to choose from.
For the rehearsal, each participant practiced their walk down the catwalk. Luna went first and took to it like a complete natural. She did her walk and then she practiced her sit in the middle of the stage.
Henry was up next and he did a good job as well.
Benjamin finished up for the group, and while he was having a little bit of sewer anxiety (more to come on that) he did a wonderful job too. Instead of sitting though, he opted for a masculine pose.
After his turn on the catwalk, Henry decided to grab a front row seat in the audience.
I’m not sure if you can see it in the photo, but recently there has been a haze of smoke hanging around for the last few days. The smoke is from a brush fire that is burning about 20 miles north of us and depending on which way the wind is blowing the smoke and fire smell can be pretty strong at times. So far the fire has burned 3700 acres, but luckily it is moving away from homes.
Because of all of the smoke, I have been keeping Benjamin, Henry & Luna inside as much as possible. They haven’t been too happy about that and have been begging me to let them outside so they can lay on the lounge chair. They just don’t understand that it is not good for them to be outside breathing in all that smoky air.
I wouldn’t say that Luna is a very barky dog. She rarely barks at people or cars when they pass by the house. However, she is very assertive and she will bark to tell you that she wants something.
The first time I noticed this was during dinner shortly after we adopted her. We sat down to eat and all the pugs were at our feet hoping to get some scraps, when out of the blue, Luna just starts barking at us. Demanding that we give her some. Benjamin and Henry almost fell over when Luna did this because they know the most effective begging tactic is to put on your cutest face and look like you are starving. Mommy falls for that every time. Barking, whining and scratching, however, get you no where.
Luna also frequently barks at the boys when she wants them to play with her in the yard. She usually barks at Henry and Henry is very good at ignoring her. Here is a little clip of Benjamin, Henry & Luna playing in the yard the other night and Luna barking her head off because she wants Henry to chase her. Notice how , in the beginning, Henry is totally tuning her out.
When we moved to our new house 2 years ago, we thought it would be great to have a Mimosa tree in the backyard. A Mimosa tree has very unique leaves and gets the best pink, powder-puff like blooms. It is also a great shade tree.
So we went to different nurseries hoping to find a Mimosa tree to plant. To our surprise, a Mimosa tree was very hard to come by and the few we did find were very expensive. After a year and a half of searching, we walked by a Mimosa tree while walking the pugs and noticed tons of seed packets laying on the ground. We picked up a few and thought we would try our hand at growing a Mimosa tree from a seed.
We didn’t get our hopes up, so we were more than thrilled when about two weeks after we planted the seeds, we had a little baby Mimosa tree
After the seed sprouted, we have been keeping a close eye on it and transferring it to bigger and bigger pots. Each time we transplanted it, we crossed our fingers and hoped that we didn’t kill the little tree. Last weekend, Mimo was ready for a new pot and we decided that instead of getting a bigger pot it was time to plant her in the backyard. So, we picked the perfect spot for Mimo with the help of Benjamin, Henry & Luna.
They were very eager to help and pleased to have something new in the yard that they can go potty on. Lets just hope that Mimo can hold up to her frequent waterings!
Benny, Henry & Luna love to go on walks and I think we generally do a great job, considering hectic schedules, making sure they get their fill of walking. During the week they go for at least one walk a day (usually a 1/2 mile). And at least once during the week, we go for the super long walk (2 miles). On the weekends, is when the boys and Luna get most of their exercise. We almost always do a long walk and if the weather permits we go to the beach or a local park so they can just go have fun.
In Florida, we are lucky. The Winter, Spring and Fall is perfect walking weather. Summer is stifling hot and the pugs just can’t go for the usual walks during the day, so we can only get out to walk during the very early morning hours and late at night. Pretty soon summer will be here and our walking routine will drastically change.
One of the main reasons we walk with the pugs is to keep everyone fit. Not just the pugs but also us. But I have to admit, that sometimes our walks are so slow that I think we might be burning more calories if we were sitting on the couch. With two boys and a girl that marks like a boy, there are some nights that we have to stop at every tree, pole or weed that happens to be sticking out of the grass.
So last week, I had just had enough of the constant stopping on the walks, and before we left for our walk, I explained to Benjamin, Henry & Luna that once everyone had done their business, we were walking. Every time one of them took a little detour, I just gave them a little tug on the leash to correct them. The walk went spectacular. I thought they were going to fight me at every turn and just pull their way to whatever they wanted to mark, but the little correction work. And while they weren’t perfect, the walk was so much better. We were able to settle into a nice little pace and everyone got a good little workout.
We have been walking like this for a week and I find the walks so much more enjoyable. The funny things is I think Benjamin, Henry and Luna are enjoying them more, too. Granted, I am no Dog Whisperer, with three perfectly behaved pugs all waking at my side, but they are doing a terrific job and their urge to mark every vertical object they see on their walk has greatly diminished.
I thought it was going to be impossible to break the boys and Luna of their bad walking habits, but it turns out, as soon as I changed my habits the pugs happily followed. That really surprised me. I guess you can teach old pugs new tricks.
Sunday was an absolute gorgeous day and we decided to go to the beach and take advantage of the weather before it gets unbearably hot here. Instead of going to our regular beach, we took a drive to another dog beach in a neighboring town. This park has a lot more room for dogs to run around.
Since it was their first time at the park, the boys and Luna were very fired up. They had a blast running in the sand and in and out of the water. I think they liked the fact that the beach was very wide and they could run huge circles around us.
While strolling along the beach, we came across this guy. Luna and Henry didn’t really bother with him too much, but Benny was obsessed with him. We didn’t let him get too close, but he kept trying to flop on his back and roll over it. I have no clue why. Benjamin is just a very odd kind of guy.
Everyone had a lot of fun, but I think Henry enjoyed the day the most. We sat on the beach for a bit and watched the boats go by, so Henry had a chance to soak up the sun and get some petting. For Henry, it doesn’t really get any better than that!
