The other man and the new collar.

Indy is a harlot. She collects boys (human and doggy) wherever she goes. She flirts shamelessly with strangers and friends alike. It's pretty cute!

Last night it turned ugly. :)

Cesar is a 4yr old fat beagle that belongs to my landlords, he loves me and he loves Indy. They chase each other round and frolic in the grass... until Gus came around.

Gus seems to get along with Cesar but last night it wasn't pretty. We were coming in from our nightly pee and so was Cesar, we all met up in the front entrance way and Cesar wasn't on a leash. (which is ok, he is a pretty mild dog AND he listens!) He was very happy to see us, I was thinking Gus is behaving, good good. Until Gus turned in to a rabid pug, snarling and barking.

The trainer at Petsmart told me last night, it sounds like he has socialization issues. But I don't know.

Gus plays well with other dogs when there are no leashes on him. Even with my parent's dogs, who flat out hate him, Gus is well behaved, nosy and wanting to play. No signs of any aggression, my mom even recognizes that her toy poodles are beasts... and they are her babies!

So at class last night, the trainer gave me a martingale collar to try out. It is pretty effective, when used, it sits high on the neck, doesn't choke but limits the dogs ability to move away from you when you are using it. It is corrective collar. Essentially, a choke chain, but with only 2 inches of chain versus the whole thing being a chain. Gus doesn't like it, he had 3 mini tantrums last night when it got used (we were working on walking properly).

We will see how effective it is on our proper walks and now that the weather is getting milder and the days longer, we will be heading back to the dog park for some good socialization. :)

War of Keys

When Indy was a puppy, I went on a hunt to find her a chew toy that would keep her occupied. I remembered my siblings having plastic keys to chew on and thought that I could find something similar for a dog.

I found them at Target.

Indy loved them! it was cute to see her drag them from room to room and they were bigger/longer then she was. :)

Now we have Gus and Gus likes Indy's keys too... in fact so much that I have had to settle a few 'disagreements' over who gets to chew them. So I went out and got a 2nd set and every morning I need to settle the growl fest over who wants who's keys. It is so funny, they run with them up and down the hallway and to their spots to chew outside the bathroom (this is while I am getting ready for work) Indy on the floor just outside the bathroom and Gus hanging out of Indy's bed in the hallway.

Indy still drags them on the floor when she runs with them, but Gus doesn't. He also goes through them a lot quicker too, he chews on them and Indy just gnaws. I will post some pictures when I get the computer back.

Sans Laptop..

I had to take my laptop in last week since the warranty expires in a few weeks and it has been freezing a lot. I never realized how much I use my computer until it is gone. There is so much stuff I wanted to blog about but couldn't until this morning (at work) but unfortunately I won't be able to post any pictures until I get it back. :(

Gus had his first day of obedience school last week, I was shocked and amazed at well behaved he was! In fact it was another dog, Jake, who barked the whole class. Gus spent the first half of it trying to sit in my lap, he didn't like the barking. Jake was the only other dog there but after discussing it, we decided to keep that class going since it will be more one-on-one time and will now be 6 weeks instead of 8 weeks long. The trainer suggested getting a 'martingale' (?) collar for Gus, it is half collar, half chain. I am not sure about that idea, but Gus has this tendency to go completely ape-sh*t when we see another dog on a leash when we are out walking. It is rather embarrassing and if a martingale (?) collar helps.. I might seriously consider it. .. maybe...

I felt very bad about leaving Indy behind, I gave her a cookie to help distract her when we left but that didn't work. She howled when we left the apartment and outside Gus kept looking behind him for her. It is really good to know how attached they have grown to each other in 5 months even though they fight constantly!

In 'school' we started teaching Gus click training. Has any one used this before? I think it is going to be really useful at home! To get the dogs used to the clicker, every time you click it, they get a treat. Then I am assuming you progress from there. (We find out Thursday). So the next day I sort of click trained Indy. Click, treat, click, treat. When they are fighting really bad, I click it and they stop and come running right away! It is awesome!

Weekend Away

Happy belated valentines day! Which according to my husband is nothing but a hallmark holiday, but he still shows he loves me. This year it was a weekend getaway to Seattle for some shopping.

We stayed in a lovely hotel and he arranged for champagne and strawberries. It was wonderful.

That meant the puppies stayed at their 'auntie C's' place.

We were worried about how Gus would react since he is very attached to his mommy. We went away for Easter a few years ago and Indy stayed with C for the whole long weekend, she cried (real tears) the whole time!

But they were both very well behaved and even had a trip to the beach!

We of course came back with presents for Gus and Indy.. 2 new toys and some chocolate covered cookies from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!! They of course love the biscuits and fight over the toys. :)

If you notice, Gus still has his leash on, apparently it was of for about 30 seconds... until C discovered he does not come when you call him.. at all! We are hoping obedience school helps that.

Here is Indy recovering, I know how much she loves the beach, racing around like a wild woman. I am hoping to get more picures soon. :)

Uh oh....

So I recieved some bad news yesterday from my doctor... I am officially allergic to cats and dogs! :(
I went to having allergy testing done as I was sick over christmas and new years (sick enough to take a week off after my vacation). The dr says that since I don't seem to have a strong allergy to all my babies that I can keep them. Like I would give them up! Just no more sleeping with mommy and definitely no more animals in the bedroom. The cats routinely sleep on the bed, Indy is there occasionally on the weekends when my husband is out of town. She gets too hot at night and does alot of in and out from the covers which keeps him up.

So I managed to get them all out of the bedroom last night by bribing the kitties with soft food and then changed the sheets, duvet cover and pillow cases. I have to say that is was awfully nice to snuggle into my duvet cover without getting a mouthful of cat hair!!
My dr told me that my allergies are mild enough right now that an occasional allergy pill should be fine. If I get worse I can end up with weekly shots. :p

I am looking at getting a Dyson vaccum, they have a version called DC17 Animal/absolute, made especially for sucking up pet hair and people with allergies and asthma. Here in canda we are looking at 600-700$ for the lesser(?) model as that specific one isn't available. Nice huh? Target it has it for 550$!! So looks like we are headed for the states this weekend!
Anyone have a Dyson and can tell me its worth the money? :)

Daddy's coming home!!

Yay!! My husband is on his way home from work, he should be here in 2 days so this morning I thought it would be a good time to bath the stinky ones! Poor Gus has been getting a bit ripe, but I needed to go out and buy him some special shampoo first.

Gus is just facinated with the water, loves to watch it in the tub, the toilet flush, you name it. I had a really cute shot with the cat beside him staring at the tub but the cat took off. I guess Gus is really stinky! :)

He looks pretty pathetic in the tub all wet, he is a good dog to bathe, just kind of stands there, but he likes to drink the water! Yum yum...

And then there was Indy. Sorry the shot is a little out of focus, the camera couldn't see her properly. Here is Indy, as far away from the bathtub as she can get while still being in the apartment, usually she ends up there or underneath the cat tree, which is where she was when it was her turn for a bath.

She alternates holding up different paws so the don't get wet. What a princess...

But she doesn't drink the bath water which is good because it was Gus's! Ew!

My favorite part of this whole show is the drying. Here is where revenge is warred upon the evil nemesis, Towel. Because of course it is never mommy's idea to subject the poor little pugs to having water torture... I mean a bath.

Indy races around the apartment soaking wet barking fiercely at the towel while I try and catch her to atleast rub her down enough so she doesn't spray water everywhere.

Gus is more physical, he lunges at the towel, growls, shakes and then rolls on it! I have been accidently bitten during towel tug of war before. At the end I am usually just as soaked as they are!

Laundry Day!

I finally finished the elliptical trainer and have been using it. The only problem so far is Gus, I have come so close to kicking him in the head so many times and infact actually have hit him. (not very hard and he didn't even notice, honestly)

Here is Misfit enjoying the card board box and the recycling I put in it.


Today was laundry day and no good puggie can resist helping mom with the nice warm, clean smelling clothes!

Indy was all snuggled up and ready to sleep, sorry baby, mom needs to fold the laundry! See the extra pathetic look on her face?

Gus was staring at the cat during this and once I took the picture, he leapt at poor Misfit.

Cheese Biscuits!

So by popular demand I bring you the recipe for doggie cheese biscuits. I will admit that I have tried them myself and they are very yummy! For a regular biscuit, they are dry but Gus and Indy LOVE them.

'Gourmet Food Processor Biscuits'
(I don't have a food processer so I used a pastry blender)

1/4 cup water
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups grated/shredded cheddar cheese
3 cloves garlic finally chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1) in a small bowl whisk eggs and water together, set asid
2) in the bowl of the food processor with a steel blade (or a regular bowl) add flour, cheese, garlic and vegetable oil. mix until the texture of coarse meal.
3) with the machine running drizzle in the egg mixture (i added the eggs in parts, mixing in between) until the dough forms ball
4) divide the dough into 2 balls, kneed each ball for about 3 minutes on a floured surface
5) roll dough out to 1/4" thickness, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes
6) place on foil lined baking sheet at 400F for 15 minutes, flip cookies and bake for another 10 minutes.

There you go! I am sure you can buy bone shaped cookie cutters at the kitchen stores.
Hope you puggies enjoy!

Happy Birthday Gus!!

Today is Gus's birthday, he turned one. I bought a dog cookbook (complete with cookie cutters) a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would try it out.

They look pretty yummy! They were super easy to make and they smell really good.

They went crazy when the biscuits were baking, Gus knew something was going on, racing around the kitchen. I got them to sit pretty for me.

Here is Gus after devouring his cookie, he wants to know where the next one is as Indy hasn't finished hers.

Stupid eliptical trainer!

I went and bought an eliptical trainer the other night. I thought it would be great excerise (of course), I just didn't realize how incredibly hard it would be to put together!! Some bolts don't fit where they are supposed to go!

But I had lots of help, Misfit showed up before I even had the box open! Gus was only there because I was sitting on the floor, he brought his keys to chew on. Indy couldn't have cared less what I was doing!!

So back at it I go.. at this rate I should be able to use the silly thing next week! :)

Just starting..

So I have decided to start a blog. I have been surfing the web lately and have discovered many cool Pug dog blogs that I have decided I would like to write one about my two puggies. :)

I have 2 pugs, Indy and Gus.

Indy is 2 and half years old, we got her through an add in the paper and when we went to check the litter out we discovered that she was the only one left in her litter at a puppy broker. (if you don't know a puppy broker takes a bunch of different breeds of dogs and sells them for the puppy mills).
I knew what it was as soon as I walked in but after seeing Indy (3 months old and only 2lbs, the only pug) my husband and I couldn't leave her there. She is a tiny pug, only 10lbs full grown, but her personality is HUGE!! ;)

Gus is almost a year old (in 2 more days). We are his 2nd owners, apparently his orginal owners mistreated him. He is a giant pug compared to Indy, a whopping 22lbs right now, but not fat. He has some behavioral issues, seperation anxiety and not listening. He starts obediance school in 2 weeks so he can learn to walk on a leash properly (hopefully), not too jump at people, and to come when I call him. Nothing is more frustrating then going for our morning pee at 6am on a work day and have him run away from me cause he thinks we are playing!!

I also have 2 cats, Misfit and Galore. Misfit tolerates Indy and he hates Gus since he jumps on Misfit constanty. Galore will play with Indy and clean her but Gus makes her nervous and since she is a nervous cat already I don't see her until bedtime.

I will post photos of the zoo in the next little bit...