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Archive for June, 2006

Pug Haircut

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Can I have some more?

Originally uploaded by jmatthew3.





Ok, so here’s the long awaited update on pictures of the pug haircut. First of all, the picture right here is of Gadget, taken about 2 days after his haircut. You can see the flickr set of photos about this to see all the pictures. What I’ve learned about this is that shaving definitely helps, a lot, but it’s not a cure-all to pug shedding. There is still hair on the floor, but it’s shorter, thinner hair.

Ok, here’s what I learned about shaving pugs: First, if you get a trimmer, you want to go against the grain with the trimmer. This forces the hairs upwards and ensures you get every hair cut to the same length. If you see in some of the pictures, there are “grooves” — this is because i didn’t go against the grain everywhere. Going against the grain also cuts shorter, because it’s pushing the hair away from the body. I used a 1/8 inch guard, but 1/8 inch is too short if you’re going against the grain. Next time, i’m going to use a 1/4 inch guard and see what happens.

Furminator: This thing is pretty good, I think. It certainly pulls a lot of hair out. I don’t know if it’s pulling hair out that doesn’t need to come out, or if it’s pulling hair that’s going to fall out soon. It seems as though it gets a TON of hair, but it always seems as though after I use it, more hair falls out. Maybe it’s just loosening it?

When I get back from a wedding this weekend, I’m going to try furminator-ing the boys, washing them, then use conditioner, then dry & furminate again. Maybe that will do the trick? I’m not hoping to get rid of shedding, but if i could have less hair on my pillow when I go to sleep or maybe be able to brush the boys less, that would be great.


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Related Posts

Obey The Pure Breed

Obey the Pure Breed

These have been out for a while, but I’ve never posted them here.  Whoever came up with this is insanely creative, and pretty damn good with graphic design tools, too.

I promise I’ll get pictures of the shaved pugs up soon, I promise!  Overall, I think shaving them helps the shedding.  They still shed, just not as much, and the hair they do shed is essentially their undercoat, which is very thin and short, which means the “pug tumbleweed” is smaller and less visible.

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Chinese Pug Dog Shedding – How to Stop Shedding

Well, not really. If you have a pug, you know the unstoppable force of shedding. As a wise sportscenter anchor once said, “You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.”

Yes, this is true for pug shedding. As I understand, pugs have an overcoat and an undercoat. The undercoat is also called “down” — it’s lots of small hairs right next to the body designed to keep warm air close to the body. I also understand that through genetics, black pugs only have one of these coats, I think the outer coat. (I think the outer coat was bred to be darker and the undercoat was bred out — but i’m not sure on this)

Anyway, black pugs shed less than fawn pugs, apparently. I wish I had known this.

So, how do you keep your pug from shedding? Well, I have a couple techniques. The first and foremost is my vacuum. This is what is meant by “containment.” I now have a dyson 14 animal vacuum, which i highly recommend. The next step after that is to brush frequently. If you can get the hair off in a controlled manner, you’re more likely to get it in the trash can, rather than on your floor or clothes.

I use a furminator along with the standard wire brushes you find in stores. The furminator essentially is a fine tooth comb combined with prongs that cut or pull the hair out. It does a very good job at gripping and thinning hair. However, It’s still not enough. Pugs shed A LOT, especially after a bath.

So, Tricia and I just had to make a bunch of returns to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and one of the things we picked up was a barber’s hair shaving kit. I just shaved Gizmo and Gadget to 1/8 inch of hair, and, well, it’s kind of a butcher job (Gizmo hates the look, but he didn’t mind getting shaved).

I’ll have pictures up in the next day or so, but, well, i’m not a professional, and they look kinda bad. However, what’s left is most of their undercoat, and they’re a LOT cooler, especially in the New Orleans summertime heat. Gadget’s already starting to get way overheated, and we thought that a good way to combat the heat was to get rid of some of the extra hair.

So far, the shedding has been lessened — what sheds is shorter hair, and there’s less of it. We’ll see what happens when there are baths and more time has passed, but I think this is going to be really good for them, once their “bad haircut” grows out a little bit and later when I get better at trimming them.

Do you do this? Should I have gone longer than 1/8 inch? Do you have any tips for pug shaving? Reducing dog shedding?

I read online that ground flaxseed was great for reducing shedding, and maybe i’ll try it. Anyone know?

See more posts about Pug Shedding.

By the way, the FURminator is a very good product.

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Useful Pug Products

Dyson Vacuum meets Pug Hair

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Gadget and his New Food

Originally uploaded by jmatthew3.





This picture is of Gadget resting his chin on his food bowl. It’s something he doesnt often do, but is worth taking a picture of, because it’s so freaking cute.

Anyway, we’ve had an eventful weekend. First, we traded in most of our miscellaneous extras and duplicate items off our registry from Dillard’s for silver. We’re going to end up with 6 place settings of our silver, which is French Provincial.

We also went to Baton Rouge for Saturday night and most of Sunday for Father’s day. We went to lunch with my parents and Tricia’s dad (her mom was out of town and arrived early back in town Sunday evening) — We also went to dinner at Fire, a relatively new place not too far from our house on Saturday night with Chris and Melanie. I gave chris some rum from St. Lucia along with a rock from the beach (He has a master’s degree in geology). Anyway, we also went to Angeli on Decatur friday night, and both nights were fun.

It’s back to the diet for me, now.

Oh, so, Saturday, we used some gift certificates along with a 20 percent off coupon to get (really cheap) a Dyson 014 Animal vacuum. So far, it’s amazing — it sucks up Pug Hair with NO PROBLEMS. Really, it is lighter, more powerful, and just flat out better designed than any vacuum i’ve ver used. I can’t say enough about it, except that it’s something we never would have bought without wedding-gift-money.

Oh, and the boys got a well-deserved shower this evening, along with a huge shedding tool session, which the Dyson sucked up immediately. (The dyson is also good with the Space Bags we got and are putting extra bedding material in)

So, back to the pugs. They just loved riding in the car (Gadget loves the back seat, now), and they loved the excitement of going to Baton Rouge. Change is good for dogs, it gives them some change in their daily routine, which is very important.

Oh, and I saw my dad kiss one of the Pugs today. That’s huge. Pugs are a life changer. They have so much love and personality. Everyone should be around pugs at some point.

If you WANT a pug, email gizmo@urbanpug.com — we might have some up for adoption soon. Keep checking back for more details.

Oh, and check out this image as a Pug Wallpaper


Rasta Pug

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Rasta Pug

Originally uploaded by jmatthew3.





Ok, so I think i’m over it, but the whole time we were in St. Lucia, I kept on talking about making up some tshirts and stickers that say rastapug.

On one of the tours, i saw this tshirt and had to take a picture of it. It’s not a pug, but it’s definitely a rasta dog.

Not much else going on around here. Pugs are being pugs, and we’re falling for their tricks. We actually have more pillows now (5 or 6 on the bed), so there’s actually enough room for each pug to get a pillow by our heads and still leav enough room for us!

rastapug out!


Pug in a Sun Hat

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Pug in a Sun Hat

Originally uploaded by jmatthew3.





We’re back from the honeymoon now, and it was a lot of fun, but there were NO PUGS THERE! G&G were sorely missed for the week, but they had an absolute ball in Pug City. They’ve both come back more muscular and thin than before, so much so tha we thought that Gadget had lost 3 pounds, at least!

I weighed him, and he actually gained a pound. He really bulked up exercising a lot, but he’s thinner than ever. He could take dermot any day! (Gadget is now 24.5 pounds, which is pretty huge for a pug)

Anyway, a couple weird things — I’m “used” to the wedding ring now, but i’m NOT used to holding leashes with it. It “gets in the way” of the leash to me. I’m sure i’ll get used to it, but that’s what I’m dealing with now.

We’re still really busy catching up with everything, but the wedding & honeymoon went off near flawlessly, which is saying a LOT for all the things that can pop up. We’re riding a high right now with how well everything went and how much fun we had on the trip. It’s all “over” now, and we’re re-adjusting back into the real world, but we certainly have pugs to help us cope with it!

No Pressures, No Problems! Yah Mon!