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Archive for October, 2007

Teen Wolf Pug

Happy Halloween everyone!

Quick Update — Shelby has a new Halloween costume this year, and she’s a “Teen Wolf Pug”

Link: Bringing Up Shelby


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Urban Pug TV

I have a friend who works at Google, and he got me interested in the YouTube developer API, which lets programmers query YouTube for videos.  So… I made Urban Pug TV.

You can now get all the YouTube Pug Videos right here!  It’s still “beta” (which means that I don’t know what I’m doing and it might break) but it does work to let you see some cute / funny videos!

Anyway, test it out and tell me what you think (and tell other people, too!)

It’s at http://www.urbanpug.com/tv


YouTube Halloween Pug Videos

As promised, here are the videos!

Note, I actually have one more video, but it’s too big to upload to YouTube!  I’ll have to figure out how to make it smaller to get it uploaded…


Useful Pug Products

Pug-O-Ween 2007 (Pug Halloween Party)

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Today was the second annual Pug-O-Ween Party hosted by the New Orleans Pug Meetup Group. We had a GREAT turnout, with LOTS of pugs coming in costume! There was a really wide variety of costumes — space pugs, rabbits, spider-pugs, devil-pugs, vam-pugs… I can’t begin to list all the costumes. So, take a look at the pictures, and I’m putting the vids I took on YouTube — I’ll post links to them when they’re up!

I’ve posted all the pictures here: Link To Album

Also, you can check out the videos and pictures from last year — click here.


how to integrate a new puppy into your family?

Perkins10 writes in the Forums:

“My husband and I will be adding another pug to our family in about 2-weeks. We have a 4yr old female named Yoshi. We are going to be adding a male. We would appreciate any advice that people have on integrating the new puppy. Our Yoshi is the love of our lives and we have spoiled her. We are excited about the puppy, but worried about her adjustment.”

If you have any advice, please go over to the forums and help out!


Keep Your Chin Up

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Most pugs like to rest their chins on something. Gadget loves to rest his chin on the support bars of a set of chairs we have at our house. Well, yesterday Tricia walked into the back room and saw BOTH Gadget and Gizmo under one of the chairs together resting their chins on the support bar. They were like two peas in a pod! Normally, Gizmo rests his chin on one of the couch cushions, my head, or a pillow. But you will always find Gadget under one of these chairs. Rarely are the two boys seen together under there.


New Meaning to “Desktop Background”

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Many of you put pictures of your Pugs as desktop background wallpaper on your computers. However, Gizmo has now given new meaning to “Desktop Pug,” as he actually has become a REAL desktop Pug. Today, he managed to hop up onto my desk, right next to the computer monitor.  Tricia actually was the one who took this picture, so I’m not sure how he made it up there, or what he was trying to do.  All I know is that he loves being at the high point in the room, and he’ll eventually make his way as high as he can.  He’s almost like a cat, in that he will jump places.  Unfortunately, he’s not quite as agile as a cat, so he falls on his butt sometimes!

Also, for those of you that are interested,  I have several actual pug desktop wallpapers available.


Pug Breeders in New York City, New York (NYC NY)

I got an email this afternoon from someone looking for a Pug breeder near New York City.  Does anyone know any responsible Pug breeders in the area?   The PDCA website lists a few, but I don’t know how old that information is or if anyone has any particular experience with these breeders or others nearby.

If you have any information, please leave a comment!


Costume Update

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We just got our costumes in, and I thought I’d post a quick update.  Gizmo and Gadget are going to be PugZilla and FrankenPug for Halloween this year — the costumes are from FunnyFur, and there’s still time to get one, if you’re so inclined.


Pigs

The other day, I was walking Gizmo and Gadget, and we came across a little kid, just barely able to talk. He thought they were really funny, but he got something wrong. Instead of saying that they were dogs or puppies, he kept on saying, “Oink, Oink.”

I guess he thought they were pigs? Anyway, in the spirit of pigs, take a look at these Miniature Pigs (also here).
Also see Gadget in a Pig Costume and Gadget’s Secret Pig Sauce. Oh, and don’t forget to order your Halloween Costumes from FunnyFur.com before it gets too late! G&G’s costumes should be arriving soon, and I’ll post some pre-halloween pictures when they get here.


Dog Cake Recipe for Gizmo & Gadget’s 4th Birthday

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Today is Gizmo & Gadget’s 4th birthday! To celebrate, I made them a dog-friendly cake from a simple recipe I found online from LJC. However, instead of using cottage cheese for frosting, I used vanilla yogurt with peanut butter mixed in. (G & G happen to love yogurt, by the way) We thought the yogurt would be sweeter and would make a better tasting icing for them. They really enjoyed eating the cake and cannot wait until tomorrow morning when they are scheduled to get more for breakfast! After some recent health problems, we are so thankful that this birthday was a happy and healthy one for both Gizmo and Gadget. Our pugs have truly enhanced our lives for the better and their birthday is a huge reason to celebrate!

Cake Recipe: 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup oil, 1 cup shredded carrots, 1/3 cup honey, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a greased pan. (Ours actually took a little bit less than 30 minutes). We iced it with about 3 parts yogurt to 1 part peanut butter

Update: Want to make this cake look pretty? Get cake decorating stuff at amazon

Update: I made another cake for their 5th birthday. Check out my Peanut Butter and Banana Dog Cake Recipe


Puppy House Training Tips

One of the biggest problems people have with their dogs is house training. Because it’s a question asked a lot of me, here are several factors to consider when thinking about house training. They are: Praise, Routine, Behavior Watching, the “Don’t Pee Where You Sleep” factor, and Marking.

First, Praise. Especially when your dog is new, you have to lots of praise when you take your dog out to pee. Your dog needs to associate “outside” “pee” and “good” –yelling, scolding, etc. can work against you.

Second, Routine. Dogs LOVE routine. It keeps them in balance, they know what’s going on, and they don’t have to be worried or confused. If they already make the association that “it’s good to pee outside,” and they know they’re going on a walk soon, they won’t pee inside!

Third, Behavior Watching. When training your dog, look for behaviors like circling, sniffing, or sneezing. Gizmo would sneeze a LOT right before he would try to go inside. When we caught him doing that, we’d watch him, and direct him to the appropriate place. If you’re good at watching behavior, you get a lot more chances to correct behavior in-progress, and you won’t be tempted to scold.

Fourth is the “Don’t pee where you sleep” factor. Dogs don’t like to pee where they sleep, generally. So, one useful technique is to put a dog in a small area, like a small crate, and slowly give them access to larger and larger areas. You want them to end up gradually feeling like your house is their house. What you DON’T want them to do is to think a certain room is *their* “outside” that it’s ok to “go” in.

Fifth, Marking. Dogs, especially unneutered males, will mark their areas. If they’re peeing in small amounts, on vertical surfaces like curtains, sides of sofas, etc, then it could be that your dog is marking its territory instead of relieving itself. If this is the case, you need to consider neutering your dog. You can also clean the area very well with non ammonia-based or vinegar-based cleaners. Those smell like pee! That’s what you don’t want. You can move furniture around or feed your dog near the problem area. You want your dog to think of that spot as “his” — not something he has to protect and claim by marking.

If you need more tips, I got several of these from The Ultimate House Training Guide. Good Luck!


Gizmo doesn’t have cancer and Golan v. Gonzales.

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In very good news, the Vet let Tricia know the other day that Gizmo’s tumor was benign. To celebrate, he took a nap in this laundry basket with a huge body pillow stuffed inside. In other good news, Gadget’s feeling better, though we’re still waiting to see if he breaks out again. He’s at our house, and his steroids will wear off soon. Generally, he’s back to his normal moderately active self (hey, he’s a Pug, he takes naps), so that’s very good. No more overheating because of his medication, no more drinking too much water to cool off and peeing in the house.

Hopefully all is better and we’ll have normal Gadg for a while.

Oh, in other good news, it turns out some academic work I’ve done is going to be published. Law school is weird in how the academics get published. Generally, it’s student run publications (Law Reviews or Journals published and edited by students), rather than peer reviewed journals (the New England Journal of Medicine) that the academics submit their work to for publication. Many of these student journals require / allow their members to submit limited pieces of work for publication. I was required to do that, and my work was selected to be published, which is really cool. I don’t talk about non-pug stuff here much, but this is pretty cool to me. I did what’s called a “case note” on a recent case, Golan v. Gonzales, which is about copyright and the First Amendment. The case was argued by the guy who came up with Creative Commons, Lawrence Lessig, which was part of the reason I chose that case. It’s not about patent law, which is what I’m in law school to eventually do, but I just couldn’t pass up doing a casenote on an important, timely case.


Gadget’s Temaril Side Effects

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Lexy went back to my parents’ house last night, but not before making another bed out of a box.  This time, it was an empty Sam’s Club Diet Coke 32-Pack.

In other news, Gadget hasn’t had any swelling, but he’s still been itching some.  Also, the Temaril the doctor gave him is making him lethargic and thirsty.  Also, I’m not sure if it’s a side effect of the medicine, but he’s also really hot.  (Side effects of temaril at Yahoo Answers, Pfizer Animal Health.) If you touch his ears or let him lick you, you can just feel that he’s a lot hotter than Gizmo.  I think it’s related.  Anyway, the combination of lethargy and thirst has been causing him to not want to go outside… to pee…  And as a result, well, he’s been just randomly letting it out.  Not even going over to a sofa corner, bed corner, the trash can (the spots they sometimes mark) — he’s just stopping, not even lifting a leg or squatting, and just dropping down a puddle.

It just took me 10 minutes with him outside to get him to pee, most of which was spent with him staring at me, just looking at me.  When he wasnt standing there, he was trying to get past me back into the house.  (Note, it was also fairly wet outside tonight)

I had to carry him into the yard a couple times, but eventually, he decided to “go.”  It was a good thing, too, because he actually did have to go.  He just didn’t want to, for some reason.

Hopefully, this is just the medicine he’s taking, and all will be back to normal soon.  We’re keeping a close eye on his condition!


Poor Gadget is taking Temaril for Allergies

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We took G&G into the vet on Thursday for two reasons. First, to have their teeth cleaned. Second, Gizmo had a small tumor removed from his mouth. They both came home fine, and the Vet doesn’t think that Gizmo’s tumor isn’t the bad kind of tumor. However, on the ride home, and then getting worse for the next hour or two, Gadget’s face got really puffy, especially the tissue around his eyes.

Last time we took him to the Vet for the puffiness on the face, the Vet told us to give him small doses of Benadryl. So, we did the same thing this time. However, Tricia took him back to the vet the next day, and now he’s got some medicine.

But, there’s more! He keeps breaking out whenever the medicine wears off, which means he can’t sleep through the night (and neither can Tricia). He’s also congested, and this is causing him to have some trouble breathing.

The Vet thinks that he’s allergic to something in our house, so we’re going to try having him stay w/ my parents to see if that helps – if we take him out of the environment, and he gets better, then we know it’s something in our house.

The picture is of gadget, not feeling very well. When he’s scared sometimes, he hides under our bed. He did this, and then kinda laid down on his side. POOR GADGET!!


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