Happy Halloween!

BOO!

It's Halloween! I love Halloween, and it seems like people are really getting into it this year, too. One group that was really into it today was our local Pug Meet-Up. They typically meet the first Saturday of the month, but they decided to have a costume Pug-o-ween event today.

There are fewer things cuter than the regular pug meet-ups. One of them is seeing the pugs dressed up in costumes.








The little bumblebee was hilarious-- she had a crazy case of the rips and got all the dogs running around in circles. I caught one of her laps on video.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

It's a Happy Friday!

This week has been extra, extra busy. My beloved boss' last day is today, and there's been a lot of last-minute scurrying to make sure we have everything under control (as well as thinking of ways to convince her that she really doesn't want that super great new job she got). It's been seriously cutting into my blogging time, but fortunately, it hasn't been impacting the number of good things this week. I have many to share this week!

1. Did you hear the story about the six-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer that left notes to her family stashed around the house? Her family started finding them after she passed away, and they turned them into a book. If this doesn't touch you, you're a freaking robot and need your battery pack changed. What a beautiful little soul.

2. I adore this photo and blog entry-- and even the comments people are leaving. This is a recently-rescued pit bull who's found his best friend. If this doesn't make you smile, seriously-- your battery pack is low.

3. This picture:


This is my new happy place. Last Sunday, The Human Male and I ran the Marine Corps Marathon 10K-- both of our first race. This is the view after you cross the finish line. The course was very neat-- it started at the Smithsonian, ran onto the highway past the Jefferson Memorial and into Virginia, past the Pentagon, through one of the neighborhoods, onto another highway, and ended at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Marines lined up in pockets along the route and high-fived runners. Friends of runners and complete strangers sat along the route and cheered. A kid played the Rocky theme on his trumpet from one of the overpasses. It was very hard, but completely worth it. And we also got medals!


I have a new-found respect for marathoners. Our run challenging, especially the last 0.2 miles-- it was up a very steep, tight exit ramp. I nearly walked it, and I can't imagine how daunting that must've been after 26 miles! I seriously would've quit or crawled up it. Marathoners might be robots, too...

4. So many people have voted for Alice! Thank you so much! I really appreciate everyone going over and clicking for her. It's been really fun to watch so many people rally around sweet little pets in costumes.

What are your good things for the week?

Please Vote for Alice!

I just discovered something a few minutes ago: Alice is in a contest!

A few weeks ago I sent Alice's Halloween costume pictures to the Dog-Owned Life blog, and it now ends up that there's a contest to get into the print issue of the Times Union newspaper.

It's a very quick contest-- the pet with the most number of votes on Friday wins. The voting website is located here: http://blog.timesunion.com/mydogbandit/time-to-vote-for-your-favorite-costumed-dog/3224/.

Can I ask for a click or two out of everyone? Bribes can be negotiated...

Happy Friday!

Okay, so I loved how everyone shared their "Moments of Zen" last week. I've decided that sharing something that made you happy this week is an awesome way to close out the week and start the weekend-- so let's do it again!

Here's something that made my day this week. I saw this ad yesterday and it cracked me up (just a note, there's a noise glitch 8 seconds in-- don't freak out!):



I will unabashedly admit that this would completely work on me. Pug on a sailboat? Are you taking applications for the "Mother of my Children" position?

Let's All Drag Ourselves Over the Week's Finish Line Together.

This has been the. longest. week. ever. My extremely beloved boss handed in her resignation. My 10-day cold has turned into a sinus thing. I'm working a conference for two days, and by the time it ends early this afternoon, I would've put in over 47 hours this week. Oh, and after putting items on my work laptop at o'dark-thirty yesterday morning to work on at the conference, my hard drive exploded while I was there-- so I now can neither work on anything, nor re-access it from our work server (or turn in my time card, for that matter). It also meant traveling ten miles past my house after the conference (and back) last night to drop it off in the office, in hopes our IT guy can get to it today and I can get back on track on Monday. All of this was on top of my regular busy workload.

The Human Male is also having a rough week. The worst thing: he got a ticket for "fare evasion" last night and has to go to court because the card scanner on the Metro last night didn't pick up his card as he walked through. To which I'd like to say to Metro, I'd like to give you tickets for broken, unsafe, exploding, and always late trains and stations. And while we're at it, your stupid, slow, iffy card scanners. You should be paying your riders for putting up with your garbage.

We broke out the special bottle of Meritage last night, figuring that we'd earned it.

Ignoring all Daily Grind activities, just by looking at the weather reports all over the country, I get the impression that The Human Male and I are not alone in Craptacular 2009 this week. While our weather's rainy and 30-40 degrees below normal, it's not snowing here.

I've decided that we all need a Moment of Zen today. Here's the one I'm offering you: puggle snuggling a blankie in a papasan.


Okay, now it's your turn. What's your Moment of Zen offering this week? What's making you smile, or put things into perspective? Please share-- write or link to it below.

Surprise! You're Front-Page News.

Very early this morning I was checking out the blog Dog-Owned Life, which is written by Mark Ramirez, a reporter with the Times Union (the Albany, New York newspaper). Mark's been requesting pictures of pets in their Halloween costumes to put on his blog. It was early and Alice was wide awake, so I decided to throw her into her Halloween costumes and take pictures.

This year, Alice has two: my friend Lindy got her a fancy Halloween collar that she wears everywhere, and we got her a banana costume. Alice won't wear the hat, so she 's technically going as a banana peel.

I sent the pictures off to Mark and went on with my day, and received a note from him later, thanking me for the pictures. Later in the afternoon, Mark put out a tweet that mentioned a picture of a pug in a banana peel costume.

Long story short, it ends up that the pictures didn't go on Dog-Owned Life, but rather on TU's pet website, in an article, and in a slide show. And then later in the day, Alice ended up on the front page!


I definitely feel like this little dog is using up a good chunk of 15 minutes of fame this week. I wonder if dogs get their time in human minutes, or dog minutes?

Return of the Hedgie.

After a brief foray into the Sub-Sofa Forest Monday evening, Hedgie showed up back on the new rug yesterday morning.


Notice how her old rug is close by. That's because she now sits on the new rug and chews on the old one.

Surprise! You're Published.

I got an e-mail this morning from The Bark, confirming our address for our complimentary copy of DogJoy, the book Alice is in. They also had an offer to buy additional copies at a discounted price, so I decided to check out Barnes & Noble to see what the original price was.

Funny thing, the website said it was in stock. And released today.

Well, then. Happy Surprise Publishing Day, everyone!

We were told that the book was being released on October 27th, but it's definitely out now-- and available at many, many bookstores (I checked). I love the idea of little Alice sitting on a bookstore shelf, just waiting to introduce herself to strangers all over the country and give them a smile.

Even better, if you have a Barnes & Noble account, you can actually view a bunch of the pages, including Alice's! She's on page 147, along with a few other really adorable smilers.

I'm so excited right now, I feel like one of the dogs in the book.

The New Rug.

This weekend, I finally gave up on ever having the rug by our patio door again and bought a new one. So far, Alice isn't even remotely interested in chewing on it. Score for the humans!

Not to say she's not interested in it at all:


It's turned into the Hedgie Holder. She put her Hedgie on the rug last night and then walked away. It's still there now. It actually kind of looks like Hedgie's asking to go out.

I've decided to keep Alice's rug, since it's such a prized possession. It's still in its regular spot: wadded up in front of the TV.

Invisible Dog Walk.

Every once in a while, you hear about a prank that's so good, you kind of wish you could've been in on it. This is one of those for me.

Recently, a group in New York City called Improv Everywhere came into 2,000 invisible dog toys. They called up thousands of their closest friends, and sent them into the streets of Brooklyn for a couple of hours.

The results were great:



Some of the responses of dogs looking for their friends are pretty funny. And I LOVE the place that put out the invisible dog water.

Well played, guys!

The Dog Massage.

A few months after we got Alice, I decided to give her a dog massage. It wasn't anything huge, just rubbing a little harder than petting. She had no idea what I was trying to do to her and ran away.

Over time, she got more and more used to it, and even began to enjoy herself. It got to be a nice little bonding time between us-- she gets a good rub-down, and I get to watch her melt into her funny little massage face.

I hadn't given her one in a while, and then a few mornings ago, right after I pulled out my yoga mat, I gave her one. Now when she hears the mat come out, she comes trotting out of the bedroom, stretches out and puts her front toes on the edge of my mat, and demands a massage. If I don't give it to her right away (or if it doesn't last long enough), she actually brushes my face with her hand. Wednesday night, while I was sitting at the kitchen counter, she jumped the three feet up into my lap, just to get one. She sat like a little human on her rear, with her belly sticking out, her feet splayed, and a far-away smile on her face.

My question is, do any of your dogs request massages? Or have any of you gone to a Doga class? A local yoga studio that I like is having a special doga class in December and I'm thinking about taking Alice to it.

Sweet Beagle Story.

Once in a while I try to make an effort to learn about something important to The Human Male. This is why I know what the "3rd and 10" is. What makes it easier is finding something that I like in what he likes. Which is why Larry Fitzgerald is my extremely handsome Mountain Standard Time Zone Boyfriend.

The Human Male likes a blogger for The Atlantic named Andrew Sullivan. I like Mr. Sullivan, but he's The Human Male's Blogger Boyfriend-- Andrew and I are just friends. But one thing I really like about Mr. Sullivan is that he's a dog person. Specifically, he likes beagles. He likes beagles the way pug(gle) people like pug(gle)s-- wholeheartedly, recklessly, and without abandon.

I grew up with a pug, so I recognize those traits in Alice, but beagles are a bit of a mystery to me. I get really excited when I see Alice traits in beagles-- I feel like a get a new piece of the puzzle. Mr. Sullivan's blog has offered those pieces more than once.

A few days ago, The Human Male sent me a link to a sweet little blog post about one of his beagles-- interestingly enough, her name is Dusty. It's so touching, and I can see that some of Alice's tenacity (and her flapping ears) are purely beagle. Let's just say, Dusty made me notice just how badly my office needed some Pledge.

What a good dog.

Vote for Puglet!

I just recently came across the blog The Daily Puglet. I think some of you already know cute little Puglet-- I see Sandra y Coco on his page. For those of you who don't, Puglet's human created his page "as a way to share the joys of Pugdom with the Pugless." What a worthwhile cause!

Puglet's in a photo contest for Hansen's Soda and is one of the grand-prize finalists. Over a week-long period, people are asked to vote for their favorites of the pictures (three entries allowed per day). At the end of the period, the one with the most votes wins. The winner gets $5,000, and Puglet has said part of the booty would be donated to PugPROS, a rescue group that helps homeless pugs in Sacramento. If you haven't gotten your RDA of cute today, definitely go and check out the pictures on their website.

Voting goes until October 11th, and you don't have to register or anything. Here's the link:

http://www.hansensloves.com/sanfrancisco/your-best-shot-gallery.php?week=5.

Everyone, let's help out the pugs!

Found: POLKA!

This past Saturday, our neighborhood had its annual Oktoberfest. It's kind of an insane day. They closed off about three blocks and lined it with beer and food vendors, and put a stage in the middle of the intersection a block away. All afternoon, they play music and have leiderhosen-ed party people dancing away. Attendance is easily in the thousands.


This year was far more civil than last year. It was absolute mayhem last year, and the next day was even worse. I don't want to get into details, but it was advisable to wear rain boots walking around town until it rained. Let me also state for the record that that sort of environment is extra disgusting if you'd recently adopted a puggle who'd been living on the street.

This year, though the crowds were far more civil, and the food was awesome. The Human Male tried a wiener schnitzel; I decided to try out some Indian food from one of the few restaurants we haven't tried in our 'hood. Köstlich!

Itchy-Scratchy.

Alice can be a little troublesome. She plays with her tennis balls and kicks them under the furniture, then tries to squish herself under it to get them out. Only rarely is she successful.

We've noticed that lately she's had scratches on her scars, likely from the squishings. Sometimes they're small, other times they're bigger. This weekend, I noticed her scars were really scratched up-- to the point where I'm going to take her to the vet if they don't clear up.

We think what's happening is that they're getting scratched, and then she's scratching them because they're itchy as they heal. When I picked Alice up from the shelter and brought her home, the staff recommended putting bacitracin on her spots if they got itchy. I've done that, but I always worry that I'm going to poison her (because of course she has to lick the goo).

I've also tried coconut oil. but that's extra dumb-- this little girl will do anything for coconut. "Here, let me rub delicious dessert all over your side. Now, resist the urge to spend hours licking it off."

I've recently been trying to use lip balm (like Chapstick), since it's made to go near mouths, has an SPF, and is wicked easy to apply-- plus it's not as tasty as coconut. I'm just not sure it's working that well, though.

Anyone else run into this problem, or find a good topical product that will heal cuts but won't kill her in the process?

UPDATE:
Mamala mentioned Musher's Secret-- I'd completely forgotten she sent me some last winter until yesterday. I slathered it on Alice's scars last night and they're already doing substantially better. This might be the miracle cure!

Did you know...

Did you know that October is National Adopt-a-Shelter Dog Month? I just found out a few days ago and have been so impressed with the resources that blogs and organizations have been putting out. Here are a couple of my favorites:

1. I Love Dogs, Inc. Adopt a Dog Profiles. Each day they highlight a new dog that's up for adoption. I love these sweet profiles-- they're like little personal ads.

2. American Humane Association's Website. This is the hub of the activity. They have some nice articles.

3. The ASPCA Twitter feed. I love the little articles they post-- bite-sized and tasty! Great when you need a break from work

4, The Bark's Blog. They focus on shelter dogs fairly regularly, but I particularly loved a post they did today: valid reasons why getting a shelter dog is a good move. I agree wholeheartedly with this list: I feel like we knew a lot more about Alice when we got her from talking to the shelter staff than we would've if we'd gotten her from somewhere else.

UPDATE:
Ariel suggested another great website: Save a Dog. This site is super cool-- lots of links along the side to different types of information (what to do if your dog is lost, holistic diets, and adoption stories-- I love those). Definitely check out Dog Humor (I like "Why Dogs Bite their Owners"). Thanks for the suggestion!

Anyone else find some good websites worth sharing?