SLEEPING DOGS

It's been kind of a heavy week here at Daily Pulget. All this talk about lost soldiers, constitutional bans and book plots really wore me out. The world you humans live in is fascinating... but it can be soooo exhausting!

I'm really glad it's Friday. By the time you read this, I'll be probably be celebrating the occasion with a nap. My human says she's got some fun things planned for the weekend, so I'd better be awake.

See you Monday!

BOOK REVIEW: Nose Down, Eyes Up

Nose Down, Eyes Up
By Merrill Markoe

The "official" synopsis describes Nose Down, Eyes Up as "A hilarious novel about a man who won't grow up, his confused relationship with women, and his four (talking) dogs." Of course there's a lot more to it than that, but I won't ruin things by unraveling the book's entire plot. Let's just say by the time you reach The End, a whole lot happens. There's love. Betrayal. Multiple identity crises. Metaphysical discussions about peeing. Oh, and a life-threatening natural disaster that'll keep you hanging on until the last page.

Nose Down, Eyes Up would be a good read even without dramatic plot twists thanks to its enlightened cast of canines. Of all the dogs, pack leader Jimmy is by far the coolest. He's super smart, kinda snarky and if he didn't live in a book, I'd totally hang out with him. See what I'm doing in today's photo? That ridiculously cute nose down, eyes up thing? Learned it from Jimmy.

The human characters in Nose Down, Eyes Up are... interesting. Gil, the alpha-human, is what you might call a bit of a loser. He swears a lot, drinks too much, makes consistently bad choices and lets everyone down as a result. Even when he knows better, Gil heads straight for worse. But he loves his dogs and that goes a long way with me. Besides, without Gil's impressive canine-communication skills, who'd tell the dogs' side of story?

The LA Times called Nose Down, Eyes Up "an amusing time-eater" but I think it's a little more than that. Most humans (including my own) have a hard time creating an authentic "dog voice" but Merrill Markoe is totally fluent in dog. If you don't mind some swearing and Gil's awkward (but brief) attempts at a sex scene or two, think about adding Nose Down, Eyes Up to your summer reading list.

PUGS LOVE LOVE

My human has one rule for this blog: no sex, politics or religion. And usually I'm totally OK with that -- but just this once I'm going to break the rules and talk about something that involves all three.

Y'see, last night some streets in my neighborhood were blocked off by big metal fences and rows of policemen. Pretty unusual. So I asked one of the nice police people what was going on. He explained it was to keep the crowds under control.

Crowds?

Yes, crowds. Marching through my neighborhood in protest. Long story short, last November a whole bunch of California voters said yes to a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Because their vote won the majority, the ban went into effect. But then a whole bunch of other people said no way! Separate is NOT equal. And tried to fight the ruling in court.

Well, today that court announced its decision to uphold the ban. So if you live in California, are gay and want to get married.. too bad. All you can do at this point is protest the decision (like hundreds did tonight in San Francisco). Or move to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine or Iowa.

Now, I'm a pug. And a lot of human details get lost on me. But from what I understand, this constitutional ban-thing makes it impossible for two people who love each other to get married. And even I know that for humans, getting married to someone you love is a pretty big deal. I'm sure there's another side to the story, but from a pug's perspective I can't think of too many good reasons to get in the way of love.

Pugs love love!

IT ISN'T ABOUT PICNICS?

When my human asked me to wave a flag for yesterday's photo, I said sure, no problem. I didn't really understand what flag waving had to do with Memorial Day --- I thought Memorial Day was to a holiday to celebrate picnics? But sometimes my human has some weird ideas so I did the flag thing without really knowing why. Figured I've done sillier things for a few Cheerios.

So, Brother Dutch and I spent yesterday prowling the picnic areas for leftovers and I didn't give flag waving a second thought. Until later that day when I saw lots of people waving flags on the nightly news. And a lot of them looked kinda sad. Sad about picnics? Sometimes humans can be really confusing!

As usual, I turned to my friend Google for help. Turns out Memorial Day doesn't have anything to do with picnics at all - it's a tribute to soldiers who have died in wars. I'm a little fuzzy on the whole "war" concept, and I still have no idea how picnics got involved, but I'm really glad I did the flag waving thing. Even if I didn't know why at the time.

MEMORIAL DAY

No words today.

PUGLET ON FOOD

I don't usually write about the same thing two days in a row but after the response I got to yesterday's post....

From dogs:
Puggggglet, what are you thinking?!? If you only knew the hoops I jump through for a few measly cookies!

Please don't confuse the humans. You are wrong. Food IS love.

Great timing, Puglet. Memorial Day weekend? Picnics? Snacks galore? Hellllo!

And their humans:
Puglet, I don't think you understand how hard it is to "just say no" to a dog. Especially a hungry one. And my dog is always hungry.

My dear Puglet, YOU might not think food is love but MY pug does.

Our dog is overweight. We feed him twice a day and twice a day he acts like he's never eaten before in his life. We try not to indulge him, but always give in. It's not like he'd be happy eating carrot sticks!

Uh, I didn't mean to rain on anyone's picnic. The truth is, I love food and I love to eat. I love eating SO much that I've been known to snack on rocks Yes, ROCKS. With an appetite like mine, it'd be real easy to go from Pug to pig. So it's up to my human to keep me healthy. She says it's really easy to go overboard on snacks because most commercial dog treats are calorie dense. Lucky for me, there are some tasty human-food alternatives**.



Favorite snacks at my house include:

- Big fat crunchy carrots
- Apples (be sure to remove the seeds!)
- Asparagus (steamed)
- Gerber (like the babyfood) Veggie Puffs (more 'puff' than veggie, tasty air keeps calories low)
- Pirate's Booty (another yummy puffed human snack; one bag lasts FOREVER)
- Raw marrow bones, filled with broth & frozen

Some human foods aren't safe for dogs to eat so check ingredient lists before getting too creative. If your dog has allergies or sensitive stomach, be on the lookout for stuff like wheat and corn.

Eat and be well!

** My human's never been a huge fan of feeding dogs "people-food", but Brother Dutch can't eat a lot of extra meat proteins (it's a Dalmatian thing) so she's had to get creative.

FOOD IS NOT LOVE

Summer's almost here and humans everywhere will soon be shedding their winter clothes, hitting the beaches... and facing the dreaded swimsuit. Us dogs get to hide behind fur coats year-round, but my human suggested this might be a good time to mention a disturbing trend we've noticed among my fellow pugs: doggy obesity.

To be fair, it's not just the pugs. My friend Google says half of all dogs in the US are overweight or obese. And my human says it's not just about vanity either. Doggy obesity can cause a whole list of health problems from diabetes to heart disease. I mean, I think food is one of THE best things on earth - but it's not worth making yourself sick over.

Visible signs of doggy obesity include:

• Fat on lower back and base of tail
• No visible "waist" when viewed from above
• Sagging stomach
• Overly-padded ribcage (ribs are hard to feel)

If this sounds like your dog, there is hope. A little exercise goes a long way and reduced calorie dog foods are readily available. There's also this stuff called Slentrol, an FDA-approved weight control drug just for dogs. But before going to that extreme, there are simple things you can do to help a dog slim down.

To keep me from porking out, my human takes me on long walks, uses low-calorie treats for training and floats my food in water to make mealtimes longer and more "satisfying". If your dog has a weight problem, only you can fix it. Talk to your vet or visit the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention website. There's tons of great info on there (no pun intended).

SELF-INDULGENCE

When I first told my human my idea for Daily Puglet, her immediate response was, "You want to start a blog? Ugh. Blogs can be sooo self-indulgent. I didn't really know it meant to be "self-indulgent" but promised not to do it if she'd help me blog. Reluctantly, she agreed. Cool! And then brother Dutch filled me in on the self-indulgence thing...

Uh-oh.

Self-indulgence: excessive or unrestrained gratification of one's own appetites, desires, or whims.

Whoa. I had NO IDEA that's what we were talking about. Luckily my pledge*not* to self-indulge only applies to blogging! I do try to keep my Daily Puglets engaging, but it's not always easy. Sometimes I don't really have much to say. Or would rather just take nap. My human suggested I start doing reviews to keep things interesting. Y'know -- Toys. Books. Food (if I'm lucky). Sounds good to me.

Today I got this new toy called a Bento Ball. I'll get to work on a review as soon as I figure out how to open it.

LAND SHARK

Lately I've been working on my Labrador mouth-meat attack technique. The sit-and-wait approach I told you about (y'know, the one that only works for ugly fish and lizards?) got me nowhere, so I've been exploring other methods.

As usual, Animal Planet has been a huge source of inspiration: Cheetahs. Piranha. Black Mambas. Tarantulas. They all seemed promising. But the Cheetah method only works if you can run as fast as a car. Piranha-style attacks require lots of willing accomplices; all I have is brother Dutch and he's not into it. Black Mambas rely on this stuff called "venom" which I don't think I have and don't really want 1) because it can kill things (despite outward appearances, I'm a peaceful pug) and 2) all the venomous animals I've ever seen are real creepy looking. The Tarantula approach had the most potential: use large fangs to trap the victim. Ok - I've got teeth, I can do that. Except they also "shower their victim's body with digestive juices, then lap up the resulting fluid". WHAT? Now that's just gross. Even to a pug.

I was feeling real discouraged, ready to give up my dream of catching the elusive mouth-meat. Then, during a re-run of "Untamed and Uncut", I found my muse: The Great White Shark.

Apparently there's a lot I can learn a lot from Jaws -- the shark's hunting technique varies by what's being hunted. Their primary strategy is "ambush" - taking their prey by surprise from below. But attacks can also come from above or behind when hunting dolphins (this helps the shark stay off the dolphin radar). Great Whites are also surprisingly acrobatic and can leap high out of the water to surprise its prey.

I've been working on perfecting my "ambush", but no luck so far. Am sure if I try all the Great White's hunting strategies, one is bound to work.... Right?

RUN LIKE A GIRL!

Yup, race time again.

Guess it's not all that exciting to watch me watch TV. But I really like watching the horses and Saturday's Preakness Stakes was really worth seeing. For one, the winning horse was a girl and a girl horse hasn't won the race in a very long time (1924). Not only did she beat alllll the boys, but Rachel Alexandra is the first horse EVER to win the race from the 13th gate (positions are drawn by lottery; 13th is farthest from the center of the track so whoever gets stuck there ends up running a longer distance).

With 1st place going to Miss Rachel and Derby winner Mine that Bird placing 2nd, there's no chance of a Triple Crown winner this year. I guess it's a real big deal for a horse to win all three races in the series (Kentucky Derby, Preakness AND Belmont Stakes) -- it's been over 30 years since that's happened.

My human's not a huge racing fan, but brother Dutch told me she used to have a "recycled" racehorse and really just likes the horse part. Lucky for me, she likes to put horses on the TV so I'll probably get to watch the Belmont in a few weeks. I'll let you know if something fantastic happens.

TASTES LIKE SEAWEED

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty easily entertained. Give me an old tennis ball, empty water bottle, pine cone (anything chewable, really) and I'll have a good time with it. The beach has become my #1 favorite place to sniff out playthings and yesterday I discovered this stuff called kelp (shown here as a brown blob with one end bitten off).

Kelp is the Jack's beanstalk of ocean algae. It lives in chilly, shallow water and can grow 2 feet a day to lengths of a hundred feet (even faster than that crazy kudzu plant). Kelp beds create underwater forests that provide food and shelter for so many different forms of ocean life that Charles Darwin called them rain forests of the sea.

Even if you've never eaten something you found washed up on the beach, chances are you've eaten kelp. It's used as a common binding agent in things like ice cream, salad dressings and cereals. For those of you who've never bitten into an actual kelp plant, let me tell you - the stuff is weird. Firm on the outside, hollow in the middle, with a thick jelly-ish bit in between. Good stuff!

Sadly, my human took away my kelp right after today's photo was taken. She said the plant's yummy jelly goodness can swell in stomach and cause big problems. I tried guilting her into getting me some kelp-containing ice cream, but she said no to that too.

** see kelp for yourself at Monterey Bay Aquarium's Kelp Cam **

DUCK. GOOSE. GOOSE?!?

One cool thing about being a puppy is that every day brings a new, new thing. Yesterday, that new thing was Canadian Geese.

I've seen ducks before. Seagulls. Giant crows. Even the oddly misplaced Night Heron that hunt for food in Dolores Park. But these big, fat, honking Geese? Never. Both my human and brother Dutch found this hysterical. Have you been living under a rock? I mean, who's never seen a Canadian Goose?? They're EVERYWHERE.

I have not, in fact, been living under a rock. But I don't know how these geese have escaped me all this time. According to my friend Google, I am definitely in the minority. The Canada Geese that just used to pass through the Bay Area on the way to someplace else have settled down. And taken over.

The city of Oakland has a serious goose poop problem. Palo Alto's once-migrating geese have gotten so fat on fast food leftovers, they're no longer able to fly away home. The flock I saw in Golden Gate park are crowding out other birds. Google says the Canada Goose issue isn't just a California thing either - these birds really ARE everywhere.

Maybe I have been living under a rock.

Anyway. My human says there's a company called "The Geese Police" that uses specially trained dogs to keep geese away from places like airports and parks. I've been thinking about getting a part-time job and chasing geese around sounds like fun. Geese Police dogs are Border Collies, but don't see any reason why a pug like me couldn't do it.

BROTHER DUTCH's MINI-ME

Meet my new friend, Junior. We met at the park yesterday when I accidentally mistook him for brother Dutch. From far away they look exactly the same, except Dutch looks small from far away and gets bigger when you get closer. Junior stays, well, junior-sized.

Have to admit, I found this all very confusing. I've met lots of brother Dutch's spotted friends, but I'm always a little shrimp compared to them. The new spotted puppy (Miley) is my size, but that's only because she's still a baby. Junior is 3 years old and 100% full-grown. He will always be pug-sized.

Brother Dutch explained that Junior is a mini-dalmatian. He says they're quite rare, probably the only one I'll ever meet. Cool. I asked if there are any rare giant-pugs I could meet. All he said was, "A dalmatian-sized pug? God, I hope not".

THE GREAT SHED-OFF

People often assume that short hair = low maintenance. In some ways that's true. Short haired dogs don't demand frequent trips to the groomer. They're easy to keep clean and don't need expensive haircuts.

But short hair also has an annoying tendency to fall out easily. Especially if it belongs to a densely coated dog like a Pug or Dalmatian. Live with one of these breeds and, like it or not, you will develop a new hobby: hair removal. Whatever time you don't lose to detangling knotted hair will be devoted to sweeping, vacuuming, swiffering, lint-brushing, and duct-taping every surface of your self, car and home.

To illustrate just how much shedding can happen in one 1,000 sq ft apartment, brother Dutch and I are going fill this 15 qt Ikea waste bin with discarded dog hair. Our human has agreed to only put ambient shedding in this bin -- y'know, no massive piles from Furminator sessions (we'll share one of those later!) just stuff that gets swept or sucked up with the scary vacuum.

We'll post a follow-up as soon as the bin is full.

THE AGILITY PUG

Tunnels and hoops and jumps. Woo-Hoo! Look at me GO.

Alright... that's not me. But it's not the greatest picture my human has ever taken, so thought I might get away with it. Until my human chimed in with: How fair would that be to Arnie, the pug in the photo who actually ran through tunnels and hoops? On a very hot day.

Anyway. No matter who's doing the running, it's called "Agility" and it looks FUN! Brother Dutch's spotted friends were doing it and there were lots of those racy Australian dogs too, which made me feel a little... well... slow. And short. And generally not very agile. Then I saw Arnie. He was like lighting!

At 13" tall, Arnie the agility pug competes in the 12" class. This means the jumps he flies over are almost as tall as he is! Arnie's diminutive puggy stature probably makes going through tunnels easier, but this doesn't seem like a major size-advantage. I mean, how hard can it be to go through a tunnel? It's not like you defy gravity or anything. Flying over 12" jumps on the other hand, wow. That must take some work.

I didn't get to test out my Agility at the competition yesterday, but after watching Arnie I'm dying to try. Next time I post an agility photo, I swear I'll be the pug in it.

THANK YOUR MOTHERS

I'm a few days early with this since I take weekends off, but as a reminder to everyone: this Sunday (May 10th) is Mother's Day.

The holiday itself has a long history and mothers have been around for, like, forever. I mean, without mothers, none of us would even be here. I haven't seen my mother in a long time, but I will always love her.

Like many Pugs, I came into the world via something called a C-section. My human just explained this means they had to cut a HOLE in my mom to get me out. Gee, think she deserves more than just flowers for something like that!?!

THANKS MOM!

THE ODD COUPLE

People often comment that brother Dutch & I make an odd couple. Guess that's understandable. If you compare our two breeds, we don't really have much in common.

Dalmatians:

• lean, sleek, muscular build
• originally bred to run long distances along side horse-drawn carriages, are full of stamina and endurance
• highly active; don't enjoy sitting around all day with nothing to do
• born completely white - black or liver colored spots develop later

Pugs:

• square, thickset, stocky body
• bred primarily for companionship, are well suited for sitting on human laps
• inactive to moderately active; capable of walking pretty long distances but also make very good couch potatoes
  
• light colored pugs are born a dark chocolate color - everything but the face and ears lighten up later

There are a few things Pugs and Dals do have in common though. Constant, heavy shedding. An insatiable appetite for food. And velcro-like attachment to their humans.

WHAT'S OBEDIENCE?

Today my human took me to meet a friend's new spotted puppy, Miley. Miley is SUPER cute and playing with her was a ton of fun (don't worry, I'll introduce you some other time) but getting to hang out with the older spotted dogs was the coolest.

These dogs might look like Brother Dutch, but they have one thing he doesn't: ribbons. LOTS of ribbons. And trophies. And loads of other stuff they've won competing in something called "obedience".

I'd never heard of this obedience thing and, as usual, had to ask my human for more info. She said obedience is when she tells me to "Sit" and I sit. Competitive obedience, on the other hand, gets waaaaay more complicated than just sitting. There's heeling and staying and coming and going and jumping and retrieving and lying down and... wow. Like she said - a whole lot more than sitting.

I don't know about everything else - but sitting, I can do. Have never won anything for doing it, but as you can see, I can sit with the best of them.

Cinco De Mayo

Lots of people think May 5th is the Mexican version of our July 4th. But Mexico's Independence Day is actually in September. This May holiday is to celebrate an underdog victory against super-power France back in 1862. And even though Mexico succumbed to French rule less than a year later, the importance of that victory lives on...

In places like Oregon.

Thanks to a partnership with its sister city Guadalajara, Mexico, Portland, Oregon has one of the largest annual Cinco de Mayo festivals. Over 300,000 people attend the festival each year -- some even travel from Guadalajara TO Portland, bringing authentic Mexican food and culture with them!

I wanted to celebrate this 5th of May by eating lots of good Mexican food, but my human said I had to settle for wearing a sombrero.

AND THEY'RE OFF!

To celebrate Saturday's 135th running of the Kentucky Derby, I thought I'd get a bunch of my dog friends together for our own little race. Y'know, to see if we could beat the horses' time. But the bad foot & rainy weather put a quash on that plan so we watched the race on TV instead.

Even if you're not a racing fan, this year's derby was definitely worth watching. The drama started early when the favored horse dropped out at the last minute with a foot injury. When everyone was busy recalculating the betting odds, Kentucky's yucky weather turned the track into a dicey sloppy mess. Things got really interesting about a minute and a half into the race when Mine That Bird, a nobody horse with very beatable odds, sprinted out of dead last place to win.
And not just by nose - he won by a near record-breaking 6 1/2 horse lengths.

My human says the best thing about Mine That Bird's win is that it scored one for the underdogs. A $9,500 horse among million-dollar competitors, he showed up at the derby in a regular old trailer pulled by his trainer's pickup truck. He was so far off everyone's radar that even the race announcer failed to notice him taking the lead until he was almost across the finish line.

I think this horse racing stuff is the best thing on TV!

Brother Dutch said racing also has a dark side, that endings aren't always so happy. I don't exactly know what he's talking about, but when Mine That Bird's jockey started to cry during the post-race interview, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

GLAMOUR PUG

I've been so preoccupied with my foot that I completely forgot to share my "glamour photo".

Awhile ago, a Daily Puglet follower named Kathy (LOVE that I have followers!) suggested I enter a pug photo contest put on by the Valentino people. I had no idea who Valentino or his people are, or why on earth they'd want a picture of me.

As usual, my human explained. Valentino is a super famous fashion designer. Uh, ok. Who also happens to be a huuuge pug Like all devoted pugs, Valentino's follow him everywhere, from design studio to private jet to yacht. They even have starring roles in the new documentary about his life's work. To celebrate the film's release, there's a glamorous pug photo contest.

Ah, got it.

So here I am, Red Carpet-ready in my most fabulous outfit. For added glamour, I even convinced brother Dutch to be my date (not an easy thing to do). The contest is over, but you can still see photos of pugs who entered.