PRACTICE

Even though I'm pretty much OK with the 1000 Pugs situation (except for the airplane thing) my human said I ought practice being the #1/1000 Official Spokespug.

I really wasn't sure what she thought I needed to practice. I mean, I already had The Epiphany. I totally get why 1000 Pugs is cool. And as long as none of the other 999 pugs tries to steal my #1 spot, I'm fine with whatever (except the airplane thing).
But practice sounded like something I might get cookies for doing, so I went along with it.

Well, next thing you know she loads me in the pod (without Dutch) and we head over to the Bishop Ranch vet place. Cookies or no cookies, I definitely did NOT want to practice anything at a vet.

Luckily we were only there to pick up Emi. I guess her eyeball exploded on Pug Rescue Lady's leg or something so the eye-removal surgery had to happen asap. I was still confused about the whole practice thing, but it was good to see Emi again. She is SO much happier and cuter without the creepy eye.

It didn't take long to figure out what I was supposed to practice once we got to our next stop: Pug Saturday in San Jose. My human explained that if I want to be the 1000 Pugs #1 Spokespug, I have to embrace the idea of her and Nikon and my cookies spending time with other pugs. I asked if there would be enough cookies for me too and she said yes.

Then she stuck me on a bench next to my buddy Eddie and started taking pictures.

Now, you have to understand that Eddie is even cuter than Frank. He always wears these cute neck outfits AND he head tilts. So of course my human was all gaga over him even though I was sitting right there. But I tried to practice being good and I totally did kinda ok. Until my human broke out the salmon Omegas.

That's when I kinda went mini-poodle on Eddie. He's my friend so I wasn't really trying to poodle him, but it was totally impossible to just sit there and watch him head tilt at Nikon and make my human go awwww AND eat my Omegas all at the same time. I guess my human was right. I do need to practice more.

Sorry Eddie. But next time maybe skip the insanely cute head tilt thing?

PS: thanks for being nice to Dutch. I'm supposed to tell you he feels less Jan-y now, whatever that means.

MARCIA MARCIA MARCIA

Hello again everyone. My human made Pug give me the blog today to make me feel better. There is no need to send juju, I'm not sick. I just feel bad inside.

Ever since The Epiphany, it is nothing but pug this and pug that. It has always been Puglet, Puglet, Puglet at our house, but at least when Pug was anti-1000 I was not alone.

Now, I am alone.

I am not, and never will be a pug. I am not, and never will, be 1 of 1000. And that makes me feel like nothing, a zero. Like... Jan Brady.



I saw this poor Jan on the television once and didn't understand why she hated Marsha so much. Now I understand: she didn't hate Marcia, she just felt left out. Like a big empty zero.

I love Pug(let) and think 1000 Pugs is a marvelous thing. But I'm feeling sad and Jan-ny because I can't be part of it all. I will never be a pug. Neither will dogs like Ollie the Canadian beagle, the Jersey Shore Puggles, or Gunnie and Gabby and EMP 3, who are cats.

And what about the pugs who live too far away to be 1 of 1000? Like Misiober's pugs in Poland, or Carlos Santana in Berlin. How can they be part?

I asked my human and now she's a little sad too. Her heart is much bigger than Puglets and she wants everyone to be included... but she can't turn cats and beagles into pugs and something called a budget won't let the tour go to Poland. Now I feel bad for not being a pug AND for making my human upset.

Does anyone have any ideas???

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SPECIALNESS?
I can't find where my human hides the special Day calendar, so let us all eat cookies to celebrate just in case. If it is your day - VERY BIG HAPPY TO YOU!

EMI + THE EPIPHANY

Hey everybody. Sorry for being kinda, uhm, gone the last few days. I was really confused (and unhappy and mad) about the whole 1000 Pugs thing.

People always tell me I have a big heart, but I wasn't sure it was big enough to deal with 999 other pugs posing for Nikon and eating my cookies and, according to my girl Bellatrix, biting my backfat. Then I met Emi.

Emi is Bellatrix's new foster-sister. Central Coast Pug Rescue flew her to San Francisco (like, on a plane!) so she could get her bad eye taken out. When I met her on Sunday, Emi was kinda really sick. Like, really sick.

Bellatrix's mom took Emi to the vet and they said her sickness was this thing called Parvo. If you've never heard of Parvo, it's super bad. My human says puppies like Emi die from Parvo. Yeah.

So, on top of worrying about the 999 other pugs who are going to eat my cookies and bite my backfat, I was also really worried about Emi. It was all just too much. I thought maybe all those Occupy People know something I don't about how to change the world, so I did what they did in Oakland went on strike.

I made Demands; my human promised I would be pug #1 and named me the Official Ambassador of 1000 Pugs. So I made bigger Demands, like a front row seat and all access pass to the 1kpugs 2012 Tour. But that didn't really work because the tour is happening on a plane (big thanks for the TOUR BUS TOUR BUS TOUR BUS chanting, Dutch told me).

Even though I mostly got what I wanted, it didn't make me feel better. I still didn't want 999 stranger pugs messing with my stuff and I was still really worried about Emi. Then yesterday my human said we were going on an adventure. And educational adventure, she called it.

Next thing you know, we're at some place called Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center. Not our normal vet or even one of Dutch's special-vets, but it was totally a vet. Yeah. Not my idea of an adventure. My human explained we were there to visit Emi. Except only her and Nikon were allowed in because Emi was in some place called isolation where other dogs are not allowed.

So me and Dutch waited for my human and Nikon to come back with some pictures. When we were waiting, one of the nice Bishop Ranch people fed us cookies and told us how lucky Emi is to have Central Coast Pug Rescue looking out for her. That's when the epiphany thing happened.

If you've never had one, Google says an epiphany is:

A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

I say an epiphany is when you suddenly figure out you were being kinda stupid about something. And when I was sitting there waiting to see Emi's picture, I totally realized how stupid I was being about 1000 Pugs. Because 1000 Pugs isn't just about 999 stranger pugs eating my cookies. It's about humans loving pugs and pugs loving other pugs and everyone helping save pugs like Emi.

Epiphany = 1000 Pugs is awesome.

And this is Emi from yesterday:

She's totally not sick anymore and my human said she's a total crack pug now! She'll get to ditch the bad eye once she's 1000% recovered, then she'll be ready to find a human. You can read her whole story on CCPR's website (it's really sad, so be ready for some leakage).

After my epiphany and seeing Emi's happy picture, I say bring on the pugs! All 999 cookie eating, Nikon stealing, backfat-biting of them. Now I just need to figure out how to score a tour bus!

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TWIN SPECIALNESS!
Big fat Happy Whelp Day goes out to my man Eddie in Redwood City, CA and his sister Stella McMuffin in London (like, England). I'll be eating double the cookies to celebrate :)

CASA DE WEIRD

Hello again everyone. Things are back to being weird at our house. My human said 1000 Pugs exploded her inbox but she didn't yell at HAL4 so I don't know what that means.

Pug was up all night having nightmares about 1000 pugs kept eating his treats and biting his back fat. I don't have back fat, but apparently having it bitten is the stuff of nightmares.

Both of them are about to leave for an adventure that I don't get to go on. I heard my human say it will be educational. They'll be back after lunch and I will be taking a nap until then, waiting for things to be normal again.

* * *

This is where we went today. Pug will tell you what we did there tomorrow.

PUG'S DAY OF ACTION

Hello everyone. You can probably guess why Puglet is not here today. But if you can't, I will tell you. It's because he is on strike.

I believe he got the idea from the Occupy people in Oakland. The NPR radio people have been speaking about them a lot and last night Pug told my human if she made the 1000 Pugs launch happen today, he would be forced to protest it. My human told Pug the website won't be alive until this afternoon, but it's definitely 100% happening.

Pug's original plan was to go on a hunger strike, but that only lasted until this morning when breakfast was served. After breakfast, he told my human that today is a Day of Action; 1000 Pugs means 0 Pug. And that is why I'm here.

My human doesn't want Pug to be unhappy, but she says 1000 Pugs is an awesome thing and refuses to let one pug ruin it for everyone else. Even if that pug is Pug. She has agreed to hear his demands and they are now in negotiations.

I am not on strike or taking Action so I'll be here all day to let you know what happens.