Cute Klepto

Our friend, Darby, came to visit us a few days ago.  We were happy to see him, and he is healthy and getting less and less shy.  He is, in fact, getting downright bold!  Our Guardians were chatting and when Darby's Guardian was ready to leave....well, let's just say something was in Darby's mouth that wasn't there when he first came into our house.

His Guardian commanded him to drop it....but Darby stood fast and tried to cover up the evidence with his own face fur.

Darby's alter ego, "Klepto," was firmly in charge!  He left the house with it still in his mouth. We heard he carried it all the way home, and despite being thirsty from a hot day, he held fast to it at his home and when visiting the next door neighbor.

We didn't care....we have enough toys.  We were happy to share one with our friend--even though Gus and I seldom share toys with each other.  (Does that make us "not friends?"  Hmmmm...)

Gus decided he did want to play with the red bone after Darby returned it to us.

And Darby's Guardian let us know that Darby has learned a new lesson.

Best part----Gus and I became friends again because I had shared the red bone with him after Darby brought it back.

 That felt really right and good. It was nice to snuggle and sleep on top of him again.  Am I mellowing in my old age??

DEATH VALLEY DAYS OF SUMMER

You know Guardian told us last year that we had a wet visit from Seattle. We never got to meet Seattle.  Well, now she's saying Death Valley is visiting us.  We were willing to meet Seattle, but this Death Valley sounds pretty...well...deadly.

So, we are basically doing summer hibernating.

Although I'm starting by hiding.

Then I tried to hibernate, but I kept my eyes open.  Didn't want Death to creep up on me.

Jazz, you worry too much.  Let me show you how Death will not care about you. Just play being not alive.

 I could get used to this, Gus.

Well, if Death wants to meet us, we'll both meet 'em together...joining forces....battling Death.....ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

But........are you sure we should be sleeping at a time like this?

LOVELY LITTLE LASSIES LOVING LITERATURE

Guardian recently took me to the short trip library that Gus usually goes to.  I just had to have a chance to be known there, since I'm the more experienced therapy pug in the family.

This is the first reader.  She just relaxed me.  

This is reader number 2. Can you believe she's only 5!  She read a book with sentences that had to do with some Sam dude.  She also let me see the pictures. That was a nice touch.

I had to sit up and take notice of that!

Lovely lassie number 3 didn't like dogs. Oh well, it happens.  I got to be in Guardian's lap for this one.

Reader 3 was a little shy here.

But she soon perked up.

No one can be shy around me for long! 

I'm just irresistible!!!!

BLOWING BUBBLES FOR BOUNTY

Gus here.  I never get enough to eat.  No matter that my Guardian tells me my weight is perfect and the food I eat is very good for me.  I'm still always hungry.  So I'm trying something to encourage Guardian to feed me more often.  I blow bubbles for bounty.  You know...bounty...like lots...lots of food...bounty of food.  Whatever.  I speak pug, not English, so sometimes you gotta interpret.

So here I am staring down my food bowl.  I bubble sometimes, and I know Guardian sometimes laughs and tells me my bubbles are funny.  I decided to give her the biggest bubble ever, especially if it meant I'd get more food.

Look at this sucker....it's bigger than my nose!!!

But did it get me more food???

So, where's my bowl?  Where's my bounty??? 

Disappointed again :(

OUR VERY OWN PRIVATE PARK

We've all been bummed out by this latest hot, hot, hot weather.  Guardian says that three days in a row of 90+ degrees = heat wave. I don't know about that. Except for knowing how much is in my food bowl, I don't bother with numbers. All I know is that Guardian wouldn't let us out on the deck AT ALL.

Even she was fed up with staying indoors except for our short potty breaks.  We went down on the very bottom floor of our house, and that's when she had a surprise for us.  OUR VERY OWN PRIVATE PARK!  No car, no crate, either, needed to get to it.

 Here it is....trees and shade and grass. OUTSIDE. Even in the heat! Only...no path like our usual parks.   I was cautious.  Gus, the goofball, will go anywhere, and he was right there in line, doing his usual velcro pug stuff, but I hung back.  


 Jazz: What's that wheely thing?
Guardian: It's a Beach Buggy.
Jazz: Where's the beach?  I'm not going anywhere. You're just trying to trick me.
Guardian:  [Shrugging]

Guardian took a few things outside plus the wheely, then added Gus. But not me!

They left me behind---imagine that!!  I was frantic!   Finally, after what seemed like two lifetimes, Guardian checked up on me.  This time I was NOT gonna be ignored.

Maybe if I ignore her, she'll go away.

 

I told Gus what I thought about being left behind.  I knew better than to scold Guardian if I wanted to stay with them.

I was gonna show Gus I meant business, so I started to hump him.

Get away from me, Jazz!

I told Jazz all right! I'm duh man dog!

I happened to look over my shoulder then.  What is that?

That looks an awful lot like our deck!  What's it doing in our very own private park?

HEE HEEE HEEEE...and she thinks she's SO smart.  I knew where we were all along!

WACKY WEATHER

Well, once again we've gone from spring into summer, with clouds and rain in-between. As you probably know, pugs don't do well in direct sun, especially black pugs. Today the numbers didn't look all that bad--like 82 or something says Guardian, but we just walked half-way around our circle road, and I was pant, pant, panting. Gus was too busy listening to the lawn mowers and keeping his eyes on the mail truck.  He likes trucks. One day Guardian went to get the mail and next thing she knew, Gus had jumped into the truck, landing on the mail carrier's lap!  He's been wanting to do that again ever since.  But the mail carrier wants no repeat jumping events like that!

Something about the bright sun and no clouds just makes everything hotter.
 It was cool just to slum in the shade.

Gus was just so happy slumming that he wanted his back to enjoy the cool grass, too.

So the next day we figured it would be the same...but whenever Guardian won't let us on the deck to chew on the bully sticks, we know the weather is wacky.  She showed us the temperature number dial.  Guess you can see why we weren't allowed out on the deck or on the grass that day.

We hoped we go out on the deck the next day.  Well, here's the dial again---no sun, some rain, lots of wind and a lower number:

Too cool and wet.  No deck---again! 

What's wrong with that dial, anyway?

 Guardian went on the big Source of Info on the Internet and found about something she said was called "Arctic Amplification." 

Jazz:  Wha?!
Guardian:   Well the ice in the top of the world that pushes hot sun rays back into space has melted.  Then there's more ocean that can't send those rays back, so it heats up.  That messes with the West to East river of winds that create weather changes.  That river of wind looks like a big roller coaster.

 

This windy roller coaster now goes slower, but the high parts are higher and low parts lower and wider.  That's why we get stuck in days and days of all too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry weather. Then, all of a sudden it changes to something totally the opposite.

Jazz: I have no idea what you just said.  Can we go back on the deck now?

Jazz: Weather seems just fine, Guardian.

WHAC-A-MOLE WELLNESS

Gus has Stephen King eyes (no pupils, just weird, scary dark eyes ) gets 3 different eye meds, eats special food without rice or fish or beets, and gets shots because he's allergic to about every grass, fungus, tree and plant there is. Then he got all this white stuff that started to show up all over his back and haunches.  Like someone had taken a sea salt shaker and sprinkled it on him.
But what got Guardian really upset was that Gus started to lose patches of his fur. Then he got some bald spots and his once shiny black coat got all dull and ugly. 

Now, therapy dogs just can't have that problem, so off to the vet he went.
Gus told me that it took Guardian and the other lady who works with the vet to put wrestling holds on him to keep him from jumping off that slippery table. He escaped a couple of times, then Guardian pulled out the big guns....uh....smelly treats.  Gus has to be really, really sick not to eat, and when that stuff waved in front of his nose, well, next thing he knew, he was out of the wrestling hold and done with the vet.  Guardian said the vet scraped Gus's skin and sent it off somewhere.

Jazz: ALL his skin?
GUARDIAN: No, silly, just a tiny bit of it.

When it came back, it was not good. Some kind of bug that usually attacks human throats was now attacking Gus, but far from his throat. What's a bug that attacks human throats doing on a pug's skin???!! Has some infected human been sucking on your skin,Gus? 

And it meant that it needed special medication AGAIN. 

And new shampoo.

Guardian: Figuring out how to keep Gus healthy is like playing Whac-A-Mole.

Jazz: Whack a WHAT?
Guardian: Oh some kind of game...hard to explain. But we just get one Gus ailment fixed and another pops up. We don't know his background, 'cuz he was adopted.  But he sure is a walking ad AGAINST puppy mill breeding, since that's where he probably came from.



Then she changed some of his food again....he gets real rabbit patties instead of canned food. (She sometimes sneaks a piece of the bunny to me! YUM!)  Then she gave us both some white glop to eat for our fur.

But, you know what? Gus is better! No more bare patches. His fur is shiny again thanks to all that special care. Much less sea salt sprinkles. He told me he feels a LOT better now, too.

So moles BE WARNED!!!! That whacker is ready to knock you down if you ever show your ugly mug again!