Heavy Breathing

Full Tilt, right to the end

2011-07-30T11:37:00.006-07:00

She had an episode on our walk and I had to carry her home - she didn't really recover from that point on. After spending the night in a 24hr Emergency Clinic for animals we finally got the prognosis from the doctor: Louise was suffering from congestive heart failure, the symptoms of which intensified greatly earlier that night. X-rays showed the telltale signs. Other tests showed that she was no longer able to get sufficient oxygen from breathing - possibly from fluid in her lungs. Holly and I opted to say our goodbyes to Louise rather than to prolong her suffering - Louise died this morning, at 6:15 am. This was not a financial decision but rather one made out of compassion. We let Louise leave with dignity.

While in hindsight we can see some of the telltale symptoms of her progressing condition, Holly and I were blissfully unaware of how weak Louise was becoming. Sure, she was slowing down, but Louise was pretty good at indicating to us when she wasn't interested in going out, etc. In some ways this proved to be a good thing for Louise as she continued to live her life unencumbered with thoughts of tomorrow and for the most part, at her pace.

Louise's final week was spent pretty much like any other week - she was in the office with me on Thursday, she was rolling around on the sofa in one of her playful 'wrestling matches' with me just yesterday, our walks were relaxed and quite enjoyable in the summer weather. Louise generally wanted nothing more than to be with Holly or I. (and whatever was on our plates.) Just yesterday she was barking on the sidewalk, just letting the neighborhood know she was there. Every day was a happy one, so long we we were together.

Louise was one of those fantastic, 'enrich your life in ways you never thought possible' kind of dogs. By that I mean to say she was a completely normal dog given a chance to be a part of a group who adopted her as one of their own. Our family group consisted of my wife and I, two cats and of course, Louise. Having two cats in the group ensured that our days would never be boring, as there was always just a little friction between them and Louise. But they had their moments of reconciliation as well.

I don't have a fantastic memory, which is why I'm thankful right now to have kept a record of her time with us here on this blog. Sure, the frequency of updates slowed down over the last while, but so did Louise, so I figure it evens out. Just knowing that I have several years' worth of stories and photos to remind me of the many adventures she had is comforting to me.

This is going to be the last blog post here but the content will stay up for those who wish to continue remembering this little dog. Comments will stay enabled for now and as always, we read every one. I hope you enjoyed these random stories about our little 'Heavy Breather'.

Getting a bit warm in these parts

2011-07-26T20:47:00.006-07:00

It's been so long since I have posted to this blog, but hey, at least I have been doing twitter updates. Anyway, this time I hope to recap a few of those twitter pictures as well as a couple new ones, just to keep things fresh.

The warmer weather has finally arrived, but it is in true Vancouver style, which is to say that it's decidedly 'warm' and not 'hot' like the rest of the continent. That's ok though, it's just about perfect weather for walking a heat-sensitive pug like ours. We haven't had to take any special measures yet, but both Holly and I have noticed that Louise is losing stamina when out for her afternoon walks. She still wants to go out, but well, she doesn't really last all that long.

The first two pictures are ones I took while walking with her along the sea wall. In the second one she is just 'investigating' the bottom rung and not actually trying to drink salt water. But it took a lot of sniffing for her to determine that it wasn't actually worth drinking. I guess the salt content isn't all that high in the waters around Vancouver so maybe it's normal that it would take a dog a bit of sniffing to figure it out.

The next picture is one where I have captured Louise licking her paws. If you asked me I'd say that it was a very cat-like behaviour but well that's not a popular theory with either the dog OR the cats.

All of this brings me to the last picture in this post, which is also one that I tweeted a few days ago. It was one of those lucky shots where I had set a wine bottle by the door with intentions of recycling it (we still have it here) and Louise decided to lay down next to it because the door was open enough to allow some cooler air to come in. Holly noticed first and suggested I take a picture. I did and what we have is a decently staged 'hangover' picture.

Wii find it exhausting

2011-07-07T21:07:00.005-07:00

I think we might have been the last family in Canada to purchase a Nintendo Wii. Of course, by being last we also happened to score a great deal (ie. basically free by using Shopper's Optimum points for a discount greater than the price of the console). Even with that though, we have noticed that prices for the remotes have held firm. I guess it's pretty easy to see where Nintendo makes it's money from.

Anyway, the Wii is a bit bothersome for Louise, as when we are playing with it, she is never quite sure where she should be sitting. Should she sit on my couch? Probably a good idea if it's Holly's turn. But once Holly's turn is over, Louise is wanting to switch couches again, as now I am up, practicing my golf swing. This back and forth action will continue for quite a while until Louise finally gives up and goes to nap in her bed.

Today was also the day when Louise came into work with me. I tweeted her picture a couple times as we had an employee information session, which gave me a few minutes of downtime while they prepared the room. Louise wanted to sit in my lap, so she was only too happy to smile for the camera. Of course, ten minutes later she was also bored enough to insist we go for a walk immediately. Luckily, my boss doesn't take offense to me walking out of his presentation, and I was able to get caught up later.

Still, overall it was a pretty good day for Wheezie.

Return to the river

2011-06-28T21:00:00.005-07:00

We rented a car for the weekend so that we could do a day-trip to the USA. Nothing like a little cross-border shopping to help out the economy, 'eh? Anyhow, as a peace offering for not being able to entertain Louise for an entire day, we decided to take her with us on Sunday, as we had some running around to do.

Based on where we needed to go, Holly also figured that we could probably fit in a visit to the park by the Fraser river - we used to live near this spot before we got Louise, and so for us it's fun just to return to get reacquainted with the place. That's probably a bit wordy for what I needed to say, but I have more pictures than words for this post, so bear with me while I fill things up a bit.

Our first stop was at IKEA to return a few things we got earlier (and then later suffered buyer's remorse over). This is actually a semi-common thing that happens to us with IKEA, so we have learned to keep our receipts close to the stuff we get there. A lot of their stuff is good, but well, not all of it tends to go well together and this was one of those times where what seemed like a good idea at the time of purchase turned out to be less compelling once we got home. Hence the return.

Since this was our first stop of the day, it also meant that we had to have a bite to eat - Holly had a cinnamon bun while Louise shared a hot dog with me - of course I was the greedy one who ate most of it, but Louise was ok with that because she actually got some hot dog - and the day was far from over.

Louise enjoyed the river but what was troubling to me was that for some reason she also really enjoyed the TASTE of the beach. That's right, Louise was licking up the sand like it was ice cream cone and I was getting more and more disgusted by the minute. Still, she thought it was grand, and had a good old time, as evidenced by this last photo, where I tried to get a good shot of the sand lining her lips.

Starting to feel like Summer

2011-06-05T17:47:00.004-07:00

Well we finally got some warm weather. Spring has been so late in arriving that it is almost summer. While Holly and I appreciate the way things are warming up, it's already evident that things are starting to take a toll on Louise. We had her out for a walk along Robson Street, which was convenient because we could slip into a store if Louise started to get too hot.

I'm still kind of surprised that I haven't seen very many water bowls set out for dogs yet. Spring may have been cold, but dogs still get thirsty.

Oh yeah, earlier today when Louise and I were out for her morning stretch, we met some people that recognized her. I was a little surprised when a lady asked me 'is that Louise? I read her blog.' I mean, Louise is famous, but I didn't think she was that famous! At first she was going to totally ignore the people, which is what she has been doing lately, but since the lady knew her name, well that kind of changed Louise's perspective a bit. She was willing to be neighborly.

What is she doing now? She is konked out in her doggie bed, snoring a little. One thing about the heat is that it really tires her out. Good thing our apartment stays nice and cool most of the time.

We found some tall grass

2011-05-21T13:02:00.006-07:00

Louise was back in the office yesterday which was probably a good thing since the weather forecast for the next little while is all rain. While I can still bring Louise in when it's wet, it does make for a lot of extra work.

But Friday was a fantastic sunny day and Louise discovered a new park area that has recently been put together. It is next to the Olympic Village, but is not nearly as elaborate as the park that is part of the Village. I think this was a vacant lot and they decided it would look nicer if they just threw down grass seed and some gravel for a path or two. It really was that low budget and simple and you know what? It turned out fantastic.

The grass is uneven as some places grew faster and taller than others, leaving a patchy texture across the lot that must have seemed a lot more interesting to someone at Louise's height than at mine. She already has a thing about long grass, as she likes to run in it, so I let her off leash and she would weave in and out of the tall spots.

I tried to get the camera low enough to give some idea on where the grass was in terms of height - obviously we aren't talking about a hayfield here. Just very fresh, new grass that has grown quickly. Louise just loved it.

The other nice thing about this little park is that it's even closer to the office than any of the other spots. This is great news for me, as there are times when Louise just doesn't have the energy to walk all the way over to the far side of the Olympic Village just to play in a park. Either she toughs it out and just sleeps the entire day away afterward, or she just pulls up short and indicates to me that she doesn't want to walk that far.

Yes, Louise has no problem telling us when she is done walking. Sometimes (especially on rainy days) it happens immediately on exiting the condo. Once she sees the rain, she will often just turn around and walk back inside. At other times, we will approach an intersection and she will just stop walking if we are about to go in a direction she doesn't want.

That wasn't a concern yesterday, as this park was close enough that she was able to romp about without getting too tired. She still wanted a nap later on though, but that was perfectly fine by me.

Dog-casting

2011-04-15T13:03:00.007-07:00

Ok, the first part of this post won't really be about Louise at all, but I'll bring it around to her, promise.

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of podcasts. I listen to a lot of them, especially on my daily commute into work. CBC is a fantastic source for some of my favorite ones and one in particular, Ideas had a three part series on dogs recently. You might not be into the far ranging topics on that podcast, so here are parts one, two and three respectively. Go ahead, they are free to listen to. They might take a bit to actually load up in your browser, depending on your internet connection, but I tested them to make sure they were legit.

Now coincidentally, Apple released a software update for their iphones (my podcast delivery method of choice) and when I synched up to get the update, I was half way through listening to the third part. Something messed up with that software update such that for a podcast that was part way through (an ipod/iphone keeps track of where you are) the pointers would be messed up, reporting the podcast as complete. If I pressed play, it would pick up from this point always, and play through, but if I paused or stopped it, starting again would resume from that same point. It was kind of like Groundhog Day, but on a very small scale. I ended up listening to that same portion about five or six times in order to hear it through to the end.

I'm not one to believe in fate or such but I do believe that one is shaped by the experiences in one's life. Maybe there were parts of what I listened to multiple times from which I will draw upon in the future - who knows. What I do know is that at the time I was listening to it I had Louise with me and we were making our way into the office after visiting with a friend. I did note that I was a little more attentive to Louise and what she might want to do as we walked on some less familiar streets in downtown Vancouver.

One of the things I found interesting about the above podcasts is the notion of how a dog's experience of the world must be radically different from our own. These creatures are smell driven, not sight driven like us. As such, they most likely interpret their surroundings with a different sensibility (no pun intended). It was an interesting topic that made me look at Louise in a different light. She's quite a little individual.

Playoff Madness

2011-04-14T09:30:00.002-07:00

Louise lives in a hockey town. No, not Detroit, although that is also a hockey town. We are proud to live in Vancouver, BC and all of us in our household are Vancouver Canucks fans.

Last night was the first game between our Canucks and the despised Chicago Blackhawks. I had to take Louise out just before the game and tried to see if Louise could predict the score, based on... well that part gets kinda gross, so I'll just call it 'reading the tea leaves' and let you imagine the worst. It's probably not far off.

Anyway, I think I mis-read what she was telling me because I was certain that she was predicting a 3-0 win for Vancouver. As it turns out, we scored 2 goals in the first period and that was it. We were out for another walk during the first intermission and this time the 'tea leaves' told me one more goal. Again, I was off in my reading by one goal as the remainder of the game was scoreless. I think I have seen the flaw in my reading pattern though, so I look forward to testing this further tomorrow night (hopefully another win against the no-good Hawks).

Maybe Louise can become as good a predictor as Paul the octopus was during the last FIFA cup.

Oh yeah, welcome to our newest followers! I am pretty sure you discovered us through twitter. I don't tend to blog frequently, but feel free to browse the more than three years of posts from the past. Louise has had many adventures.

Another Visit with Dr. Sandhu

2011-03-30T21:26:00.005-07:00

My goodness we had a long night last night. Louise was clearly having problems and was very uncomfortable. She could barely sleep and was generally miserable all night. While she was feeling miserable, at no point did she take it out on any of the rest of us - I just wanted to make that point crystal clear. Louise was suffering a lot but was good throughout all of it.

This morning, I didn't even make it all the way to work before I get a call from Holly saying that Louise is doing even worse and we are going to have to call the vet. I start making arrangements at work and with the doctor and in short order we arrive at his office.

I'm not really going to go into great detail over what was causing her problems, but will say that her bowels were blocked. Once Dr. Sandhu took X-rays it was pretty clear what the problem was and he had her back in fighting shape before we were able to return to pick her up. Louise's visit with the vet was barely an hour. She would normally have her teeth cleaned in about a month, so we also opted to have her blood work done at this time just to streamline the process for next time.

One of the cool things about the X-ray is that you can see her micro ID chip (around the shoulder area). I always nerd out over things like that and Dr. Sandhu had no problem with me taking pictures of the X-ray photos. (He was asking how many megapixels were in my camera phone.)

Oh yeah! Last weekend we saw Chester's owner and they finally got a new pug, this one named Julia. She's a lot smaller than Louise is, and of course is super cute. Just look at that face! Louise was pretty hyped up at the time and barking at nothing in particular and this was a bit startling for Julia so hopefully our next encounter will be more relaxed. It's alway fun welcoming a new pug to the neighborhood.

Louise welcomes Diesel to the office

2011-03-01T15:49:00.006-08:00

Today was a pretty good day at the office. That was because today we were introduced to a little Boston puppy named 'Diesel'. I arranged to bring in Louise so the two dogs could meet and I'm pleased to say that it went very well.

Louise and I arrived at the office first and as we planned, when Diesel arrived we came downstairs so the two dogs could meet. We have found that it generally goes much better when we introduce new dogs in this way. There have been times when a new dog will arrive at the office and if there is already a dog working that day, they will attempt to defend the office against the intruder. This neatly avoids all that and it gave the two dogs a last chance to pee outside (instead of on the carpets.)

Once inside the office the two dogs got along really well. Louise set her boundaries once, and after that Diesel respected them, despite being VERY excited to see another dog. He would jump toward her and try to get her to play (Louise was having none of it) but never challenged her directly. The best way to describe Louise's reaction to Diesel would be 'casual.' She didn't seem to mind him being around, and didn't seem to miss him when he was gone.

Of course, being a puppy, Diesel overwhelmed the office with his cute antics. I wasn't the only one chasing him around with a camera today. I have to say - it's much easier photographing Louise these days. Not only does she move a lot slower - something I don't seem to notice unless there is a much faster pup around - but she also knows what I'm trying to do when the camera is out. Louise will 'pose' for a photo much better than Diesel. Of course, he's young and still learning a lot.

One thing is certain - even though there was a young pup in the office, it didn't affect Louise's sleep schedule. Both Louise and Diesel managed to fit naps into their day.

Overall, it was fun having a new dog in the office. It reminded me of earlier times, when we had a lot more dog owners looking to bring in their pets. While at that time we had to be a little more rigid over which day of the week belonged to what dog, I think the rest of the office appreciated the overall variety of dogs, as compared to just the same one over and over.

As for Louise, I like to think that she was a bit relieved to discover that there was another dog to lend a paw at the office.

Twitter account for Louise

2011-02-24T15:49:00.003-08:00

I'm trying to keep up with the times. I tell you, that's what this is about. Louise now has a brand new twitter account and you can follow her by adding @wheezie_dog to your twitter feed. For a while now I have struggled to update this blog regularly enough because a lot of the time there really wasn't anything extraordinary going on, but I would have a funny photo. Well twitter seems to be about perfect for that, so I'm trying it out as a bit of an experiment.

Don't worry, this blog won't be going away. I will still update it from time to time. I'll just feel less guilty about not updating it weekly if I can still put out photos of Louise on twitter. When interesting things happen to Louise, I'll post a writeup here like I always have, and in a similar fashion. This is really just a way for me to increase what I put out.

Let me know what you think, if you like the idea, if twitter mystifies you, anything. I'm hoping this becomes a fun little experiment. Also, if you have a twitter account that is used primarily for your dog, let me know! I'll have Louise follow other dog's tweets!

Oh one final thing: if anyone knows of a better gadget for this on blogger, let me know. While the one on the side seems to do the trick, I'd prefer something with a bit more consistent formatting, etc.

February Adventures

2011-02-21T07:09:00.006-08:00

A few weeks ago we got a new camera for Holly. She has been taking a lot of pictures and video with it as she gets used to it and as a side effect I have a lot of fantastic shots of Louise I can share with you.

This first one is of Louise asleep on the back of the sofa. This is a usual cat perch so it's a bit odd to see her jump up here to relax. I'm guessing the sun was out that day and it would have been a warmer spot in the house.

One of the other things Holly likes to do is to compose the occasional song. To do this we have a digital keyboard that can plug into our computers and well, here we have Louise taking over a bit. I'm not quite sure what was going on but I bet that the song was probably about steaks, or maybe a blues number bemoaning the hardships of living with two cats.

Next up we have another action shot, this time Louise is eagerly looking forward to wrapping her lips around that turkey meat ball that Holly is holding up. We tore it in half so Louise wouldn't choke on it, which she didn't. Everything happened so fast after this photo that I really don't have a better one. Pugs are efficient when it comes to meatballs.

With all these indoor shots you might think that Louise never leaves the house during the winter. Not so! While she is sleeping more these days, she still insists on going out at least a couple times a day and unless it's raining she is usually out there for at least a half an hour. Of course, that means that one of us is out there with her during that time too. Louise has always been a great source of vitamin exercise because of this consistency. Oh, and as you can see, our grass is still green and we are without snow. But the temperatures vary quite a bit, ranging from a few degrees below freezing to about ten degrees above.

Bone Crazy

2011-01-30T16:35:00.002-08:00

So last night we were watching some shows and Louise hopped up on our sofa with one of her 'bully bones'. I'm not going to describe what this is other than to say it's a dog chew toy made from bull 'parts'. Anyway, Louise hopped up on the couch and started to chew her bully bone.

About a minute into this, Louise starts to act a bit silly over it. Holly had the quick thinking to suggest I get out my phone to film this, as it had us entertained. You can tell when I'm laughing because the camera starts to shake a bit.

Later on in the evening it happened again, this time in her doggie bed. I tried filming that too but this clip has the better quality so it's the one you get. Hope you enjoy the silliness.

Remembering Chester

2011-01-27T09:33:00.007-08:00

Man, I'm getting bad at this. A full week went by and I haven't been able to post about our walk in the park. The danger here is that the longer I put it off, the less detail I remember about it. I recognize that it's not really much of a danger for you, as really, the pictures are by far more important. But for me, I feel the need to fill the rest of the page with text. Forgetting details is losing precious cargo.

Before I continue, I do have some sadness to report: Louise's old friend Chester, who lived just a block away, was put down due to illness over the holiday break. We just found out last night because Chester's owner saw me coming home with Louise and she took the time to let me know. He was a fantastic pug, even more gray than Louise is, but only about a year older. Click on the link on his name and you will see a picture of him with Louise. Chester, you will be missed little buddy.

So as I mentioned, these are some more pictures taken from about a week ago when we were exploring the island park next to the Olympic Village. I think Louise liked the challenge of scrambling across the rocks to get to the island area, and she certainly liked what the city works department has done with the place. Even though it's an artificial island, it feels very natural.

On the way out of the park we wandered along a creek area that had also been created as part of the Village - it is now home to dozens of mallard ducks, of which Louise casually took note. I think by the time we saw the ducks she was already getting tired from running around though, as she didn't bark or give chase. For once, the ducks barely noticed her.

As I said, that was all about a week ago. Louise was in the office again yesterday, although it was a much more casual work day for her. While we did go out for a walk in the afternoon, she took the rest of the afternoon off to have a nap in her stroller. At one point one of my co-workers remarked that he wanted to just crawl in beside her to also nap, she looked that comfortable.

Preamble to a walk in the park

2011-01-23T20:22:00.006-08:00

We had a small adventure last week when Louise was in the office. On our lunch break we went for a walk in the park by the Olympic Village as usual, but this time the tide was low and we were able to check out this semi-island part of the park that has been completed.

Of course, this first picture is not about that at all. It was taken on a different day altogether, and the cat perched above Louise is Sassy. They get along reasonably well, if by that one understands that Louise will sometimes chase after Sassy because the cat wandered too close to her food bowl. This in turn usually starts a fight between Louise and our other cat, Sophie. Sophie (not pictured here in part due to objections raised by Louise) has been known to act protectively toward Sassy, even when it isn't warranted.

But I digress. Louise and I had a fantastic walk and I got lots of pictures as she scrambled over rocks, ran across sandy beaches and hopped along wooded trails - all within about 500 square foot area. This island isn't really all that big, and when the tide is low a land bridge becomes accessible. Technically, it's no longer an island at that time, I know.

Anyway, I took lots of pictures, enough to stretch this into at least a couple posts. As usual, the hard part for me will be remembering enough about what happened in order to write something to go with the pictures.

Oh, and my wife got a new camera recently, so she has been taking some really nice pictures of Wheezie too. I'll see about getting some of those up soon as well.

This January feels like April

2011-01-15T22:27:00.004-08:00

We are in the middle of the rainy season so that means our walks have generally been shorter. But today was warm so Louise and I set out despite the rain and toured the soggy neighborhood.

We did see a few other dogs out being walked, but none of her usual friends. There seems to be a lot of puppies in our community lately and well, Louise isn't a big fan of those. Specifically, she doesn't like puppies that don't have manners.

Still, she was pleasant to all we met, even if a bit aloof at times. This is of course preferable to the alternative of growling or snapping at a rowdy youngster. But as I said, there was none of that and the two of us had a pleasant stroll in the rain. I even let her read her P-mail off one of the fire hydrants, which she seemed to enjoy.

One thing about all this rain is that I try to time her visits to the office for the days that will be sunnier. This means she doesn't get into work as often. The current forecast is for the rain to break sometime around Tuesday, so if all goes well she will get her shift next week.

Food Coma

2011-01-08T09:58:00.003-08:00

This is a leftover picture from New Year's Eve. We had enjoyed a lamb dinner and that always means that Louise gets to feast on freshly cooked lamb bones. It's good times all around. Anyway, just like us, she ate a lot and celebrated a lot and well, later in the evening we noticed Louise slipping into a little bit of a food coma.

Yes, I'm that horrible person who takes pictures of you when you are at your worst. Still, this wasn't really Louise suffering as much as it was Louise basking in the glow of having eaten her fill.

Visiting Daisy and Gretzky

2011-01-03T13:20:00.007-08:00

Over the holiday we went over to visit with Bill and Colleen, friends of ours. They have two great dogs, Daisy and Gretzky. We were able to bring Louise with us, which is why I'm posting about it here.

Luckily for us, Louise has already met Daisy and Gretzky, so we didn't have any real issues with the re-introduction. Having said that, Gretzky has a habit of sneaking bites of food from the other dog's food bowls and well, that wasn't the sort of thing that would put him in Louise's good graces. Any time her food bowl was down, Louise had to sit guard to ensure it was safe from Gretzky.

However, Gretzky is talented. He knows how to wait for a commotion, or distraction. According to Bill, he's a master at this. The master did score once on Louise's bowl, but not without notice. We fully expected Louise to launch into a full on attack over this, but instead she just resumed her guard.

Which was good. We commended Louise over her restraint. Still, we had a good visit with our friends, and got to see their little baby girl too which was a lot of fun. Louise likes these little adventures as they give her something different to do. Of course, with a change in her routine comes a drastic increase in her activity and well, this would ultimately have a toll.

Indeed it did. Louise was pretty tuckered out the next day and really wasn't interested in doing much other than taking a nap for about 75% of the day. Still, her spirits were up and it was certainly worth it in my eyes. Thanks again Bill and Colleen, for having us over. All three of us had a pretty good time and we can't wait to see you again in the summer.

Sleepy Santa Pug

2010-12-25T18:45:00.004-08:00

Okay, this is a bit overdue but here we are. Louise has had to endure lots of rain this past month but now that the holidays are upon us she is starting to perk up.

We put up two trees this year, on opposite ends of our book case. Normally, we have a pet bed in each of those spots, so they had to be moved. In Louise's case though, her bed did not move very far at all, and she ends up sleeping just under the tree. Luckily, she hasn't messed with the ornaments too much so far - the worst that has happened is that she has brushed past them while getting set to curl up on her bed. (Louise tends to circle around her sleeping spot a couple times.)

It just happened that we were home for the holiday this year and I think the pets were pretty happy about that. It means less time being left to guard the house without us. Louise was pretty relaxed, in fact she hasn't wanted to move from the sofa all day.

Well, I need to wrap this up - Louise has started to stir and is looking to go out - right on schedule. Have a happy holiday season everybody and we look forward to posting more in the new year!

First Snow of the season

2010-11-20T20:59:00.004-08:00

They have been taunting us with snow in the forecast all week and I basically refused to accept it until the snow actually started to fall. Holly and I were returning home from eating dinner when some light flurries started up. This wasn't enough to inspire Louise to go for much of a walk though. What she noticed more was that it was basically cold and wet, and it was warm and dry in the house. She did her business and wanted to hustle back to the condo.

Of course, this was precisely what I had in mind too, so we agreed to have as brief a walk as necessary.

On the next morning Louise and I had a vastly different experience. There was about an inch or two of heavy, wet snow. This of course made everything on the ground twice as interesting and Louise had a ball. After she tinkles she sometimes likes to kick the dirt up a bit, and this is especially true with snow. Sorry for the posterior shot but well, I felt it was worth it to showcase the flying snow in action.

The snow continued to melt through the day but wasn't completely gone by the time temperatures started to drop again so now it's starting to freeze. It will have an entirely different, and less pleasant character by tomorrow morning.

November Wind Storm

2010-11-16T21:13:00.002-08:00

I took this photo on the weekend, when Louise and I went for a longer walk one morning. We went down to the marina in Coal Harbour and despite it being very overcast, we had a pretty good time of it.

Then, last night we were out for a walk and WOW, was it windy! Such a contrast to the quiet mistiness from the weekend, the winds were gusting up as high as 80 kph. It didn't rain very much or very hard while we were out walking (luckily) but the wind blew most of the leaves off the trees. It was kind of fun too, as it was not overly cold. Louise enjoyed having her little ears flapping in the wind and insisted on walking down to English Bay to see the waves crashing in.

Lamb bone and a visit to the Vet

2010-11-11T14:14:00.004-08:00

Just look at that face.

Holly picked up some lamb and one of the side benefits is that it usually has a bone suitable for Louise. This is always a highlight for her and she gets quite excited. I get quite excited too, because Holly is an excellent cook and as always, the lamb was very tasty.

I know that last picture is a little out of focus, but I really like the expression on Louise's face, which is why I decided to go with it anyway. She settled in on her pet bed and went to work on it. The bone kept her busy for the rest of the night but there was still most of the bone left over by bed time.

The other thing that happened recently was our annual visit to the vet. I guess it wasn't really the annual one, since we arrived months after the reminder notice was sent out. Still, better to be late than to have never showed up at all. We brought all three pets in for their shots and Louise went first.

It was pretty obvious that she remembered the vet and what that experience involved. She was not interested in being anywhere near him. When we placed her on the examination table she would move to the far edge - away from Dr. Sandhu. She was squirming so much that we had to hold her tight just for him to use the stethoscope on her chest. Louise remembered that this was where needles were involved.

Eventually we got her shots done (she had 3) and then we brought her back into the lobby while we looked after our two cats. Louise was cool as a cucumber and relaxed on one of the chairs while the cats were being dealt with. From there it was home, where all three animals slept off the medications for the night.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:06:00.002-07:00

Our little pug didn't do much celebrating this year. She had to stay home while we went out to a costume party, but for tonight she managed to cuddle up in Holly's lap and is fast asleep. I figure this is the way she likes to spend the holiday best, so that's ok by us.

BOO!

Welcome to the haunted season

2010-10-23T12:11:00.006-07:00

On our lunch break the other day, Louise and I walked over to the Olympic Village to check things out. Well to be honest, I was just curious to see how progress was coming along for the new London Drugs location as it is super convenient in relation to the office. Sadly, they are still painting the walls and such, so it is still a few weeks away from opening.

While there we did discover an overly tall patch of decorative grass, and I managed to persuade Louise into getting a couple good shots. She didn't really mind and we had a pretty good walk before heading back to work.

Fast forward to this morning when we headed out for our morning walk. Louise was raring to go, so we decided to head down to Coal Harbour to see the boats. We did that, but there wasn't much going on. I guess it's not really boating season anymore. On our way back though, Louise found some really nice leaves to rummage around in. The only complication I had was that it made it a little more difficult for me (as dog owners, you know what I am talking about) to pick up after her.

Still, Louise was not perturbed and we carried on our way, encountering more sidewalks covered in leaves. Oddly enough, we didn't stop to chase any chestnuts, although I do recall seeing her searching for some.

Later on we were out for our afternoon walk, and noticed that there was a 'citizen protest' going on against the proposed rental tower to be built in our neighborhood. There were dozens of people gathered, listening to various people take turns to speak. We took a pamphlet and kept going home though as by then it was lightly raining and Louise was pretty much done walking.

Octoberfest includes Chestnuts

2010-10-16T15:07:00.004-07:00

Okay, this first photo is of Louise with yet another chestnut in her mouth. What is unusual about this one is that she decided it was the right one to start chewing on, and managed to drive one of her K9 teeth so deep into it that I had to pull it off the tooth for her.

At least there was no risk of her choking on it. Sheesh. Still, she has oodles of fun with this, as evidenced by her furious tail wagging. I took a brief video of her chasing chestnuts, which I will add to the end of this post.

Of course, chestnuts aren't the only thing going on this time of the year - oh no. Last weekend while on our morning walk we got a call from Holly who was wondering what we should have for brunch. We decided that it would be a good idea to go to Starbucks and get some pumpkin spice lattes, along with a few things to eat as well. It was a bit of an indulgence but that was okay because Louise just loves waiting outside a Starbucks coffee shop - I think she assumes that there will be some treats in it for her if she does. She sure likes her Vancouver Island oat bars.

Of course she's right too, when we got home we ate our snacks (and shared a little with Louise) and drank our drinks - but ultimately concluded that the pumpkin spice latte is far too sweet for it to taste good. We have also tried a similar drink at Blendz but had similar results there too. It might be nice to find a pumpkin spiced drink that had the spice like a chai tea and a good pumpkin flavour without being filled with sugar on top.

Not that Louise cared one iota. She got her oat bar.

Autumn Antics

2010-10-07T20:12:00.003-07:00

Vancouver is a funny place when the seasons change. Not all of the cherry blossoms come at once and similarly, not all of the trees drop their leaves at the same time. Instead, the season stretches out for weeks, as trees of different types react to the colder weather on their own schedules.

Incidentally, this is quite possibly Louise's favorite season - it's still nice and warm during the day, yet not too hot to be bothersome. Also, she has that habit of chasing after chestnuts and well, they are dropping quite regularly this week. I'm surprised people still park their cars under chestnut trees during fall, since the dropping nuts have been known to dent them.

In a week or so I expect the wind to pick up and when it does, Louise should have some good times chasing after the leaves. As you can see by today's photos though, she isn't much interested in them at the moment.

New Pet Beds!

2010-09-29T19:25:00.004-07:00

While the old pet bed we had for Louise was good, it was starting to get a bit old and well, we were hoping for something just a little bit smaller, to fit our apartment a bit better. It was time to see about getting something new, so that's what we ended up doing.

Credit has to go to Holly for all the hard work of searching through all the various places that might sell such a thing, and to find something suitable. We ended up buying the pet beds from Jysk, which is kind of like an Ikea store on a budget.

Anyhow, we get home and swap out the beds and all of the animals go crazy for them. Louise curled up in hers almost immediately and Sophie did the same. We only got two pet beds because of the cats, they never seemed to want to use them at the same time. But on this day Sassy was feeling a little left out. The cats took turns though, so it was okay, and we noted that we need to plan for a possible third pet bed location in the living room.

The beds are called 'Pet's Pad' and so far they have been holding up, although they don't have a removable slip cover like the last one. We will have to see if they are better or worse in terms of maintenance, as Louise likes to eat her treats on her bed.

Rainy days, sunny days, it's all good

2010-09-18T10:39:00.004-07:00

Lately the weather has been a mixed bag, much like it is around here every year. It does slow down Louise a bit because well, she doesn't like to get her paws wet. It's not that specifically, but there have been more than one occasion where we get set to take Louise out for a walk but once she gets outside and sees the rain, she opts to turn around and go back inside.

You can almost hear her say 'Nah, I don't have to go that bad. Let's go back inside."

There you go folks, that's about as close as you will see me get to speaking in Louise's voice. At least here on this blog. Anyway, Louise has been kicking along, investigating skunks (which always scares the crap out of me when it happens), terrorizing our cats and napping wherever she pleases.

Fire up the barbecue!

2010-09-05T15:35:00.005-07:00

A while ago I learned that I either take my camera with me on EVERY dog walk, or I accept the fact that I am going to miss a lot of great photo opportunities. The plan for yesterday was to wake up and take Louise out for her morning stretch so that Holly and I could get some things done in preparation for a BBQ party we were throwing that evening. While I had no intention of taking pictures of Louise that trip, I took the camera out of habit and am glad that I did.

We ran into Nemo and... oh my. Just like that, I have forgotten the name of the other dog. With any luck we can get a comment from someone who knows better than I. At any rate, the dogs were happy to see each other and nobody was misbehaving, although at one point we did have to step on the leash for the one-who's-name-I-have-forgotten to prevent him from dashing off in chase of a car.

Anyway, these dogs are clever and have figured out how to bypass the fence at the church next door. Louise spent a few extra minutes with them exploring the church grounds but then we had to get going.

She had a bit of a nap while we stepped out to do some grocery shopping but was up again once we got home, following us back and forth to the patio we were going to hold the bbq at. Basically what it meant was that for a pug who is used to sleeping away large portions of the day, she was on her feet until the party was done, either begging or visiting with anyone who would give her treats or pets, which as it turns out, was just about everybody who came to visit.

So it's no surprise that our little dog is making up for lost time and is sleeping pretty hard today.

Move that fence

2010-09-02T19:43:00.006-07:00

You know, there are some days I sit down to do a blog post for Wheezie and I have no idea what I'm going to say. I just have a few good pictures taken from various points in the week and a glass too many of wine poured into me I guess. Anyway, Louise is here sleeping next to me and we thought it was a good idea to actually reach out to her fans again.

So here we are. Louise has been having a great August, with lots of trips into the office. I never quite understand the enthusiasm since when we get there she is bored and moans that I'm not taking her out, or she naps and wakes up to find me missing and has to go hunt me down, etc. But despite my bewilderment she absolutely loves it when she gets to come to work and if she doesn't, I call the vet because she must be sick. It's that rare.

Oh yeah, after putting the second picture on I remembered something to tell you about, dear reader. As you may know by now, the church on our street has been sold to a developer who wants to put up a highrise rental building instead. The entire community is in an uproar over it because well, nobody likes the idea. So just to be nasty about it the developer put up an ugly fence to keep people out of the gardens in the front of the lot. Well the way it was installed was a bit illegal as it was right up to the sidewalk and yes, this caused another uproar from the people. Well as you can sort of see in the photo, they were told to move the fence back to the legal limits - I guess the city lays claim to the property a certain distance from the sidewalk and they weren't allowed to fence it off.

Finally, I'm finishing off with a quick shot I took while Louise and I went to pick up a craigslist item. I had the air conditioning blasting on her to keep the temperatures cool enough and she seemed to enjoy it. She enjoyed getting home more though but that might have had more to do with the fact that it was getting close to dinnertime.

So innocent and harmless...

2010-08-22T20:19:00.009-07:00

Okay, so where do we start? Louise came in to work with me two times last week - it just worked out that I was able to bring her in on Friday as well as her usual Wednesday. As usual we went for a walk during our lunch break and we decided to check out the Olympic Village again. To be honest I am just curious to find out when the new London Drugs store is going to open as it would be conveniently close to the office. Still not open yet.

Anyway, in this first picture Louise is posing with the BC Place Stadium in the background. Note all the cranes and whatnot? Also note the absence of the inflatable roof? That is because they are putting in a new retractable dome style roof, or at least that's what I have heard.

Since that didn't interest Louise any, we continued on our walk and I found a spot where I could take pictures of her with those crazy birds in the background. I tried to get shots where it looked like the bird was whispering in her ear, or some other nonsense but it really didn't work out that well. Here's the best one of the bunch, you can figure out if there is a caption that could go with it or not.

Next up we decided to take a bit of a break before heading back to the office. I found a spot where we could sit in the shade and then tried to photograph Louise wearing my shades. It did NOT go over well. Generally speaking Louise doesn't like anybody messing with her face so it took several tries before she learned that I was not going to mess with her nose roll or anything else like that.

Later, on the way home, we met up with Chester. He's a pug that lives on our street and he's about the same age as Louise. He's normally quite happy to see Louise but today we had Louise's stroller with us and well, she got a little protective of it. Chester felt the date wasn't going so well when Louise started barking at him to get away from her ride. Don't take it personally Chester, she treats all the guys that way.

On Saturday the West End had the annual Dog Fair - I think that is what they call it. If you recall, last year we were there and filmed Louise eating a cupcake. I linked to it again recently and we hoped to do something similar this year but well, things didn't work out that way. Louise was pretty enthused to go to the dog park again, but wasn't the best behaved dog at the show, so we had to cut short our time there. I think it was a combination of the heat, the availability of treats and the high number of other dogs that just had her getting a bit too aggressive. She has to learn that not all treats are for her. In fairness, I also could be doing a better job at keeping her in line during times of high excitement.

Moving on, because we are all about the good times at Heavy Breathing, we have a picture of Louise sitting like a good dog as we participated in a contest to see who was the softest dog at the show. While Louise does have soft fur for her breed, we just couldn't compete with an Irish Setter, who won the show. But that was okay, they still had prizes for everyone, and the next picture is of Louise and I, holding the cup we got for participating.

No other dogs were actually harmed in the making of this blog post. We came close a couple times, but so far, so good.

Bonus leftover photo post

2010-08-14T11:42:00.006-07:00

Louise and I just got back from our morning walk - today is going to be pretty hot so we made sure to get out earlier before the heat became an issue. For me, this is the perfect Saturday in August, weather-wise. For Louise, not so much. I think she would prefer the perfect Saturday in late September, or even October.

Despite that we had a nice walk along Robson Street, coming back to the house through the side streets in the West End. Many of those streets are well shaded by trees, which also helped to keep Louise comfortable. While I brought my camera with me, I didn't end up taking any photos. Some times I just get lost in the moment and enjoy walking with our dog. Today was one of those days.

So instead, I'm treating you to some of the photos taken over the last couple weeks - some of the other ones that for whatever reason, didn't make it to the blog at the time they were taken.

A year ago there was an event held at the local dog park for all the pet-supply-vendors to show off their new stuff. There were representatives from Louise's favorite pet store, Bosley's as well as a bunch of others, ranging from those selling bike trailers for pets to doggie day care spots to various pet food resellers. Oh, and who can forget Louise eating her cupcake treat (complete with liver flavoured 'icing').

Anyhow, that event is coming up again soon, perhaps next week. Holly saw it mentioned in one of the local papers but wasn't sure what the date was so this morning Louise and I headed up there before our main walk 'just in case'. We will be happy to check out what is going on again this year - so if we manage to get there again, look forward to more adventures and possibly more film clips of Louise doing something silly. Or maybe just dog-like.

Okay, this last photo was one I hoped to include during the fireworks but really, I was never quite able to capture what was going on the way I hoped. It was during one of the nights we had fireworks, when the local roads were closed to allow the increase in pedestrian traffic. These four Japanese students were quite taken with Louise, who was only too happy to sit and let them take pictures of her. 'Kawaii' is probably one of the first Japanese words I learned thanks to Louise - it means 'cute' and she hears it often enough that sometimes she responds to it.

One Less Church

2010-08-06T19:15:00.011-07:00

Yesterday morning I woke up and took Louise out for her morning stretch. Like always, we headed half a block to the north to the church grounds. They have maintained a wonderful garden area that the entire community has used and appreciated. It's a volunteer effort that has continued despite the church being sold to urban developers.

The developer felt the need to fence off the property however - when I had Louise out for a stretch after dinner we had no access to the garden area. Now, as far as I can tell, the developer is nowhere near ready to begin tearing down the church - they are still trying to get city approval to put up their monstrous 22 storey rental tower in it's place, and well, that isn't going smoothly. Oh sure, our mayor is behind it, but the community sure isn't.

Anyway, none of this really concerns Louise too much, other than the fact that she can no longer sniff some of the areas she was used to trading pee-mails. I've put up a picture of the church in part as a reminder to me when it's gone, but I'm sure you can recognize the area in many of the earlier posts on this blog.

Now the fact of the matter is that I can't really talk about the old church more than I have. Quite simply, I don't have many Louise photos that relate. But what I do have are a lot of stroller-adventure photos. So we are going to go with that because well, this could be a long post (I have that many photos).

I guess it was a couple weeks ago now, but we decided to take Louise with us on a trip across town to do some shopping. It was going to be a bit of an adventure because it was the first time that Louise would be on the new Canada Line extension of the Skytrain. It's pretty snazzy compared to the older lines, with wider trains and new stations that still smell of freshly poured concrete.

We did have one encounter with Skytrain Security, but only because the security guard had questions for us about pugs - he was researching which breed of dog he wanted to get and they were high on his list. He was quite taken with Louise but was surprised when I explained that yes, pugs do shed. More than a little.

A lot of the shopping we were to do that day involved grocery stores, so that meant I had to hang out in front of the store with Louise. I think this goes a long way to explain why I have so many photos from that day. We were just hanging out, letting people say hi to Louise, and taking pictures.

It didn't matter though, she enjoyed the outing and was great the whole time. I think Louise just appreciates doing new things and breaking the routine every now and then. Who can blame her?

As I finish this post off, Louise is returning to another lamb bone - we had a roasted lamb dinner tonight and well, Louise is just doing her part to help out with the bones. It's kind of funny to watch the cats as they stare at Louise with awe. They know it smells good and can tell by Louise's enthusiasm that it sure must taste good, but whenever they get to sniff at a bone Louise has left unattended they just can't figure out how it is that she can actually chew through it. I know I run the risk of anthropomorphizing them a bit, but I can almost feel the jealousy from them over this one dog ability. As for Louise, well when she's chewing a bone, the only time she pays attention to a cat is if it gets too close.

Vancouver Pride Parade 2010

2010-08-01T20:07:00.006-07:00

As usual, the Vancouver Pride Parade kicks off the beginning of August and we were there, although for some reason we struggled a bit to get up and get out of the house. But we made it and as usual it's one of the best parties this town throws.

Louise's favorite part of any of these outings has to be the carnival food and she was lucky enough to taste some. While Holly and I had to basically view each of the food vendors to make up our minds on what to eat, Louise was pretty much in favour of anything, so long as she could share.

In fact, she was getting so rambunctious in her stroller that at one point she shook it hard enough to spill some ginger beer we got (from the kiosk representing the Reef, a great little Caribbean themed restaurant in town). Normally I wouldn't care, but I had absent mindedly placed my camera in the top of the stroller next to the drinks. Oops. I wiped it off quickly but as the soda dried it got sticky and I've been noticing it has been making the lens grind and pop as it zooms in and out. I'm hoping a gentle cleaning later will sort things out - I really like my camera and it's already been through a lot with me, including my wipeout in 2009.

Nonetheless, all three of us had a great time. We even ran into Randy, a friend from work who was volunteering for the Vancouver Friends for Life charity. From their website:

The Vancouver Friends For Life Society serves as a catalyst to enhance the wellness of individuals living with a life threatening illness by providing complementary and alternative health and support services.

If you feel so inclined, I urge you to consider donating to these people. By the way, Randy isn't in this last picture, this is one of the parade performers who happened to also be visiting the Friends for Life booth at the same time.

Eventually we had to go home and somehow we miscalculated. We were faced with either walking all the way around the parade route or cutting across the street mid-parade. With all the people watching the show, this was not an easy task. Eventually we found a section where people were using super soakers to spray the parade float performers as they went by - at least there were fewer people sitting in that section, so we squeezed through and eventually made it - Holly had to stop a couple times for people to take pictures of Louise, but we were all pretty happy to make it across. After that much fun and excitement, Louise needed a nap.

Just another Thursday night

2010-07-22T21:19:00.005-07:00

One of the local radio stations felt the need to quote Maxim magazine on one of their 'top ten' lists - this one was a list of ways you can tell that you are looking at a.. well I won't repeat the name here, but suffice it to say, that's only because Louise is too classy to stoop to their level. Long story short, people with dog strollers made the list.

There, I got it out of my system without swearing or calling them names. I know the list is supposedly for entertainment purposes and all, but it really got under my skin for a while. Anyway, since then we have been using the stroller quite a bit, and my wife has been wearing her new label with pride. Once again I find myself learning lessons from her in how to deal with crap that comes our way.

Moving on to more pleasant things, I took the photo of Louise in front of the bike just this evening. I've seen this bike around town a bit and like it a lot. Louise was gracious enough to give me a cool 'forward looking' pose even though she was actually quite tired and wasn't into walking much this evening. This is how I'm transitioning out of the negativity I started this post with and into things that are more positive. Work with me here, okay?

The last two shots were taken while we waited for our drink order to be prepared. We had stopped at Chicco cafe again because their drinks are just that tasty. The last one is extra clear because I was playing around with some of the features on my trusty digicam, this time with the timer delay. It's amazing what a difference it makes when you aren't holding the camera (and it's not being wiggled and shaken by you). Even though Louise was feeling kind of tired tonight, after a little rest at Chicco she was able to continue home with the usual pep in her step.

Crusin' into the office

2010-07-14T15:45:00.004-07:00

As Louise and I headed into work today she was especially attentive - or so I thought. About half way to the Skytrain she started to place one paw on the rim of the stroller, as if she was driving one-handed.

As it turns out, she was starting to smell the delicious aromas from the local White Spot burger joint, as can be seen in the second photo. Louise is not a subtle gal, so she made it quite plain what she was so interested in.

You might also notice that she isn't wearing a collar in these two shots. That's because I forgot to bring it today, so we have had to be extra careful on our leash-free walks. Luckily Louise was in the right frame of mind for this kind of activity and we had no problems with her staying on-task. Well, except for one street corner where she really wanted to go say hi to her favorite restaurant even though I already had a lunch prepared for me today. After a few minutes of negotiating we agreed that we could walk down that block but only on the other side of the street to avoid the temptation of trying to sneak in.

This last picture is a leftover from spring. Somehow it landed on my camera's internal memory and I only just pulled it off today.

Summer randomness

2010-07-11T22:49:00.006-07:00

Well the dog days of summer have finally arrived. Our routine has modified slightly, so that now we take Louise out for her walks in the morning and evening to avoid the heat of the day. I think she understands too, as she has not really shown a lot of interest in going outside when she knows it's warmer than she would like.

Even if that means we leave without her.

That's how we know she's serious. It's either that, or she really is getting older and slower and well, we like to pretend that little Wheezie will be with us forever, so that's enough on that topic. In the first picture, Louise posed in front of these blue flowers. My camera doesn't really do the flowers justice, as the colour really was a lot stronger than what you see here - and that's after I tried to increase the saturation in iphoto. Of course, Louise didn't care since the shot was really about her anyway.

The second one came a few days later. We have been walking along the seawall a fair bit lately, in part because it will close soon, to be rebuilt. As we were walking along it yesterday I was noticing the smell of creosote soaked lumber, mixed with the not-quite-as-salty-as-ocean water smell of False Creek and hoped that they somehow preserve some of that. Still, it's nice to see the city be proactive about some of the maintenance and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

The final shot is of Louise doing a little rock climbing, which is to say the rock was little. Still, she mastered the summit on her own. Personally, I like the look on her face as she figures out where to step next.

Canada Day Celebrations

2010-07-02T22:01:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was Canada Day and while the weather wasn't great, it was good enough to participate in some of the activities going on around town. One of the things we did was to pick up some lamb for the barbecue. This of course involved getting a couple steak cuts as well as a couple soup bones.

We all know who was going to get the bones in this arrangement.

Note Sophie in the first photo, looking on from a safe distance. The cats are always intrigued when Louise chews on a bone - in part because it usually smells good but also in part out of amazement. You see, they get to investigate the bones when Louise is out walking and they haven't figured out how to chew something so hard.

This doesn't register with Louise though, and if she ever catches the cats near one of her bones, she charges over to protect her stuff. Even if the cat was merely trying to head to the patio. Louise spares no caution with her stuff.

Of course later in the evening we had fireworks to attend to. We went downtown to where the Olympic Cauldron is because Holly read that it was going to be re-lit for the Canada Day celebrations. It was so nice to be able to get right up next to it without any stupid fences. It also turned out to be a pretty good location to view the fireworks. What surprised me was that an entire street was blocked off to make room for street vendors. This really added to the party atmosphere as people were able to get carnival food and the like. While we just ate prior to leaving, I have to admit that it all smelled good and we were tempted.

As usual when we plan to enter a large crowd we took the stroller. It helps define Louise's personal space since most people would be looking up and not down. She enjoyed the stroller ride and especially all the attention from various pug lovers. She isn't one to mind the noise of the fireworks so long as she can be entertained. Just sitting around gets a little boring for her, so it's a good thing that Canadian fireworks don't tend to be a long drawn out affair.

Anyway, thanks Vancouver for re-lighting the cauldron, even just for the holiday. It was a nice touch.

Coal Harbour in the morning

2010-06-20T09:57:00.007-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty nice day so after Holly made a tasty breakfast of english muffins, eggs and fruit, it had warmed up enough for a dog walk. We decided to take Louise down to Coal Harbour. Our first stop was at Waves Coffee, where we used a 2 for 1 coupon to get some morning drinks. After that, Louise and I hung out on the patio while Holly stepped into a drugstore for a moment.

Waves offers free wifi service for it's patrons. However, they have figured out a way to prevent the signal from escaping outdoors, so that meant I wasn't able to use it while we waited. This was probably for the best, as after only a couple minutes of trying to make it work I had to put away my ipod. Louise was growing tired of sitting on my lap (especially after discovering that I only had coffee and nothing to eat) so she wanted down to explore a bit.

Holly returned shortly and we continued on to the harbour. We weren't expecting to see a 'boat show' so we figured we would check it out. Unfortunately it was only a couple sales people there to answer questions about the models they had for sale. They were nice enough to look after Louise while we stepped aboard a nice 31 foot model though and it had more comforts and room than it appeared on the outside.

I left with a brochure and lots of dreams about boats I can't yet afford but it was fun just the same. Oh and we also saw another heron while we were there. Louise wasn't interested though so we continued on to Bark and Fitz, the bet supply store nearby. Louise had some water and we got some treats for her, which she had some of on the way home. Holly had fun feeding her pieces of the peanut butter and banana flavoured biscuit as we made our way back home.

The whole plan was to take Louise out and bring her back tired so she would sleep, giving us a chance to go out shopping. We knew we had succeeded when we got home and Louise showed no interest in leaving the house again. When we got back, she was still sleeping hard unlike the days when we find her waiting for us at the door. Overall, it was perfect because Louise slept through the hottest part of the day and we got to do some errands.

Back from a Cat-Free Vacation

2010-06-15T22:33:00.002-07:00

We spent last week visiting family on the east coast. While we almost brought Louise with us, we ultimately decided against it. There was no way we were going to consent to having her in the cargo hold, especially during the summer months.

That was okay though because she stayed at the Rex Dog Hotel again and they have a new feature for the dog owners: nightly updates to flickr so we can check on our pooch while we are away. (This feature is subject to the whims of the local internet providers. The Maritime provinces - especially the rural parts where we were going - weren't stellar in the state of connectivity to be offered.) Anyway, the staff at Rex always treat Louise very well - she is always happy to arrive which helps to put us at ease before starting our trips.

Of course, now that we are back home, it meant that there was a lot of laundry to do since there were cats sleeping on the bed, a week's worth of dirty clothes to clean and one smelly dog who required a bath. The thing about baths is that it always takes a while for the dog to dry off well enough to be allowed on a clean bed. The thing about laundry is that it always takes a while for the blankets to dry well enough to be used again. So here we are, blogging for Wheezie while we wait for her to dry off a bit more and for the blankets to be ready so we can finally drag our weary bones off to bed.

Oh, and I have peppered this post with links to various pictures of Louise that were posted by Rex. Feel free to click on 'em to see what she has been up to last week.

Pizza crust fuelled Pug

2010-06-05T21:19:00.007-07:00

The weather is finally improving around here, although bragging rights still seem to be with the family on the east coast. At any rate, after spending a Saturday afternoon in the office for some more overtime, we decided to take Louise out for a walk along the sea wall.

It is still a bit cool if there is a breeze, but if we can stay in the sun then jackets really aren't needed. Of course, to put things into perspective a little bit, this is perfect Louise weather. She can run and run and not overheat, which is pretty much what she did. Well, once we let her off leash, that is.

Either way, the sea wall was very crowded as the city took advantage of the nice weather, which meant there were lots of people who wanted to say hi to Louise. Louise sniffed the trees, scratched at some grass and admired some art that was for sale. The artist was pretty shrewd to show off his wares where he did as he was getting his work in front of a lot of folks.

Of course, now that we are home again, Louise is fast asleep. Seems she has had a full day. It's either that or the pizza crust snacks she had weren't enough energy to keep her going.

PS - I just noticed that it looks like Louise in the second photo has noticed Louise in the first!

Playground in the Rain

2010-05-29T18:13:00.009-07:00

Wheezie and I had to pull some unexpected overtime again today with an emergency trip into the office. It was stereotypical Vancouver weather which is to say that while it wasn't quite raining, the moisture was so thick in the air that it might as well have been. You could see the water droplets gently blowing around, wetting everything. You can see how wet Louise is in the photos from this.

While this means Louise gets to wear her rain coat, it doesn't really slow her down much. In fact, it sort of helps keep her cool which means she can go further without slowing down. This is good for her, but not so good for me as it means I am the one who has to keep up with her, instead of the other way around.

We had an early start today though, so Louise was content to just ride in the stroller most of the way in to the office. I kind of like that at times as it means we can just motor in without stopping to sniff each tree.

Midway through the day I paused what I was doing to take Louise out for a walk. We headed over to the Olympic Village again, but this time went to the far side of the area and discovered a new park to explore. It seemed to have a Railroad theme, complete with some small sections of rail tracks and an untreated metal tube converted to a playground feature that resembles a railway car. Louise was VERY unsure about entering this feature, even after seeing me go through it easily. I had to coax her to the entrance but when I called to her to come to me she tried to go around it instead. (There is a stream that flows underneath, so that wasn't a good option.) I had to come to her to illustrate that it was in fact ok. Louise was willing to enter it if I was there and once she realized that it would support her, she was fine.

It's hard to find new experiences for Louise when we follow predictable routes each and every day, so I was pretty happy to find that little park. Louise certainly had fun exploring it and we weren't there long before we heard the drum beat of the dragon boat racers calling to us. Louise wanted to check it out and as usual, let out a rant at the noisy boats. I managed to catch a bit of it on video but kept it short.

Eventually we made it home and the drippy mess named Louise was volunteered for an immediate bath. Now she's clean and exhausted, sleeping next to me wrapped in blankets. Good times.

At the Doctor's Office

2010-05-27T22:00:00.003-07:00

Today was Louise's day to come into the office. It's also the first day I have been at work all week. Monday was a holiday and the past two days had me on a course at an off-site location. So Louise was pretty happy to go to work today and barked out her excitement even as we headed down to the storage room to retrieve her stroller.

We had a full day at work and I was plenty busy. At about 4:30 pm an alarm went off reminding me that I had a physio appointment in half an hour. Under normal circumstances that would be just enough time for me to get to the doctor's office from work, but with Louise, well it was going to be very close. One thing I knew was that I wouldn't have time to drop her off at home first.

So I arrive with Louise, just barely on time for my appointment. I quickly ask the receptionist if it is okay to leave Louise with her. She reluctantly agrees, mostly because all she has seen is the top of the stroller and is assuming it is a baby. Once she saw it was a dog instead, well that was a lot better for her.

As usual, Louise was a hit and I don't know how she does it, but she ALWAYS manages to find her way in behind a desk. This started at Bosley's, her usual pet food store, where she comes around to where the sales people are to beg for dog treats. They get a kick out of it and encourage her to do so. Now, she ends up going around to see the people at work no matter what the setting, be it store, service desk or now, doctor's office.

On the other hand, that's a lot better than being told to re-schedule the appointment because pets aren't allowed in the building. I was pretty lucky to have picked a good office, I guess. Thanks, Burrard Physiotherapy for making Louise feel welcome in the office! Oh yeah, and thanks for helping me recover from my back pain too. That really helps.

Unscheduled Pool Time

2010-05-15T15:19:00.015-07:00

So this morning we set out to do some shopping and we brought Louise along in the stroller. We did this because we planned to be out for a while and knew we would be ranging far and wide.

At one point Holly wanted to run into a drug store to pick up some nail polish so Wheezie and I hung out at International Village which was only about a block away. The sun was shining and the plan was to let Wheezie have a stretch in this little park area.

It took Louise about ten minutes to discover, and jump into the water features at this park. She did it before I could react and man did she look satisfied. Someone nearby commented that I must have a Labrador Retriever and not a pug, since clearly this was a water dog. I was able to coax her out and get her to dry off enough that by the time Holly returned Louise could be put back into the stroller without completely soaking it.

Of course before then, Louise proceeded to say hi to just about anybody who was interested. That quick little dip had improved her mood considerably and she was feeling like being social. Just getting her to sit down and relax was not an option at that time. She had her fun and that was okay - I'm pretty sure tonight became 'bath night' - a decision that would have made sense even before her little wading pool session.

The fun didn't stop there though. We were all getting pretty hungry and were trying to figure out where there might be a place with an open enough patio that they could accommodate a dog stroller and decided to just head down to Coal Harbour and figure it out from there. Along the way we discovered a BC Ferries promotion where they were advertising local vacation packages that sounded quite nice. They were taking pictures of people in front of their logo and printing out free copies of them. I asked for them to email a copy to me but it didn't arrive in time for this post. Of course, it has only been a few hours so that's reasonable.

Anyway, from there we ended up at De Dutch on Robson street. The hostess was quite taken with Louise, who was pretty well behaved, considering that there was food about to be served. Holly had a pannekoek and I ordered a scrambled egg dish with turkey bacon, some of which somehow ended up being shared with Louise. The weather was just about perfect. We were in the shade from the patio awning and there wasn't much of a breeze.

After eating we headed home and finally gave Louise a chance to have a powernap so she can be ready for her walk later on this evening. Whew! That was a longer post than usual!

Massimo the bulldog

2010-05-14T23:29:00.004-07:00

The weather has been quite nice lately and Louise has been taking advantage of it. It's the perfect weather for pugs, not too hot and finally not really that cold at all. Now if only my back would strengthen up, this little dog could really cover some ground.

Last night while walking in Coal Harbour, we had a few encounters. First there was a couple on a date who asked if I could bring Louise over to the bench they were sitting at. They were quite taken with Louise and enjoyed being able to give her pets. Once Louise figured out what was going on, she took a seat and received her attentions.

Moving on from that we encountered this bulldog pup named Massimo. He was quite excited to see Louise and when she started to bark at him it just got him excited. I was happy about this because it meant Louise would be burning off any excess energy she might still have.

What I did not count on was Wheezie burning an energy DEFICIT. She didn't have enough gas in the tank to make the walk home from Coal Harbour so I ended up carrying her about half of the time. She was okay again after resting for a few blocks, but she did sleep well that night.

First Beach day of the Year!

2010-05-10T19:16:00.009-07:00

It is clear to me that Holly pays closer attention to the weather forecasts than I do. She was the one who knew to dress in light layers and to bring the dog to the beach this past weekend. What a great day it turned out to be. First off, we barely arrived when this massive hovercraft came racing by. In some ways it was good that we didn't arrive until we did, as the resulting wake surely would have drenched little Louise.

Not that she would have minded much. We barely got paws on the sand when she set off running, chasing waves, barking at boats, that sort of thing. In short, it was just what the doctor ordered for a pug who was getting a little bored with her usual walks.

We weren't there very long before we met up with another dog owner and his three year old dog named Jack. Jack is ball obsessed, which is to say he will fetch much longer than the average arm can throw a ball. Luckily, we do not have a ball obsessed dog, as she rarely fetches or even chases much of anything.

Still, the two dogs had fun running along the beach, Jack chasing a ball and Louise chasing Jack. The best part about this kind of arrangement is that Louise is generally exhausted after a brief period of time. Not that we were in a big rush to leave on such a nice day though.

So in the end we stayed a while, took photos, soaked up some sun (this last item is much needed on my part. I don't think I could be any paler than I am currently.) Overall it was a fantastic day at the beach and it seems a lot of other people had the same idea - the place was pretty busy.

After the time at the beach we returned home for a quick lunch, and then set out to go to Rona to pick up some flowers for the patio. The best part was that we took the carrier and Louise was able to come along for the ride. We hit a few different places including a quick stop at both Pet Smart and Tisol, where Louise got a bunch of compliments on how unique her facial colouring was as well as how trim she was, especially for her age. All things that a little dog likes to hear.

So all in all, Wheezie had a pretty good day at the beach. Another way we gauge these things is by how much she sleeps the next day. From what Holly says, she was pretty wiped out for most of today, which means that a lot of fun was had by this little dog.

Weekend work day

2010-05-08T22:13:00.002-07:00

We had a scheduled release which meant that Wheezie and I were at the office today. I noticed that the Saturday crowd on the Skytrain tends to be more chatty with me about the dog, even though I was really trying to hide in my headphones most of the time. Still, Louise was friendly and photogenic, turning to 'smile' for folks as they took her photo.

Of course, at the office whenever there wasn't any food around she looked more like this photo. She's sleeping in my old chair - I won't sit in it anymore because I think it was part of my problem with my back - it encouraged a poor posture. Now I sit in one of the simpler chairs that has me in a more upright position.

Not that Louise cared much about that - she was happy to visit with Tommy and Travis and was pretty tired by the time we got home. All in all, a good day for her.

Excitements over a Lamb bone

2010-05-01T20:29:00.005-07:00

We have a crazy dog. Here I was, spending my day on the sofa instead of at the office because of a strained back. We decided to order a nice lamb dinner, which Louise and I went to pick up at a local restaurant. We make it back, but I can feel that I over exerted things a bit but I was lucky because I hadn't hurt myself - yet.

Of course, in Louise's world, everything was great. We were coming back with tasty meat and she was looking forward to it. She was right to do so too, as we had every intention of giving her a lamb bone. Normally she settles down on her bed and chews it up but tonight she decided for a more 'unique' pose.

This was something we both found to be quite funny so I snapped a couple quick photos from where I was on the sofa, before Louise thought to change position. It was all over in a few minutes but it was fun for us while it lasted.

As for today, I've been even more bed-ridden and Louise has not been interested in going outside any more than she has to. It worked out okay though as Holly went out to run some errands and I settled into the bed with the three animals. The only time I was outside was when I helped Holly bring in the groceries (by holding the door open, not actually carrying anything). Then it was back on the sofa with my animal nurses tending me in the only way they know how: sleeping on me.

Nikita's last day at the office

2010-04-28T22:33:00.007-07:00

Okay, so this is the first photo I bothered to take of Louise's paw since her accident last weekend. You can see it if you look closely but I don't really plan on getting any gruesome closeup photos. She's healing fine and isn't bothered by it anymore and really, that's all I could hope for. This photo is of course also a great view of Louise's command center, otherwise known as the passenger's seat for her stroller. As we were going into work today she was extra enthused to go for the ride, unlike most days when she would prefer to be out walking.

It was important to come into the office today, because it would also be Nikita's last day at the office as her owner was one of the workers who were laid off recently. Little Louise will be holding down the fort until Shiho returns later this summer. Things are so different from when I first started bringing Louise in to work, having to make arrangements in a very busy dog schedule.

For lunch we decided to take the two dogs for a walk over toward the Telus Center of Science. On the way there we decided to cut through the parking lot for the Olympic Village. Technically it wasn't yet open for the public but they were working on the fence so we found an easy way in. Of course, once we got in the dogs could come off their leashes and well, Nikita took off like a bullet. Holy cow that dog likes to run. Louise didn't even pretend to give chase, she just kind of looked at Nikita like 'hmm, that looks like a good idea, but nah, I'll hang back.'

I am sure that we will stay in touch going forward - after all, Louise has stayed at Nikita's house while we were away before - but at the same time it's sad knowing that this part of office life is winding down to a close.

Oh Noes! Not the Toes!

2010-04-24T22:23:00.006-07:00

I suppose the good news is that Louise has been feeling better the past couple days - Momma's cooking helped to bring her back to health.

While we were out for a walk today Louise had an accident and accidentally ripped off one of her toenails on her back paw. She damaged a couple nails on the other rear paw too, but not quite as seriously as the one on her left.

She was bleeding quite a lot but didn't yelp at all - in fact she was able to continue our walk without limping, but I was getting more and more freaked out as we returned to the house. By the time we got back I had already called Holly to talk about it and had concluded that we needed to visit Dr. Sandhu.

These first two photos were taken after the doctor had dressed her paw and gave Louise a shot of pain medicine. He decided that covering the paw for a couple days was probably best, until it scabbed over naturally. At the time we were joking about how none of the previous bandages stayed on her paw very long. We figured that a couple days was about all we could hope for with this one.

As usual they were very professional and took the best care of Louise, taking every step to keep her as comfortable as possible. While Louise wasn't thrilled to have someone pulling at her paws today, but she put up with it. As I said, the first two pictures today were taken after the hard part was done - she was already back to her normal happy self.

Before heading home we ran a quick errand and then stopped for a snack. That's where the other two photos were taken, and I got them after a family with three little girls came over asking to pet Louise.

Oh, and hey! Did anybody notice the award Louise got for her blog? We weren't expecting that one at all. Thanks for the recognition, Dogster.

Springtime fun in the sun

2010-04-20T22:50:00.007-07:00

I took these photos last Sunday when it was nice and sunny. Louise and I went for a nice walk out to English Bay, where we hung out on park benches, got chased by toddlers and sniffed toes at the feet of giant statues. Really.

In other words, we had a pretty good time enjoying the nice weather. Since then, our little dog has been feeling a little under the weather again with an upset stomach. Holly has started cooking up her special broth with rice to help settle Louise's tummy so hopefully that helps, or it will mean a trip to the vet. Not that we mind visiting Dr. Sandhu, but really, if we don't have to waste his time we won't.

Even with her upset stomach, Louise has still been in a great mood, eager to go for walks and spunky while out and about. So we know she is at least not feeling terrible or suffering much nausea. Even so, we will leave her home tomorrow and not bring her into the office.

The worst part by far though is the moderate fasting that she is doing for now, just to put things right again. Tomorrow should be a good day when the eating starts again.

Other than that, things have been pretty crazy around here as I settle in with this new computer. As if that wasn't enough, we bought a hard drive for Holly's computer. While the installation went smoothly enough, getting the software installed, well that's still going on now and has been a bit of a bumpy road. Luckily, she kept her cool and helped me figure out what to do next so things seem to be progressing.

But that has very little to do with Louise, other than we are inadvertently keeping her up as we do this. I just needed some more things to say in order to fit in all these pictures, including the last one here of Louise next to the feet of the statue. I've photographed these statues before, when they first went up. They are still just as creepy now as they were then, but the people seem to like it. Louise seemed ambivalent toward them this time.

Gus, Tulips and a new way of doing things

2010-04-17T08:29:00.006-07:00

It's been a pretty busy week for us, what with the NHL playoffs beginning, getting a new refrigerator and well, me switching from PC to Mac. Just like the commercials.

So far Louise approves simply because my new computer is a laptop and that means she and I can be on the sofa while blogging. Although in her case it might be too much of a good thing - she's starting to overheat.

A couple days ago while out walking we met another pug, this one named Gus. I really hope I remembered that correctly, but I think I did so I'll go with that. Anyway, Gus was a great little guy who was friendly toward Louise. He is actually smaller than her which we find a bit unusual around here. We stayed and talked about dogs and pugs for about ten minutes until Louise eventually got bored and wanted to bark at cars. Clearly it was time to move on.

Of course, Louise was also in the office again this week and she was happy to see Yvette back to work. Yvette is one of the other people who likes to bring in her dog, Nikita and Louise has stayed with them before while we went away. It was a really nice day so when we went for a walk we headed over to Science World. As usual the city has plenty of tulips planted for spring, so I got a quick shot of Louise posing in front of them.

In fact, it seems that we have round two of the cherry blossoms as well. When I had Louise out for a walk yesterday there were tons of trees in bloom, but these ones seemed to be a little different. More of a white colour instead of pink this time. Still, it's always interesting to see what is going on in Vancouver.

So in another post I was a little annoyed with how to post my pictures. I seem to have that figured out now and it's okay. Having said that, there are other little touches that make blogging on my new computer even better than before. Things like the multi-touch trackpad, which lets me move around the edit window much easier. I think I'm going to like this little computer.

Sunny Saturday Morning walk

2010-03-28T20:05:00.005-07:00

Louise and I headed out for our morning walk last Saturday and made the most of the nice spring weather we are having. We went to English Bay to wander along the seawall for a bit before heading back home for breakfast. The sun was out, there was a cool breeze and it was warm enough to no longer need gloves. In short, it was another nice Saturday morning.

Louise was feeling a little needy this morning since the day before we spent the bulk of our time in Seattle - without Louise. Giving her a nice long walk at a slow pace was just what the doggie ordered and everyone was happy. Buying some dog treats in the US didn't hurt any either. As you can see, the tide was out when we were walking, and we were able to see lots of the sea birds foraging for food. I won't list them off but will say that for any birders reading this, Vancouver has a pretty good selection.

One of the other things we happened to notice was that the city had planted a new crop of decorative flowers. This happens with some regularity and it is always nice when it happens. I have no idea what the city works budget is, but whoever is in control makes sure that we get lots of great looking flowers throughout the year. I do my best to make sure that Louise doesn't dig them up.

Once again, as I write this I have a dog in my lap. We joke that she likes to maintain editorial control, but really we all know that she is just making sure she can sleep while knowing that I haven't left the building. For my part, I just like having a dog in my lap while I'm on the computer. It helps keep the cats away.

Office Updates

2010-03-20T14:47:00.004-07:00

Louise and I find ourselves in the office this fine Saturday with a spare bit of time between server updates. I've fed the troops and we are in the home stretch to updating our software so I can take a couple minutes out to update this dog blog.

We all know it's overdue.

Louise has maintained the usual routine of coming into work with me, chewing on some good bones, getting some long walks and being lazy whenever possible. So really, not much has changed there and I think we are all pretty happy about that.

The first photo features Louise and Sasha, who was also in the office last week. They like to give each other their space, so it took a little coaxing to get both dogs to sit close enough together to let me take a photo. There were a few out takes as well, but we won't bother with those.

This last photo was taken just this morning, on our way into the office. Louise was out running around and stopped short to look at something. Sometimes I have to be fast with the camera so I have no idea what she was looking at. But at least I got the shot I was hoping for.

Naval Director Louise, charges ahead.

2010-03-01T21:59:00.006-08:00

I had Louise out for another walk in Coal Harbour this weekend. As you can see in the brief video clip she was barking at the boats again. I like the 'squareness' of her stance in this first photo, made me laugh a little. At that time the crowds were still pretty thick, but really Louise doesn't mind that so much, so long as its not so close that people don't notice her.

As it turned out, it was also one of the last chances I would have to get a decent picture of the Olympic flame. We were at a bit of a distance and I had a nice shot of the convention center - you can see it there just in front of the grass roof.

Later in the day we were out to celebrate my buddy Bill's birthday. While that in itself has very little to do with Louise (she didn't come with us) I did remember to get the bone from my meal packaged up to take home for her. The next afternoon, well we had a pretty happy little pug on our hands. One who felt the need to growl at any cat that dared come within ten feet of this bone. Here you can see Louise trying to relocate to the sofa. She knows we prefer her to chew her bones on her bed because it is a messy process. Still, she felt the need to plead her case just the same. I had to take a few quick pictures and this was the best of the bunch. We got her situated back on her bed and all was well. Note how she chooses to hold her bone straight on instead of cross-wise. Makes her look like she is charging at something when she does this. She's back to working on this bone as I compose this, actually.

Finally, a shot of the Olympic cauldron, sans flame. With the Closing Ceremonies done, the Olympics are gone. It's amazing how quickly Vancouver re-opened streets and closed down the pavilions.

Free hat from the Globe and Mail

2010-02-24T15:35:00.006-08:00

Today was a 'work day' for Louise and we had a few adventures too. First off, Sasha was also in but really there is nothing odd about that. These two dogs get along just fine. They both like sleeping. One of the newspapers is having a contest where they give away free tickets to Olympic games. I won't bother giving the details on how to win because well, tomorrow is the last day anyway. But if you are interested you can follow this link and I'm sure they can set you up.

The general idea is that you have to be one of the first to a mystery location to win the tickets. Louise and I headed out and walked through some of the Olympic Village to get there. Along the way we passed a part of the seawall where a guy was stacking rocks. Well, look at the first two pictures to get an idea of what I am talking about. If you look closely you will see that he has done this about a thousand times along this section of shore.

In order to qualify for the free tickets, you also have to bring a copy of today's paper. Well that was easy to do - our office gets the paper delivered. However, Wheezie and I arrived at the secret spot about ten minutes after the last tickets were gone. So sad. We did get a consolation prize though, a free toque.

Yes, I went and took pictures of my dog wearing the hat.

Don't expect it to be on her regularly though. By the time I got a couple quick snaps Louise was already starting to pant from overheating. I guess she vents a lot of heat through her head.

Anyway, that was today's adventure. Oh and if you are curious, the secret location for today was the gates at Chinatown. I really should have taken photos of that. Maybe next time.

Harry and Louise

2010-02-22T22:29:00.007-08:00

Louise isn't the only dog in the city who is enjoying the Olympics. This little guy is Harry, and he lives in our building. We see him out and about quite often. I don't know about Harry, but for Louise the Olympics have been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there are lots of interesting things to do and see when out on her walks, but on the other hand, we are often out to places where dogs cannot go.

She still gets to go to the office with me though. Actually things have become a little more flexible at work since two of the dog owners at the office are off on maternity leave. Yes, it has been said that there must be something in our water at the office. It works well for us though, so that's all right.

The other day Louise was in the office with me and during our lunch break we walked over to Sochi house. Holy crap the lineups to get in that place are daunting! We have friends who waited for over two hours to get in. Obviously Louise and I weren't able to do that over a lunch break so instead we headed over to check out the crew dismantling the stage where Steven Colbert performed. Louise was more interested in the mud in front of the stage. To her credit, the show was already over so there really wasn't much else to see.

We still get out to see things like the light displays, huge crowds and other Olympic related art displays, but most of them are the ones I have already posted about. I guess we have to plan some dog-friendly activities soon!

Still without a view of the torch

2010-02-16T21:29:00.005-08:00

Louise has been participating in the Olympic Celebrations around town too! It's not just a people event. This first shot was taken when the Olympic torch ran past the office, which I documented briefly over here. Even without that though, Louise and I have been seeing a lot of the sights just simply by getting out for our nightly walks.

To her credit, she is the main reason that I was out all those nights taking pictures of the Vectorial Vancouver light display. That reminds me, I should revisit that again sometime this week if for no other reason than we haven't been there in a while.

The next shot was taken on Valentine's day - this is Louise eagerly checking out the fantastic plate of oysters we had. While she didn't get any oysters she did manage to get a couple scraps of lobster meat. But really it was a day for the cats to celebrate, as Valentine's day was Sophie's tenth birthday. We gave them some tuna but of course posting photos of cats on this blog would be bad form.

So moving right along, finally back to more Olympic talk. Louise, Holly and I were out walking the other night and went down to Coal Harbour in an effort to see the Olympic Torch. It is still a tricky shot to get, what with the fencing and all. Along the way we discovered this Olympic sign and Louise obliged by sitting in front of it. And really, that's all I can ask of her, isn't it?

Torch run madness!

2010-02-12T15:44:00.005-08:00

We got up early today in order to see the Governator carry our torch. Of course, we only saw him on TV because I slept in a little too late. But our plan was to go to a slightly different spot where there would be free pancakes, so we already knew that we would miss Arnie by about twenty minutes.

The pancakes were... less than satisfying. They had aluminum shavings on them somehow. I guess the cooking surface was aluminum and it was rubbing off on them. Some folks didn't seem to mind or notice but we did and thought it was gross.

Somebody asked me to report on the Olympics from a pug's point of view and well here it is: all horses and asses. For more on that, check this out. The horses booby trapped the running path for the torch bearer.

So that was our early morning excitement. Then it was off to work, but it was VERY crowded trying to get to the sky train because the torch runners were still out, running along the streets we needed to cross. It took us twice as long to get to work but it was fun and you could sense the excitement so I didn't mind at all.

The plan was for Louise to come to work with me today because the torch route eventually went right past our office. In typical work fashion we held an Olympic torch party, complete with a wii-sports competition. At the scheduled time we all headed downstairs to line the street and cheer on the torch bearer. Those photos haven't been looked at yet, so I'm sure I will have material for more posts soon. For now you will have to settle for this spectacular shot of Louise kicking it up in front of McDonald's after peeing on their sign post. How's that for athletic spirit?

Vancouver Olympic Pug

2010-02-10T22:20:00.006-08:00

It is rare for me to put up two photos that were taken at the same time but in this case I got a kick out of both shots. Louise and I were out for our walk and headed down Robson street to see what was going on. We were not there long before we happened to come up on one of the Olympic torch bearers! Things were very hectic as literally hundreds of people were lining up to take their picture with this woman.

She was so patient with everybody. Maybe because her parents were there watching, who knows? I am kidding of course - she was having a good time. Louise and I waited for a break in the action and I picked her up. Another woman was excited to meet Louise and then offered to take our picture for us. I figured that was a good idea and here are the photos. I like how in the first one Louise is still not quite sure what the heck this torch thing is, and then she moves on to trying to see who the heck is standing behind her in the second photo.

Louise and I were just about to fade out into the crowd when the father of the torchbearer (I really should have asked her name - if anyone can provide it in the comments I will be grateful) asked if we could pose for another photo. He had grown bored of taking pictures of all the people but a dog, that was something new and interesting to him.

After all that we headed downstairs briefly to see the ice rink below the street. It was very crowded thanks to a busker performing so we headed back up and back home - but had to stop to get a photo of Louise on a snowboard. She hopped right up on it like it was made for her and a crowd of people started taking her picture.

All this, and the Olympics haven't even started yet.

Catch that plane!

2010-02-06T16:01:00.005-08:00

On this morning's walk, Louise helped me out with some early Valentine's day shopping. Once we had that done we were free to go explore the town to see what new things the Olympics have brought us.

One thing we are starting to see is a lot more people. It's good, I love hearing the different languages being spoken on the street. We do seem to find fans of Louise from just about anywhere though.

I think we set some kind of a record today with how many people asked if they could take Louise's picture. The record has to be for how many people ask, because I can't really keep track of the ones who just take a photo of her without asking (which is also ok, we don't mind).

Eventually we ended up down at the waterfront only to find another section of the seawall that is closed off to the public. This caused a minor detour that had us come out near the sea planes. This would normally not be a problem but about five minutes later I heard the engines roar as one of the planes prepared to take off. This got Louise barking at the plane, much to the delight of the people nearby. Once the plane took off Louise was pretty quick to calm back down.

Which is good, because then we encountered a toddler out walking with her parents. She was fascinated with Louise and even said 'nice doggy'. Louise stayed long enough to pose for a few pictures and then we were on our way.

Stella Artois is a pug, not a beer

2010-01-31T21:57:00.003-08:00

Daily walk report: today Louise and I met another pug, this one a mere three years old but still fine looking for such a young pup. His name was Artois, short for Stella Artois, the beer.

Dogs named after beer seems to be a popular trend in these parts.

As the story goes, the man walking Artois (or Arty, as he was calling him) had decided to give a pug to his wife for Christmas. At first she wanted a female dog and was set on naming it 'Stella.' At the time they went to the breeder, little Arty was all that was left. The breeder suggested the name Artois to be in keeping with their original intentions. The name stuck, the dog came home and the rest, as they say, is history.

The pup was a touch active for Louise's tastes. After just a few minutes she acted out a bit with a quick snarl but they didn't seem to mind. Arty was still very much interested in Louise, who was then trying to regain her composure. Soon after parting we encountered a few tourists who asked if they could take Louise's picture. The attention from strangers was all it took to but Louise back in a good mood again.

No Snow makes for a nice walk

2010-01-24T22:05:00.005-08:00

It certainly doesn't feel like the Olympics are upon us. It's too warm for that, but the city certainly is changing. There is a lot of preparation and construction involved. I had Louise into the office a few times last week and one of the most direct things that we noticed is that we no longer have to deal with cars for the last half of our commute, since that street has been blocked off.

It makes bringing Louise into the office so much nicer. I wonder if we could persuade them to keep it that way?

Probably not. But that is ok, it will be fun while it lasts and once the Olympics are over the seawall should be open again. That will be yet another cause to celebrate as that was always our favorite lunch time walk for days at the office.

This weekend was a quiet one for Louise and I think she liked it that way. I had a headache on Saturday night and went to bed quite early - Louise was only too happy to join me. Any excuse to go to bed early for that one.

Not feeling well after a walk in the rain

2010-01-09T20:54:00.002-08:00

Okay, the title is a bit misleading. We did have a walk in the rain this morning, but Louise was feeling pretty good before, during and after that outing. It was pretty wet, but at least it wasn't too cold for her. She was dressed appropriately though, and had a good time.

This evening however, she got a bit of an upset tummy and got sick on a blanket. She didn't really have a lot of rich food or anything unusual so we aren't quite sure what set her off. She has been sleeping a lot today, so perhaps it is something that has been bugging her (no pun intended) for a little while.

For this evening we are letting her set the pace, and so far, her decision has been to sleep it off. If all goes well, she will be right in the morning and if not, we will probably make an impromptu stop to our local vet.

I expect she will pull through just fine.

Farewell 2009

2009-12-30T12:17:00.005-08:00

Louise has been enjoying her Christmas treats over the past few days. In particular is one 'turkey stuffed hoof' that she keeps coming back to. It's the sort of bone that takes her a solid week's worth of effort to complete. To illustrate this, I've got a few pictures to show her hard at work on it.

Oh yes - the other day we were out walking and encountered a fourteen year old Jack Russel terrier named 'Louis'. At first his owners were concerned because Louise was off-leash and Louis wasn't known to be very friendly to strange dogs. However, she poured on the charm and didn't advance too quickly, which really went over well with Louis. In short order his old tail was wagging and the two dogs had a pleasant little visit. On hearing Louise's name the owner of the other dog commented 'all you need now is another one named George.' This caught me a little by surprise as almost nobody picks up on the pop culture reference to Louise's name. I told him that he was exactly right and that in the past we have toyed with the idea of getting a little 'George Jefferson' to accompany 'Wheezie.'

For the record, we concluded that for now at least, this will be a one Pug household.

Anyhow, we are all looking forward to the adventures to come in 2010 and wish all our readers an exciting New Year.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T15:34:00.005-08:00

We planned to spend Christmas at home with the pets this year and it has turned out to be nice and relaxing. Louise and I slept in a little bit while Holly was up early to prepare for the holiday feast. As I write this, the turkey is just finishing up. This is how Louise and I are distracting ourselves while we wait to eat - the whole house smells like delicious turkey!

We opened our gifts earlier today - a new tradition was born: gift opening in bed! Louise got all sorts of edible treats and had to give them all a good sniff. There was one stuffed hoof that she was quite fond of, but it seems to have been a bit much for her today. Somehow I think it is because she keeps smelling a 'better offer' and won't commit to the hard work of chewing up a bone no matter how tasty!

After the gift unwrapping it was time to take a mid-day walk. It was sunny and while not warm, still at least 'comfortably cool', which is to say that we had a nice stroll along the Coal Harbour seawall.

Wow, the smell of turkey is a powerful distraction for both Louis and me. She is over by me (as to not be a nuisance in the kitchen) but she's clearly sitting at attention, pointed toward the oven. She's not going to miss anything. Me neither, as I'm signing out here. Time to eat!

Lentil Soup!

2009-12-22T21:27:00.003-08:00

The other night my wife made some very tasty lentil soup. It had smoked turkey bits in it and that flavour (along with tasty pieces of turkey) was in every bite. I had to have two helpings myself, which left me feeling very full, but also very satisfied at the end.

My wife on the other hand, wasn't able to quite finish hers, so she decided to give some to Louise as a special treat. Louise went from lazy to excited in about a full second - she knew what was happening before the plate hit the floor.

Needless to say, Louise was also feeling full and satisfied after that. She and I both needed a nice long walk to help with digesting. I suppose we could have gone for a nap instead, but we did opt to be a little more healthy than just sleeping on a big meal.

Thanks for the soup hon, it sure was tasty!

2009-12-19T13:19:00.005-08:00

Louise and I were going in to the office this Saturday and she was full of energy. Perhaps it was because it was her first walk of the day or maybe she was just excited because the temperatures are once again above freezing. All I know for certain was that she was quite happy and rambunctious as we made our way toward the skytrain.

Part of the time Louise was walking alongside the stroller

(making short detours to sniff at trees and fire hydrants) and part of the time she was riding in the stroller. While this is normal, today she behaved as if the stroller was her 'command perch' from where she could bark orders and get a better view.

She certainly was enjoying herself.

At any rate, we had an enjoyable walk into the office. Once here Louise knew the drill (settle down and let me get some work done) but before that happened she had to run about the place to burn off some steam. Personally I think she was excited because she knew that I would be buying pizza for the guys who showed up on a Saturday. Louise likes to 'help out' with the crusts.

Oh yeah - as we were entering the skytrain station I forgot to mention: Louise noticed some advertisements for Fido - a local cellphone provider who use puppies in their advertisements. One in particular featured a Saint Bernard puppy and Louise took exception to it. She would bark every time she saw that ad, and lucky me, it was plastered everywhere in the station. I was very happy to see the train finally arrive as she is normally quite subdued once we are inside.

Heat Hogs

2009-12-17T07:53:00.004-08:00

Okay so this week I am going to show you how dogs and cats do in fact learn from each other. As I mentioned earlier this month on my other blog, our cat Sophie has started to creep off the sofa a bit and onto the pet stairs in order to place herself more directly into the path of the space heater we use.

We were entertained by this of course, but were really surprised when last night, we witnessed an old dog demonstrating that she learned a new trick. See for yourself. Louise thought that if it was good enough for a cat, then there must be something to it. She started to step out onto the stairs, also to get more heat from the space heater.

In her defence, she had just come in from outside and quite frankly, she isn't really feeling the colder, damper weather. There have been days where she will flat out refuse to go for a walk, or she at least needs a lot more coaxing to get outside. Even when out, Louise will now sometimes 'abort' the walk. She does this little protest where she will not move an inch unless we are going in the direction she wants (usually back inside).

There are a few exceptions to this. I can tempt her to continue if we are headed to Bosley's (our closest pet food store) or possibly to the dog park. But even a walk to the beach is a vain effort if the wind is too cold, or there is a lot of salt on the sidewalks.

Oh don't even get me started on the salt. Every year seems to be worse than the last! Vancouverites are salting walkways in the remote chance that it *might* drop to freezing. I couldn't believe it when Louise's paws started to hurt from the salt already. Normally that is something that happens in combination with really cold temperatures, or at least it used to be that way. We may have to take another look at doggie bootie technology and see where it is at now. (Our last attempts were failures because the booties would slip off after only a few yards.) For now, we walk on the grass for the blocks that are heavily salted.

Season of Darkness

2009-12-08T22:57:00.002-08:00

It's colder and darker these days, but that was no excuse tonight. Louise still got a bath. She always goes into such an event with a little hesitation but by the time we are ready to towel her off, she's crazy hyper and looking to fool around. A lot.

Tonight was no exception. Because it is colder we had to ensure that she was walked before the bath, as it would not make sense to take her outside while wet.

I'll have her in the office again tomorrow so hopefully I will get a few more photos at that time. I took this photo while we were on our nightly walk - it's in front of the Westin Bayshore hotel, where I also got a good few shots of a heron about a year ago.

Babysat

2009-11-28T18:33:00.003-08:00

We took a day trip to Washington state to participate in some Black Friday shopping. This meant we needed to find someone to drop in and give Louise a walk during the day. 'Uncle Chris' offered to do it so we were able to plan our little trip.

We woke up early and I was able to give Louise a good long walk in the morning before we headed out. Louise really only needs to get outside a couple times in a day. Our habit is to take her out more frequently than this, but it is handy to remember for when we have a lot of running around to do. With her morning walk out of the way, Louise was prepared to settle down for her 'morning nap'. If all went according to plan, she wouldn't wake up until 'Uncle Chris' arrived to take her out again.

Which is pretty much what happened. We were able to get this cute little coat for Louise while we were doing our shopping for about a third of what it would cost up here. She was plenty excited and very happy to see us when we returned later that day. We only got the one coat because we had concerns over how well it would fit her. In hindsight, we wished we stocked up on a bunch because it fits so well.

Is it time for Business Cards?

2009-11-24T20:24:00.006-08:00

Holy moly I went a long time between posts! Louise and I have been out in the rain and mist that is typical in Vancouver during this time. My memory isn't so good but let's see if I can recall some of the adventures that Louise has had lately.

One good thing is that she is no longer on any antibiotics. We have settled into our winter routine which involves a LOT of towels after walking outside. Hey that reminds me, someone could use a bath....

Ah, but that won't be tonight. She's already snoozing on her pillow (featured in the first photo.) She has been in the habit of snoozing there lately whenever I sit at the computer because it's right next to my desk. It's not perfect, but in her terms it is acceptable. 'Perfect' for Louise would be for my chair to actually be a lazy boy that was wide enough for the both of us. Oh yeah, in the first photo she is chewing on a Denta-bone. They help clean teeth apparently. She likes' em but they make one heck of a mess.

So we were out walking last weekend and ran into a group of people who clearly were interested in Louise. I indicated that she was friendly and they could pet her if they liked. Louise decided to go over to them herself, but I think she was motivated by the McDonald's breakfast sandwich one of the girls was eating. If nothing else, at least she follows her gut I guess.

Anyway, she made some new friends and certainly enjoyed the extra attention even if she didn't get some of their fast food. Once again I realized that I need to print up some business cards for Louise, since as people start talking to me about her, inevitably this blog comes up and folks want to know how to find it. So far the easiest way for me to describe it is to tell them to search on Google for it, but really, the business card would be fun to hand out. Any thoughts from the readers? Feel free to comment.

Back on Schedule

2009-11-08T13:09:00.005-08:00

For the past few days I have had the flu and that meant Louise was without one of her walking partners. She found this to be quite confusing - every time she was to go outside she would look to me to see if I was going to come along. Since I wasn't, her walks were short as she kept wanting to come back to the house as soon as she was done her business.

It also meant that while I was recovering in bed (bored out of my mind most of the time) I was surrounded by all of the pets. They seem to take advantage of warm bodies laying around in this house. So there was never any fear of me getting chilled. It seemed to work too, as I recovered pretty quickly. Thank you, pets.

So one of the adventures we had prior to my bout with the flu was we encountered a new sculpture down by the water. Briefly, it's a metal sculpture of about a dozen giddy men. It's kind of creepy in the wrong lighting. Anyhow, Louise took it on faith that these guys were real and she found the one with his hands held out. Obviously, this man was holding out TREATS! Louise promptly sat in eager anticipation. I had to lift her up to inspect the hand (tail wagging the whole way up) before she was satisfied that this 'man' was actually treatless.

So today was the first day I was able to take Louise out on a walk. We went down to Coal Harbour again as I figured she hadn't been there in a bit. While there I noticed a big barge with the olympic logo on it. If you look closely you can see it just above Louise's tail in this last shot. Kind of tricky to get her and it in the same frame.

Halloween is like the dentist

2009-11-03T21:48:00.005-08:00

Louise has been on mild antibiotics and painkillers this week. She was in for her dental cleaning and while it was an overall success, it came at a cost. She lost another two teeth, one small one in the front that was loose and came out easily, and a molar in the back that was actually cracked and in pretty bad shape. Our vet was able to remove both and stitch her up with dissolvable stitches so that we would not need a return visit.

That, my friends, is the kind of attention I appreciate from a vet. Don't try to ding me for a second visit to pad your coffers. Do the job right the first time and have confidence in your work. We have been returning to this same vet for a while now, and get consistent care. Oh and in case you are wondering Dr. Sandhu Louise is recovering nicely and we should have her back on her regular food in a few days.

Tommy, a guy I work with went to Vegas for a week and brought us back some neat trinkets. I had originally intended to come up with some Halloween story about wild partying and Las Vegas to go with this photo but well, I got busy with other things. But I liked how the collar goes with the shot glass so I figured I would include another nap photo.

Instead though, we had a rather quiet night inside. We don't get any trick or treaters at our condo but we did head out for a walk to see what crazy and stupid things people can do with firecrackers. We saw people lighting them off their balconies and stuff like that. Most of it was harmless fun although I feel a little sympathy for folks with dogs who get scared of the noise. I've met a few, they say it's not a pleasant night.

Louise could care less about the noise, unless it's right next to her. So we continued our walk and then came home. Once there we decided to dress her up a little bit, just for giggles. The costume was on for maybe about five minutes or so and only while she was in my lap. I doubt she would have wanted it on any longer.

Halloween is almost here

2009-10-25T20:45:00.005-07:00

We have been trying to find chances to play in the leaves but have been dogged by rainy weather. Still, Louise needs her daily outings so we find ourselves in the elements. The chestnuts seem to be gone now, the squirrels have made short work of them. Louise still looks in a few spots to see if there is one there but she is figuring out that they are gone.

I have to say though, on our walk this afternoon I noticed something... weird. Louise was being her normal self when all of a sudden the sky darkened and she barked in a deeper, more evil sounding voice. She saw a crow on the road and darted across the sidewalk much faster than normal. I happened to be taking a picture at the time and well, the results are a little odd. You be the judge. But, just as soon as I thought it happened, the sky lightened up a little and Louise was acting normal again. No crows (or squirrels) were harmed on this walk. When we got home I checked the calendar to see when the next full moon was - it's still a week or so away.

Louise has been acting like nothing unusual happened, in fact, here is a video I took mere moments later. However, our cats seem to be telling a different story and have been giving Louise more space than usual.

I hope we don't have a re-emergence of the Demon Dog...

Followup post.

2009-10-18T17:04:00.006-07:00

Ok, things seem to be settled down so here's a few of the photos I meant to post earlier. The chestnut games still continue - depending on who you are, it's either a good thing or a bad thing that there are a few chestnut trees right out front of our main entrance. This means Louise has a steady supply of nuts to choose from.

As usual, I've forgotten what I was going to say when I took the photos. It's doubly bad because now I've also forgotten what I was going to say when I created the original blog post. One day I'm going to look back at all this (assuming I still have my mental faculties) and wonder how I could be so absent minded. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just look at the pictures.

Okay these next few shots are all pretty similar but I couldn't choose which of them to go with so you get to see them all. Obviously a yawning dog is a fun photography subject - maybe I'll upload that one to loldogs to see what comments I get.

These photos were taken just before we had a week of rainy weather. Now it seems that we will be having another one of those weeks which leads me to believe that autumn in the Pacific Northwest is underway. Louise doesn't care - she just rummages around trying to get a good sniff under the leaves in case there are some - you guessed it - chestnuts laying around.

Speaking of leaves, last year I got a few really good shots of Louise surrounded with some vibrant orange maple leaves. They are starting to change colour again so hopefully in another week or so I will be able to get updated photos. Of course, I might not get the chance at all if the weather stays wet. We will see. Often when the forecast is for rain, we get about an hour's worth and then empty overcast weather the rest of the time. Which is just fine by me.

Chasing Chestnuts

2009-10-17T22:04:00.002-07:00

Well fall is here in Vancouver. If you look closely at this first photo you will see our crazy dog with a fresh chestnut in her mouth. As can be expected they are dropping from the trees this time of the year and Louise has been finding them. In her perfect world she will get me to toss a chestnut down the sidewalk for her to chase after.

In the excitement of the chase, Louise has been known to lose track of her chestnut.

I have also noticed that if I let her catch one, she will happily carry it with her on our walk. Eventually she decides to put it down, but usually not without prompting. The best part of this is that she doesn't bother chasing cars if a chestnut is in play. As you can imagine, I've been enjoying this a lot. I have to be careful though - the last thing I need is for Louise to crash into an unsuspecting skunk while chasing after a nut.

I'm having trouble uploading photos tonight. I'll see if I can get at least one more with this post but it's looking like I'll have to come back later, after Google has sorted out whatever internal problem they have.

Almost Skunked!

2009-10-05T22:04:00.005-07:00

The other night Wheezie and I were out for our evening walk. It was a quiet night so I had her off-leash, we both kind of prefer that arrangement. Louise was being good and I was able to keep my hands in my pockets. She was walking within ten paces of me, exploring the grass and fire hydrants as per usual so I wasn't really paying attention.

My focus returned immediately when I noticed Louise approaching the business end of a wary skunk. Louise was all set to sniff the nethers of what she thought was a strange looking dog and the skunk wasn't having any of it. The tail was up and quivering but Louise wasn't taking the hint. The skunk moved back a few paces and resumed it's defensive position. Again Louise wasn't taking the hint.

I should point out here that while this train wreck in the making was unfolding, I was going out of my mind barking stern commands trying to call Louise back to me. Louise was very torn over investigating this curious animal and obeying my commands - she would start to come to me, then hesitate and head back only to stop again as I continued to get louder.

Throughout it all I think the only ones who were tense (or even aware of the dangers) were me and the skunk. Anyhow, with the crisis averted Louise and I were able to continue our walk - with the leash on.

This last picture is one I took last night while out a little earlier in the evening. Louise has a habit of saying hi to people on the park benches, just in case they happen to be eating something and are of the generous persuasion. Or can be persuaded into generosity. Or something. So long as food being passed to the cute dog is involved.

Long Walk Home

2009-09-27T21:31:00.004-07:00

Even though I hurt my back last week while I had Louise at the office, we still had to get home. I had to use most of my tricks to ensure that we could get back without Louise getting too rambunctious, as every time she would yank on the leash I would wince in pain.

Behold, the strategy I call the 'sleeping canary'. When nothing else will do, I drape something over Louise's stroller so she cannot see outside. No outside distractions, no barking dog. It's almost eerie with how well this one works.

Of course, as you can see by the photos, my implementation of this strategy was less than perfect and Louise managed to find a way to peek out from under my sweat shirt. We were half way to the skytrain before someone mentioned that they thought Louise looked cute, tipping me off that she was just being good and not barking. I think Louise appreciated the shade from the sun to be honest, as the weather was quite warm that day.

We made it home and my wife had to take over the nightly dog walking duties. This really confused Louise who would always wait for me at first. She was happy when I was able to finally take her out for a walk again this afternoon and then again tonight.

Pug with a cold

2009-09-20T22:11:00.006-07:00

Over the last few days, Louise has been fighting off a cold. She's doing much better now, but for at least one day she was really feeling the ill effects. So much so that Holly had to prepare some warm broth for her, just to entice her to eat. Let me say that again, for it bears repeating. Our dog was so sick that she lost her appetite. But like I said, the broth was effective in helping Louise to eat and the day was saved.

Over the course of the next few days Louise would wake up feeling rough, but then improve for the balance of the day. The first morning walk would have her hacking and sneezing, but eventually something would dislodge and then she could breathe clearly again. Well, as clear as one can expect for a pug. Miracles didn't happen.

On one of these walks we were cutting through the park and were spotted by Lenny. Lenny is a pug who is kind of special to me because he was the first pug I saw in our neighborhood, even before we actually moved in. I had been scouting out places to buy and noticed him walking with his owner. By that time I was pretty homesick and went so far as to stop Lenny's owner to chat about her dog.

Anyhow, Lenny saw us and decided he was going to cross the park to meet Louise. We all saw him purposefully striding over to us, which is why it was easy to grab this quick picture of him. As you can see in the next photo, the two dogs didn't cooperate for the camera quite so well. To be honest, I don't think that Lenny even noticed me or my wife. He was focused on greeting Louise, another pug he knew. They had their greeting and all was well in Lenny's world. Louise even let him sniff at her stroller, something that normally would be a no-no for other dogs. Then, as quick as it started, we parted and were off. That's how it is in a dog's world here in the West End. We just roll with it.

Back to Louise's cold, it seems to be mostly done now. She's currently snoring on the sofa with my wife and her breathing seems normal again. Which is good, because her sneezes were extra gross during this time. We all could hardly wait for Louise to get better.

Introducing Olive the One-Eyed Pug

2009-09-13T22:14:00.006-07:00

One morning last week I was walking Louise in the rain. We put on our rain gear and set out for our stroll, not really anticipating the adventures to follow. Early on we met a lady with a pug puppy that was only a few months old. She had named her dog Olive and explained that she got her for a good price from a reputable breeder because her puppy has only one functional eye. It looks like this cute little dog is always winking.

We chatted for a few minutes and the two dogs got used to each other. Since Olive is still a pup, she didn't really need very long outside and was looking to go back inside pretty quickly. We hope to see more of Olive - it's always good to see another pug in the neighborhood.

After meeting Olive we continued on down to the sea wall where we saw a man with his golden retriever. He let his dog off leash for a bit and it chased after a small flock of Canada Geese, forcing them to fly out into the harbor. I managed to get a photo - if you look closely you can see the geese in-flight as they flee the chasing dog. The geese were not pleased one bit but I was surprised to see Louise was paying very close attention to what this Labrador was doing. Lately she has decided to chase after the pigeons, gulls and crows in our neighborhood and now here she was taking notes on how to flush out geese as well.

Apparently, Louise is a quick study. On our way back she noticed that the same flock of geese had decided to take flight from their safe location on the water and ran to the sea wall to investigate what all the honking was about. When she noticed they were heading back to the lawn, Louise took action. She ran out to where they were planning to land so she could chase them back to the water. I guess she didn't want the Labrador's work to be undone so quickly. As for the geese, well they were even less thrilled than before but still powerless to change things - they altered course and landed on the beach a few hundred yards away.

Oh, and I noticed that I posted a duplicate photo in last week's post. I should pay closer attention to what I am doing - either that or try not to post late at night.

Staycation

2009-09-08T23:08:00.006-07:00

Family has come up to visit and things are pretty interesting around here, at least in the eyes of a pug. You see, this is the first time Louise has met her 'grandparents', so to speak. Of course they are familiar with reading about her adventures here on the blog, but it is a different experience to meet Louise in person.

What I have here for photos is a mix of slightly before and during the first half of their visit. I usually have my next blog post 'in the works' and I hate to waste some good photos - so I'll just work them in as I describe unrelated events. I get the impression that half of you are here just for the pictures anyhow, while the other half probably live in the area. :)

I am not sure if I have mentioned this or not but there is a new work of art being constructed that features eight red statues of chinese men, squatting down with their fingers knitted together like they are braced to lift something - only there is nothing for them to be lifting. The day that Louise and I stumbled upon this sight we noticed a lot of other tourists having their photo taken next to them. Louise thought it was a great idea to have people down at her level and immediately went over to say hi and somehow get into their pictures. We weren't too disruptive so it was ok but I put her leash back on soon after.

The next day we set off to pick up our guests and that was a hard day for Louise - she had to stay home and guard the fort. She's able to stay at home by herself for the bulk of the day so long as she has opportunity to go for a good long walk in the morning and again in the evening - but it's clearly not her favorite plan for the day. She ends up sleeping most of the day away and isn't really entertained by the cats. When we arrived home she was waiting for us at the door, but mostly just because she was bored and ready for us to return.

The next day Louise finally got to meet our guests and it didn't take her long to get comfortable around them. In fact, it took about ten minutes, or roughly the time she determined that they might be holding something good to eat. We all went out for a nice long walk to show the area off some and when we got back to our place we took it easy for a bit. This was just right for Louise who was quick to find a nearby lap to settle into. Once they recharged we were off again to see some other sights in the city.

Even though this 'vacation' has been here at home we have been quite busy, leaving us quite tired at the end of the day. Being a tourist in your own town is tiring work! It's fun though - I'm not complaining at all - just the sort of break I needed.

Our little cupcake

2009-08-30T21:37:00.007-07:00

Since the bee sting, there has been no further bad news to report. However Louise has continued to have many adventures. It seems like I am reporting on all the things that happen in over a week, so forgive me if some of the details become hazy. The pictures should speak for themselves.

Louise met up with Ira. Ira is one of the pugs in the 'old guard', which is to say he is one of the first pugs to come into this neighborhood. In fact, for the first few months people assumed our dog was Ira! The two dogs do enjoy each other's company quite a bit - so much so they had no problems posing for the camera, although judging from the photos, Ira wasn't liking the kiss Louise was offering. I suppose that was fair since it's usually Louise who is playing coy.

Oh yeah - there was also a DOG SHOW in our neighborhood last weekend and we did attend. I'd say most of the pet supply vendors showed up to support the show, giving out all sorts of things. Louise was thrilled because some of those things were treats, most notably a cupcake that featured liver flavoured icing. The most entertaining part of this for us was the 'icing lips' that Louise had afterward. Not only did I get a picture of this, but Holly managed to get some really good video of Louise enjoying her cupcake. Added below, as always.

In addition to cupcakes there was also a draw for a free rain coat for your dog. Apparently we won although I have STILL not called them back to claim the prize for Louise. I really should get on that and call tomorrow as she can always use another rain coat. I just hope they have something that fits her.

Another great gadget on display was a bike trailer built for dogs. It is smaller than a child trailer which makes it easier to pull. This would also keep it closer to the bike, another safety feature. I was very tempted. To be able to bike to work with Louise and not have to take her in her stroller to get on the skytrain - well it would become more convenient. We would still keep the stroller for our day trips of course, since I am the only one who bikes.

The other night was also cause for celebration for the pets in our household. I brought home some dungeoness crab which had to be cooked that night. I was up until 2:30 am picking the meat out of the shells - a very worthwhile activity. Inevitably I will drop a little on the table or floor. This is why Louise and the two cats will wait up with me until the job is done - just in case I choose to drop some down for them to sample. All three of them love seafood of any kind and have no problems eating it. We have even tried Louise on sushi - she eats it faster than I do, causing Holly to wonder how we even taste it...

Ok, without further rambling, here is the cupcake video:

Bee Stings, Night Markets and Vet Visits

2009-08-19T15:19:00.006-07:00

This first photo was taken mere minutes before Louise experienced a bee sting on her paw. Yes, once again she had something happen to her paw. She got the stinger out pretty quickly but was limping enough that I figured I should carry her home. Holly was pretty quick for searching the internet to find out how to treat this - from there we were on the case. The short version is that we knocked her out on children's version of medicine and she slept it off. When she woke up, all was good again in the world of Louise.

I can't remember if that happened on Saturday or Sunday, but by Sunday night we had decided to visit the Richmond Night Market. This was a big deal for Louise and she got very excited. Especially when we bought lamb skewers. Yes, she had some of the lamb (without the stick, of course, as she would probably try to eat it) and really enjoyed it. The attention from strangers was ok too.

It was pretty late when we got home that night and what I remember most is how hard it was to get moving again on Monday morning. For all of us. Especially for Louise. Heck, she was knocked out in the back seat of the car on the way home.

All of that brings us to today, where Louise is once again in the office with me. At lunch we planned a quick visit to the vet for her annual shots. There were a LOT of needles to have and Louise was not amused. After it was all done our vet tried to feed her a treat, which she wasn't interested in having. He did say the shots would leave her drowsy but it's hard to tell since she usually naps at this hour.

Oh, and now her collar jangles when she walks. Once again she has some tags on it - the city license and her rabies tag. Just like old times.

Hot Dog!

2009-08-08T21:57:00.007-07:00

There was a neighborhood party today and while we didn't know about it beforehand, we were able to take part in some of the festivities. It is pretty kid-centric but there were also representatives for most of the local politicians and activist groups as well. The big highlight in terms of this post of course, would be the cheap festival food.

Or in Louise terms, a hot dog.

We don't do this often - this might be the only hot dog she gets all year - so I don't feel any guilt for giving some junk food to our dog. Louise didn't want to wait for us to dress it, so she had hers without ketchup mustard and relish. Heck, we could barely convince her to 'sit' and 'stay' while I got the camera ready. It didn't help that I ate mine before her and she watched me devour the whole thing. My excuse is that I knew I would need both hands ready while feeding Louise..... and I was hungry.

I have added a short video of her eating the hot dog. There is a lot of background noise but if you watch and listen carefully at around 45 seconds in you will catch Louise growling at the bush behind her. She wasn't sure if there was something in the bush or not, but she wasn't taking any chances. Nobody was getting her hot dog. Incidentally, she tried to eat the bun later, but that kind of failed as the bread was sticking to her teeth. After one bite we decided to take that away from her rather than have her struggle.

These other photos are from a walk we had a few days ago now. I'm presenting them in a series because I couldn't stop laughing when I took them. Louise decided to go down these stairs along the seawall to investigate the waves. Once she got down there though she got splashed and made a hasty retreat. Incidentally, all of the photos in this post are also formatted to be Macbook friendly, should you want to use them as background pictures.

This was all part of the plan though, as it was scheduled to be bath night. Also, this was during the heat wave so any chance to cool down was a good idea. It's really depressing for me when I think about how the temperatures have not only returned to 'normal' around here, but have actually gotten colder! The month of August is still young yet though, and I am hoping for warmer weather yet. As for Louise, well judging by her moods, I think that the current weather suits her best.

We met one or two people today who inquired about Louise. During our conversation I mentioned that she has a blog and they said they would be checking it out. If you made it to the site, I hope you like it. Feel free to leave comments and enjoy the photos.

Now about that hot dog video...

Return of the Skateboards

2009-08-02T14:33:00.004-07:00

How perfect is this shot? Louise on a skateboard with tequila. Kevin had his skateboard in the office and well, Louise likes to play with the toys when available. Well ok, not really. The tequila was Kevin's as well and he was getting ready to head out for the day when the idea struck him to have Louise test drive his board. ~~After a few shots for everybody things started to get a little crazy.~~

Honestly, it was still too hot for any drunken craziness. But Louise and I certainly did take in the fireworks. Unlike a lot of other dogs, Louise isn't bothered by the noise at all. She usually lounges in her stroller and watches the crowd unless it is a good show. This year involved a lot of crowd watching although she was pretty happy when someone offered her a meatball. Suddenly it became the 'Best Fireworks Show Ever'.

At this point though, it's a lazy day for us. We were out for a quick walk in the late morning just before the Pride parade but were too late to get a good spot to view the parade so we didn't stick around. Now we are hiding indoors until it cools off a bit before taking Louise to the beach, again to get cool. Judging by the way she is sleeping, I figure she's ok with that plan. Oh, and as mentioned before, Greg did put up another wiggly of Louise. Enjoy!

Heatwave

2009-07-29T20:50:00.005-07:00

The temperatures in Vancouver are uncharacteristically hot right now. People are uncomfortable at night and lunch decisions are based primarily on if the location has air conditioning or not.

This morning Louise opted to ride in the stroller the whole way to work. No time for messing about outside where a pug can easily overheat.

We happen to have guests at our office this week, all the way from Venezuela. They are customers here for product training and while I did tell them I was putting their photo on the internet, I did not ask if I could post their names. So they will remain nameless customers, even though they were very happy to be introduced to Louise.

As usual, Louise was happy to meet the new people. Any attention she gets from strangers is good attention so she had no problems with being coddled and posing for the camera. I'm not sure, but Louise might have to do a little overtime with another day at the office this Friday. Anything to keep the customers happy.

Of course, that wasn't all that happened today. Tommy and I also met Greg for lunch and while Louise played coy she was certainly happy to see him again. I suggest visiting his blog as he was up to his usual tricks with cameras. I suspect there will be another wiggly photo of Louise coming up.

Unfortunately the air conditioning is only in the office. For lunch we walked over to Science World to eat at the secret White Spot location. There were a couple older ladies there who were asking if Louise could have a french fry. (The answer was 'No.') They were asking all sorts of questions about her and sneaking pets while we waited for our orders to be prepared. Louise entertained them by being her usual self and thankfully didn't beg for their food. We chose to eat in the shade because it was just too hot in the sun. Even so, Louise was fading by the end of the visit so by the time we got back in the office I had to get her wet to help cool her down. Twenty minutes later she was cool but exhausted so she slept until the end of the shift.

She is asleep now and we have the temperatures under control in our condo. Sometimes it helps to live in a shaded ground floor unit. I just heard the first warning shot go off for the fireworks so I should wrap things up as we hope to head out to see the show. Yes, Louise will join us. That trooper will wake up the instant I put my shoes on, guaranteed.

Beach Photo Extravaganza!

2009-07-20T21:56:00.012-07:00

Okay, this is going to be a little tricky. Louise and I went to the beach again on our walk this evening and I took a LOT of pictures this time. I also got quite wet as I was in the water with her. She really liked that part and got excited. Maybe it was just the choppy waves, who knows. Either way, she had a great time in the water, which was quite warm for the ocean, yet still refreshing on the toes.

I say it is a little tricky because I am trying to accomplish two things in this blog post: First, I plan to post nine or ten photos,and second, each of them have been formatted to fit perfectly on the screen of a macbook, or 13" macbook pro. That's the computer that my wife uses so I figure there are at least a few of you out there who might appreciate me cropping to that size. I chose to resize the images for a couple reasons - the current size I had tended to use was just too big for most screens and even if not, blogger tended to resize the images down from the original size anyway, so they never really quite fit as background images without a little work. By choosing a smaller size they now fit at least one common screen size and as a side benefit for those with really big monitors, clicking on a photo gives a reasonable zoom in without forcing a user to scroll just to see the entire image.

Please feel free to make use of these photos for your computer backgrounds if you like, or for whatever other noncommercial uses you might have. All I ask is that you give me a comment on the blog so I know if they are being used at all. I don't even care if the comment is anonymous.

Now that the preamble is done, let me tell you about today's adventures. I wore my shorts and sandals so I could dip my feet into the water, it's nice so long as there is sand underfoot but really, that only goes a few feet out before it turns into rocks. It didn't matter though, as Louise and I jumped around in the waves, climbing over rocks and logs. At one point this little dog had gathered a crowd of people who were entertained by her antics.

The wind wasn't very strong, but for some reason the waves were pretty choppy. Or maybe the wind was strong but I didn't notice because it was warm. I don't really remember, other than to say that the waves were wild and Louise was thinking they were something to bark at - as if she could calm the sea. As usual she would run in and along the water's edge, trying not to get into water deeper than she was. (She really doesn't like being splashed in the face.)

There were quite a few logs along the beaches today, which presented a small challenge for Louise as she sometimes had to run over or around these moving things. They were slippery too, which meant that sometimes she vaulted over the log and into water that was deeper than she planned on, forcing her to scramble back to shore. It looked chaotic but every pass she made as she ran by I saw nothing but pure happy dog. I let her have her fun.

Eventually it was time to move on, at least to another spot though - the tide was coming in and there was less and less space to play in. We started along the seawall and before we rounded the first bend I heard someone calling 'Wheezie!' - I turned around and noticed our newest neighbors calling to Louise - they were out walking one night about a week ago as Louise and I were coming back from a walk so they knew which dog it was. Still wet from the beach, Louise was happy to entertain, sitting pretty for photos and saying hi to everybody. This lasted until Louise heard another dog barking and then she was off again at full gallop, leaving our neighbors to laugh at her endless energy.

It's not endless though. I can tell by looking at this dog napping on her bed next to the computer, still wet on her back from today's adventure, snoring much quieter than I do. She's going to sleep well tonight, that's for sure.

Hot summer walks

2009-07-19T21:55:00.005-07:00

Summer weather is here and we are all enjoying it to the max. Luckily for Louise, it doesn't really get scorching hot in Vancouver, at least not downtown. Even on the warmest of days we seem to be able to find a cool breeze, so she is still very enthused to go out on multiple walks.

Last Wednesday we were at work and I happened to be chatting with my niece Sarah. I said I would share some photos with her from our lunch walk and I did, and here is another one from that day. Now fast forward to the weekend and you see us down by the beach again. At this time of the year the Downtown areas are extra busy with tourists so we sometimes get a lot of questions. Louise is sometimes into it, enjoying the attention and at other times, just not wanting to be bothered. One can not really tell ahead of time how she will react at first but generally if she is having a good day, the whole day goes well.

I took the third photo over at the church next to our house. It has been for sale for a couple months now and the garden doesn't seem to be as closely groomed as before. Volunteers are still looking after things, but it is taking on a 'vacant' character. Louise prefers the new feel to the area as longer grass is something of a luxury for her. She's taking a good sniff of something I prefer to remain ignorant of in this photo, let's pretend she's smelling buttercups or something.

That brings us to the walk we took this evening, where we met this little girl and her family walking along the seawall at Coal Harbour. She noticed Louise back on Denman street, and we happened to be walking the same way so she had some time to get used to Louise. She was quietly watching from afar until just after this photo when I indicated to her papa that Louise was friendly and would be no trouble. He laughed and said 'she isn't', nodding toward his daughter.

She was very nervous when he told her (in Spanish) that she could pet Louise. With one little finger she cautiously touched Louise just above her tail so softly that Louise barely noticed. Louise has been, and is always, fantastic with children, be they timid or boisterous. She just stood relaxed and let the child have her encounter, careful not to do anything to startle her.

Yeah, we got a great dog. Nobody can tell me different.

Recovery walk

2009-07-11T15:56:00.007-07:00

Louise has become my personal trainer. Since I pulled my back, I have been laying about the house, not moving around a lot. This is not really the best course of action for me, as I am supposed to keep moving as much as I can. This is where Louise is determined to help. She all but refuses to go for a walk if I happen to be home, unless I attend. Which, given the circumstances, is just the motivation I need to get my broken butt up and moving.

But it makes for slow, short walks.

Still, between that and some late night strolls I have been taking with Holly, my back does seem to be getting stronger again.

So what is a pug to do when her walking partner isn't at full speed? Goof around, mostly. I was feeling a bit better this morning so I happened to grab my camera on our walk. She was in the perfect mood to mug for the camera and make the most of the sunshine.

We wandered around the West End, alternating between sunny and shaded streets, to give Louise time to cool off, but I'm not sure if it was needed or not. We wandered over to Barclay park, mostly because it's close by (I was in no mood to stray too far and then have my back wear out again) but also because Louise was off-leash so I was picking areas that I knew would have very little car traffic.

Of course now we are back home and Louise is down for the count with her daily nap. I honestly don't know how she can sleep as much as she does - but she seems to be happy so who am I to complain. Gives me time to do my back stretches and post to the blog.

That's a good thing, by the way. What has gone unsaid until now is that while I recover, Louise is getting very, very well rested. I expect she will walk the socks off of me sometime soon, just as soon as I can handle it.

Shoe Shoppin' and Splish-Splashin'

2009-07-06T23:27:00.007-07:00

Okay, this should be a fun post. I have quite a few good photos to choose from, like this one here where Louise is with us as we ducked into a shoe store to check a sale price. The photo looks to me like it is ripe for a caption but maybe that's just me. I liked how the light was reflecting off the leather making it all shiny. It just looks to me like she is asking permission for a pair, when that was totally not what was happening at that moment.

As you know, Louise tends to get a bath on 'beach days'. We sometimes work that the other way around, where she gets to go to the beach on 'bath days'. On this day Louise and I happened to arrive at the beach right around sunset, which made for some pretty good photo opportunities. It didn't take much coaxing for her to run the length of the beach and back. Once she was off, she had a good old time messing about in the water. We even tried playing fetch with some old mussel shells, which never got returned because they would sink and she would lose track of where they went. But the fun was in the chasing and not in the returning, so that was ok. She had a good time romping and splashing and it was another walk done. Bath time came later and it took two rinses because I thought it was a good idea to use a stinky used pet towel from before. Unfortunately this left Louise smelling worse than when we started, so the re-do was in order.

I took a little heat for that one. This last photo was taken the other day when we found ourselves back out 'in the country' as we like to say, visiting our friends Bill and Colleen. You might remember that they own a dog named Daisy. Another friend of theirs was there with her dog, a pug named Lilly.

All three dogs were well behaved but I couldn't help but notice how different each was from the other. Lilly was about six thousand times more energetic than Louise or Daisy. Daisy just tried to stay out of the pug's way most of the night, looking for consolation from the other house guests. Louise tried bossing the other two dogs around and made it her life's goal to coax some appetizers from everyone there. Okay wait, the dogs weren't all that different from each other - they were all pulling that stunt where they would be as cute as possible in hopes of being rewarded with food.

I didn't get a good picture of Daisy that night, but here's a shot of Lilly. She was a little charmer, that's for sure. Oh and by the way, Louise is on the welcome mat because she needed a bathroom break and then on the way in decided to hang out on the porch where it was cooler.

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T14:59:00.004-07:00

Ok, this post is a little premature, since we haven't yet set out to celebrate the holiday proper. However, it's been a while since I posted last and I do have a few pictures to put up, so here we go:

Last year we went to Granville Island to participate in the festivities - this year we will probably just stick closer to Robson street since we learned that the same band will be playing there again this year. We really enjoyed them last time, so it should be fun. The band is called Soulstream and they kept the funk up last year so we are hoping for more of the same. Once again, we will be breaking out the doggie stroller to help with crowd control - we don't want little Wheezie getting stepped on!

Another change from last year is they are giving away free ice cream instead of free cake. While I'm happy about this, Holly is a little disappointed - she likes her cake! It's not a deal breaker though, we will enjoy the ice cream just the same.

This will be Louise's chance to celebrate with the crowds - we were out earlier for our morning walk along the seawall, which she enjoyed, but it was quite windy - I had to be careful not to get into the sandy parts of the beach as we didn't want blowing sand to get in her eyes. Other than that, it's pretty much perfect pug weather - sunny and warm, but a cool breeze to keep a pug comfortable.

Happy Canada Day, pug lovers!

Under the Gun

2009-06-23T20:32:00.004-07:00

See this dog? She means business. After putting up such a long blog post on my other site last night, I'm under the gun to at least update her site now. She's sitting on the sofa just staring at me.

Or maybe that's snoring. It's hard to tell right now.

Either way, it has been a while since I posted. I was away this past weekend on my bike and we were worried that Louise would be upset with me not coming home. Apparently this was NOT the case at all. Seems she preferred the extra space on the bed and wasn't perturbed in the slightest. Of course, when I finally did return home she was overly excited to see me - but again, that may be attributed to the fact that she was indoors for about nine hours and was just ready to get outside. But I like to think that she missed me, at least a little.

Since I have been back, our walks have been a lot shorter. This has been my fault as my legs are still sore, but Louise has been a good sport about it. I'm feeling better each day, so tonight's walk should be back to normal. Oh, and of course tomorrow is a day at the office, so we will see who tires out whom.

One more thing: To all of you who contributed donations to my fund raising effort. I had a fantastic experience riding to Seattle last weekend and I know the money raised will make a real difference in people's lives. Thank you.

No Car Day at the Beach

2009-06-14T20:42:00.006-07:00

Today was No Car Day in Vancouver, but I'm not going to post about that right now. I will, in a few days, don't worry. The reason is because after all the excitement, Louise and I went to the BEACH. It's now warm enough and we had already determined that it should be a good night for a bath, so there would be no harm in letting her have her fun.

And fun is exactly what she had.

We were lucky to find a spot that was pretty empty today - fine weather on a weekend tends to bring the suburbanites into town and this weekend was no exception. The place was pretty busy. But, the sun was slowly setting so I am sure that the bulk of the people had already started to head on home. This was perfect for us as it meant Louise could explore without any interruptions.

Lately she hasn't been thrilled with the notion of having a camera pointed her way but after some time in the ocean she was in the mood. At one point the silly dog wanted to come up and sniff the camera, for no other reason other than she was happy, little tail wagging. Look closely and you will see me reflected in her eyes.

I like the days where we get to spend a little extra time with Louise, just goofing around and having fun. Judging by the way she is curled up on Holly's lap, snoring away after being dried off, I think that Louise likes these days too.

Here is a quick video I took as Louise ran up and down the beach:

Thanks for putting water out!

2009-06-07T13:22:00.002-07:00

The last little while has been fantastic weather. Anytime this is true, we have to be a little cautious over when and how long we walk Louise. She does mind the heat. So far we have been able to get around this by concentrating her time out around mornings and evenings. But when a pug has to go, a pug has to go. Sometimes, waiting until the sun sets is just not feasible. A dog crossing her legs is not a pretty sight to see at all.

So we sometimes head out for a stroll in the middle of the day. It's still only Vancouver weather so really it's not that hot out. Besides, many people leave dog bowls filled with water out for passing dogs. We know of one at the local fire hall and another at a restaurant called Don Guacamole's. Sadly, as we headed past Don's we learned that they are not always consistent with the water. We arrived today and discovered it wasn't there. Louise's tail dropped immediately and she lost the will to continue. I had to carry her an extra block to get to a local aromatherapy store that also leaves water outside. Once refreshed, all was good in the world again.

Can it be Friday now?

2009-06-04T12:27:00.006-07:00

We were out for a walk late last night, around 10:30 pm or so. I was in shorts and a tee-shirt and didn't feel the slightest chill in the air. We were out later in part because any earlier would have been warmer than what Louise finds to be comfortable. Judging by her mood, she was pretty happy with the decision.

Okay, so take a look at the bench in the second photo. Louise fails the graffiti test on both counts since she is not only a dog, but of a Chinese breed. At least they used correct spelling I suppose. I was hoping to think of something witty to say about it, but really at the time it just made me think 'hmm.'

It is also becoming quite clear that Louise doesn't only like to bark at cars, but also at boats. Well specifically the ones with engines. I think it's the noise they generate or something. At any rate, she finds them quite fascinating when we are down by the water and will often run to the edge of the seawall to get a better look.

Whatever she likes, I say. At least she can't get into trouble with boats since she refuses to enter water deeper than her chin. It gives her a chance to interact with something different and she is having fun. Isn't that what dog walks are supposed to be for?

Titles are the hardest part to write.

2009-05-24T20:12:00.004-07:00

Another weekend, more time spent down by the seawall. The place is getting busier as the weather gets warmer and Louise is just loving all the extra people she runs into on a daily basis.

Okay, not really. She gets quite aloof at times and bored with it all. The novelty has clearly worn off and she would often just rather get on with her walk but she 'tolerates' her fans and they sometimes win her over. This happened tonight while I was walking with her and someone approached asking if they could pet Louise. At first she didn't want to even look at this person but within about 4 or 5 minutes Louise was all affectionate and enjoying the attention from her fan.

We can't possibly stop and talk to everyone who approaches and as I have griped before, I generally don't indulge the ones who scream movie titles or mimic her breathing. But I'm not griping now, we had a good walk tonight. Louise was energetic and wanted to run so it was good that we were in an off-leash area. She enjoyed her run and I appreciated the fresh air and the chance to stretch my legs out a bit after a morning ride.

As I mentioned before though, it's getting warmer and that means that Louise's endurance is already fading. Hot weather is like kryptonite to this little pug. Even now, about half an hour after our evening walk, Louise is flaked out on her bed in the living room after laying on several spots on the floor first (the floor is colder.) It won't be long before we need to bring water with us during the walk. Still, she really enjoys this time and doesn't hesitate to go out when the sun is shining.

Victoria Day weekend

2009-05-17T11:36:00.002-07:00

Spring is here and Wheezie is already starting to feel the heat. Still, she seems to really enjoy this time of year - it's warmer, but she can always seem to find some cool grass under a shady tree somewhere. Vancouver is not the sort of place where the grass burns up by mid-summer.

I wasn't feeling up to a bike ride on Saturday so the whole family set out for a walk into Coal Harbour. The weather never did get as warm as all the news stations promised, but by the time we were at the waterfront we were confronted with some unexpected humidity that had us shedding our layers. Having a good walk in the morning is always helpful because that means she wants a nap throughout the afternoon. Groceries were purchased during this time, which was what we had planned. We also stopped into Bark & Fitz to try on some new harnesses but didn't find something we liked enough to buy. We did pick up a couple treats which is why you see pictures of Louise trying to hope up into Holly's lap. We also got another bone that is designed to help keep her breath fresh.

Late this morning I had Louise out again and this time she wanted to roll around in the grass. She does this as it gets warmer since it helps her to cool off. I caught a bit of video of this - I probably should have tried to stay in one place more but hopefully you will get the idea just the same.

We tried Louise on the breath freshening bone and she did chew on it for a while, at least long enough for me to snap a couple photos but quickly lost interest. She keeps coming back to it when she is bored though, so we haven't totally lost hope yet. Since returning after her night walk she has been tired and hot - so she lays on a spot on the floor for about 4 or 5 minutes before moving to a new, colder spot. I have a feeling she will sleep well tonight. Oh who am I kidding? She's already fast asleep while she waits for us to go to bed.

More photos from Langley

2009-05-12T21:18:00.004-07:00

I was going through my photos and found a couple more shots from our weekend that I felt ought to be on the blog. The first one is Louise getting cuddles from Colleen. Nothing quite says 'loving the attention' like getting tummy rubs while being held in a lap.

When we were packing up we decided not to bring Louise's bed as we figured that the dogs might sleep together and it would be redundant. Well we were partly right - it would have been redundant to bring the dog bed we have because Louise was just as comfortable sleeping on Daisy's bed! With wall to wall carpeting in all areas except the kitchen and dining rooms, Daisy didn't care too much if Louise took a nap on the dog pillow once in a while. Oh by the way, those would be Daisy's toys next to Louise. She tried them out for maybe about five minutes before losing interest.

Country Visit

2009-05-11T07:23:00.005-07:00

This weekend we went out to visit with friends in Langley. I like to tease them that they live in the 'country' even though they are still well within the urban sprawl that is the Fraser Valley. Afterall, they live about a 45 minute drive from us and due to the fertile soil in the area there are a lot of agricultural developments (ie. farms).

Louise of course, was up for the adventure.

It also meant that she would get the chance to play with Daisy, a German Shepherd - Greyhound cross. For the most part the two dogs got along, once Daisy realized how bossy Louise can be.

Before heading out we grabbed brunch at De Dutch, a nearby restaurant that had an open patio. This was key, as it meant we could have the dogs with us while we ate. Daisy wasn't really used to such a busy street so she started to whine a little, but we were able to keep her under control. Louise of course, was more focused on the possibility of food appearing soon and was looking for the best possible position to catch any scraps.

From there we went to the seawall, where Louise needed to find some shade every now and then. She was resting up for her big sprint along the water's edge. We did happen to find a stretch of sandy beach and let the dogs go for a run - Louise pretended to be a Labrador and was instantly in the water, racing along the surf. I think she liked being able to cool down so quickly.

From there, I didn't get a lot of good dog photos. But we did have a good time in Langley, eating sushi and watching a losing hockey game. Just like we would have at home.