Louise was also 'working' on the weekend

While at the office this weekend, Louise somehow found the time to do a photo shoot. My co-worker just happened to have his digital camera with him and he couldn't resist taking pictures of such a seasoned professional as Louise.

This is the best of the shots he took, although in a much higher resolution than what I can offer here. Still, you can see how she prefers to use my sweatshirt as a blanket, and has found a place on my desk instead of below it. This was so that she could peer out the windows to keep an eye on the doberman next door.

My co-worker thought it was funny when she started to bark at the dog outside. He apparently does not realize what serious business this is. But then again, he doesn't have a dog of his own, so we can't expect him to know.

Boring weekend for Louise

So bored

This hasn't been the best weekend for Louise. The visitors we had aren't staying at our place any more, so there are fewer people for Louise to play with. Also, on Sunday we were busy doing some more renovation work at home, so again, people were too busy to play.

Our little dog was a little depressed with the changes.

Of course, we knew this would happen, so when she started moping around, we would take time to interact with her, and if she wanted to sleep until 4:30 pm, we wouldn't let her. On her walks, I let her interact with any people or dogs we encounter, since she likes that so much. Anyway, while at work I let her nap on my sweatshirt, which she liked. But since I had a banana at work, and was obliged to share with Louise, the sweatshirt had to come home to be laundered to get out the banana stains.

Back at the office

Did I hear a dog bark?

Louise and I found ourselves back at the office for some more overtime today. Personally, I think she is getting a little bored of this routine. She tends to do better when she is sleepy. But she was happy for the first part of the shift, as one of the other testers was also in, and he played with her for a bit. Also, we heard that same doberman barking just outside, and Louise even caught a glimpse of her this time. That REALLY set her off.

Eventually she settled down though, once she commandeered my sweatshirt and a section of my desk. But that wasn't until after she managed to get in a good walk around the office. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to track down that crazy doberman.

Time for a bath

In hindsight, I probably should have got my wife to take a few pictures of Louise while she was still in the tub covered in soap. Oh well, there will be other opportunities. What we have here though are a couple photos of Louise after she has been partially dried off.

Generally speaking, Louise doesn't mind baths. Last night she was actually liking the warmth of the water and hung around under the tap much longer than usual. She's getting used to the routine now and just lets me get the washing part done so we can move on to her favorite part: drying off.

I'm not quite sure why she likes this part so much. Probably because she gets silly whenever someone rubs a towel in her face. Anyway, I usually get about a minute and a half of good drying time before she gets crazy and starts running around the appartment. So usually my first job is to wrap her in the towel (another potential photo, I know, I know) really tight so she can't squirm out of my arms until she's at least moderately dry. Of course, she eventually settles down - it's one of the advantages of owning a pug I guess.

Can someone find me the remote?

What's on YTV?

Have I ever told you about how Louise likes to watch TV with us? Most of the time she is more interested in just hanging out with us on the sofa, but every now and then she starts to really pay attention to what is on the screen.

This is usually caused by dogs barking on the TV.

If Louise hears another dog barking, she generally wants to investigate. It also leads to a lot of barking from her, and she also wants to get as close to the TV as she can. She used to try to run around behind the TV to find the dog, but has since learned that doesn't work.

We have had similar results with the computer, so now my wife is often surfing google video for barking dogs when she wants to get Louise excited. Of course, now we need to get some screen cleaner to wipe all the doggie drool off the laptop screen, which she likes to get practically on top of. No real damage yet though, so I won't complain.

Down for the count

Down for the count

The picture pretty much says it all. This pug is tired.

With the added excitement of company visiting, Louise generally has herself played out and ready for a nap at several points in the day. Our friends are amazed at how quickly she falls asleep.

But Louise cares not. For her, it is nothing but blissful slumber.

Yogurt lips

Yogurt lips

We try to make sure that Louise has a balanced diet, and sometimes that includes a little yogurt as a treat. She just loves it and licks it up pretty quick. However, at the end there is always a little left over on her bottom lip, that she can't quite lick off.

This is not nearly as bad as the dog food on her eyebrows, which happens when she has her whole face in the bowl.

Still, this picture reminded me of that milk ad, with famous people sporting a milk 'moustache.' Of course, this is more of a yogurt 'goatee,' but who's keeping score?

one eye blue one eye green

one eye blue one eye green

While Louise certainly posed for this photo, the results were quite unexpected. The flash reflects against her eyes in weird and wonderful ways, depending on the angle.

Well Louise can be a bit cross eyed, which explains how in this photo, her eyes are reflecting different colours. No photoshop required for this one - I didn't even have to crop (which I almost always do.)

Now, it has been suggested that perhaps the colour is due to Louise drinking margaritas. I can neither confirm nor deny this suggestion, but I will say that we do have all the required ingredients at home, and we do keep the liquor in a lower cabinet that Louise has access to. Draw your own conclusions.

You see what she is doing with her teeth in this photo? Most of the time she doesn't look like this, but every now and then when she closes her mouth, she lets her teeth poke out. After a few mins she generally adjusts to hide them again. Needless to say, my wife (and I) like this look a lot, and refers to her 'smile' by how many teeth are showing. It ranges from just one tooth to about what we have here - a whole row.

Sleepy Smile

Sleepy Smile

My wife originally took a picture of me holding Louise, but after passing through Louise's strict editorial process, this is all we have left. Just kidding, of course.

I usually (although not always) upload the picture files to a site called flickr for some free hosting. I find it is actually faster to blog from there, as compared to Blogger. Having said that, I have to edit almost every post from Flickr to get certain details right. Blogger may be a little slower in posting the actual results, but it gives me much more control over every little detail. For example, I usually have to adjust the time stamp on each post from Flickr, and when I do I also have to adjust the font size for the picture caption. At that time I also usually remove the "Uploaded by iTripped" line, since I'm the only one who ever does that.

One thing I really like about Flickr are the stats generated. For example, I uploaded this particular picture, and even before I had filled out the description, over seven people had viewed the picture, and one even left a comment. You can see what I mean by clicking on the picture - it takes you to the flickr page and you can see any comments others have made, etc. I find the stats useful in part because it shows me which pictures get the most attention. I also use Google's Analytics to track stats for the blog, which breaks down who are new vs returning visitors to the site, etc.

What can I say? I like stats.

Green Eyed Monster

People get red eye when you use a flash to take their picture. Dogs, well I've seen red, orange, green, blue - all sorts of colours. I'm not quite sure why that is - if only I had a regular readership of animal doctors who could explain it to me. (Please use small words.)

Anyway, this is another New Year's Eve picture. We got a lot of pictures that night, as Louise was in the mood for the camera. Well that, and she was jealous of me taking pictures of the other pets.

Speaking of jealousy, we were sitting on the couch last night and Louise was on my wife's lap. She wanted to move the dog, and I was trying to coax her to come sit on me instead. Louise wasn't moving. She was comfortable and didn't want to move. So I took one of her toys, a stuffed bear and moved it around in hopes of getting her to move. Nope, failed plan. Then my wife says "Pretend to pet the bear." As soon as I did that, Louise came over to me and started chomping on the bear, getting rough with it. Once I stopped paying attention to the bear, she was done with the toy.

Pug in Blankets

Jedi Louise

One surefire way to settle down Louise is to sit down and let her cuddle into my lap. This is often handy if we have to go out someplace that doesn't invite dogs. Wal-Mart, or the doctor would be examples of such places.

So here I am settling down the dog before returning to work. The biggest problem is that it's also an effective method of settling ME down too...

The slippery slope of sleeping on laps

Sleepin

When Louise sleeps, she sleeps HARD. Here are a couple pictures of her napping on my lap. Or well, it started out that way. Eventually she started to slip off to the side, but was really just too tuckered out to do anything about it.

In some ways, she is like a little soldier. Able to nap just about anywhere, any time. Then, if there is activity, she's able to get up and participate. Well, most times, anyway.

On a side note, the standoff between Louise and Sophie continues, but at a relaxed pace. If one of the cats gets energetic and starts running, well Louise is eager to chase. But she leaves 'em alone so long as they are relaxed and stay out of her food bowl.

Slipped off

On this particular occasion, I think she was trying to tell us that she wasn't thrilled with what was on TV. Sometimes she can be so picky about what to watch. She does like seeing other dogs on TV, and will bark at them when they appear. Or even when she just happens to hear dog voices in the background of a TV show.

Napping through commercial breaks

Portrait of a Pug

At this point, Louise has her eyes open mostly just to keep tabs on the cats. And even then, only if they cause a ruckus. Louise wanted me to post this picture as a reminder to Sophie that even though she is sleeping, Louise is keeping her ears trained on her every movement.

Sometimes, it gets tense around the condo.

But this was not one of those times. We were just fed and in lazy moods while we watched some TV.

PS - hon, this picture is for you. I know you like it a lot :)

Laughing Louise

Laughing Louise

Sometimes Louise just likes to be a goof-ball. She puts her head against you and starts to push. Or she rolls around on her back while trying to chew her toys.

This is not one of those times.

Sure, it looks like she's having a good laugh, but what is really happening is she is yawning before settling in on my lap for a nap.

Consider this the 'before' picture. Tomorrow I'll post the 'after' photo.

Dog treats are not for cats

Dog treats are not for cats

Louise was given one of her Christmas treats today, and apparently she is STILL on the sofa chewing at it. It's called a 'Greenie' and is supposed to be a vegetable treat for dogs. It's got the texture of hard plastic, if you ask me.

Notice that Gingerbread man has been relegated to the sidelines for the time being.

Despite this distraction, she felt it was important to answer Sophie's criticisms from yesterday, and to demonstrate that she does in fact know how to be photographed.

Meanwhile, Louise will be content to finish working on the Greenie. Personally, I just hope it leaves her with better breath than when we give her the salmon skin 'bones'.

You put a CAT on your blog??

Shocked Louise

Quote from Louise: 'What the heck? How did that Sophie manage to get on the internet?'

Apparently Louise is a little upset at the entry on my other blog. She has gotten used to the attention from her own website and doesn't like the idea of Sophie moving in on her 'territory'. I guess that is understandable. Yesterday I got a call from my wife informing me that Louise was STILL in bed at 4:30 pm. She wasn't able to tempt Louise out of the bed with treats, which is usually a dire sign. Apparently she got used to me being at home for a week and was sad because I had to return to work.

My wife's suspicions turned out to be correct, because when I got home, I met a happy and excited little dog. We had to go out for two walks that night, one in the rain and a little later another one in the snow. I think my wife will make a point of taking Louise out for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon, regardless of how 'sleepy' she is.

Christmas bone

Christmas bone

Aside from treats, I think this was Louise's favorite gift for Christmas. As mentioned before, she immediately departed with the bone to find a good place to chew on it for a while.

I'm not sure that this toy has replaced Gingerbread man yet, but it's definately one that she likes. I've noticed that she prefers to chew the toy on the plush parts, and not on the rope.

We had Louise in to the vet over the holiday because she was acting sluggish and was without much energy. Personally, I think she pulled a fast one on us, because when my wife got her to the vet, she perked up immediately and was happy to visit with everyone there. We decided to go ahead and get some blood work done though, just to be safe. The net result is Louise's cholesterol is a bit high, but she is otherwise a healthy pug. I guess we will have to cut back on the cream cheese and bacon for a while.