Joyeux Noel, Puggies!

Gift Wrapped Louise
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

Happy New Year, everyone. Louise was supposed to have a speech prepared for this festive event, but wasted all of her time chasing cats, napping, and successfully begging some prime holiday treats. She assured me that all of you would understand completely.

Louise is looking forward to the adventures she plans to have over the next year, as she moves to Vancouver. I mean, that city is so big that they even have homeless shelters for cats! What will they think of next? Restaurants for doggies?

A very puggy Christmas

Louise wanted me to post a Christmas message to all the other pugs out there this year, but once she realized what we were going to make her go through, she had second thoughts. Her first reaction was 'why do I need the stupid hat? Didn't the cats wear it?' So if she looks less than enthused, you can rest assured that it is not because she is grinch-like. She just didn't like the hat.

In fact, it was her idea to have her picture taken in front of the Christmas tree, which she helped to decorate. Or at least, she stayed out of the way long enough for us to productively get the lights and ornaments put on without disaster. One thing is for sure, every time I head toward the door, whether I am going out for groceries, or just to get something out of the storage locker, Louise is never far behind. I think she likes the extra activity, and I am also getting the impression that I'm being taken advantage of on the nightly walk, which seems to be longer than I remember it being.

Admittedly, once we decided that it was time to take a few pictures, I got a bit carried away. As you can see in this picture, Louise is looking at my wife, pleading her to make me stop. (She really didn't like the hat, I guess.)

Of course, we are still in Louise's good books because for supper tonight she was able to get a few meatballs for herself. In her words, (between gulps) she said it was the 'best Christmas ever.'

That being said, she will probably flip out when she smells the turkey being cooked up tomorrow. The best is yet to come.

Vancouver Adventure: part 2

Ready for work
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

One of the other advantages of having Louise come to Vancouver last weekend was that she was able to come into the office on Friday to... um, well, disrupt things mostly.

When she wasn't begging for cereal, she was often running around checking to see which of the various employees happened to be eating. If she was not at my desk, I could either find her in the kitchen (trying to become someone else's new 'best friend') or in one of the meeting rooms, looking out the window so she could bark at cars.

Overall, she was well behaved though. I'm looking forward to being able to bring her in on a more regular basis once we get moved in.

Goofing around
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

This second picture was taken while Louise was getting a little silly in my lap. Every now and then she likes to 'burrow' in someone's arms. Personally I think it's a sneaky way for her to wipe the goop out of her eyes. Anyhow, that was what was going on when this photo was taken.

Vancouver Adventure

Louise was in Vancouver this weekend, and here are some photos we took while at Stanley Park. This was her first visit to the park (at least, with us) and she was very excited. But that could simply be due to the fact that she had been in a car all morning and was ready to run.

There are a few people we would like to thank: Bill, Colleen and their dog Daisy and also Noel, Lindsay and their dog Sasha. These people were kind enough to invite Louise into their homes for the evening, meaning that we did not have to use a dog kennel. Thanks again everybody - you really helped us out.

But back to Stanley Park. Louise is still overly excited whenever she sees passing cars, but we have noticed that she is starting to relax a bit (just a bit!) on that point. After about six thousand cars, the whole routine started to get old, even for her. But at Stanley Park, Louise got to see an entirely different creature: the Canada Goose.

We were able to pull up the car beside a dozen or so geese and let Louise hang out the window as she examined these birds safari-style. She wasn't quite sure if she should bark at them or not, as they didn't seem to be too worried about her being there. So she just stared at them for a while, fascinated. By the time we parked the car, she was more interested in the world of new smells to explore, and had to sniff just about everything in sight.

However, after about half an hour or so, the excitement was starting to wear off, and she was ready for another nap. As you can see in the final picture (which features Downtown Vancouver in the background) Louise was starting to get a little tired. This is a typical signal from Louise, one that she sends when she is getting bored of the camera, and having to sit still for all the pictures.

It was getting close to the time to find a new place to explore. Louise informed us that Stanley Park would be a lot more exciting if there was more to eat.

Classic Louise

Ours is a lap dog. A very skilled lap dog. One of her favorite activities is not really an activity at all, but the total non-activity of lounging on the couch - especially if it involves lounging on a PERSON who is also lounging on a couch.

If said person could also grab a blanket, and turn the TV on, things would be great.

This photo was actually taken back in February of this year, but it could have easily been taken last weekend, as Louise's habits haven't really changed much in this regard.

Creative Napping

Creative Napping
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

Another weekend, an other visit back in Vernon. At least the weather is much nicer this trip, so we had more time to relax and enjoy each other's company.

By the time I arrived back home this weekend, Louise was already settled into the bed for the night - and had to wake up a bit before realizing that I had arrived. Once she did, well it was party time. There really was no settling her down, which was fine by us. It's always fun to see a happy pug. She finally settled down after I took her out for her evening walk.