Shoe Shoppin' and Splish-Splashin'

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!

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

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

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!

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?

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.

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

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.