You are viewing entries tagged with the keyword Benjamin
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I must admit, in Benjamin's old age he has become quite a rule follower. When he was a pup I thought he would be impossible to train. But once he learned a command, he really mastered it. Henry would always learn a new command or trick first, but you could always count on Benny to perfect it.
Take the command "come" for example. Henry learned it way before Benny even had a remote clue of what we were trying to get him to do. But call out the word "Come" at some random point in the day and you will get Henry about 80% of the time. Benny, on the other hand, will run over, full steam ahead, every time. Without fail.
The other night I had a good laugh at Benny and his follow the rules self. We were going out, so I told the pugs to go to bed. They ran off to their crates and I was giving Benny his treat for going to bed when we fumbled the exchange and the treat bounced onto the floor and about a foot away from Benny's crate.
The crate door was still open and being the treat lover that he is, Benjamin craned his neck as far out from the crate door as he possible could, but there was no way he was going to be able to reach the treat. He stepped as far forward as he possible could in his crate and craned his head out the door one more time to try and reach the treat. Again, the treat was too far away.
Then he looked up at me with a look of sheer panic on his face. In his compartmentalized, command filing brain, he knew he needed to be in his crate to be eligible to receive a go to bed treat. If he left his crate, he couldn't eat the treat. A true conundrum for rule following Benny.
Meanwhile, I am watching all of this unfold and I am shocked. I knew that he was a stickler for the rules, but even this is surprising me because food is involved and Benny is all about rounding up fallen kibble.
So, I told him to go "take it." He looked at me and again I told him to "take it." He ran out of his crate, grabbed the treat and then ran back into his crate as fast as his little legs could take him. I closed the crate door and he settled with a look of relief and a touch of guilt on his face.
For all his crazy antics, Benny is a very straight-laced pug. He takes the rules very seriously.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Preakness was just run in my home town of Baltimore, MD. The pugs saw the race and thought they would hold a contest of their own
Right out of the gates, Little Luna is in the lead, followed closely by Baby Benny and Dawdling Doody is bringing up the rear.
It was a close race, but Luna won it by half a pug length.
Monday, May 17, 2010
I feel like Benjamin is waiting for his dinner party guests or something. He's relaxed, but not too casual.
But, wait. Benny would never hold a dinner party because he would have to share his food. Hmm...maybe he is waiting for the pizze guy.
Friday, May 14, 2010
I think Benjamin's wrinkles are one of his best features. Not only do they add to his charm, but they are also very kissable. But, take Benjamin's deep wrinkles and throw in a bit of the FL heat and humidity and you have the perfect recipe for stinkles.
So, when the temps start to rise we really need to be on top of Benny's wrinkle cleaning. If we miss just one cleaning, you can tell. Plus, if his wrinkles get too dirty he will take cleaning them into his own hands and will start rubbing his face on his paws and scratching at them with his hind paws. I hate for him to be uncomfortable so we do our very best to never let them get that dirty. But, it is amazing how dirty his wrinkles can get after a long walk or a quick trip to the dog park.
So from now until sometime in October, Benny has a date with me each morning to get a deep wrinkle cleaning. Plus, he gets one more quick face wipe before bed. Nobody said being so darn cute was easy.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
We are trying our hand at a little, container vegetable garden this summer. So far, we are having some success with our pepper plants (seen behind the pugs). We have a total of 3 plants and we have close to 10 peppers total. I have no idea what we are going to do with all those peppers, but I think that is a pretty good problem to have. At least they are in all different stages. It looks like our first pepper will be ready for picking this weekend.
We also planted a cucumber plant. We have tried cucumbers in the past without much luck, but this year's plant is looking strong. We will definitely need to be getting it a bigger pot.
The pugs enjoy checking up on the plants each evening after their walk. I water the plants and they have fun sniffing around.
Monday, May 10, 2010
To say that pugs are guard dogs would be a stretch, however, to say they are of no use in keeping an eye on things would be an understatement. I think the problem is with the word guard. My pugs don't really guard anything. I would imagine they would guard a piece of pumpkin bread with their life, but that would imply that they wouldn't eat it right away and actually have something to guard. But, I digress. Perhaps, a better word is surveillance? My pugs are great surveyors. Because surveillance requires observation, it does not require them to take action. And I would say that observing is a very strong pug quality. They observe me go to the kitchen, they observe me get a blanket out and beat me to the couch.
While most of their observations are made in areas that don't really need observing, I have to say that the pugs do a very good job of letting me know when anyone is around the house. Mailman - check, neighbor's lawn guy - check, delivery man - check. Most of the time, they alert me to routine things, but there have been a few times that they let me know about things we weren't expecting.
Just a few days ago, Henry alerted me in his patented "woo, woo" that there was a cat hanging around our side yard. Which was good, because Cupid does not take too kindly to other felines pawing around her territory.
And the true genius is that pugs have their paws on the pulse around the house and you would never know it. They do all their surveying from the comfort of the couch or a cozy dog bed or a lounge chair by the pool. And they always look strangely disinterested. But maybe that is their modus operandi - make others think they are not paying attention when they really are.
But make no mistake, the pugs are in surveillance and not the guard dog business. Because unless doggie kisses are kryptonite to those with ill will, the pugs would not be of much assistance. But the good news is they would alert the proper authorities and have them take care of it. Delegating, another pug strength.
Friday, May 7, 2010
The pugs have been resting up this week, preparing themselves for a visit from G-Ma. They need to make sure they are well rested because it is exhausting being spoiled and eating all those extra treats that G-Ma is sure to bring. Plus, they had to get their G-Ma's day card this week. Tiring, tiring stuff. A pug's job is never done.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Monday, May 3, 2010
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case I think this picture is a way to see the the different personalities of Benjamin, Henry & Luna.
First, we have Henry the adventurer that can't stay out of the pool. Then we have the worriers, Benjamin & Luna, that pace around the pool concerned about their brother. But the real moment of truth is when Henry jumps out of the pool. As you can see, Luna is giving Henry and earful, but Ben is in the back, running as fast as he can because he knows Henry is going to shake. One big shake from Henry will get Benny all wet. And Benjamin's number one rule when swimming is that no one can get wet. 
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
« First < 13 14 15 16 17 > Last »
Want more? Wander through our archives.
