52 Weeks of Izzie the Pug

52 Weeks of Chazhound Dogs, 0/52
Originally uploaded by mandypug

I'm participating in a 52 Weeks project on my dog forums. I figure i'll share it on here too!

So prepare yourself for 52 weeks of Izzie because it officially starts next week!

Ball Crazy

So i got a new camera today on Boxing Day sale, which means…

EVEN MORE PICTURES OF IZZIE!

You thought i took too many pictures of my Pug already? Well just you wait!

Anywho, here’s a picture i took while playing with aperture settings.

Winter Break!

So it’s been awfully busy around here due to finals and all but I'm finally free! Which means Izzie and I can do more fun things, even if we do work every day.

Anyways, we’ve not done much interesting lately, but we did receive a surprise in the mail yesterday! My lovely friend Allie over at Allie Pets (which by the way is a great place to get a portrait done of your beloved companions) mailed me a Christmas card along with some goodies! One of the goodies was this fabulous hand made fleece tug toy which Izzie just loves! So here’s a few pictures of her enjoying it.

Thanks again Allie!

The Great White North

Well… Sort of. It certainly doesn’t look so great or white outside, but we are fairly far north.

I ordered Izzie her Chilly Dog Great White North coat a week and a bit ago when it was really frigid and snowy. It finally came in today, though it was not so frigid and snowy out. Actually it was kind of nice out.

So even though i wish it was more wintery and awesome so i could use that to show how epic Izzie’s new coat is, i took pictures in the brown grass and small wind blown drifts anyways. All in fear of being slaughtered by Izzie’s adoring fans for no pictures, so here goes…

Dashing through the snow!

Oh eff you mum! Made me get stuck!

No pictures!

Pug on a drift

I can see the whole park from here!

Oh look, another dog!

Chaaaaarge!

It’s a huge hit. Izzie wasn’t even one bit cold (well her paws might’ve been a little chilly) and she wasn’t fussing with the coat at all. Her extra skin had some issues but that’s because of me shoving a collar on her and that kinda went funky. We’ll have to figure out a solution to that.

Anyways, a kind thanks and shout out to the folks at Chilly Dogs coats for getting this out to us so darn quick! We give the product two paws up! We’ll give it some more testing over the brutal part of winter and then give the coat another review!

Birthday Photo Shoot

So waaaaay back at the end of July i purchased a photo session with the lovely Tanya Plonka for Izzie's 2nd birthday. I know i know, ages ago, I've been holding out on you all; but being a university student and trying to scrape up money for that plus dog sports training I've just now managed to purchase the rights to the photos. So here's a few of my favourites with no commentary because I'm too lazy to bother!

 

Isn't she adorable? I swear she was a model in a former life, she loves to pose for the camera.

Where’s your ball?

It’s far too cold outside to do anything (-24°C to be exact)…

Definitely not Pug appropriate weather as you can see.

So we’re stuck indoors trying to occupy our time. Which means Izzie has gone ball crazy.

Up and down the stairs scaling furniture to keep the ball away from me and the other dogs. It all gets quite annoying with her bringing the ball to me wanting it thrown. So i devised a plan involving the coyote statue in the hall.

It really really annoyed her. She wanted her ball so bad…

See the desperation in her eyes?

Silly Pug… If only we could go outside to play.

Forever in Blue Jeans

That makes no sense to anyone but me probably. Oh well, it makes me smile as i serenade my Pug with that classic Neil Diamond Song.

I always tell her that she keeps me poor, I’m always buying her a ton of things she probably doesn’t need but looks awesome in. Thus, keeping me Forever in Blue Jeans.

I don’t have anything else to write, so whoever reads this just gets a lovely photo of Izzie.

Isn’t she lovely?

Oh the weather outside is frightful…

Literally overnight this blanket of icky while stuff was laid down with more on the way… Greeeeaaaat.

Obviously blizzards are not Izzie’s favourite type of weather.

Neither of the other Pugs like it either, but at least Izzie gets to wear the coat and boots… Ruby and Chai have to go naked lol!

They’re clearly not fans of this weather…

The Hills Are Alive

With the sound of snuffles and snorts.


I took Izzie and one of the family Pugs, Chai, to the dog run today. This dog run is nestled in the coulees by the Old Man River. The Pugs loved it. They adored just running free in the field.

Izzie leading the way... As usual.

I of course took my camera since these dogs are so bloody photogenic. Not to mention they're also hilarious.

We are stalking you...

See? Too damn cute for their own good.

Spot the Pug

I also always bring the camera so i don't miss any crazy antics... Like bunny hopping through really tall itchy grass.


For example...

"I'm riding my invisible racehorse!"

And then there's things like zoomies... Can't miss those!

"OMGWTFBBQ!"

 Then there's also those moments when you get absolutely lovely pictures like this...

Strike a Pose

Or...

Peek-a-boo!

Or even...

The epitome of art right here...

Anyways... These dogs are lovely. I must emphasize that. 

Even butch little Chai is cute...

"I try..."

(but not cuter than Izzie)

Reigning Queen of Cute

Filler

I really have nothing to write today, and i figure i should blog something. So I found a video of Izzie playing with her Kong Squeaker Ball.

Enjoy!

Fetching Tags

It’s here! It’s here!

Izzie’s Fetching Tag that is!

Fetching Tags are unique in that you choose your own fun “tagline” to put on one side of the tag while your pet’s name and your phone number is on the other. This is an opportunity to be clever and come up with the perfect saying that suits your pet. The tags are very structurally sound and while they look big, they are very very light since they’re made of aluminum. Boring tags are a thing of the past, all the cool pets wear Fetching Tags!

Now that pimping the product is done, back to our regular scheduled programming.

I’ve lusted over these tags for ages since Chewbecca on the Chazhound forums has gotten them for her dogs. I’ve always wanted one for Izzie but just couldn’t think of what to put on it for her tagline. Finally I came up with a tagline for her thanks to my lovely friends on the Chazhound forums who suggested taglines for me. In the end, the winner was.

“Sex Pugs Rock N Roll”

Absolutely perfect for my rockstar of a Pug.

Izzie would also like to add that anyone reading should go to the Fetching Tags Blog and locate the poll on the right side of the page and vote for “Sex Pugs Rock N Roll, Izzie”. The top three taglines get a free Fetching Tag and Izzie’s boyfriend Wile E. Coyote needs one!

The One Who Started It All

I’m often asked why i have a Pug. This is usually because i treat my pug like she’s an actual dog, not a couch cushion. I take her rollerblading and train her to do tricks and we’re even training in Agility. Not your typical lazy, fat Pug dog activities. You may assume that I'd be better off with a Border Collie or other active type dog.

Well so did I.

I originally wanted a Cardigan Welsh Corgi (yeah i know, har har, i couldn’t handle one if i tried just too much dog for my busy life) but being 11 at the time mum decided my opinion was worth diddly squat. So she decided because she’s the owner of the house, that she’d get her dream dog… A Pug.

And here i am thinking “ICK! They’re so ugly! What am i going to do with a PUG!”

But Ruby came home anyways, at 16 weeks old about a week after we moved into our new house in Lethbridge. I was not pleased and kept bothering mum to get me a Corgi. No such luck still.

I tried to train this ugly little pudgy dog to do anything, heck i would’ve been happy if she sat. No luck. She just wanted whatever food i had then to go take a nap in the sunshine. Definitely not the dog I wanted.

We eventually got another dog… Yet another Pug, named Chai. She was okay. By that time i was starting to warm up a little to Pugs. I couldn’t fight it, no point. This one yet again was stubborn as all get out and just wanted food and naps. Sigh, yet another dog that left me longing for my corgi.

Then I got Izzie. She came about because I was ready to adopt a Border Collie from the Humane Society so i could get my smart energetic dog kick. I suppose it was a bartering move on my mum’s part because i was 16 and very much ready to have my own dog of my own breed choice. She made a deal with me that i could get my own dog… If it was a Pug.

So I thought and thought and said well fine if we find one then I'll get a Pug not a Border Collie. Then Izzie showed up in the paper being rehomed, $850 one day and down to $450 the next. We had to go look and you all know what happens when you go to “look”. We came home with her that night.

Izzie is my heart dog. She’s been patient with me through my learning how to train her. She’ll do most things i ask of her and she loves to do anything as long as I’m with her. I was skeptical at first training a Pug, but she’s really shown me how wrong i was. Now our mission is to push the limits of what is Pug and what Pugs do. So now we ask, what can Pugs do?

The answer?

Pugs can do ANYTHING!

I’ll leave you all with a picture of the lovely old lass that started it all.

You’re a good Pug, Ruby. You just know it’s better to enjoy the finer things in life and use your looks to get the most out of everyone you meet. You’re a smart old lady.

Wile E. Coyote

This is Wile E. Coyote…

Wile E. is a Chihuahua and he is Izzie’s very best friend in the whole wide world. He belongs to very good friends of mine. Izzie and Wile E. have known each other for 2 whole years and are incredibly bonded to each other. This is probably due to being only about 6 months apart in age and constantly being together at the store for their first year and a half together. This is typically what we see them doing when we have our playdates…

We frequently go to the park to allow them to play and run. They’re pretty evenly matched for speed, though Izzie is a bit bigger and can’t corner well…

They love these outings. One of us usually brings a toy or two for them to fight over. Their favourites are the sock monkeys or this dead fox looking thing…

They love to play fight and while Izzie has brute strength, Wile E. can slip out of her grasps easily and ambush her…

These two are truly best friends and while they’re a rather odd couple, they always like getting together to play.

I guarantee there will be more posts about this dynamic duo, even their bums are cute!

Collar Addict

I have a bit of a problem. I am willing to admit it, probably only because it’s very obvious to people who know me and see my dog on a regularly…

I’m addicted to cute Dog Collars.

There I said it. Collars are my weakness. If i see a cute collar i must get it for Izzie (or even for dogs of friends) especially if I go anywhere cool like small unique pet supply stores.

It all started when I got Izzie. She was just too pretty to not buy a ton of cute things for. So I got a collar, then another and another and another and pretty soon I ended up with a whole bunch of collars.

This is the first ‘special’ collar i bought for Izzie. It’s a pink Harley Davidson collar I bought for her so she could match with Wile E. her Chihuahua boyfriend who had a black Harley collar.

Next came her ‘tropical’ collar which was purchased by her auntie on our way home from the C.A.R.E. centre in Calgary when we were picking Izzie up from her eye surgery.

The next collar wasn’t anything really special, I just thought it was cute and that she needed a new collar just for being her awesome self.

Next came her present for her first birthday. A pretty pink spiked collar.

I had always seen Mimi Green collars online and loved them. However i never had a credit card until recently so i could never buy them. That is until I found out that our local doggy daycare, Paws on the Run, carried them. So I rushed down there and found this lovely collar.

This next collar is still a favourite among most people that meet us. It’s a seatbelt collar! That’s so cool, plus the design on it is awesomesauce.

So the seatbelt collar is nice and all, but I keep coming back to Mimi Green collars. So when I found this little gem at Urban Dog Market in Calgary, I just HAD to get it.

Which brings us to our most recent new collar. A pretty little collar from Izzie’s favourite auntie.

Anyways, you all can see the problem I have. Not to mention the fact that people enable me in this addiction. These are just the collars that have gotten regular wear too, there are tons more that just sit and wait to be used. Yet I still buy more.

Is there a collarholics anonymous group?

No?

Oh well, at least my addiction allows me to spam my friends with pictures of my pretty Pug in her pretty collars!