Nicknames

A while back I told you I was acquiring some new nicknames, well today I thought I would let you know what one or two of them are.

“Half mast”:
It goes along with my complete male nature. I have perfected the fine art of “selective hearing”. When I am not really in the mood to listen to what anyone else has to say I stand perfectly still facing them and drop my eyes to a complete half mast. No blink. No head tilt. No acknowledgement you even exist. It’s really quite funny at how much this annoys my girl human. And if she really wants my attention and she walks toward me I simply drop them all the way as if I am asleep; otherwise known as the ”I can’t see you so you must not be able to see me” routine.

All you dogs out there, if you haven't learned this one I strongly recommend trying it, you get away with soooo much by using it :-)

“Alien”:
This usually occurs after a real good exercise crash or just waking up from a nap. Note there is a specific high-pitched way of saying it. It goes something like …
“♪ AAAAA-lee-yuuuuun ♫”
….. if my puggy phonetics got it right.

OK these are the ones I feel comfortable sharing today… the rest; well I have some therapy issues to work through before you get to know those.
Until next time
~Finnegan

People...Places...and Things....

As each day passes, I seem to get busier and busier. I must be doing really well because my humans take me on more vehicular excursions everyday. I get to help co-pilot. Well actually they say I need to practice that more and stay out of the lap. I don't really understand what they mean by that since I am a pug and I BELONG in a lap. The silly steering wheel is what needs to MOVE out of the way!
Thursday I helped my girl human go for balloons. They were for something she called an anniversary. I made sure they didn't pop or blow out the window when we drove home. I like balloons. I have one that my friends Pug and Yoshi gave me when I came to my new humans house.I also got a bag with "Dirty Rotten Kitty", my cool blue camo "Wubba Kong", and my "stars BOBO". But my girl human didn't buy any cool toys like that for my boy human. When we got home we tied them to the metal box on a stand outside. And they bounced around in the wind......A LOT!

When my boy human got home I gave him lots of extra pug loves because I knew he would be sad he didn't get any toys. Instead they left me! When they cam back they were carrying bags with really EXPENSIVE smelling burgers. Even though I asked politely they said there was nothing in the bag for me. I heard somewhere that they are even called DOGGY BAGS, so what's up with that????
Friday morning I woke up late to the sound of my food bowl being stirred - I raced down to see.....but no expensive hamburger, just my food and Viokase, humph....
I waited patiently all day as the big cold food door opened to see if the gravity gods would drop some of that expensive hamburger to me , but no such luck.
Friday evening we drove to see my friends Pug and Yoshi. They were awfully tired, they must have had a busy day, so I happily played by myself most of the night and chewed on their great-big-chewiehide-bone. The kind my humans won't buy for me. Boy I love visiting!

Tired Pug and Yoshi

Saturday morning we got up EARLY! we were off to a new place called the farmers market. I couldn't believe they were going to sell me! But as we got closer I saw lots of really happy dogs walking around with really happy humans and some pleasant new smells. Boy human carried me because there were so many humans and dogs they thought I might bet squished. So I happily enjoyed the better view of my newest surroundings. Then we found "farmer Ken"! He had bags full of potatoes and squash and zucchini and cabbage and blueberries waiting for my humans! Hey they weren't going to sell me after all! These were other farmers like me and they were selling crops! I get it now, FARMERS MARKET!
Lesson today: REALLY get to know the meaning of your nouns

Farmer Kens' Yummies

Before we left the market I also saw my first train. Fortunately for my boy human I had just had my recent "peticure" or his arms would be much worse. It was big and loud and shook the ground and worst of all it snuck up on us and then blew it's terrible scary horns, just 10 feet away from me. I'm not sure I like trains.

Flickr:ChrisRobig

Sunday was father's day, so I was a good boy and did everything my boy human wanted me to do. He gets one of those per year.I helped him in the yard with the "big red thing" and help him with the "water thingy that cleans the deck and patios" and even took him for ice cream. I told him I would be a good boy and not afraid of the ice cream store this time. I think there were too many little humans last time that made those screamy noises which scared me. I think I might like ice cream (hint,hint,wink,wink)

Hope you all had a happy father's day!
~Finnegan

Shhh...

Today I practiced my guard dog skills. My girl and boy humans went out to do some errands and left me in charge! I spoke at the top of my little pug lungs to make sure EVERYONE knew I was here. I did such a good job that they took me for a trip in the "big noisy travel thing" later. I got to sit up top and watch all the things go by. I especially like these things they tell me are called Motorsnickles. They make funny loud "VROOMBY" noises as they go by. It's also fun to race all the dogs we see go by, but it seems to me they are all very slow, we beat them every time. When the humans came home the first time they brought one of those smelly bags with people food in it. But that's ok... I got to bake "Finnegan Cookies" today, and I think we finally got it right. I told my girl to preheat to 300F and just let 'em cook. About 2 hours later I told her they smelled ready. Well actually I told her that before we put them in I should test them. Then every 5 minutes I told her, at the top of my little pug lungs, I thought we should test them again just to be sure. (She didn't fall for that) So I just stood guard at the edge of the oven the whole time to keep an eye on them. About midway between the process we took out some of the scraps- she said they were like the ends of chocolate chip cookies that you just baked for a while because they were too small to be actual cookies. Since I don't know what chocolate chips are, I just took her word for it. I was only supposed to get two , but don't tell, boy human gave me one also! Shhh....
~Finnegan

Bed-hog....

Wow where do I start?
Thursday I turned 1. It was like every other day. Boy human was away and girl human and I spent the day playing extra long inside and taking naps since it made horrible sounds and flashy stuff outside. My crops got really wet and we had to move them so they didn’t wash away. When boy human got home we were going to go buy something called a birthday present but we were all tired and stayed in.
Friday girl human packed me something called a “travel bag”. I watched her put my food into little baggies and my “Finnegan Cookies” into little baggies and my Viokase into really tiny little baggies inside my food baggies and my eye drops into little baggies and a story she wrote about me all into this “travel bag”. I also noticed that she had a “travel bag”. Hers was bigger and had shoes and and clothes but no little baggies like mine. I knew I must really be special - because she didn’t have any “Finnegan cookies” in her bag, only mine.
Then boy human made a travel bag too. No “Finnegan Cookies” for him either!!!! But girl human yelled to him to remember underwear ….hey I know underwear, I can help!
A while later we got into a new travel thing. Boy human calls it girl humans’ “garage candy”. Yes it sounds like food, but it’s really a smaller and much quieter version of the “Big Travel Thing” that we normally drive in. The lid goes down in it too, but we didn’t do that, it was rainy. When we finished driving we were at my new vet. They have a big new building that had men making hammery and buzzy noises. One day I’ll get to see that. Funny thing is my girl and boy said have fun, and before I knew it they were gone- they left me! I heard them say something about going to play camp but I didn’t know they were going to leave me. Actually it wasn’t so bad … I got to meet new dogs and new humans and saw the really nice vet who worked hard to get me here with my new humans, and I got a "peticure" and washed down and dried off and then some “new dog small” and made new friends with the great staff. All was great until my humans got back on Sunday and talked about my medical stuff. It seemed that I needed a booster shot and my glands taken care of. Boy if my “warning shots” normally cleared a room- this process cleared the other exam rooms and whole reception area too. It was rather unpleasant, I cried and I don’t ever want to do that again. Never, you hear me?!
Monday was a much better day. I had a great night sleep. I got to sleep in the big bed all night long! They called me a “blanket hog”, but I don’t think that it was my fault; they rolled over leaving those extra soft fluffy flannel sheets available for me to cuddle up in the first place. Last night was another good night; you just need to know when to make your move.

Today it seemed a bit warm to play outside. I didn’t really have the desire to work up a sweat (I mean pant) so when girl human tossed “Mickey Shoe” I looked in the direction where she should run to go fetch it for me. My plan was successful- inside on the couch watching TV for the rest of the afternoon in the air conditioning. Ahhhh life is good.
Tomorrow is baking day! Maybe we will perfect the “Finnegan cookie” process.

Oh and its official my foster brother Chewie was adopted!!!!!!Yeah!!!!!! I can’t wait to see him in the fall to swap stories about how great we are both doing! I am so happy for him. Thanks to my foster mom for letting me know.

And “hello” to all of my friends on the blog. I will try to do a better job of writing to each of you. I just figured out that there are comments I can reply to. Sorry for not knowing that before. Remember I am still learning all sorts of new things.
~Finnegan

One day to go…

I guess I have been trying to get the remaining “puppy” out of me this week since tomorrow is my birthday.
I have been sooo busy doing those puppy things that I haven’t had time to blog.
I found mushrooms in the woods! At first I thought they were pretty, then I thought they smelled good, then I thought they might be fun to play with, then I saw how easily they came out of the ground, then I ate one….then I found out how much my humans didn’t want me to do that. Gee this game is no more fun.
The human who drives that funny white truck brought the copy of my new insurance policy the other day and boy that is making me feel like such a grown up- all responsible like. My humans even got me an extra special add-on piece so that just in case I ever get lost and hurt whoever finds me can fix me up right away and I am covered. I feel so loved.
Yesterday I got to bake more “Finnegan cookies”. This time I told girl human to turn the oven to 325°f and we baked for 735 dog-minutes. They are a bit crunchy. So next week we will try again. Maybe the same temp but less time or perhaps lower temp and same time. We’ll let you know.
I couldn’t wait to eat my cookies nor wait for boy human to get home. I played a lot with girl human inside because it was really hot out and “Mickey Shoe” wasn’t doing any fun tricks like squirting cold water or air at me so I had no interest in building up a sweat (I mean pant) like I normally do. See me here "doing my hills" :

When boy human finally got home I was so excited to see him that I ran and jumped and ran and jumped and drank water and ran and jumped then got sick all over. Not the welcome I had planned. The rest of the evening I “rested”.
Today boy human was here so I could remain a bit reserved in my excitedness; however I forget that he doesn’t always keep a close eye on me and when I get quiet he really should check up on me. Remember though, he gets “focused” and doesn’t pay attention to time or sounds or lack thereof. And I did a few things on the carpet. He saw one and took care of it, but not the other 5!!! Later when girl human saw and asked me what happened I didn’t want to tattle on him- we guys need to stick together. Regardless we both got put in the “doghouse” while she cleaned up. Then girl human seemed to understand and took me outside to play. It was a bit cooler this morning and we heard thunder off in the distance. We took a small hike, looked at all the new flowers in bloom today...

then came in just as the drops started to get in my eyes.

I wanted to stay out but she said 'I might melt' ... hmmm did she mean me or her?

I also met the funny little pully-out thing today. I mean it sneaks out then it disappears. Hard to describe but here’s a picture:

Girl and boy said it tells them that I am 98dog-inches long and my 84 dog-inch high front legs need to grow to catch up with my 98 dog-inch high back legs. They can’t believe how much I am filling out either, even in just the past week I look so different. Girl human keeps telling me to stop taking so many naps because they seem to be making me grow. I am just trying to keep up with my crops.

Bye for now!
~Finnegan

Here Comes the Sun (la dah di dah ♪ ♫)

The sun came out today.
Phew… no more rain. I played with my girl and boy inside and outside and inside and outside and then we went hamburger shopping!
We got in the big truck and drove to:

I get to sit in the middle on the console and protect the big truck while they go inside. They come out smelling really good, but I don’t know exactly what they taste like. No people food for me. Well except for yesterday when it rained. Remember the turkey incident?

Today I learned that my foster brother Chewie (below left) has a new foster brother Cid (below right) . I really miss Chewie and the rest of the family, but I know I’ll see them in a few months at our “family reunion” if not sooner .
If any of you know someone(s) who would be REALLY GOOD parents for them or any of the other puggies please contact the good people at http://www.pugrescuenc.org/adoption.html or maybe you can help by becoming a virtual foster parent or donor or volunteer.
That would be kinda cool too!

~Finnegan

CHEWIE!!!!! Cid!!!

Fred Astaire

Today it rained.
That’s why I did what I did.
Today I made boy humans’ slipper soggy.
It was raining.
Today I played toss with boy humans’ shoe too.
It was raining.
Today I ate my breakfast and dinner like a good boy, but didn’t go outside.
It was raining.
Today I pee’d on the nice pretty antique prayer rug. (again)
It was raining.
Today I ate turkey.
It fell on the floor (after I barked and startled girl human from behind… while it was raining)
Today I pulled apart the bean bag heating pad.
It was raining.
Today I played with girl human for hours inside (only minutes outside)
It was raining.
Tomorrow… I hope it doesn’t rain.

Stay dry!

~Finnegan

need to get one of these ; available at Animal Den

Ninja Pug does laundry and has a green paw

Yesterday I slept toooooo much.

Boy human worked from home and has this uncanny knack for ignoring all that goes on around him. He calls it “FOCUS” – girl human says he just doesn’t pay attention. That being said, I didn’t have nearly enough of my energy used so I was up today at 1am, 2:30am, 3:50am… well you get the picture.
When we all got up this morning I was told that today we were going to PLAY. I thought that meant right away and wherever and with whatever I wanted.
So I traveled into the living room- the room with the REALLY COMFY WHITE sofas. They make a good launching point to the antique marble top table that holds the antique Pug statues and bronze elk that I so carefully tip-toed around to go see the old grandfather clock in the corner of the room like any good curious Ninja Pug would do. Today’s first lesson: don’t let your humans think they have good furniture for guests - they will only make you stay off it.
Being the good pug I am, I thought it would be nice to help do chores today- so I helped with laundry. To ensure the machines did their respective jobs, I rolled in the sheets for one last good scent deposit. I like helping with the laundry.
Next we decided that my “Finnegan cookies” were a bit too puffy in the middle, so we re-baked them to make them crunchy through and through. I think the recipe is now to bake at 325°F for 45-55 minutes total. We’ll see how the next batch goes. Lesson two: insist on constant taste-testing to ensure daily yumminess of treats- you can never be too lax about this.
Time for a play break - outside we went but it was far too distracting with the birds and frogs and smells and the little human giggles and squawks in the air.

11:30-I think the fresh air made me sleepy so I took a nap – 11:36 nap over.
Let’s try inside play. This something I really enjoy. I might even consider submitting this as a new Olympic sport. It combines speed agility and stealthy artistic grace. You might say it combines the skill of a CD player QA tester/wild Savannah big cat impersonator. Let me explain. Human sits on floor, Human holds one of my toys out. Human passes toys from arm to arm circling their body while I chase it. Eventually the toy gets exhausted and stops. That’s when I crouch, lean, point; extend in slooooow motion, and just like a wild cat- I strike. Of course most of the time I miss and the chase goes on, but boy we have tons of fun! Lesson three: Make sure that you spend equal time in the reverse direction or your eyes will look funny bouncing back and forth in your head from all the spinning.
12:25 time for another nap.12:31 you know…nap over.
So the rest of the day went on like this…Play, nap, play, nap, inside, outside, sniff, sniff get into something new.
Time for more chores…. tend to the garden.

I am very proud of these - we planted these seeds last week and just look at how fast they are growing! It must be my green paws.
The tomatoes already have fruits on them and they are just my size. Too bad they are up out of my reach. Hmmm… thought to self; “how can I get those white sofas outside so I can reach the tomatoes?”
Happy gardening everyone!
~Finnegan

Hi fellow pugs, other dogs, cats and of course greetings to all you humans!

Today didn’t start out as well as it could have. I woke my humans up at 3am because, hmmm because, I don’t really know.
I didn’t have to go outside…
I wasn’t thirsty…
I wasn’t hungry…
I wasn’t even really in the mood to play.
So they got up tried all the above and then I just went back to bed.
Thinking that was fun …I did it again at 5:30, oops. That time boy human just decided to go make coffee and start the day. I again, then went back to sleep.
As the morning progressed, I got bored and decided to pee on my red blanket. So outside we went to finish the job. Instead I thought it would be fun to forage through the woods for a healthy snack. Well I thought I found it! All the flies were having a feast and invited me to join them. Boy human once again found this unacceptable and took me inside to wash out my mouth. I guess the term Reduce Reuse Recycle does not apply to doggie poop.
So there we have it our first new thing of the day: don’t eat poop if your human hasn’t had enough morning coffee :-)

Today being the first of the month held yet another milestone: heartworm pill and flea drops. Well the drops didn’t prove to be so bad ,I couldn’t see them or taste them so that was a no-brainer. The pill however… yuck. It didn’t taste good and I navigated it back up around my tongue, through my teeth just like a well trained Navy SEAL and spit it out clear across the room. I know my humans didn’t expect me to know that trick. Girl human tried again, way back in the throat, rubbing my neck for “swallows”, but she still failed the mighty Petty Officer Finnegan. Enter stage left: boy human. Oh no I guess he out ranks me and down it went. Gulp, sigh….
Feeling sorry for me (because I really know how to use my “sad-eyes” and pouty bottom lip)

girl human decided we would bake "Finnegan cookies" today. Since I have been here I have been such a good boy eating my food. I get almost 3 cups of dry food everyday with some sprinkles of Viocase mixed in to help my digestion, but have not had any treats. My girl and boy find that a bit difficult, since I hear the lucky pug and husky who lived here before me, and their friends, got treats everyday and extra-special homemade baked goodies for holidays too.
So today I learned how to “bake”.
Okay move over Emeril and Bobby Flay here comes Chef Finnegan!
Guy Fieri I invite you to stop by anytime and add me to your show, maybe we can do a special on Doggie Diners, Drive-ins and Dives ???
Gordon Ramsey dude I respect you too much and know what you might do to those Turkeys (who are far bigger than me) to lodge any complaints.
Here I am with my simple ingredients: one can of my special food, a cookie sheet, a spatula and a knife. Girl didn’t want me to cut myself so she opened the can, sliced the food,

cut little wedges (my idea). She also didn’t want me to burn myself so she preheated the oven to 200°f, loaded the cookie sheet, and even adjusted the temp to 300°f after 30 minutes for another 20 minutes of cooking. She was so concerned that I not burn my self that she flipped them half way through cooking to make sure they were not too soggy, not too crispy, just right.
Then she even took them out to cool so I wouldn’t burn my paws and mouth.

And there we have our second new thing of the day: don’t let your humans cook snacks for you – it takes too long. Just make them give it to you right out of the can; Cookie dough for dogs!!!!!

I am sure there will be more “new things” later today, but for now I am going to go reap the rewards of my patience…yummm.

Have a great day!
~Finnegan

Weekend Life

Hi everyone! Sorry I forgot to post yesterday, it was a busy day.


Friday night I went to a birthday party at my new friends Pug and Yoshi's house for one of their little humans. It was a pool party but I didn't bring my life jacket so I couldn't play in the pool. My girl and boy human don't know for sure if I can swim yet and we didn't want to take any chances. So I hung out under the pizza boxes and also made sure no one ate too much of the giant chocolate chip cookie cake. This was a good job for me since I don't eat people food. I get this yummy stuff from the vet that's special for my itty-bitty intestines. Everyone had a good time and all the "little humans" seem to come out of the pool in a funny shade of blue and did this silly shake. Not at all effective for getting dry like we dogs do. And then they didn't even roll around in the towels. Strange......

It was a late night and we got home at 1am. So we slept in a bit yesterday and didn't go outside until almost 6am! Girl and boy humans had some early morning errands to run so I stayed home and caught up on some sleep (I mean protected the house).
When they got back home we started some house work, clipped coupons(all over the great room floor, since I helped) then the lawn work began. First that buzzy thing up the driveway and down and then all around my favorite places to sniff and play balance beam, like the flower bed wall. Then out came the BIG RED THING.





It had wheels and a handle and it was loud and once it was gone it had made the yard smell all new again. Boy that's a lot of re-peeing I have to go do now.









Then later some new humans came over and they had all sorts of buckets and fuzzy things that looked like toys but everyone said NO they were not for me, they were for the dust bunnies. Funny, I didn't know we had bunnies in the house!!!! They haven't come out to play with me yet :-( The new humans also had a smaller version of the BIG RED THING that zoomed around the floor .

I wanted to see it but it made a loud noise and it scared me,I mean I had to protect my humans from it, so I sat at the middle of the staircase and barked until I made it stop.
After an hour and a half, the little BIG RED THING left and I took a nap. All that protecting can wear a pug down. But soon we went outside to see how our vegetables were growing. We planted them a few days ago and I can see they are growing as fast as I am ! After that my boy human

cranked up the hibachi and we grilled some beautiful smelling chicken. I think I might like chicken.

After we ate I took another nap on my girl humans right leg in my usual spot and somehow I woke up 4 hours later in the exact same spot. Yup I am really settling into my new digs.


Today we spent just being around each other and I tried to catch up on some of that peeing I have to do to make the yard smell good again. I have a busy week ahead of me.

Hope you had a good weekend too!

~Finnegan

Hello World !

Please be patient with me as today is my first day with this new blog thing.

Actually I have many new firsts these days and I am excited to tell you all about them, me and all the stuff that goes on during my day.

To start my....my name is Finnegan. Always has been always will be. Except for the new nicknames du jour I seem to be picking up. More on that later.

As you can see by my profile photo I am a pug. (and an adorable one at that says my girl human)

I have a long story behind how I arrived here and I put a link to my "success story" from the great folks at Pug Resuce of North Carolina for you to read. Just go to this page and select me at the bottom.

http://www.pugrescuenc.org/success.html

I have two new humans, my furever girl and boy and they seem really cool so far.

Everyday we learn at least 7 new somethings , because as you know , we dogs count in sevens.

Since my girl human thinks I am so adorable she takes lots of photos of me. Here are a few of my first 2 weeks at my new home and the one that stole the hearts of my humans in the first place.

Day 1: So you say that's a squeeeegeeee, huh?????

Toys...toys...toys...Oh where to start !!!!!

Have a great day everyone!

~Finnegan