A mighty cold pug....

Oh Frank. Well, yesterday the sun peeked out for a very few moments. Seizing the opportunity, Frank's dad and I decided to grab a quick outdoor dinner nearby and thought that we would bring a certain small black pug along. Seeing as how the sun was out, we did not outfit Frank in one of his many stylish coats. Sadly the weather did not hold.

Oh Frank. How EVER did the pug overcome natural selection?

It was not long before Frank's little ears were trembling with shivers. The pug, as you may know, does not control his (or her) temperature very well, in large part because of their short snout. We are also VERY proud of Frank's athletic build, but because he is such a fit young specimen he does not have much insulation.

The solution:

OH Frank. You look so handsome in your mother's vest. It is too bad that she is so very cold so that you can be warm. (And no, I do not condone allowing the a pug to sit at the table, but, oh my, the ground was so cold....)

Frank's First Video!

Well, something VERY exciting has occurred! Frank has been captured on Video! You may remember a few posts ago when Frank's fondness for for oyster crackers was revealed. It turns out that the only thing more delightful that watching him fish them out of the tub is watching him smack his little pug lips as he eats them dry. I don't know why it is so enjoyable, but Frank is delighted to share this clip anyhow. I DO apologize for the sound quality - the smacking enjoyment is quite diminished by the sound of the tv... I must recommend that you turn the sound down quite a lot... BUT this IS a first round!

OH Frank! What smacky lips you have!

SUNSHINE

WELL, yesterday Frank was VERY pleased to wake up and find that the SUN was actually out and that it was quite warm outside. We wasted no time at all in packing up the car and heading out to the D-O-G-P-A-R-K (we have to spell it because otherwise Frank becomes a wee bit unmanageable).
As one might expect, Frank was eager to behave like a dog and put his snout, well, what he has of a snout, out the window. This is a problem. As you know from the title of his blog, Frank does, in fact, have only eye. This means that we can not allow for any stray grit or grim to fly into his leftover eye at great speed. OH Frank! However would you watch the squirrels frolicking in the yard if you lost your other eye?

But Frank! What are we to do? You are so eager to have your ears flapping in the breeze!

The solution, it turns out, is pictured below:

Doggles! That's right folks.... Doggles, and doesn't Frank look smart in his shiny red pair?!

Of course there is one problem; because Frank is a pug, and therefore does not have a snout on which to rest his doggles, they press down on his nose and make it rather hard for him to breath. BUT WAIT! Thanks to the fact that Frank only has one eye, the solution quickly became clear - you must tilt the doggles a wee bit askew so that they are no longer centered on the nose! The result in a "normal" pug would be that one doggle would rest squarely in one eye, but no such problem for Frank!

(Now, I must say that taking a picture of your dog wearing his doggles while driving and holding him in you lap is remarkably difficult... but, I did my best)

OH FRANK! Sometimes it is so fortuitous to be a one eyed pug!

Mmm. Oysters....

Well, oyster crackers that is. The other night I found myself so exhausted, hungry, and sore after a performance that upon my arrival home sometime after midnight all I could think about was how quickly I could get to bed. So, I decided to combine all of the necessary activities, namely: taking a bath, drinking a delicious seasonal beer, and eating pretty much the only thing I could find in the house, some crispy oyster crackers. Now, the only person who enjoys it when I take a bath more than I is Frank. This is because he can come curl up on the mat in the warm bathroom and have a snooze knowing that I will not be wandering away. However, on the afore mentioned night he was not interested in snoozing but rather was most keenly interested in the cracker based fare on which I was indulging - so I took some pity on him and set a cracker on the side of the tub. Much to the dismay of the small furry pug, it flew into the tub the moment he licked it.
What ensued was so enjoyable that I had to climb out of the bathtub to get my camera at which point we tried the whole thing over again.... and sure enough, flick into the bathtub (please pardon the steam...)

Oh Frank! What ever are you going to do now? You do not love to be in the bath...

but maybe if you just get a little closer...

and then look at the cracker very hard so that it just might float towards you - isn't it a delight that there was a cracker invented not merely to be delicious, but also to float in warm soups - (and baths it would seem!)?
OH Frank you are so close!

Oh my! I am sad to report that Frank never could quite get the cracker - each time he licked the top of it he pushed it further away... but the time I fished it out and gave it to him it was quite soggy,

but he didn't seem to mind - here we see him hopefully peering about in the tub for more...
Oh Frank, what a delicious midnight snack.

Frank Returns

Well, the computer has had some difficulty with loading the pictures lately, perhaps it is because I am oh so fond of the subject matter and try to put up a few too many! Anyhow, I would like to announce the return of Frank - pictured here joyfully running on a field on which we actually were not allowed.

OH Frank, if only your ears were a little longer you would look like a handsome rabbit indeed!

SUPERBOWL

Well first of all Frank would like to wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to his grandmother Herriott! He wishes that he could join her in enjoying a birthday cake and licking frosting off of her fingers!

Well, it had been a long week so we decided to invite a few friends over to not really watch the Superbowl with us. This pleased Frank because whenever there is a gathering there tends to be a rather lot of food and many laps from which to choose. At first Frank was focused on the table - frog plates and all - (thanks to Grandma Herriott!),

however, he soon found a new focus for his attention:

Above we see that Frank has cornered the 1 year old son of some friends. A few seconds later, as the unsuspecting toddler dropped his carrot, which a toddler frequently does, Frank, with shockingly fast reflexes, scooped it up and ran. This was repeated frequently throughout the afternoon, and I have my suspicions that when the adults were looking away Frank may actually have snuck up and gently coaxed the carrot (chip, cracker, cookie, popcorn) out of the little guy's hand.

Frank did not stop following the wee one for 2 full hours. OH Frank, you are such a focused hunter.....

Pug Week

Frank is a big fan of The Discovery Channel's shark week, mainly because there are a couple of laps on which to snuggle as his dad and I watch for hours with fascination. Just this week I was able to capture some evidence of Frank's very own predatory habits.

You may want to notice below the tell tale signs that a feeding frenzy is about to take place, most notably the very tense lips....

Ah, the prey has appeared. An unsuspecting french fry (not on a pug's recommended diet...)

First we see the brief investigation and move in...


followed by a dip down to pick up acceleration....

And! The Lunge!!!

OH Frank! What a frightening display! The final removing of all evidence that a feeding has occured comes very quickly after the lunge. You may ask yourself, "how EVER was that french fry chewed AND swallowed in such a short amount of time?" Indeed, it is a fascinating question.

As you can see, that final two steps are done with great speed and agility so that Frank can prepare with great hope for the next French Fry to swim by:

OH Frank. Such a fine specimen to study!

Imagine my dismay...

when I arrived home from a late night at work and there was no one to greet me at the door! No husband, no pug, no one. Feeling a bit glum I poked my head into the bedroom where I discovered the husband in deep slumber - pictured here, and yes, yes, those are pugs wearing Santa hats on his pajama bottoms. I got them on clearance last year and they mainly make an appearance when there is a bit of laundry build up in our house....

Just when a panic of whether Frank had been locked outside or otherwise misplaced started to set in, there was a disturbing noise emitted from somewhere under the covers...

It was with further dismay that I focused in on the region....

Wait a minute. Something fishy is going on here....

OH my! I am not sure that I approve at all!

However, since Frank seemed nothing less than blissfully snug I decided to let the sleeping dog lie...

Oh Frank, at least someone enjoys those pajama bottoms....

A New Friend and a Bean...

Oh Frank! What is that you have there?
You may recall Frank's pheasant hunting photo from Christmas, well, just as Frank's depression was starting to creep back in he received ANOTHER delightful gift from Bianka Cree! Above he is gleefully retrieving his new black footed ferret!

Once the ferret had been retrieved Frank proceeded with one of his favorite rituals. It seems to give Frank an immense amount of pleasure to repeatedly squeak a toy against ones leg. Over and over again. As you may assume, this has confused and/or distressed the occasional visitor.

At dinner we decided to let Frank have a little taste of his favorite veggie, the green bean. It has come to our attention that Frank, in his eagerness to ingest as much as possible, does not always chew a green bean, or anything for that matter, so we tend to hold on the the end and let him chop off little bits....

Oh Frank! Delicious!

And, gone..

Of course, at the end of yet another hard day in the life of Frank, the little dude conked out for a bit of Pug beauty sleep. However, in a surprise twist, it was his new ferret and NOT gentle pig that accompanied him to his slumbers.

Oh Frank, if only you weren't so shiny and handsome curled in a little ball we may be able to resist giving you green beans from the table sometimes...

Frank's Christmas

Well, it has been a rough week for Frank. After returning home from Christmas at his vacation home where there was constant feeding from his grandmother and playing with his grandfather he was RATHER depressed for 3 days. Here is a bit of a photographic Frank Christmas:

Here we see that Frank has arrived at his Colorado Grandparents well decorated home. It was nice to know that this year Frank had lost his taste for pine needles and poinsettas.

On our first night all together, Frank received his favorite treat, and in case you thought that a pug's eye could not get any bigger, I believe the next photo will prove you wrong:

That's right. A steak bone. Frank was quite sad when he had stripped all of the meat off of the bone, but was heartened the next day when we returned from a Christmas Eve viewing of Sweeney Todd to find that his grandmother had put out a welcoming sign...

Alas, it turned out that there were no meat pies at all...

The next day was Christmas and Frank wasted no time at all in sniffing out his very own stocking:

OH Frank! How eager you must be!
Frank then wasted no time at all in pulling the stocking to the ground,

rooting about, and getting stuck in a rather compromising position:

What was that, you may wonder, sticking out of the top of the stocking? Why a pheasant of course! (this photo was actually taken upon our return home when the appearance of his new pheasant did in fact bolster Frank's waning spirits...)

OH Frank! You are quite the bird dog!

After opening his stocking Frank still had a few more gifts to go. Here we see pictured his new Hide-A-Bee refills and his new Hide-A-Gingerbread Man especially for Christmas.


Oh Frank. It is very hard to be you. After a long day of excitement there was a bit of a collapse in front of the fire:


where Frank spent the rest of his vacation. When he was not in the kitchen of course...