My birthday

My birthday was just pawsome this week. I got birthday cookies from the Dog Loft, and a new clucky chicken, and no spankins after beatin up Howie several times. All in all, a real success. And then....I got this intriguing message from sweet little Birdie and Jubal in my inbox!!

. pour Le Cafe' du Pantaloons de Fromage! Avez-vous un tres excellent jour d'apres votre anniversaire! (And don't check out our Francaise, 'cuz it sucks dog kibble)

Lots of love,
Birdie and Jubal

Oh my, so what should I do?? I think Birdie might just LOVE me but I belong to Bella She Who Must be Obeyed. But Birdie SPOKE FRENCH to me!! *beads of sweat roll down bright pink cheeks* I think in some countries such as Arkansas, if someone speaks french to you, you have to get married afterward, don't you??
signed with some consternation,
Monsier Fromage....

The New Cheese

Hi everydog, pals, human friends and those aspiring to be cheesey. It's been a busy summer at the Medina Foster Home for Wayward Pugs. For a while there I changed my name to Javier con Queso in honor of my dad's birthday. Today mom told me I had to change it back because my friend Alex and others were getting worried that I had disappeared.

So I am Java Cheesey again. But while I was fixing that all up, I decided I am no longer simply PUG but am also CZECHOSLAVAKIAN WOLFHOUND. I bet you puggies didn't know that dogster lets you choose to be just about any breed you want. I considered Weenie Dog, but with the cheese thing already going my way, it was a bit on the foody side. I thought about Great Dane. After all, those critters can see SEE what's on the counter!! But then I wouldn't fit in my little round bed at naptime. So CZECHOSLAVAKIAN WOLFHOUND it is. My sweetiepie Bella Who Must be Obeyed will be impressed, I am sure. I felt a bit of wolfhound could balance out those tendencies mom says make me her "special" pug, such as my fear of aluminum foil, the watering can, and anything that moves quickly overhead (ducks head and makes fffftttt noise).

Our former foster brother Oscar stayed with us for another nice visit this weekend. Oscar is solid white, so he is easy to see in the dark. He reminded me and Howard of the joys of peeing on the deck, instead of in the grass like Mama wants. The best part was every afternoon when mama would hose down the deck, Howie would chase the water and slide around like he was on an ice skating rink. That little guy is nuts, but you didn't need ME to tell YOU that. Oscar went home Sunday night, and I was kinda sad to see him go. But his mom and dad sure do fuss over him, and they taught mom how to make little bedtime doggy cakes by cooking slices of canned Canine R/D in the oven. MMM boy those are good. The only thing I think could make them better would be.....cheese.....

Time for snoozeland here. Sending cheesey hugs and love to all my pals. The Pug formerly known as Javier who is once again Java Cheese.

A Big Day for a Little Cheese

Mom says tomorrow is a big day for her CheesyGuy, me... I go to see Dr. Brownie to have an oral cancer removed. Mom says I will be sound asleep through the whole thing, so there will be nothing to be afraid of. Hmmf. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of anything! Except for that scary watering can, the sound of aluminum foil, and anything flying over my head *ducks head and sneezes*.

The GOOD news is, I get to eat that yummy canned food for a while again, and mom says I can have plenty of cheese with my pills. *mouth waters thinking about cheesy cheese* I'll probably be dreaming of Bella the whole time.

Mom says they caught this cancer VERY early. She wanted me to tell all my friends to always get their annual teeth cleaning. Dr. Brownie said this type of cancer is fatal if it is not caught early and removed. She knows a little pug in Minnesota who died from this type of cancer. Now that's scary.

*eyes getting heavy* uh oh. It's way past my post-breakfast nappy time. I'd better go claim the fuzzy pillow before Howie discovers it's unoccupied!

Cheesy love to all my pals! Java

Tagging the Cheese

Wow, while we were outs of town at vacationland, I got lots of tags. Mom said I have to write down seven or so things about myself that are secret. *chews end of pencil as his forehead gets extra wrinkley* hmmm...okay, here goes - don't show this to Howie or he will make fun of me, k?

1 - I love cheese
2 - I love Bella almost as much as cheese. that's a lot!
3 - I am afraid of the scary watering can, but when my ball goes near it, I put on my BIG BOY BRITCHES and get the ball anyway! so there scary wateringcan!
4 - any time something moves quickly overhead, I let out a sneeze and duck
5 - I don't know how to count to seven so I had to ask Winnie for help with this
6 - I like to rub my cheesy wrinkles on the carpet to spread the aroma of Javaness everywhere
7 - I like to sleep late under the covers and wait for mama to bring me breakfast in bed!!

Now, I tag:
Bella *SMOOCH* m'Love, Odie, Rocky, Gomer Puggins, King Lou, Filo, Xena, Hoku and Goober!

Goodbye Monkey

Sometimes when Mommy says goodbye to her foster pugs, she is sad for a long time. Every puggy she has fostered has gone to a wonderful home, thank goodness. But every foster puggy that has stayed at the Medina Foster Home for Wayward Pugs always manages to wriggle their wrinkley way into her heart. Our latest foster brother, Monkey, went to his new home three weeks ago, but mom says he will always be a foster pug she thinks of every day.
Monkey was rescued from death row in an Animal Shelter in East Texas last Christmas. The nice people who rescued him there helped him to heal from severe lacerations on his back and neck with weeks of hydrotherapy. His wounds had grown over and were infected when he was rescued. They speculated that Monkey was attacked by a large cat of some kind, but it is also possible he had been used for pit bull bait, something, sadly, that happens to pugs in Texas sometimes.
Even though Monkey had been in good care for weeks, he was terribly thin when he arrived at the Medina Foster Home. Mommy said it took longer to get some fat on his bones than it did for Mister Pug or any other pug who has ever stayed with us! She noticed that everywhere she went, Monkey would step on the back of her heels. He would never let her out of his sight and always wanted to be held in her lap. As soon as he was in her lap, he would instantly fall asleep, as if her lap was the safest and most desirable place to be in his whole world. Since mommy's lap is usually the domain of Winnie, she and Monkey spent a lot of time together, following mommy around and taking turns with laptime. Pretty soon, Monkey and Winnie learned to curl up together on a pillow at Mommy's feet and fall fast asleep that way.
Monkey was very smart, and learned to play fetch. He adored toys so much that sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night just to raid the toybox. He would get really sad and worried if one of his toys fell off the side of the bed at bedtime. Mom would always retrieve the toys for him, and she often woke up to find him asleep with all his favorite toys piled close around him.
When Monkey went to meet his new family, he fell in love instantly with his new mom, Sarah, and got along very well with his new Boxer brother, Remington. His new mom took him to the vet immediately and she learned that even though he was a young pug, he only had 20% vision in one eye and 10% vision in the other eye. He had had pigmentary keratitis. The vet said that if it had been treated when he was younger, his vision would not have been so bad.
My mom thinks this is one reason Monkey always followed so closely on her heels. The vet said he lives in a world of shapes and, even though he can manage to get around, he does not see like we do. One day he was running around with a toy in his mouth, one of his favorite things to do, and he ran smack into a closed door that had been open moments before. He did not appreciate that closed door smacking him like that, and gave it several accusing looks before finally deciding to walk through it again.
Monkey was the wrinkliest puggy that has ever visited with us, and so his face was always worried. Now that he has found a wonderful furever home, he will never have to worry again.
Bye bye Monkey. We are so sad to see you go, but happy you will be loved and cherished for the rest of your life.

Windblown Cheese on a Friday Night

Mama says I get to tell the tale of our big evening with wind, hail, rain and baby tornadoes on Friday. It was a wild and wooley night at the Medina Foster Home for Wayward Pugs. A little cheese like me, alone outdoors, would not have been safe or dry for long. Fortunately, along about bedtime, all the three of us piggies were tucked up in the big hooman bed, safely ensconced between the mama and the dad, snoring loudly and making sure to lay horizontally so that maximum bed space was covered. With daddy's help, we all snored so loudly, the vigilant mama could not hear the weather report from her battery-operated radio. Thank goodness the mama stayed up past 9 pm just to be sure her little wrinkley fatties were safe and sound. When the phone rang at 10 pm, it was the grandmama, calling to be sure her little cheesettes and wrinkley grandpugs were warm and dry. Howard woke up just long enough to ask if any refrigerators or sausage links had blown into the yard, but he fell asleep as soon as mama assured him that none had landed yet. When the pebble sized hail tapped on the window, I woofed Hello! Come in!! but mom said the hail needed to stay outside where it would melt without puddling on her floor. Satisfied I had done my little bit for the storm patrol, I fell right back to sleep after burrowing my face under my favorite purple birthday blankey. The next morning, us boys took turns peeing on the little branches that had fallen onto the back porch. The baby tornado that scooped up a neighbor's roof decided to skip over the house of pug. It had undoubtedly heard about the fearsome Winnie piglet who would huff and puff it away if it dared to disturb her beauty sleep!
So my friends, we are still safe and sound in the House of Hound in Flower Mound. All this talking has made me...made me....so...zzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzz

It's Cheesy Time!

According to my pal Maxwell Puggy, who can always be depended upon to drop by for bones, It's CHEESY TIME!!! There has been so much goin on at the Medina Foster Home for Wayward Pugs lately that mommy has been neglecting her Cheesey Boy. I have only been getting 20 or so hugs and kisses every day, in between the dreaded face washes. Mom says that I grow cheese like a factory, and keeping up with the production is a full-time job.
All I know is, every morning when I'm sleeping late, with my head under the covers, the LAST thing I want is for mom to bust up my dreamies and scrub my cheesy wrinkles. What NERVE. Then she puts this antibiotic cream on the red spots. Now, listen here mom. I can take care of all that stuff perfectly well myself by rubbin my face on the carpet rigorously a few times a day. This also helps to spread the smell of cheesy love throughout the home, like Java PotPourri, at absolutely no cost to the household budget.
Uh oh. My eyes are gettin heavy. My chin is droopin. I think it might be...I think it IS....Cheesy Nap Time!

Birthdays go by so fast....

I had the most wonderful birthday last week. There were prezzies, rosies from all my friends and bones and messages, and a new soft purple snuggley blankey I can hide under when I'm focusing on my naps (hint, hint, Howard!). The best present of all was my new foster brother, Oscar!

Oscar the Foster Pug arrived last night with everything he owns in this world - a hairbrush and a plastic bag of food. Mommy says he is quite the charmer and I noticed he is a professional tail waggler. Oscar is 11, is white as snow, and looks like a stuffed teddy bear. I think Oscar could lose a few pounds, but I have to admit I was impressed that he learned to use the doggy door right away.

Howard decided Oscar's loud nasally breathing was growling, so Howard was tough guy around Oscar last night. Mommy made Howard sleep with Oscar for a while. All the steam goes right out of Howard's sails the moment mommy's not there to protect him. Oscar just looked at Howard like "hey dude, wut's yer problem? let's be pals!" Oscar got the boot from his family because they have a new baby and Oscar sheds. When Mommy brought Oscar home last night, she sat him in her lap and had a long talk with him. She told Oscar that shedding is encouraged at our house. She said our goal is to produce two pugs worth of hair per day. Mommy said we have really been falling behind on the pug hair quota lately, so Oscar has come to our house to save the day!

I like Oscar a lot, and will share my toys with him. He loves toys, and it makes me sad that his mom and dad didn't think to send any of his toys with him when they told him to hit the road. Judging from the big bag of new toys mommy just brought in from pettysmart, Oscar will have a few to take with him when he finds his fur-ever home. Mommy told me her secret plan is to make Oscar as unadoptable as possible so she can keep him through the holidays. She says she has asked Howie to teach Oscar some of Howie's bad habits, too. Won't Daddy be sprized....

The Poop Board

Winnie had this "great idea" to help mommy keep track of who has
"done their bidness in the yard" each morning. I'm not so sure this new system is working for me. Mommy hung a little chalk board by the doggy door and each of us is required to mark off a little symbol under our name when we come back in -- after wiping our paws, of course. If we pooped, we draw a little round turd-shaped O. If we pee, we make little dashes, kind of like raindrops.

It's not always a reliable system, though, because I've caught Howie a few times drawing hundreds of O's under Winnie's name. Winnie also reports that Howie doesn't always record an little O when he's um, done his bidness in the yard.

And it takes me a LONG time sometimes to draw my Os and my little raindrop dashes. The chalk is slippery and one of my eyes is always busy lookin in the other direction when I'm sposed to be drawin. To do it correctly, I have to wrinkle up my face and fiercely concentrate and bite my tongue. I usually drop the chalk a few times before I get it just right. The puggy queue behind me gets restless and at times rude remarks are made by those waiting. This only makes me have to start all over.

All this new stress requires that I increase my naptime by 50% each day, and I will also be askin mom for more snacks. All this thinkin makes my forehead extra wrinkley, and my stomach gurgle more.

Time to rest and refresh. I hope I don't have one of those awful dreams again tonight, you know, where you're in the queue to draw your Os and raindrops, and you forgot to study the day before, or you forgot to put on your pants. *Crawls into soft crate and hides face in corner. Soon, very soon, a soft snore emanates from the crate*

Ode to a Princess

I dedicate this Ode to a Princess to my own fair Bella the puggy girl of my dreams who makes my heart go pitty pat and fills me with thoughts of cheesy love. I’m sending a little kiss to her eye, hoping it will heal quickly.


How to Keep Puggy Princesses Cool and Comfy in the Hot Summer Heat!

Take fat little female Puggy, hold her and give her kisses until she snorts.

Place her so she is seated comfortably in a bowl of chilly water or a small swimming pool, water no more than 4 inches deep.

Take large fans and turn them on her at medium high speed after ensuring her pink sparkley doggles are securely fastened. (be sure her doggles are not mussing her hair in the back!)

Feed her low salt chicken broth ice chips one at a time.

Select one of her brothers (any one will do) to fan her with palm leaves and exclaim periodically at her stunning jiggley loveliness while offering to refresh her pool water.

Remove refreshed puggy girl from water, and towel her briskley with a 3000 count extra fluffy extra deluxe pure white bath towel scented lightly with the smell of lilacs.

Feed her and be generous about it. After all that effort, she will be hungry!

Pick her up again to ensure she is perfectly dry, and as soon as she belches in your ear, you will know your lovely princess is momentarily content.

You may take a 5 minute break before it is time for the next stage in the daily adoration process of the puggley princess.