Wake up call

In the mornings, Oliver used to jump on me when he woke up. It was quite annoying, to be jarred from sleep with four pug paws pressing into your stomach and face.

Recently Oliver has stopped jumping all over me, which I credit in part to his maturing and being able to hold it together more so than before. Now, he just crawls closer to my face, and stares. He stares at me as if the staring would will me from sleep. And when my eyes pop open, he gets really excited.

Here’s the face I wake up to now.

flashback

 

 

I took this picture the very first day I met Oliver.

Look at those eyes. I should’ve known then- I was in trouble.

Four eyes

Possible captions when writing this post:

“I’m deep and intellectual.”

“I’m a candidate for LASIK.”

“Mom, I hate you.”

“I’m ready for Halloween!”

 

I considered a number of things for Oliver’s first Halloween. My first thought was to buy a Yoda costume, but upon further inspection at Target, I realized with his temperament it just wouldn’t work.

So, I sprung instead for the hot dog costume. I’d say this was a win.

Pug life

A day in the life: eat, sleep, repeat 3x.

fear of abandonment

It didn’t manifest itself right away, but in the days before I moved out of the house I was renting with some friends, Oliver became increasingly needy.

He’s always been aware of my patterns. For example, when I get ready in the mornings, he goes berserk when he sees me put on shoes because he knows I’ll soon be leaving. Normally when I leave in the mornings, Oliver is pretty quiet. My roommates have told me that it’s almost as if he doesn’t exist as he can be so quiet sometimes.  This past week, however, my roommate Emily let me know that after I would leave she could hear whining and howling and crate rattling. It broke my heart.

On Saturday I put Oliver in the crate again while we were moving things in and out just to keep him from getting in the way or running out the door. He was so stressed out, he was visibly shaking. I also could not get enough space last night he was cuddled so close when we went to bed.

Throughout today he’s calmed down considerably. Still needy, but not quite the Velcro Pug that existed earlier in the week.

Birthday boy, Part 2

 

Tuesday after work I came home and brought out all the treats I bought for him at PetSmart (salmon treats, a rawhide, a stuffed animal, and a rope).

(please ignore the eyesore trash can)

After playing for a bit, I left Ollie with his two new toys and took off for a quick run (which went better than anticipated, yay!).

About 30 minutes later when I got home, I came up the stairs and saw this…

Notice the stuffed animal’s arm under the coffee table.

 

I tried, what can I say?