Tojo has proven himself to be not a "winter pug" yet again. His staunch refusal to use the bathroom outdoors in the snow, rain, and snowrain has caused this author to question her choice of a New England graduate school. Perhaps the University of Aruba will let her transfer her courses if she begs ...

Pug on the road

Tojo has been spending a decent amount of time in the car since moving to New Haven. His favorite thing to do is to sit on the driver's lap and steer. His second favorite thing to do is to lick the windshield. He is a smart and talented dog.

Studying Saturday

Tojo likes to sleep on my lap while I study, but sometimes I have too many papers to juggle for him to stay there. I decided to bring his dog bed into my studyroom so that Tojo could rest while I labor. His little snorts and cute head keep me motivated. After all, who wouldn't want to keep such an adorable pug in kibble?

A lucky pug

Tojo was given a Hawaiian costume by his uncle PST! Here, Tojo is escaping the drudgery of office life by dreaming of a wonderful vacation on a black sand beach.

New dog park

Tojo has found a new dog park in New Haven. It's actually in Hamden, but it's pretty close to our apartment. Tojo has played with many new dogs and eaten a lot of poop. Here, he's making friends with another pug.

Connectipug

Tojo has moved successfully to New Haven with his owners. So far, he has enjoyed the larger living space and greater access to grass. Tojo enjoys spending time near the Quinnipiac river, sniffing shells and dead fish. He has also had the pleasure of meeting new dogs, including two pugs - Gucci and Josie.

Hopefully Tojo will get a dogwalker soon, as school starts tomorrow and Tojo will no longer have all-day human companionship.

Pug on the move

This week, Tojo will move from New York City to New Haven with his humans. Tojo will definitely miss his dog friends, but he will have a fenced-in yard in his new home, which is pretty nice!

Not much else is new with Tojo. Here, he's taking a well-deserved rest.

paint-only edition

Camera continues to be on the fritz. Recently Tojo began licking and chewing on a glass table that we own (it's attached to a lamp ... a wonderful piece). Because it's glass, his tongue is visible through the glass. Since I cannot get my camera to take a picture, here is a Microsoft Paint version of Tojo's glass-table-licking.

Text-only edition

Our camera seems to be broken so there aren't many Tojo pictures to post these days. Tojo has been busy, though. This morning he traveled to Astoria Park for another pug meet-up. There, he met many friendly pugs and sniffed many hindquarters. Then he took a walk by the river - Tojo seemed to enjoy the salty breeze. Now it's time for a restful and cool afternoon in the apartment.

You may recall that Tojo is not fond of the rain and snow. It turns out that he's not too keen on the superhot weather, either - he will get so tuckered out that he lays down in the middle of a walk! Still, he does enjoy the fact that the nice weather brings more dogs out for walks, meet-ups, and other activities.

Tojo does not have any summer trips planned yet, although there's a movement afoot to get Tojo to the beach soon. Hopefully our camera will be working by then if we do go.

Unrelated Tojo anecdotes

1. We talk to our dog on the street. Sometimes, this one-sided conversation probably sounds to outsiders like the rambling of the lonely ("Look, Tojo, peaches are in season!"); sometimes, it's like the comfortable commentary of an old couple ("We'll have some pug food for dinner tonight"). Tojo doesn't seem to mind as he merrily trots along, sniffing everything and giving the stink eye to Boston Terriers.

2. Tojo was recently given a gaggle of old stuffed animals to play with. He left behind a trail of stuffed animal carcasses, most notably this one:

Splendor in the pug grass

It's spring! Time for lots of smells - flowers, trees, and grass! A pug is ecstatic.

Prime ministers don't like wet paws

Just some random shots of the Toj. He is very upset by the current rainstorm and refuses to use the bathroom outside. Good times.

In like a lion, out like a lamb

Tojo is slowly turning into a mature pug. He's drastically improved in the housetraining department, and he has learned to love to just chill out sometimes. It's a wintry April night and we are all enjoying a night inside with our favorite toys - Greenies, laptop or "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit."

March madness

Tojo turned one on March 8. We decided it was time for him to start eating grown-up pug food. He quite likes it, as you can see here. Tojo also went to his first Pug Meet-Up, where he got to see his old friend Peanut and hang out with some new friends. Tojo also recently got a new toy - tentatively named Manny - upon which he loves to chew. The author of this post has noted with some amusement that Tojo now looks a little differently at the Boston Terriers in our neighborhood; he seems to be thinking, "Yeah, I could fit 'im in my mouth."

More winter fun

Although Tojo did not get to travel to the ultra-snowy environs of Syracuse, NY with one of his owners, he did get a very safe safety-yellow vest from his human great-aunt Judy. Tojo enjoyed wearing the safety-yellow vest on Oscar night, where he was easily seen by all guests at our party.








Tojo continues to dislike going outside in the wintry weather and often tries to hide when it's time to go for a walk. Here, you can see him using his chameleon-like blending abilities as he sits in a chair. It's good that we did not receive the safety ORANGE vest, or Tojo would probably spend the rest of the winter blending in with our couch.

New pug clothes

We are huge dorks and knitted a little preppy pug-sweater for Tojo. It doesn't fit him very well, so perhaps next time we should follow a pattern. Luckily, one of us got a book of dog sweater patterns from a friend!

Winter is here

Our little corner of the world had its first major snow last week. This came as a shock to Tojo, who, as he approaches one full year of age, had not experienced such accumulation. At first, he was happy to smell new things, but as the snow lingered, he began to view the snow as more of a cold annoyance. Tojo has always hated getting his paws wet in the rain, and the moist snow was not any more pleasant for him. In protest, he stopped using the bathroom outside (this was NOT a good week for housetraining!). Even his warm coat would not convince him to spend much time outside. We even bought him some jaunty little booties, but they did not please Tojo. We hope that the winter ends soon so that Tojo can start enjoying the great Queens outdoors again ... or we will have to move somewhere considerably less snowy.

Since the writer of this update hates the snow as much as Tojo does (perhaps he got it from her!), the only picture we have to post is of Tojo taking out his anger on a winter hat.

Devil dog, indeed

Recently we went to Paris without Tojo. To try to salve Tojo's feelings of jealousy, we treated him to an exciting vacation in the Fortress of Solitude with our wonderful friends Team Inwood. Unfortunately, photographic evidence shows that Tojo perhaps wasn't on his best behavior:

SCARY!

A very nice pug gift

We wouldn't have Tojo if it weren't for Kevin. Luckily for us, Tojo and Kevin's pug Peanut were not the best of friends, so Tojo needed a new home where he could be the only prime minister pug in the house.
Kevin came over last Saturday to bring over a gift for Tojo - a very cute dog coat that his mom had made! Tojo has very much enjoyed wearing his new coat, especially since the weather has turned cold. From all of us - thank you!

An injured puggy

Tojo had a major scrape last Friday night. He was chewing on a hanger when the metal hanger-y part punctured the top of his mouth and went into his sinus cavity. It ... looked, and sounded, insanely painful. Our dog walker happened to be in the neighborhood and came over. At that point, it didn't look like there was anything wrong with his mouth except that he had bitten his tongue. Tojo seemed to sleep that night. The next morning, though, we decided to take him to the vet because his eye was looking pretty disgusting. Tojo will be ok, but has to take several medicines until he gets better. At first, he was having a slightly hard time eating and drinking because of the pain, but over the past couple of days his intense and neverending hunger has returned. He has seemed interested in chewing on his old toys, but he can't seem to do it for very long. We are so happy that our little Tojo is starting to feel better.

We Wish You a Merry Pug

After proving himself a pest to Chance at Thanksgiving, we were anxious about Tojo's first Christmas with Teddy (Herminson) and Mysty. Luckily, "Uncle" Teddy was proud to step up to the plate as Sheriff Teddy, telling Tojo when he was crossing the line. Tojo left his Christmas vacation a better dog. It was the best Christmas gift we got! Many thanks to Human Grandmother and Human Grandfather for their patience and love with little Tojo, and for a very special Christmas.