Merrylog

It’s been the grossest winter I can remember in Toronto, since I moved here – way too much snow (usually I only have to haul out my boots a few weeks of the winter) and moderately cold for long periods – which means lots of grungy brown snow everywhere that keeps getting splashed with *more* mud but doesn’t melt away. :) Not the nicest environment for beautiful shots, which is why a lot of our shots this year have either been indoors or behind our house, which is at least covered with non-brown snow! *laughs*

As always, the princess is a trooper regardless of weather – though I think she believes I’ve permanently hidden the grass away somewhere. :)

When playing baseball or fetch, best to keep your eye on the ball. Meanwhile, we’ll keep our eyes on your cute pink feet, sweetums.

Dogs are so much fun. It’s kind of like perennially having a little kid with you (minus the tantrums) – someone who always thinks excitement is around the next corner, who gets excited time and again by the simplest things: playing ball, a treat, a walk. It’s one of the reasons we love them.

A note to our readers who use Flickr: we now have a Flickr group! The “official” launch notice will be sent out this Saturday to everyone on our newsletter mailing list, but I thought I’d give you guys the early “heads-up”! I hope you’ll join in on the fun and share photos of YOUR pooch!

So regal, posed and waiting for her adoring public atop her Lynx bed, which is one of her *all time* fave beds. It’s just so cuddly soft and doesn’t seem to show wear.

The princess showing off another side of her pink rose look. Now, everybody on the count of 3: 1, 2, 3… awwwwwwwwww.

SUCH a cute expression; these are the things that make me love the little bit.

She’s frowning at the stairs, of course – these are NOT becoming a friend to her since her eyesight is getting worse – she can no longer go down the stairs unmonitored. But we’ve been practicing going down the stairs “blind” – in very low light or dark conditions, learning to rely on my commands to keep her oriented and keep her from falling. To get her down the stairs, I use five commands:

1. “down we go” tells her she’s at the top of the stairs, and to start coming down.
2. “keep going” means she’s got lots of stairs in front of her, to keep going
3. “two more” is the warning she gets when she’s two away from the bottom
4. “one more” tells her one more step
5. “good GIRL!” she gets LOTS of praise when she trusts me enough to get down the stairs and safely onto the next floor.

So far, this has been working. Yep, she hesitates sometimes and gets scared and starts to climb back up. And it breaks my heart to get a firm voice and order her to turn around and try again… but I want her to have as much freedom as possible, and that means training her to handle the world around her without me carrying her everywhere.

Perched on one of the stairs, the princess seems too tired for words. What can I say? The life of a diva pug is exhausting. Adoring fans, endless treats to sample, balls to play with, slaves -er, I mean, Mommies to bug during work hours… I tell you, it’s a wonder the princess continues to look this good. It must be all those hours of beauty rest she gets every day. :)

Because all I want to do when I see that sweet little face is smoosh it up and smooch it to death. What a cutiepie. :) Taken the same day as this photo, obviously. It was just too hard to only post one – I loved so many from this shoot.

The princess and I are taking Monday off from the Merrylog to spend with our family – since it’s Family Day here in Ontario. :) And if you’ve got a problem with that, all complaints go through the princess. She’s ready to take any and all attitude! *laughs*

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

– ee cummings

When I realized a few weeks ago that shooting the pug from a certain angle formed a "heart" shape, I knew I had to photograph it for Valentine’s Day. :)