Online Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Mom: Must Love Pugs

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Must Love Pugs

My Maia is a pet lover. Cats, bunny rabbits, fish, all kinds of pets. But she loves dogs more, big and small. But the one breed she loves most of all is the pug!

It all started when her cousin Pixie sent her a book by Dan Yaccarino entitled "Unlovable", about a pug named Alfred, who has very low self-esteem because other pets around him always told him that he had unlovable features. But it all changed when he met Rex, another pug, who accepted him as he was. The book teaches about accepting your own uniqueness, appreciating yourself, and finding friends who will appreciate you. Since this book arrived, Maia has been reading it over and over. She especially loves that part where Rex came along and he and Alfred were inseparable and like two peas in a pod.

Next thing we knew, Pixie gave Maia a stuffed toy pug. We immediately called it Alfred after the principal character in the Unlovable book. And then I remembered that my sister had this old stuffed toy pug just lying around in her old room at my parents' house. I asked for that too, and it soon became Rex! Maia was ecstatic! My childhood yaya also gave her an even smaller stuffed toy pug. This last one eventually acquired a homemade leash so that Maia can "walk" it every now and then.

Whenever we are at our parents' house, she loves playing with our old family pet named Pippen, who's also a pug. Pippen has been with us for almost 12 years now. He is now 84 years old in human years, legally blind, and now has white fur on those areas that used to be black, like his ears and muzzle. But Maia loves him regardless.

Here at home, we are again hounded by a pug...Max, our neighbor's pet. He is a frisky little pup. Maia met him when he was only 4 months old, and at the height of her "pug-craze". Every hour of everyday it was like "Max? See Max?". It was cute in the beginning. But there came a time when she wouldn't do anything until she went outside and saw Max. But that was then. Now, she's learned that Max can't always come out to play with her.

Below's a video and some photos from one of Maia's supposed afternoon walks, which soon turned into playtime with Max the pug. Pardon the angle, these were all taken from our balcony. :D

Sequence:

Maia tried touching Max and then Max licked her hand;

Maia serenaded Max with the song, "Dumb Dog" (from the musical, Annie);

Ethan tried to scare-off Max with his "moves"

So funny! :D

Maia and Max.
Yaya (in black), who's actually scared of dogs,
is just looking on but ready to spring to action when neccessary.

Maia and Max were interrupted by the arrival of their other buddy, Ethan. :)

Ethan is actually not a "dog-person" and is actually scared of dogs!
But he is being brave here for Maia.
Hmmmmm....? :D

So from reading this, you can say that our household is "pugged-out" on a regular basis. There are times when Maia would prefer to whimper or make puppy barks, rather than talk (sigh! I know!). There are also moments when we would watch or read something, and then halfway-through, the minute she sees a dog in the video or book, she would say "Watch Pugs?" signalling that she wants us to play her Pugs video (a collection of homemade videos made by various pug owners).

I don't know if this will ever end. Have you ever experienced anything like this??