What is Blogpaws?

If you google Blogpaws online you'll quickly learn that it is a pet community and social media marketing conference. Pet bloggers gather to network, learn blogging tips and tricks, explore new products and information. It's about making new friends and connecting with old — people and pets alike. It's about moments like those featured here:

Although there were lots of pets in clothing at Blogpaws, Coco the Couture Cat has to have one of the largest and most impressive wardrobes. Last year, I took a shot of Coco that received a lot of publicity. It appeared along with an article by Jo Singer on a site called Pictures of Cats. Many people had strong opinions against dressing cats in clothes, but seeing all the smiles Coco brings and the stately way she stares out from her perch, it becomes a difficult argument to make.

A ferret and its owner walk the red carpet on the final night of Blogpaws. Although I did not get this creature's name, I enjoyed watching the way it interacted with its owner, draping around her neck and shoulders and resting in her arms. I have often heard that ferrets can be mean, but this little one dispels that rumor.

I "met" Ms. California, Shanna Olson and her doggie celebrities online a week before Blogpaws when I liked her Doggie Celebrities Facebook page. Kimberly Gauthier is well known in the pet blogging community for her site Keep the Tail Wagging.

Mealtimes were among my favorite moments at Blogpaws because you'd get to see all these wonderful pets sharing the dining room with the people.

This little kitty participated in a fashion show in which participants had mere minutes to design a look from materials on hand.

Tillman is a rock star and youtube sensation. This skateboard riding dog travels in his own tour bus and loves his board, barely waiting for his handlers to hand it over before taking off.

This 60-pound, six-month-old capybara named Mia, had to be one of the most interesting attendees at Blogpaws. Capybaras are related to guinea pigs and are the largest rodents in the world. I loved watching the dogs checking out the capybara, trying to ascertain exactly what this creature is.

What is Blogpaws? It's a chance to dress up, dispel myths, share information, network, eat, skate your way into each other's hearts, sniff each other out and decide to be friends.  Blogging, the pet industry and the human-animal bond are serious subjects, but the animals at the heart of Blogpaws can't help but make you laugh. These are joy magnets and they draw you back again and again.

Daily Habits

The pugs hear my approach and began to rattle the wire door of their x-pens. Time for our nightly ritual. A bone and venison snack delivered to them once we all have settled on the sofa. They squeal and do concentric donut circles—smaller Waffles spinning inside bigger Alfie’s trajectory in uninhibited anticipation. I grab my water bottle and computer, sometimes a snack and make my way to the sofa, careful not to trip on these whirling dervishes.

I think perhaps this is why dogs and humans originally clicked, those wolf pups coming in from the cold and into the caves, because we are both creatures of habit in love with the familiarity of our rituals. The bone at night, a warm nose nudging our cheek in the morning. Forget the rooster or the sun, we set our time by each other. We crawl into the do-it-again moments of each other’s lives, wearing away uncertainty, creating lives as comfortable as an old shoe.

My pugs and I curl into each other on the sofa becoming one heartbeat as their bones are chewed and finished. I rest in their snores at day’s end and think, I remember this, it feels right.

Facetime with the Pugs

I enjoyed a productive and fun-filled weekend that unfortunately for my pugs took me from home. I left them in the good hands of my mother, and though she spoils them perhaps more than she does her two-legged grandchildren, they seemed to miss me. Facetime is a great invention for keeping connected, but you've never done Facetime until you've done Facetime with a pug. You know all those little pug quirks—the snorts, the snuffles, and the spritzes they do, as if they are checking you out, examining you and ruling you okay with one final spray of spritzy drool? Well, if  you don't know what I'm talking about you never met a pug. Those that do can just imagine how these cute  characteristics translate to Facetime. Does an iphone have Windshild Wipers? It should. My pugs heard my voice and approached the screen as if to come inside. Maybe this is how the pug earned its flat face? From my point of view all I see are gigantic eyes and a hint of a nose before the screen is obscured by the residue of a snuffling snort.

"Hey, Alfie, hey Waffles," I say. "How are my girls." A final sniff and I see the two running the other way, turning their heads toward the door in the silly, naive hope that I'll come wandering in.

Alien

We all have had times when we’ve felt our pets are alien to us, species very different in their thoughts and actions. In this photograph, my pug Waffles is definitely showing her alien side. I’ve written how she reminds me of Golem and how her grandmother, Tar Baby, reminds me of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I even call her “Swampy.” When I showed this picture to my friends and family, they immediately confirmed both descriptions, calling Waffles both a swamp creature and Golem. Regardless, I love my little alien.

Writing Prompt: Where Do You Live or Our Town: Where Waffles and Alfie Live

Mostly Waffles and Alfie look at the world from the window by our front door or the passenger seat of my car. Sometimes they get to see the towns around them when we take a walk. Although they  never get out and about on their own, there is a context to their story, a place where we live. Today, the pugs took their perch in the hat-and-glove basket near the door where they can peek out the window and watch me drive away. I was headed to the neighboring town of Randolph, Vermont where my office is located, but I stopped on my way to get gas. The gas station is across from the community theater, recently saved from oblivion by a campaign to raise funds for the required digital equipment. Next to the Playhouse is Village Pizza, one of two pizza places in the downtown (the second sits across the street), where I ate dinner tonight after putting in a day of writing at the office. I have four articles due in the next week.

After dinner, I planned to return home, but I caught the sign on The Playhouse, Citizen Kane, a classic. Since putting in the new digital projector, The Playhouse now occasionally plays a classic or two on a Wednesday evening. Although the forecast predicted a winter storm, I decided to forgo work for the evening and give Citizen Kane a try. It was as good as I remember it, even better getting to see it on the big screen. I came out to a snow-covered car, however, and the trip home was perilous. As I pulled into the driveway and waited for color to return to my white knuckles, I caught a glimpse of Waffles and Alfie waiting for me at their same window perch. It was as if they had never left. They greeted me with sniffs and snorts, reading me like a diary of the days events. They may not have let the house, but they knew the scenery. They could tell where I'd been and they knew w hen I came home.  One of the things I love about dogs is they same to live wherever we are.

Writing Prompt: Where do you live?

Pink Piggy

As I've mentioned before Waffles loves her toys. Actually, she loves anybody's toys and somehow she is able to sniff them out no matter where you hide them. She and my niece actually seem to have a hide n' seek game going with each other's toys. So, tonight when I saw a big, round pink piggy toy in TJ Maxx I decided to buy it for her, knowing how much she loves Ellie's big fluffy toys. When I took it home I decided to place it out of reach and see how long it would take for Waffles to find it. I didn't have to wait long. I let Waffles out of her x-pen and like a missile zeroing in on its target, she went immediately to the chair where pink piggy sat, stood on her tip toes and began pawing at the toy trying to get it to drop to the floor. Soon, Alfie was there helping her. It's hard to imagine what drew Waffles so quickly to the toy. I don't think pugs have the best of vision, so it must have been her sense of smell, but it's not like she even stopped to sniff. She just shot like a bullet out of her pen. Whatever led her there the result was pure bliss.

Pug Salad

It was one of those weeks when the earth beneath you crumbles just enough to start an avalanche, when it's hard in the end to recognize the ground on which you stand. Rather than give in to it, I've been trying to remain rooted. I found two things help me do so -- creating and playing. I did both today when creating this shot of Waffles. There seems to be a campaign on Facebook to counteract some of the tragic images of abused and homeless dogs with happy images of our beloved canines. Not in protest, but instead to remember why we love them in the first place. A fellow blogger offered this challenge on Facebook, assigning words to those who accepted to take a picture of their dog that somehow represented this word. The first word "Smooch" seemed easy enough so I signed up. So did many others. They received easy dog words such as "sit" and "stay." I received "salad!"

I have to admit at first I was dismayed, but no more than Waffles when I tried to stuff her in the salad bowl, yet, the word was the perfect challenge in taking my mind off the worry around me and transforming this energy into something creative and good. I drove to the next town over and visited the local craft store where I purchased this pink presentation board and markers to create my bistro background, stopped at the grocery store last night for some lettuce, and raided the fridge for the salad dressing. The wine? Pug wine, of course. And, yes, there is such a thing.

I have a few outtakes from the shoot -- Waffles, bored between shots, and our assistant, Alfie, surveying the scene for the best camera angle and to make sure the light was right. Actually, I think she may have just wanted a taste of that wine.

In the end, the pugs once again seemed perplexed by my actions, but happy that I was spending time with them and I was happy to disappear into their world and turn my troubles into pug salad! Thank you Garth Riley for your assignment after all.

Outtakes:

Portraits of My Girls in Snow

Visions of my girls in the last snow storm.

Pug Figure Skating

The girls and I have been enjoying the Olympic Figure Skating. They are curled up beside me on the sofa with Olympic dreams of their own. For my roly poly little wonders to don a pair of skates, it would truly be a dream.

*Please note that this sketch is available for sale in the Gallery section of this blog.

Daisy

Daisy is a working dog. She spends her days sprawled out at NH MRI, where her owner, Kelly, also works. She wears a bib to keep  prolific drool off her chest. Her job is to put people at ease—one might think this is no easy feat for such a giant of a dog. But, Daisy is a gentle giant and somehow seeing her plod her way to the MRI, gives nervous patients the confidence that they can do so as well. My grandmother testified to this. I even wrote about Daisy and her other doggie companion, a lab named Rosi in a recent Upper Valley Life article on dogs in the workplace. After my grandmother's visit, I called and interviewed the dog's owners on the phone. That's why I was so excited to meet Daisy and Rosi in person when I found out my mother had to get an MRI. Fortunately, my mother also brought my father along for support because as soon as I met Daisy it was love at first sight. I'm afraid I proved a bad influence on Daisy as well. Instead of accompanying my nervous mother to the MRI, Daisy remained with me sprawled out on the floor in front of the fireplace.  Soon, Daisy's owner Kelly was on the floor with us. Fortunately, it was a slow work day because while Kelly eventually went back to her paperwork, Daisy and I spent over an hour on the floor, she pawing me for pats on the head and belly rubs, me staring into her eyes. I don't think Daisy was very helpful to my mother that day, but I came away from the appointment relaxed indeed.