I can’t believe it’s already been a year since we packed all of our belongings into a Penske truck and drove from Los Angeles to Brooklyn. This may come as a surprise to you, but Sid is a great traveler.  The cabin of that truck became our cozy little home for about eight days, and Sid was happy as a clam.  Seriously.

We put a rubbermaid container between the two bucket seats and put his bed on top so he could be up at our level.  His water dish sat on the dash between our cup holders, and his Petco safety strap kept him buckled in but gave him a little freedom to move around.

Oh, and we quickly learned that the only way to avoid mass mayhem on the highway was to store his food / treat supply inside the rubbermaid container he was perched upon.  You gotta learn some lessons the hard way.

Click through for a few photos from the first days of our trip:

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When Sid lays down, he really lays down. We’re talking flat. If he were ever in a limbo competition, he’d surely get first prize.

We did a pretty good job avoiding the heat when it rolled in last week, but on Sunday we made an error in our timing of Sid’s morning “business meeting.”  Taking Sid out for his walk at 7am seemed like a great way to avoid the long-simmering heat of the late-morning / early-afternoon hours, but our half-awake brains didn’t think about the fact a 7am walk meant that he’d need to go out for his evening business around 5 or 6pm at the latest – – hours that had been among the hottest of the preceding days.  With a morning walk that early, there was no way Sid was going to make it until sundown, so we started brainstorming a solution that would provide Sid relief from both the heat and his bladder.

Luckily, we already polled our (amazingly resourceful) pug readers on the topic of keeping cool back in June.

Mochi had suggested a cooling vest, which is brilliant, but we never got around to actually buying one before we encountered the moment when we desperately needed it.

Payton said something about a Frogg Togg.  I’m still not quite sure what that is or what it means.  I Googled it and found some people-clothes for camping…regardless, it was still something we’d need to buy.  We needed a NOW solution.  Always at the last minute over here at Pug Slope!

Noodles suggested freezing a wet Sham-Wow and draping it over Sid’s back.  Hmm.  Now, we (sadly) don’t own any Sham-Wows, but we do own hand towels!  And a faucet!  And a freezer!

And that is how Sid became the dorkiest coolest pug in Brooklyn:

Sid didn’t let his dorky accessories bring him down, though, even when we ran into some cooling-accessory-free (i.e., normal) dogs on 7th Ave.  He looked those dogs in the eye, lifted his leg up high, and acted like wearing a frozen hand towel on your back while peeing was the new hot thing.  When he was done with his business, he trotted over to them and said, “My mom says there’s nothing cooler than safety,” which is a decidedly un-cool thing to say, but I’m not going to be the one to tell him that.  I’d rather he avoid heat stroke than win homecoming king.

Then we came across a fire hydrant spraying cool water into the street and onto the sidewalk.  We tried to turn this into a Pug Slope photo op, but Sid’s new-found confidence and strong regard for safety kept him from playing along.  “Dad, you of all people should know that water is a leading cause of lost marbles in flat-faced dogs,” proclaimed Sid. Sigh.

So, Sid wouldn’t play in the spraying water, but we managed to get him to stand near the hydrant for a few quick shots.

And, when we got home, we followed Sid’s Mimi’s advice of putting a frozen water bottle in the dog bed.  Like I said, the coolest pug in Brooklyn.

If you thought water drove Sid a little bonkers, wait until you see what happened this weekend.

Due to insanely high temperatures in NYC, we tried to stay inside as much as possible with the A/C cranked. Our apartment is super tiny so it’s not unusual for us to get a little restless – including Sid.

I was sitting at my desk when I heard Sid behind me, frantically spinning around and smacking his lips. I didn’t know what was going on until something buzzed right past me.

I don’t know how a fly got inside (all our windows are closed due to the A/C) but not only did the fly get inside the apartment, he also got inside Sid’s head. Yes, Sid tends to fixate.

It reminded me of this familiar scene from the Karate Kid:

Luckily I was able to grab my phone and record Sid’s uncanny fly-catching technique. Although he lacked the finesse that Mr. Miyagi possessed, he had twice the determination.

It’s 104° in Park Slope today!  Wayyy too hot for a pug to be playing outside.

Luckily, we’ve been sitting on never-before-seen footage of Sid taking a refreshing dip in the Prospect Park dog beach.

Much like how Noodles freaks out over bubbling brooks, Sid turns into el pug-o loco whenever he goes into the calm waters of a man-made pond.  Instead of having fun and swimming like the “normal” dogs, Sid becomes mesmerized / confused by the liquidy depths.  He essentially loses his mind while trying to get the acorns and berries that lie not on the surface of the water, but on the concrete surface below.  Also, you’ll notice in the beginning of this clip, that he also seems to think that his legs have disappeared.  It’s all very confusing and disorienting, but if anybody’s got the determination to pull something “edible” from the depths of the dog beach, it’s Sid.

After reading about Puglet’s new fish friend named Swedish, Sid thought he’d try his hand at being one last thing – a fish. It didn’t turn out so well when he realized he’d have to put his head under water. He was also severely disappointed to discover that what he thought were piles of treats below the surface were just pebbles.

He’s still happy to be a pug.

Monday mornings are usually prime pug-snuggle time, but on this particular Monday morning I could tell Sid had something on his mind.  After a few minutes of belly-scratchin’, Sid looked off into the distance and said, “Mom, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be not a pug.”

“Not a pug?” I replied. “A pug seems like a pretty good thing to be.”

“Yeah, being a pug is cool,” said Sid, “but there are so many things out there that are all going about their day, being what they are, and I’ll never know what it’s like to be any of them.  I only get to be a pug.  And you only get to be you.  And Dad only gets to be Dad. Doesn’t that make you feel, you know, a little sad?  Ew, sorry for the rhyme.”

“No problem, buddy, and, yeah,” I sighed, while scratching his ears, “sometimes that does make me sad.  But, you know what’s great? Every now and then I can pretend to be not me.  Like, when I’m writing a script, or doing improv, or even just dressing up for Halloween.  I can put myself in something else’s shoes and for a little while I can see what life might be like if I were something other than me.”

“Pretend, huh?  Can I pretend to be not a pug?  Uh, I mean, not forever, of course.  I don’t want to miss dinner.”

“Of course!  Pretending is just a temporary change.  Zero commitment!  What do you want to pretend to be?”

Sid thought hard for a moment. “There are sooo many things…”

Sid proceeded to imagine life as a meerkat, tipping back for a good lean while resting his arms awkwardly on his belly.

“Man, being a meerkat is a pain in the neck!” he quickly exclaimed.

Then Sid pretended to be a snail, slowly extending his neck while bugging out his eyes in opposite directions.

“Snails must be dizzy all day long,” he sighed, “and talk about patience! It must take them years to get to their food bowl!”

Then Sid pretended to be a rose bush, unfurling his tongue into a pretty pink bloom.

“Tho this ith what it’th like to be a rothe?,” lisped Sid, valiantly attempting to stay in character.  “Being a rothe thinkth!”

Then, for whatever reason, Sid pretended to be Brian’s yoga ball.

“Not bad,” reasoned Sid, “although I imagine my opinion of this would change if Dad were actually sitting on me all day long.”

“What are you pretending to be now?” I asked.

“I’m pretending to be YOU pretending to be a person who can play guitar!”

“Wow, Sid,” I laughed.  “That’s pretty meta!  Well done!”

“I don’t know what meta means,” Sid groaned, “but all this pretending to be something that’s pretending to be something that’s pretending to be something is making my brain hurt!”

So, Sid took a break from pretending while I gave him a nice head massage.

And after spending a moment or two deep in thought, Sid looked up and said, “You know, Mom, I think I might actually be pretty lucky. I get to be a pug.”