Pugoween!

One of my biggest fears about becoming a parent was how my dog Oliver would adjust to having a little person in the house. I got Oliver when I was living alone in Toronto. He and I were like two peas in a pod. We did everything together. We rode the bus together, we went shopping together, we played fetch in my little apartment until the wee hours of the morning together… I was worried that with the shift of attention from him to my new little person might cause some jealousy.  Luckily, he adjusted so well to the change in our family dynamic, and now that Isabel is a little older, she absolutely loves him to pieces. It melts my heart to see the two of them chasing each other around the house.

Before we had Isabel, Dan and I used to take Oliver out to our local pug group for play dates and socializing. It always made me laugh because Oliver was so anti-social. He’d sit in a corner by himself, but I always liked going because it feels good to spend time with people as dog obsessed as I am. Plus, being surrounded by a bunch of snorting, snarfling little pugs is just the best thing every.  We finally got back to our pug group last weekend, just in time for Pugoween!

Isabel is obsessed with Paw Patrol (or “Pawtrol” as she calls it), so my friend suggested we dress Oliver up as Rubble.

It turned out to be a fairly easy costume to put together. I made him a little yellow vest with a zipper up the front. I used an older Simplicity Pattern (2755), and just omitted the sleeves. I’m not sure if this particular pattern is still available, but it is a good one! I cut a size medium for Oliver, who is a gigantic pug, and it fits him snugly. I used some plain yellow knit fabric that I got in the clearance department of my local Fabricland.

For the little collar, I used a length of black webbing, and attached a snap to either end for easy on and off. I free-handed the emblem on the tag out of yellow cardstock and some beige felt.

Rubble also had a back-pack that contains his digger arm and other doo-dads. I took an old cereal box, cut it down to size, and glued yellow fabric around it. On either side, I attached some brown felt and cut out some tools from cart stock to glue to either side. I then glued that to a length of brown felt, which formed a belt, that I then wrapped around him and fastened with a snap. I put in a few stitches by hand to anchor the “box” to the back of the vest.

The only thing he was missing was the hard hat!!! I was pretty proud of myself for putting together this little costume. It probably took me a total of two hours to put together. Best of all, Oliver didn’t seem to hate wearing it (though he pretty quickly managed to pee on it).  It’s pretty far out of my regular sewing realm, but it was a fun project that put a big smile on Isabel’s face when she saw it all come together.

Ok, now my time to blabber a bit about my dog… As I mentioned earlier, Oliver was always a bit of an outsider in the pug group. Not this time! He was right there socializing with the other dogs. He hardly barked and actually seemed to have a good time. It was like he turned a new leaf! I was so proud of my dog! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks…

Now the crunch is on to figure out something for Isabel for Halloween…