As the day’s celebrations wound down, Argus found himself wandering through the horde of gifts, cards, and letters that were bestowed upon the Duchess. But the earlier annoyances of the day simply could not be ignored by our beloved monarch. Try as he might, our staunch trooper forced himself to make it through the day. But here, as the royal staff was cleaning and Argus looked through the mass of cards, we see what might be the closest thing to a smile we’ve seen all day. Certainly it must have been something encouraging in that card with all the pugs!

All of Pugsville came out to celebrate a very important event, the birthday of The Duchess who is King Argus’ favorite. Unfortunately, we caught our King in a moment of pugnacious dissatisfaction right in the middle of the day’s festivities. It seems that a combination of frustrations drove our Argus to this unlikely combination of festive attire and displeased expression. There were no pink balloons. The buffet lacked an appropriate desert selection. The seating assignments were not strictly boy-girl-boy-girl. And to top it all off, someone made off with his favorite rope toy. It took an entire team of royal masseuses to give him a pug rub long enough to snap him out of it.

An unexpected arrival caused a minor fuss among the staff today, the surprise visit of Pugsville’s very own Fairy Godbear. Part of the reason Pugsville is such a charmed place (other than the presence of King Argus) is through the watchfulness of Mabel, the Fairy Godbear. Here we can see Argus offering one of his choice toys to Mabel. We suppose Argus is hoping Mabel will play… or maybe… Argus would like to be turned into a mastiff, a pug’s giant distant cousin. No… we’re certain the King very much enjoys being a pug.

Can you imagine dealing with the complex demands of being the much loved and revered monarch of Pugsville, and having to live up to exceptionally high standards of cute. Granted, his standards are self-imposed, but such is the burden of our King. What with remembering to growl in precisely the most endearing way, maintaining a properly stunning swagger across the lawn, keeping his forehead wrinkles just so, and always having a striking twinkle in his eye, it’s enough to exhaust anyone.

Not known for his fits of temper, King Argus is the epitome of level-headed diplomacy. However, even Argus has his moments of anger. Today, the staff needed a stern “talking too” after the cucumber slices in his dinner were simply too thick to be tolerated by any civilized pug. After all, one cannot maintain a regal demeanor when forced to gobble down improperly prepared food of an inappropriate proportion. He did his best to remind his staff of his precise requirements for a sophisticate meal.

After a long day of supervising (and sanctioning through a royal presence) the renovation and expansion of the east garden, King Argus took a well deserved break. From his outdoor portable throne, on the second level veranda, Argus has an appropriately commanding view of his landscape design and the work of the royal gardeners. But as we can see, at the very moment of this photograph, he was momentarily distracted by the royal chefs as they brought out the evening dinner for a relaxing outdoor meal. I suppose we can excuse his royal highness for a moment’s distraction after all his hard work.

The royal sculptors delivered the prototype foo-dogs for the entrance to the newly renovated east garden of the Pugsville Palace. Overall, King Argus was impressed with the artistic flair and interpretive stylizations of these two prototype casts. However, Argus mentioned that he’d like to see an improved pose and has asked the sculptors to rethink their work. To provide a reference for their next round of efforts, Argus has provided an exceptional pose that portrays the appropriate amount of concern, awareness, regal carriage, and most importantly a obvious air of inherent dignity. We hear the artists were overwhelmingly inspired by their consultation with Argus, and are busy at work creating the next prototypes.