Meet
the Pug
You’re
walking your Pug down the street and you see someone
approaching looking closely at your dog. Your dog is small,
between 14 and 20 pounds, give or take a pound of two…It has
a curly twisty sort of tail, protruding eyes, a muscular
body, button ears, short legs and a solemn expression or a
smile on its face, depending on the moment. The man stops
you and asks "is that a miniature bulldog"? You break a
smile and say "oh no, it’s a Pug"!
The man
wants to take a closer look and asks you if your dog bites.
You pause for a moment, thinking
ever
so briefly at how funny that question sounds to you and say
"Bite? My dog may lick you forehead to chin, he may even
make a few strange sounds, but bite? Uh uh".
The man
bends down to take a closer look at your little dog, and
it’s curly tail wags slowly in a funny circular motion…Not
back and forth, or up and down, or side to side…More like
around and around. The man’s amused, noticing the Pugs
facial folds and says to the dog "you’ve got wrinkles". You
watch and smile as your Pug gives this stranger a classic
Pug head tilt at the sound of his voice and the man wonders
if this dog actually understands him. He talks some more and
sees the head tilt again and again, along with a variety of
classic Pug expressions.
"His
ears and muzzle are like velvet" the man says, but "his coat
is thick, does he shed?". "Does he ever" you reply. "There’s
hair all over the house, on the clothes and now that you’ve
pet my Pug, you’ll have Pug hair in your house too. You
might as well just get a Pug now."
The man
hears the slight purring sound your Pug is making, or maybe
it’s a snort, and asks if they make that noise all the time.
You tell the man "all the time" is a relative term. You know
your Pug snorts and snores while it, and you are sleeping.
You know it makes these noises and others when you pet it,
and when it gets excited. It cries a happy cry when you come
home or say the word "walk" or "car". That funny sound is
enough to make anyone’s bad mood melt away. "I don’t know if
I could live with the snoring at night" the man says. To
which you reply, "I don’t know if I could sleep without that
snoring"!
Being a
Pug Person, you tell him a bit more about the breed. That it
comes in Fawn or Black, but aside from color, a Pug’s a Pug.
It’s a sedentary dog that likes to be around people almost
as much as it likes to eat, but not quite. You talk about
its good nature, that it is great with kids, gentle and
passive. It sheds plenty, and that’s worth repeating for
people with an aversion to vacuums or people with allergies.
It plays with you when it feels like it, and sleeps long and
comfortably on your lap or at your feet when it isn’t
playing or eating. "Pugs don’t bark much either" you tell
him, but they will do their level best to imitate a big dog
in order to protect you and your home…"Pugs are funny that
way" you say…"little dogs, that think they’re big".
You
wouldn’t be a Pug Person if you didn’t take care to mention
that Pugs have a bit of a stubborn steak to them. After all,
it’s part of their charm…like the snoring. In short, you
tell the man that Pugs are the best of dogs…Warm loving
companions that own you, rather than you owning it. "Don’t
let the solemn look fool you" you conclude, Pugs are The
Clown Prince of Dogs, as entertaining and funny as any dog
can be.
OK...So
maybe you came here looking for the official breed standards
from the AKC. If so, simply click
here.
