Pug Dog Breed

In the distant past, Pugs were bred for duties such as watchdogs in monasteries and palaces. These days, these dogs are companion animals who have watchdog abilities but are too comfortable to watch out for invading armies and approaching dignitaries! They are great with kids, other dogs, and most non-canine pets. They are ideal for apartment living, and they are certainly not outside dogs. Pug snoring is just one of the many things you need to be prepared to endure. These dogs are demanding in many ways, and you should pamper them like kids who never really stop being toddlers.

Here are some more facts about Pugs that you should consider if you really want to adopt one:

PROS

• Adorable!
• Easy to carry
• Great with kids
• Loves other dogs
• Easy maintenance
• Gets along with non-canine pets
• They will follow you anywhere and everywhere

CONS

• Major shedders
• Flatulence is typical
• Requires a careful diet
• Can be highly stubborn
• Strong tendency to overeat
• Separation anxiety is common
• Might be difficult to house train
• Prone to a lot of health problems
• Noisy in ways other than barking
• Intolerance to hot and cold environments
• Will follow you ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE!

The pug is a small dog breed. They have small thick square bodies and a curly tail with a proportionally large round head with deep wrinkles and big "buggy" eyes. The pug has a short double coat which causes them to be heavy shedders. A small dog with a large personality.

Pugs are known for their playful happy attitudes. They have the almost permanent smile to go along with that. Human interaction and being the center of attention is what makes a pug truly happy. With such a playful and fun demeanor, pugs love games. They require and thrive off of human interaction. Pugs are very loving and loyal but can also be stubborn if not trained correctly.

Since they love attention, they can be trained to be very comfortable and friendly with other people, kids, and other people. Its confidence and curiosity also help with this. Through proper training, a pug though small, can make a nice watch dog. It is known to not have a "yappy" bark, keeping it a neighbor friendly dog.

Being friendly, fun, playful, and entertaining, the pug makes a good dog for the family or as a single companion. Despite being stubborn, pugs with proper training, can become even a great watchdog. The pug is very calm and sociable making it a great dog with children and household pets.

The Pug is one of the oldest dog breeds in the world and is thought to be at least 2,400 years old. Records of Pug history dated to 551 B.C. by Confucius help indicate the dog's use (watch dog), early names (Lo-Sze) and possible forebears: the Lion Dog and the Pekingese.

If there was ever a time these dogs were not literally treated like (or as) royalty, it has only been in the last century or so. Ancient Pugs were only allowed to be owned by Tibetan monasteries and family members of the Chinese imperial royalty. It was not uncommon for these dogs to have their own guards, palace and royal rankings. Attempts to steal these dogs were often punishable by death.

The dogs were also sent as gifts to nobility and other persons of prime importance in Japan, Korea, and other nearby regions. When the Dutch East India Trading Company eventually became a trading power in the Far East, it was not uncommon for them to have these "Dutch Mastiffs" on board and taken back to Holland. From there, the dogs found their way throughout Europe and to England.

Some Pugs made a name for themselves by acts of heroism. In 1572, Pompey, a Pug owned by the Dutch Prince of Orange, William the Silent, alerted his master to an impending attack by Spanish forces. When the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, Josephine, was imprisoned, she used her Pug, Fortune, to secretly send messages to her husband.

The William Hogarth Pug painting, produced in 1745, helped create a fascination for the dogs. When the English successfully invaded China in 1860, Pugs were left behind in the royal palaces. These dogs were taken back to England and became even more popular than before. Queen Victoria's advocacy for the Pug breed was essential in the founding of the Kennel Club in 1873.

Pugs are small, compact dogs with a body like a little barrel, an effect that is heightened by the dog's flat, "pug" face. They have a relatively sturdy look if their legs are neither too short nor too long and they are not overweight.

The Pug face is full of features known the world over. The wide mouth, the Pug ear, that cute Pug nose, those eyes and the wrinkles are all part of the package. The mouth seems to split the head in half when the dog is happy. The ears of a Pug may be the rose or button: the rose ears are smaller and the button ears fold flatly all the way down. Both styles sit high on the head, and between them is sometimes found a "thumbprint" in the forehead wrinkles. Pug skulls also tend to force bulging eyes, offer a sometimes lazy tongue and have a possible underbite. These dogs have a deep chest that actually gets bigger with age, and their square little body ends with a curly tail that should loop over the rear end.

The Pug coat is short, smooth, shiny and dense, and it will feel much as it looks.

There are no universally recognized variations of this breed, but there are many different types of pugs sold, titled and informally recognized. There are teacup Pugs which tend to be subtly crossbred or merely runts bred to make even smaller Pugs. There is the very rare and hotly debated long haired Pug that is either not entirely purebred or may have a recessed gene. There are the black Pugs which tend to have a single coat rather than the standard double coat. And long ago, there were the two distinct types of Pug based on coat color and which have long since been interbred so that these particular bloodlines are no longer distinct: the Morrison line and the Willoughby line.

As for miniature Pugs, or pocket Pugs, or micro teacup Pugs or any other name implying a breed other than just "Pug," the AKC and the Pug Dog Club of America do not in any way recognize or endorse such dogs, and most people say these are cross-bred dogs.

The Pug temperament is historically steeped in these dogs being pampered in most every way. They can be bossy, demanding and slightly "pugnacious" even as they are loyal, protective and clownish. They will watch out for you, bark to warn you, and expect to be treated royally. They can also be very jealous, especially of other pets, children who have your attention and anything that prevents them from being in your lap.

Because they are almost always after food or attention, this can make for some strange Pug traits. You should be sure to train them gently, understand that they tend to be underfoot all the time, and will want to be with you anywhere and everywhere. They are not difficult to train, they don't respond well to harsh tones of voice, and they can quickly learn what will get them attention or food.

Despite their small size, the happy Pug personality depends on having a master who is calm and, most of all, confident. Owners who seem unsure of themselves regarding dogs will not get respect from Pugs. This can lead the dogs to be unusually protective of furniture, places, and food — against the owner and others.

Pugs have a fair amount of health problems, some of which are due to an intentionally bred feature that makes them so adorable: brachycephaly. This genetic aspect is what gives these dogs the flat face, bulging eyes, and small head. It also means these dogs must be kept in carefully regulated environments. Pugs can quickly get chills or heat stroke. This is due to the very short air passage that fails to allow air to cool down or warm up as it enters the lungs. A Pug's facial wrinkles and eyes must also be cared for constantly. Moisture in the wrinkle folds can promote fungal growth, and over-exertion can cause serious eye problems.

Here are some of the other health issues that can affect Pugs:

• Epilepsy
• Snoring
• Dry eye
• Allergies
• Hip dysplasia
• Hemivertebrae
• Corneal ulcers
• Heat sensitivity
• Staph infection
• Hypothyroidism
• Thrombopathia
• Elbow dysplasia
• Patellar Luxation
• Cold intolerance
• Demodectic mange
• Nerve degeneration
• Other eye problems
• Legg-Perthes Disease
• Vaccination sensitivity
• von Willebrand's Disease
• Pug Dog Encephalitis (PDE)
• Cheyletiellosis (aka Walking Dandruff)

Kept healthy, happy and properly fed, Pugs have an average lifespan of 12 to 15 years.

When it comes to Pugs in popular culture, this dog's "pugularity" runs amok! T-shirts, viral videos and movie stars are just the tip of the iceberg of how this dog seems to be everywhere:

Frank the Pug is the sidekick in the blockbuster movie franchise, Men In Black. Around humans, he is a Pug; around other aliens, he takes on his "Remoolian" form. The Pug depiction was also in the animated series and video game based on the movies.

The Pug saying, "What The Pug," is not just a saying for T-shirts but the actual name of a microbrewery in Bangkok, Thailand. Not related to that brew house is a beer named the Ugly Pug from a brewery out of Ft. Worth, Texas.

The ugliest Pug seems to be a photographic delight to many people. There is even a photographer who specializes in finding them at ugly dog contests and elsewhere — and he frequently features ugly Pugs!

Then there is Pugsly the Pug, a Beanie Baby that comes in two styles: the normal one and the "accidental" one. The normal one goes for a couple dollars, but a mint-condition "accidental" one with "deformities" and other errors tends to go for a few hundred dollars.