Six years ago my husband and I were sitting on the couch watching Men In Black and that’s the day he got it in his mind that he wanted to be a pug owner. I personally always thought they were ugly but the more he pointed out the cuteness I started to agree.
One day we went into a small place that sold puppies only. We stopped in there occasionally just to look at all the cute puppies with no intentions of buying one. There sat two little pugs in a cage, a girl and a boy. The owner let us hold one; it was a girl and appeared to have a scar from surgery. We handed her back and held the boy afraid the poor little girl pup had an issue that we didn’t care to know about. The male pug was adorable with his perfectly colored black wrinkly face and bugged out eyes. We loved on him a while and then gave him back.
I started up the truck and attempted to pull out of the driveway at the puppy store and that’s the moment our five year old son started to cry his eyes out! He thought we were going to buy the pug in which we had no intentions to do so. He cried and cried and begged and pleaded until I had to take the checkbook out see if it was even financially possible. We went back in a bought him, he was on sale because the place only sold puppies and he was getting a little older and so we got a nice deal. We named him DeBo.
So I guess we should have done our homework before buying a pug. We had no idea that it had issues that we wouldn’t like but would have to live with. We knew pugs were cute and that was all we knew. These are the issues that we found out about a little too late.
- Shedding: Not only do pugs shed like crazy, the fawn colored pug has been known to shed more than the black colored ones. DeBo just so happens to be fawn colored! The hair is thick and prickly and not nice to people who have allergies like ourselves. Thank goodness our carpet and couch are the same color or we would be in big trouble.
- Behavior Problems: They are funny little things but wow we didn’t realize how disobedient they can be! It took years to train him not to urinate in the house and he still likes to hike his leg on the corner of the couch when were not looking. Talk about hyper; DeBo never slows down, just a constant ball of energy that can get rather annoying at times. If you’re looking for a lap dog a pug might not be the right choice.
- Dental Issues: Stinky breath is an issue because the pug is prone to dental problems from having lots of teeth crammed in their tiny little mouths. It’s close to impossible to brush DeBo’s teeth because he is constantly moving and going crazy. His breath stinks so bad you can smell it from across the room.
- Foul Smell: No matter how much we bathe DeBo and wash his face and detail in his wrinkles with cotton swabs, his face still stinks. It’s one of the worst smells I have ever smelt in my life. I’ve tried all kinds of dog shampoo and even used baby shampoo and it might get it cleaned but the smell just comes back after a few days and it’s awful.
I guess at this point you might be thinking “Is there anything good about owning a pug?” Yes! DeBo is the sweetest, funniest and most fun loving dog I’ve ever owned. Those things make up for all the not so good issues that we’ve found. We’ve never laughed as hard as we do when DeBo jumps around the yard like a bunny rabbit or when he chases butterflies in the yard and stops and smells wild flowers. He is gentle and kind with our toddler and any babies or kids who come to visit. That part is priceless! So after all is said and done we do not regret for one minute our purchase of that little pug in the cage at the puppy store six years ago.
