Pug Ownership... I'm doing it wrong.

A gal at the Terry Simons seminar last weekend brought up a very good question. Someone mentioned to her at a trial that her dog was "too much dog for her". How do you respond to such a ludicrous comment? Terry said to thank them for their opinion and just walk away and let it slide off your back. I'm 99% sure I'll never get that exact comment regarding Izzie. She's a Pug. Let's face it, the breed is not exactly known for their achievements in sports or training. Pugs are portrayed as fat lazy sloths that are stubborn and cannot even be trained to go to the bathroom outside consistently. It's much more common for me to get a reaction such as "Really? You're doing agility with a Pug?" or "Pugs shouldn't be doing that much activity, they're not built for it". What do i say to that? I *should* say just like Terry suggested "Thank you for your opinion..." and walk away, and that's pretty much what i do. Most of these people though are not dog sports people or even people with sporty dogs like Jack Russell Terriers and Border Collies (in fact my biggest supporters and sources of encouragement actually have those breeds). No, the ones that put me down are mostly people who own toy dogs themselves.

Ever since i got Izzie i've been facing criticism from the toy dog community. I am very interested in training dogs, not just basic training for manners (of course Izzie has manners) i like the process of training for dog sports and performance events. Not things Pugs typically excel at. Do i care that Pugs don't tend to be involved in these things? No way. I don't care one stinkin' bit because MY Pug will do these things, MY Pug is still a DOG. She is going to push the limits of sports. There are plenty of Pugs doing performance events from flyball to agility to rally to obedience and beyond. They're not walking 10 steps and keeling over. These dogs are fit and trim and they are very well trained. Just like how i want my Pug to be. It's not because I'm vain and i want my dog to look like she has an eating disorder. It's because when she is doing things that are taxing on her body, the more toned she is and the more fit she is the better she'll be able to handle physically demanding skills. It's for her HEALTH not my ego. 

It doesn't stop there. I've been chastised for many simple things i do with my Pug. 

• I walk her on a Collar, because she knows how to walk on a loose lead. She doesn't like wearing her harness but she'll tolerate it for rollerblading, she's always walked perfect on a regular collar and her neck isn't so fat that she'd easily slip a collar (not to mention she has no desire to). I have no concern that her trachea is going collapse because of collar use, she doesn't pull and there is never any tension on the lead.
• I do a lot of off leash walking. Again, Izzie is trained to stay relatively close to me and knows cues from distances and knows when i call her to come back to me, she comes. She knows "leave it" too even though she's not one to pick up random crap from the ground.
• She goes to the bathroom outside 100% of the time. Izzie hasn't had an accident since she was about 16 weeks old because i don't allow her to. Shitting in my house is a HUGE no-no. I don't care if it's -45C windchill with 100km/h wind, you can go on my deck but do NOT shit in my house. She's a young dog, i am not budging on this issue for a young healthy dog. Same goes for nail trimming, she'll let me dremel and paint her nails because i have worked with her on it. She actually falls asleep while i do it because right from the start i set my rules that fighting nail trims is not acceptable.
• I don't take my dog for a full workup every year. I don't see a need to spend over $700 per year to run every test available looking for something, even a tiny thing. If other folks wanna do that fine, just don't call me a horrible owner because i don't do that. If my dog gets sick, she'll be treated. For now though, i am not going to spend a ton of money going looking for something wrong. I spend every day with her, i will notice if she is even slightly off. 
• My Pug is slender. Get over it. She needs to be more toned and fitter. Get over that too. Izzie will not look anorexic to me, she may to you though because you are not used to thin pugs. Look at the Pugs excelling  at sports, they're very fit and very toned. She eats 1/4lb of raw per day, it's not very much but it's all she needs. She gets calories from treats during our training, which means some of her food needs to be cut back. 
• Izzie and I don't shut down our activities for the summer. She is conditioned to the weather we get here, which is why we can go on 10k hikes through the mountains in the middle of the summer and she will still beat me to the top every time. This doesn't mean when it's scorching out at 40C we're out rollerblading, I'm not stupid. I just know MY dog, so don't get on me about how Pugs shouldn't be out in warm weather.

Pugs are Dogs. They are part of the species Canis lupus familiaris. They are not some sort of rare special species of animal that is so fragile and needs so much special care. Especially not young, healthy specimens of the breed. Let your Pugs be dogs, not couch cushions. Train them. It's not hard and it's a great bonding experience, plus it exercises their mind. Let them run and play and act like dogs! They want to run and play, these are very athletic little dogs if you let them be. 

So the point of this diatribe is that if you don't want to do the things i do with my Pug for your Pugs, that's cool with me. Just don't harp on me about how I'm doing things wrong. I'm pretty damn sure Izzie is happy and healthy and she sure as hell isn't hating what we do. 

If she didn't like participating in sports and training, we wouldn't be doing it.

Crandell Lake Hike Summer 2010, originally uploaded by mandypug.