I pop over to Digital Photography School once in a while to read tips & get inspired to take new photos. Most pet owners spend a fair amount of time harrassing their pets with the camera & Piggy has been incredibly patient with me over the years. But he’s not really a fan of sitting still & when he’s being extra cute, it rarely coincides with optimum photographic conditions. A black pug laying on a white blanket, for example, isn’t an easy shot for my camera & turning on the flash means he definitely won’t be holding the “pose” plus I just hate that bluish harsh light that the flash causes.

My other dog, Kiero, is another story. She’s terrified of cameras!

(more…)

The story of Piggy begins with my sweetie & I living the carefree kid-less life in a downtown condo what seems like eons ago. I’ve always been a dog owner, but at this point I was post bad break-up & still settling into my new relationship, on top of a new career that was paying the bills irregularly at best. Not exactly the ideal time for adding a new member to our family.

Cut to my sweetie driving home with a “surprise” for me after a night out with his friends. He called me from his cell phone & told me excitedly to come downstairs. I obliged. He pulled up to the parking garage of our high rise condo (in the middle of downtown!) with a little black pug named Buddy in the backseat. My reaction – “Are you drunk?”

“No! My buddy & his wife just had a baby & their dog is way too hyper since he’s only about a year old, so they said we could have him! Isn’t he cute???”, my sweetie replied.

“Are you f*cking nuts??? What are we going to do with a dog? We don’t even have time to do the laundry, let alone take care of a dog. Who’s going to walk him?”

“I will!”, he assured me. NOTE: If you have to ask who is going to walk a dog, you can guarantee that 99.9% of the time YOU will end up walking said dog.

“Just listen to him snort! He’s so cute!”. I could not have agreed less. “Buddy” was totally foreign to me & didn’t line up whatsoever with my idea of what a dog should be like. I had owned 2 Shelties, 1 teacup toy poodle & 1 black Lab up until that evening. Of all of my family & friends who owned dogs, none had ever owned a pug. I didn’t know what to make of this bizarre little animal, but I distinctly remember telling my darling man that this creature snorting around my feet like a pig was the ugliest dog I’d ever seen. Dogs are supposed to have snouts! Not pushed in noses like he ran facefirst into a wall. He would run around snorting as he sniffed the ground, his curly tail high on his back revealing his pooper for all to see & prompting several, “Ewwwwww! You can see his pooper!” comments from me. And if I tried to pick him up? He’d squeal like a pig.

It only took a couple of weeks of having Buddy around to win me over. At first it was, “You’re such a sweet dog. Too bad you’re so ugly.” Gradually he just got cuter. I can’t explain it other than I imagine it’s like what a mother feels for her newborn child, even when it’s still all covered in the bloody cheesy stuff. A mother takes one look at her child & believe wholeheartedly that her child is the most beautiful baby in the world. It wasn’t love at first sight for me & my pug, but as I grew to love him, he became the most beautiful dog in the world. It feels so strange for me to recall this story because when I glance over at him now, resting in a pile of clothes at my feet (see? still no time to do laundry!), he is a perfect angel & couldn’t be cuter if he tried.

Aside from blossoming into the Cutest Dog Ever, the other thing that happened in those first few weeks of pug-ownership is the name change. The snorting, the curly tail & the little squeals he would let out when I would pick him up had us constantly remarking, “You’re such a little piggy!”. Unfortunately, it stuck. The Cutest Dog Ever now officially has the Dumbest Name Ever. I still get embarrassed at the dog park when I have to let a new person know that my pug’s name is, indeed, Piggy. But after a few minutes with him, everyone has that “ahhhhh!” moment when they realize that no other name would do.

Now what’s your dog story?

Pug popularity has definitely caught on and this wonderful breed has been getting a lot of Hollywood attention from movie features like Milo & Otis and Men in Black to the coverage of Jake Gylenhall and his adorable Beagle-Pug cross – a Puggle! Pug lovers have known for years that their favorite dogs are smart, friendly cuddle monsters, but now that the secret is out, I’m feeling a little jealous of all the attention my little guy is getting. It used to feel like Pug owners were in a special group – no cute poodles or crowd pleasing Golden Labs for us! Our dogs had smushed-in faces only a mother could love. Now everybody loves them and if they didn’t love to eat so much, I’m betting they’d be the next trendy purse-sized dog that celebs like Paris Hilton would be schlepping around. Forgive me while I shed a tear in my kibble.

Of course, there isn’t really anything wrong with Pugs getting some publicity. But I do have to put my foot down (or in my mouth, as it were) when it comes to new pet owners choosing a breed based on some dog from a movie. C’mon people! Dogs that have spent years being trained by the best dog trainers in the business are not going to bear any resemblance to the dog you bring home from the pet store (shudder) or a breeder. My husband doesn’t look like Brad Pitt (when my eyes are open, anyways) & my dogs don’t only appear in the scene when it is cute, funny and/or convenient.

Pugs, like all dogs, do make excellent companions. But just like babies spit up & make dirty diapers, the reality of Pug-ownership is a snotty, stinky one. And prospective owners need to be aware of a few of the not-so-cute perks of owning a Pug:

First things first, the snot. Pugs are snotty. No, they don’t think they’re better than you (that’s cats). They spray snot. Constantly. Everywhere.

Those cute pushed-in faces produce an ungodly amount of snot that needs to be pushed out so the dog can breath properly. That equates to a regular spray of snot coming from your dog’s nose onto everything in a 1 foot radius. My face has been misted with Pug snot more times than I can remember & it still grosses me out. There are no kisses in my home & everyone is trained to avert their faces from the general direction of the Pug’s nose.

Even if you can avoid the Pug snot facial, your home cannot. Windows, mirrors, TV screens, every surface of the interior of your car – Pug-snotted. Stock up on Windex now, friends.

The Rusty Ass

More offensive than the snot is the scent that I have only ever witnessed in Pug bottoms – the Rusty Ass. The glands on either side of your dog’s anus secrete a nasty, funky substance that usually excuses itself while they’re pooping or if you’re really lucky, while your dog drags his ass across your carpet in the hilariously icky Scoot & Drag Shuffle.

I’ve never noticed these glands in any dog I’ve ever had, though apparently some breeds are notorious for having these anal glands become impacted, which aside from being just plain disgusting, can also be painful for the dog & require veterinary attention. Piggy, my Pug, has never had this problem but he does have the daily need to have his ass wiped with a kleenex. I grab his curly tail, give his brown eye a quick wipe & toss the tissue as quickly as is humanly possible. Ahhhhh…I can breathe again.

FYI: it’s not fecal matter that I’m referring to here. It’s the liquid substance that while colorless, has the most horrific odor known to man or beast. I call it Rusty Ass due to the almost metallic smell if you can imagine rotten metal that has passed its expiry date, however you’re free to name it as you see fit.

Eye Gunk and Pus-filled Face Folds

You know those cute little squishy faces that make Pugs so adorable? They also don’t get much air circulation & are easily infected. A few swipes with a warm, wet cloth on a regular basis is usually all that’s needed to keep this area clean, but I have seen it get infected before & when those folds of skin are oozing with pus? Not so cute.

And lastly, all the other fun stuff that dog owners become accustomed to – picking up steaming hot poop, brushing teeth as they try to squirm away, Swiffering never ending stray dog hair from your floors & trimming nails as your dog acts as if you’re attempting to amputate a limb.

But just like any new parent will tell you, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.