Exciting news: we’re getting a pug!
This has been a long time coming: I actually mentioned my love of pugs in the very first paragraph of my very first blog post. I’ve been borderline obsessed with pugs since college, and it’s only intensified since meeting my boyfriend three years ago: once I found out that he loved pugs too, it basically clinched the deal.
When we moved in together six months ago, we knew that a pug was next on the list. We started researching breeders at the beginning of the year, relying heavily on the American Kennel Club directory and the Pug Dog Club of Greater New York. We discovered Patti Puglady Pugz, sent her a heartfelt essay on our love of pugs, found out she was expecting a spring litter, and decided to go out to Staten Island for a day in late March to meet her. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more obsessed with pugs that she is: she legally changed her name to Patti Puglady Pugz, and her home has more pug paraphernalia that I knew existed in the world. We won her over with our very genuine love of pugs, and won first pick of the litter!
The pugs were born on April 9, and this past Sunday, we went out to choose our pug out of the litter. I really wanted a girl dog (I grew up with girl dogs, and I have a working theory that you prefer whatever you grew up with)–so we had three fawn females to choose from. We were both nervous on our way out to Staten Island: how would we choose? What if we didn’t like any? But all of those fears went out the window once we arrived.
There were three fawn females for us to choose from, and Patti gave her to me to take into the other room: and this sounds so cliche, but as soon as she put her in my hands, I knew she was the one! We got to play with the three puppies for a while (and being surrounded by tiny, wriggly, adorable pug puppies was true heaven), but there was never a question of which one we wanted. She was just perfect!
We absolutely can’t wait to bring her home on June 17 and add a pug child to our little family!
Until then, we’re reading this and this, accepting all recommendations for dog accessories, and squeezing in one last tropical vacation together (!). And once she comes home, our summer travel schedule will be fairly light: mostly day/weekend trips to Rockaways, North Fork and the Berkshires.
Note: I grew up with rescue pit bull mixes and regularly support the Sacramento SPCA. A purebred pug felt like the right addition to our family at this time, but I believe very strongly in spaying/neutering pets, not supporting puppy mills, and being a responsible pet owner.
