is a pug good idea ? General Chat

I am saving some money before hopefully buying a pug in a few months time. I am a little concerned about how the pug will get on with my 9 yr old son who has additional needs. My son gets on wonderful with his grans shih tzu but I have taken a shine to pugs. I don,t work so am at home all day . I have wanted to buy a dog for long time but waited till my son was older. Would a male or a female be better in temperament ? Thanks

I love Pugs but have never owned one. My advice, for what it is worth, it to check thoroughly with the breeder to make sure the sire and dam have had all their full health tests before even thinking about buying one.

With regard to your son - who knows how either he or the pup will respond, although Pugs are usually good natured. My personal choice, if all other things work out, would be for a bitch. But that is probably because I have always had bitches and not dogs.

I wish you luck in finding your perfect Pug and that he or she will be happy with your son and he with her or him,

And Pereg and I would like to welcome you to Breedia!

Thankyou very much I have been reading alot up on them and wouldn,t think about going to breeder that wasn,t KC registered. Its alot of money to part with !

I've never had a pug either, but the ones I have known all seem to be very good natured. If your son gets on with a shih tzu I can't see any reason why he and a pug wouldn't become the best of friends.

If you are able to have either a bitch or dog, then I would say choose the pup you fall in love with regardless of sex.

What an exciting time for you and you son!

You also have to understand that just because your son gets on great with his Grandma's Shih Tzu does not automatically mean that he will get on with a different dog and/or breed.

You will have to think of both of them. A young puppy who has no understanding of your son having different needs, and your son learning to live with a new puppy who maybe does not understand him.

I am not sure how well I am explaining myself - but both the pup and your son will have to learn about each other, and sometimes it takes a bit of time.

Thanks Janet ! I am excited but want to be prepared and sensible. Theres no way I was going to buy a pup at christmas time. We are doggy sitting grans shih tzu Barny for a week anyway. I haven,t read anything about pugs that tell me no. I just hope I am up to the training etc... !

I am not expecting anything to be easy Everything takes time and patience

Ok I have 3 Pugs, they are bold outgoing crazy little critters. They get on with everyone and everything. I will say being KC registered counts for nothing, what you need to do is heaps of research, there are far too many badly bred Pugs around. You need to find a breeder who only breeds from fully health tested dogs. They must be tested for HV a spinal deformity not apparent in young dogs. My breeders also test for luxating patellas, hips, Pde. Also make sure the parents have no breathing issues. Expect to wait till you find the right dog, one of mine took two years and expect to pay around £1200. Good breeders generally have waiting lists. My Pugs are fit and healthy have never visited the vet except for routine stuff, have been brought up with Dobermanns, a staffie and a terrier and they expect and get 2 hours exercise a day. They are not the sofa loafers they are frequently portrayed as, although they would be if allowed to become fat and out of condition. Since coming back from their walk today they have been playfighting almost constantly with Diesel the Staffie. They have heaps of energy. They generally get on well with kids, they are quite robust, just watch the eyes. They love being made a fuss of, cuddled and dressed up. Also I would say a male is far more laid back than a bitch in Pugs.

Thanks for that Sounds like any pug wouldn,t be able to become a couch potato in your house ! Lol

I knew a Pug which belonged to a gamekeeper and his wife. The Pug was allowed in the house, but apart from that spent all his time with the working dogs and had hours and hours of exercise.

Similarly I have a Chihuahua who is tireless and constantly wrestling with the Standard Poodle and the Cocker. People do tend to have completely the wrong impression of little dogs!

One of my closest friends has a rescue Pug. Hannah is one of the sweetest most loving dogs I have ever seen. I don't know her whole story but I do know she had been abused and kept outside much of the time. She is also missing one eye. Even with the hard life I'm assuming she had she is a lovely dog who gets on very well with my friend's 3 small dogs and one huge dog and a few cats and anyone who comes to visit including small children.

I get really upset hearing about cases where dogs or indeed any animal has been treated bad. Bless your friend x

It upsets me terribly. I believe many here rescue.

If I may give a few opinions here and you can think them over. The first being that I always suggest to people that a breed specific rescue group is often preferable to a breeder. Some people would disagree but that's just me. Even going to a public shelter and finding a pup who just looks like a certain breed is saving a life. If you search the group PDWRA perhaps you can find some resources.

Okay I'll get off my speech stump. My best buddy has a purebred pug. His partner's son gave them Bella because she was too energetic for his taste. I'm sure some of it with her is just a lack of training but she wears out my dogs at a quarter of their size. Annoying habit she has that they don't correct...if a dish is on the table unguarded even for a moment she hops the chair, grabs from the plate and dashes off.

She's also rather barky...bratty my friend calls it. Not a dog that warms up to people very quickly. How much of her behavior is pug and how much is spoiled, untrained doggie I don't know. Which raises another point. My daughter is special needs as well. She is fairly gentle with animals but can sometimes be overly affectionate. Smaller dogs can sometimes be more fragile...being dropped, being hugged tightly, even accidently tripping over them can hurt them badly sometimes.

I wonder if a larger dog might be better with your son? I feel medium to larger dogs can be much more patient with children. My Callie is 60lbs and my daughter can bear hug him and he laps it up. Larger dogs can be more easygoing because of their size. Perhaps more confident is the word I'm looking for. Also adopting an adult who is mellow with children might be far easier for you than taking on a puppy.

An adult dog might already be housebroken and know simple commands. They might be leash trained as well. Best of all you know their personality right off the bat. With puppies you can't be sure what you're getting. IMHO

I would add finding a Pug in rescue isn't easy, if they do come in they are snapped up pretty quickly. Also with a rescue you have no clue regarding health issues, that may not be so important with some breeds but with Pugs it could hold a whole load of heartache. They cost a lot to buy so people tend to sell them on rather than give them up to rescue. My Teddy was sold on to me as they didn't realise how active he would be or how difficult to house train. He was 7 months when I got him, complete with all his papers etc. so that I could talk to his breeder and ask what health tests had been carried out on his parents. I have to say she wasn't best chuffed he was being sold on but I convinced her I would be a good owner for him. They had asked the breeder to rehome him for them but obviously she wanted to wait until he was homed before parting with any money. I think they needed the money for Christmas as I got him on 8th December last year. I paid £700 not an unusual amount for rehoming a Pug.

I forgot to mention that my daughter is on the autism spectrum. So she is special needs as well. Something I love about my Callie is that when we're at work and my daughter is home alone, I know Callie is there helping and protecting her.

She is a pre-teen and can be home by herself for brief periods. But I know if anyone tried to come to the door un-announced that Callie would send them running into the night. For all his brawn he sleeps beside her like a big baby.

That is the perfect dog, especially for a special needs kid. I also advocate the rescue route in terms of cost. In the states a rescue might charge at most $200. Breeders can go triple that and more. Might be something to think about.

I know getting a rescue dog sounds great to alot of people and it is a nice thing to do but after looking up my local centre and looking through all the dogs the centre do not recommend any to children under 14 years old and all have issues. I don,t think I am going to have any success here and I don,t just mean for a pug ! I know I won,t get one of them in the likes of dogs trust.

Kirsten - if I still lived in the UK there is no chance that any rescue organisation would even consider me.

But my Little One had a happy life with me, even though I would not have been considered suitable. And my beloved Pereg copes with me as I cope with her.

What is my point? Little One was yet another unwanted pup and probably going to be thrown out had I not crossed the road and said I wanted her. She was a private rescue.

Pereg might have been adopted from the Shelter in town by someone else had I not taken her, but I can guarantee that after her first seizure she would have gone on that one way visit to the vet.

But I am not considered suitable to have a dog and no rescue organisation in the UK would have approved me. But I had no home check with Little One - just brought her home. And no home check at the Shelter for Pereg. Nothing. I just turned up at the Shelter, knowing which pup I wanted as I had been emailed a photo of her - handed over my ID card for details to be written down, signed the form - and brought her home.

Both my pups quickly learned how to cope with me, so I think that probably a puppy would be more suitable for your son so they can learn how to get on together. But I do not know whether a Pug would be the right breed - I do not think that anyone of us could say it would be.

I honestly do not know what to suggest but think maybe a puppy of a larger breed, or even a crossbreed, might be more suitable? But a young puppy who can learn together with your son, not an older one who might well have problems of its own.

Thankyou x

A puppy who has to learn how to live without his/her dam and siblings, will, I think, also learn how to live with your son who, as you say, has additional needs. They will learn together, just as my Little One and then Pereg learned that I am different in that I use wheels instead of legs. Well, they learned quickly that wheels running over legs and tails are Not A Good Thing so got out of the way as fast as they could!

They also learned that if I am on my feet on crutches, I fall and am liable to fall on top of them. So it was "if mom is on her feet, get out of her way."

I think that a puppy and your son will be wonderful for both of them. I am just not sure whether you should think further than the Pug you so want.