Any Pug Owners Out There????

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We have a soon to be 6 month old female pug in our house-that's our baby in my avatar.

Anyway, I have some questions about pugs since this is my first one. How long did it take you to get your pug housebroken? I've had other dogs and none seemed to take quite as long as our darling pug is taking, so I'm frustrated. Any tricks?

Also...does your pug cry? I don't mean tears...I mean like wailing. Now mind you DH and I roll out laughing when we hear it, but it can be annoying at times.

What is a good age to get them fixed too? We were told by the vet at PetSmart that we should ask our vet to have her "thumbs" taken off in front while she gets fixed because they serve no purpose and can get caught on a lot of things. Any insight on this?

Any other info I should know that is specific to pug ownership?

 

[CathrynRose]

If you were going to have their dew claws removed, I think it should have been done literally months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ5ByVu31-c


Theyre done when theyre itty bitty, in most cases.


The spay/nueter is (I believe) about 6 months or so old.

At this point, if it were me - I wouldnt do the dew claw, now.

 

[JoyLuck]

I have a male who is just about 1 yr old.

Question 1: Pugs are notoriously stubborn when it comes to housebreaking. They are 'food driven', so the best way I have found is give a small treat for good behavior. Since they are so small, and prone to being overweight, it should be a NUGGET of their favorite food, or a dog biscuit divided into several pieces, otherwise you'll have a chubby Pug VERY quickly. It took us the better part of 8 months...and from what other owners have said, that is within the range of normal.

Question 2: Yes, he cries or howls, (very cutely I might add) They are expressive dogs, and emotional.

Question 3: Hmmm, we had our boy fixed at 5 months....females are more 'complicated'...possibly prior to a year old?. But as to the "thumbs" do you mean the Dewclaw? it can get ripped off very easily, and that is painful! I did not have the opportunity to have it done, but I know that they get caught on everything.

As to other info.......while they are SOOO cute, they can be very destructive, I call ours a one dog wrecking crew! They have some unusual behaviors, licking carpets, blankets etc, and scratching carpets, walls etc for attention. They NEED to be the center of attention and will go to great lengths to get their way. All very normal, and their cuteness makes up for it! HTH

 

[jennyl772003]

Bruce is only half pug...

As far as potty training, he is pretty smart, but it did take him a little while. A girl I work with took his brother, and she's had a heck of a time. Pretty normal from what I understand. They are stubborn. I didn't use food w/Bruce, but I threw a "party" everytime he was successful. He really wanted to please, so that worked for us.

Bruce is a whiner. He cries when he wants anything. Attention, food, treats, whatever. He's not a barker though, so I'll take the crying.

Bruce had his dew claws removed before we got him.

He was neutered at 7 months. Our vet recommends between 6-8 months for the neuter. Not sure on the spay. I think it was close to that when we spayed out cat though. Just ask your vet. I know that some are recommending it even earlier then that now.

I'm pretty sure our next dog is going to be a black pug. They are just such wonderful dogs! So loving!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

If you were going to have their dew claws removed, I think it should have been done literally months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ5ByVu31-c


Theyre done when theyre itty bitty, in most cases.


The spay/nueter is (I believe) about 6 months or so old.

At this point, if it were me - I wouldnt do the dew claw, now.

Glad I was done eating dinner before I watched that video! I think maybe that is why the vet told us to do it while she is knocked out getting fixed. I definitely wouldn't allow this to be done to my baby while she was awake...that's barbaric if you ask me.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I have a male who is just about 1 yr old.

Question 1: Pugs are notoriously stubborn when it comes to housebreaking. They are 'food driven', so the best way I have found is give a small treat for good behavior.

Question 2: Yes, he cries or howls, (very cutely I might add) They are expressive dogs, and emotional.

As to other info.......while they are SOOO cute, they can be very destructive, I call ours a one dog wrecking crew! They have some unusual behaviors, licking carpets, blankets etc, and scratching carpets, walls etc for attention. They NEED to be the center of attention and will go to great lengths to get their way. All very normal, and their cuteness makes up for it! HTH

I will definitely try the reward system with Daisy. Funny tidbit-when she does mess in the house, she always leaves it right in front of the toilet in one of the bathrooms. Hmmmm...we figure maybe she's not so dumb after all. Now if we could only get our precious little Daisy to get up on the toilet and flush! Seriously though, we're hoping she'll be trained by the end of summer. Our other dog trained in a month or two, so we're in uncharted territory.

Thankfully, for the most part, we find her howling and wailing funny. Although she is a very jealous dog. She cries if me and DH snuggle on the couch without her. Heaven forbid DH goes to give me a kiss or hug-she's totally traumatized.

Yikes...so far no destruction in our house, although I can see the tendency is certainly there. Daisy is a very inquisitive dog and leaves no stone unturned-literally. Every time we let her outside, she manages to find or dig something up in the yard and bring it in to us.

Bruce is only half pug...

As far as potty training, he is pretty smart, but it did take him a little while. A girl I work with took his brother, and she's had a heck of a time. Pretty normal from what I understand. They are stubborn. I didn't use food w/Bruce, but I threw a "party" everytime he was successful. He really wanted to please, so that worked for us.

Bruce is a whiner. He cries when he wants anything. Attention, food, treats, whatever. He's not a barker though, so I'll take the crying.

Bruce had his dew claws removed before we got him.

He was neutered at 7 months. Our vet recommends between 6-8 months for the neuter. Not sure on the spay. I think it was close to that when we spayed out cat though. Just ask your vet. I know that some are recommending it even earlier then that now.

I'm pretty sure our next dog is going to be a black pug. They are just such wonderful dogs! So loving!

If that is your Bruce in your signature-he sure is a cutie! I love our pug-she's a riot and very affectionate, which is just what I wanted. Sometimes I take her to work with me when I can. I agree about the barking-Daisy doesn't bark and I'll take whining and crying over barking.

We've had German Shepards, a beagle, a lhasa apso, a bulldog and a golden retriever...but the pug it seems is totally different. We're learning as we go. Thanks everyone for all the info.

 

[AnninIowa]

I have two pugs - Max is 4 and Lucy is 2. I've struggled housetraining them because we live in a townhome and do not have a fenced yard. So, they have to be leased (we have tie outs that we put them on when they go outside to "go"!). Lucy came to us paper trained, and we quickly got her puppy pads. She used them for quite some time because when letting them out, she often couldn't wait while I got their collars on. Just within the last month she has really let up on the pads and now mostly goes outside.

Max, on the other hand, is SO stubborn; he won't go on the grass if it's wet, and went through a phase where he peed all over my living room carpet and curtains (hence, we are getting hardwood floors installed). He seems to be over that, but he likes to still play games when it comes to going out. He'll make a big fuss at the door, but when we go to let him out, he hides under the table. Pugs are little clowns, you know!!

What I have done with training is to take them outside and say "hurry up" again and again until they go. Then the moment they start going, I start praising them excessively and making the biggest deal out of it possible. This is quickly followed by a treat. They now know that "hurry up" means to go to the bathroom, and you can see the happiness in their eyes when they are praised and know they have made you happy!

 

[disneyfreakk]

We have a 10 year old pug. I REALLY wish we would have gotten her dew claws removed when she was a pup. Its not so bad when they are young, but as she has gotten older she gets them caught in things. She developed allergies when she was about 7, and now she is forever scratching herself with her "thumbs". Ask your vet about getting your pugs dew claws removed when you have her fixed. Yes it should have been done months ago, but they heal better when they are young. Sassy is too old for me to have it done now. But the next pug we have will be getting this done, just to prevent problems when she is older. 6 months is a good age to get them fixed.

Sassy still takes FOREVER to find the perfect place to potty. There is no rushing her. Pugs are food driven, but if you give them treats after they go potty, they will expect a treat every single time. And then you will have a BIG pug! lol.... ask me how I know??

Pugs are also one person dogs. She loves me, but she thinks my DH is the !! lol. When DH and I are together and I tell her to do something, she will look at me like I have lost my mind. Then I repeat myself and she turns to look at DH, as if to tell him "she's nuts, right daddy? I dont have to mind her...". So then I ask my DH to make her mind, and as soon as DH tells her to mind her mommy, she does whatever it is that I have told her to do.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Are my expectations of having Daisy house trained by the time she is a year old unrealistic? Right now we still keep her in her crate overnight. She definitely knows not to mess in there. We do barricade the stairs so she only stays downstairs during the day. I have off-white berber carpet on my stairs and I'd have cardiac arrest if she messed on that. The downstairs is all hardwood and tile, so I don't worry about that so much if she has an accident. Some days its a bit frustrating because just when I think I can give her free reign, she backslides.

Disneyfreak-I'm glad you mentioned about the pug being a one person dog. I've come to find that with our Daisy and was beginning to take it personally. I got Daisy so that I would have a dog. DH and our other dog are inseparable. I lobbied hard to bring another dog into the house, much to DH's dismay. End result is that now it seems my DH has two dogs that never want to leave his side. I can't win. I tell DH there is just something about him that attracts the dogs!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

We have a male pug (Auggie) who just turned 5. He is potty trained, I would say it took him maybe till he was 1? Now, when he does have accidents it's because he's sick to his tummy and can't make it outside or to the potty spot in time.

He only has 1 of his dew claws. I don't know why? But, our vet told us to have it removed when he got fixed, but we didn't do it.

We got his fixed kind of late, I think he was 2 or 3? My Mom wanted him to mate with another pug, but we never got around to it, and when we got my Chihuahua, and she was in heat, Auggie went NUTS and that drove us NUTS, so they both got fixed at the same time.

Oh yes, Auggie is a cry baby. I mean, sometimes it's cute, but he cries for EVERYTHING. He has bad anxiety when it comes to being in a car, when we leave for the day.. a lot of stuff. He also has pretty bad allergies and he has epileptic seizures where his back legs give out. He needs to live in a bubble. A doggie bubble.

And yes, he's a one person dog too. He loves my Mom. He follows her everywhere.

 

[donald...really]

As you can see, I have two pugs. We never had any real issues with them regarding house-training. They were both trained within about a month from getting them. It's gotten to the point where all we have to do is say "Who needs to go outside and go potty" and they run to the door.

Weasley does the crying whining thing, but only when he is excited about something. It is more of an exclamation. Fester barks once in a while, usually when he sees a squirrel in the back yard or hears another dog barking.

Never heard about the dew claw thing. Ours don't get their claws stuck on things, so maybe the breeder had them removed? What does it look like when they have been removed? What exactly is being removed?

We had them fixed at about 5 months. That seemed kind of young to me, but the vet said it was fine.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

I have two pugs...A fawn named Precious (she's 10 years old) and a black one named Blackheart (He's 12 years old). Blackheart is blind and Precious is going blind. My doctors have told me it is just with the breed of dogs and old age. Everyone that I talk to that has old age Pugs also tell me that their dogs are blind. Blackheart has never been fully potty trained. He has had two surgeries for struvite stones in his bladder. So far (knock on wood) Precious has been very healthy except for her eyes. Neither of our dogs are one person dogs though. They take to whoever is sitting on the couch because they wanna sit right next to them.

 

[Muffy]

We have a 8 mos old male half Pug, half Chinese Shar pei. He was easy to train and never barks! He does cry, growl and whine though, LOL. Honestly he is a great little dog and we love him to pieces. Pugs really want to please and have great dispositions.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Never heard about the dew claw thing. Ours don't get their claws stuck on things, so maybe the breeder had them removed? What does it look like when they have been removed? What exactly is being removed?

Letter D is pointing to the dew claw. On our pug her dew claws are a good 1 1/2-2" up her leg from her paws and stick out on the sides. If you haven't noticed them on your pugs then perhaps the breeder did it before you got your dogs.

 

[disneyfreakk]

Are my expectations of having Daisy house trained by the time she is a year old unrealistic? Right now we still keep her in her crate overnight. She definitely knows not to mess in there. We do barricade the stairs so she only stays downstairs during the day. I have off-white berber carpet on my stairs and I'd have cardiac arrest if she messed on that. The downstairs is all hardwood and tile, so I don't worry about that so much if she has an accident. Some days its a bit frustrating because just when I think I can give her free reign, she backslides.

Disneyfreak-I'm glad you mentioned about the pug being a one person dog. I've come to find that with our Daisy and was beginning to take it personally. I got Daisy so that I would have a dog. DH and our other dog are inseparable. I lobbied hard to bring another dog into the house, much to DH's dismay. End result is that now it seems my DH has two dogs that never want to leave his side. I can't win. I tell DH there is just something about him that attracts the dogs!

I don't think that a year would be unrealistic to have her trained. Here are some tips that worked for me.

What really works for us (three dogs) is to have a potty schedule, we take them out at about the same time almost every day. The key word for them is "potty", ie., Lets go potty, Did you go potty in the house, etc. We also go outside with them and tell them how good girls for going potty. Also, while they are being house broken, I do what others do, which is make the BIGGEST deal out of them going potty outside. And when they make a mistake I would use a stern voice to tell them not to potty in the house, and a rolled up news paper to tap them on the butt (more for the noise effect, you don't hurt them) but I do this the whole way outside. And then I would put them down in the yard and tell them in the sweetest voice that we go potty outside. With LOTS of good girls thrown in.

Also, are you at home with her all day? If so, make her hang out with you all of the time. Then you can keep a close eye on her. Every time she starts sniffing around, take her outside to go potty. Be sure to tell her why she is going outside. This how I have trained all of our girls.

With pugs, you have to be consistent. They so are stubborn and head strong, I really think that Sassy thinks I should be minding her sometimes.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Just wanted to update. We had our little girl fixed last week and had her dew claws done at the same time. I am really surprised how well she came through it all-it was as if she had nothing done at all. This is my first female dog (always had male dogs all my life) and I honestly thought this would be a very hard surgery for her, but she was jumping around like nobody's business less than 24 hours later. Such a relief!

Potty training is still ongoing. It is getting better and we have not had any messes in the house in quite some time. I still have to limit the areas of the house she is allowed to roam, but she is doing well so far and hopefully soon I can allow her to have free reign.

Another question though-the vet called us while she was in the midst of surgery and said our pug had extra teeth and that sometimes they fall out on their own and other times they need to be pulled and did we want her to pull them. Well, I couldn't imagine having to be fixed, having your dew claws removed and then having teeth pulled on top of that, so I said absolutely not. I've owned many dogs over the years and never had an issue where I was told my dog needed to have teeth pulled. Is this normal? Should I have opted for the removal or do you think the vet was trying to make a few extra bucks?

 

[RUDisney]

I'd have made the same decision about removing the teeth when so many other things were going on at that time.

As for pugs going blind, Prancer has been blind for a couple of years now. She has pigmentary keratitis (PK) and dry eye. We knew that she would eventually be blind as the pigment covered her cornea. She gets along great and only bumps into things when she's overly excited or if we put something where it doesn't belong.

Puggles never had any eye problems and could see until she was put down. She also had her dew claws and never had any issues with them.

My pugs have never been destroyers, save for the fact that when Prancer was a puppy she decided to chew on one of our kitchen chairs. We put green apple (bad tasting stuff for dogs) on it and she didn't go near it or any other furniture ever again.

My pugs never really whined either. Prancer has taken to whining when I'm not home. She's definitely my dog and when she can't find me, she'll whine. When the kids distract her with pats and love, she gets over me not being there. She also loves her crate and doesn't cry when she's in it.

Be consistent with your training. Even now, if Prancer is not in her crate or on one of the kids' beds, she will mess in the house at night. When she's crated or in the kids' beds, she sleeps better and doesn't need to go out in the middle of the night.

Our favorite snack for Prancer is a baby carrot. It's not high in calories and she loves them.

 

[AnninIowa]

Glad to hear she came through her surgery just fine! Mine both bounced right back up after their's, too. As for the teeth, the doc said my youngest has one baby tooth in front that never came out and that they may want to remove it...but I figure as long as it isn't hurting her, why bother?

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I feel better knowing I'm not the only one whose pug had extra teeth that were left in.

Not to be morbid, but can anyone tell me what their experience has been with the pugs lifespan? How many years can I reasonably expect my pal to be around? The oldest dog I had before lived to 14 and that was a husky, but he started to decline in health around 11 years old. I guess I really am just trying to get a general idea of when the declining years start and what health problems I may have to be aware of or watch for in the later years. Are there any conditions that are prevalent in this breed?

 

[Mahnahmahnah]

I have 3 pugs!!!

My oldest is 10 and I'm getting worried about him - I heard Tori Spelling's Mimi Larue passed at 11. His hair is falling out and the vet isn't sure why . I have been bathing him 3 days a week w/ special shampoo.
I hope this isn't getting near the end He's having trouble going up stairs and my DH made pet stairs for him to get in bed w/us.

My pugs were very hard to train, but persistence pays off. Girls are always more stubborn than boys.
My DH installed a dog door - we have less probs than in the past. They sun themselves all day long on the deck.

Keep lots of bones - that prevents chewing on your furniture - especially those piggy bone twists, all 3 love them. And Trader Joe's bones.

Good luck - black pugs are so beautiful!