Once you have chosen to make the wonderful decision to add a pug to your life, and you have found a breeder with puppies on the way (see our post “Where to find a pug puppy“) you’ll need to put a deposit down for a pup in an upcoming litter, then…and this is the most EXCITING and OVERWHELMING experience…when the pups are around 6 weeks old you’ll be invited to visit the litter and pick your puppy!!! Now, all the good research out there tells us not to get carried away with this experience (ie wonderful fantasy of lying in a wild-flower field covered in licky-faced pug puppies) and to remain calm and to resist the urge to chose the little runt pup and instead chose the inquisitive one who comes to you. In this way you’ll let the pup chose you!! How romantic. It is also important to have a look around at the state in which these pups have been raised. Pugs are not outdoor dogs, so the breeder should have the pups in a clean indoor space with enough room to play and interact with each other, and with their mum. The mummy pug should always be present when you meet the puppies, as she will give you a clue as to what her puppies will look like when they become adults. But do keep in mind that this poor mummy has just given birth and has been feeding her brood of pups for a few weeks, so she’ll be looking a little tired. We were able to meet BOTH the mummy and daddy of Petal, when we went to pick her out of the litter…and we were a little shocked that both parents were so BIG!! Horse pugs we called them after the fact…we knew they could never be pure bred pugs (as the puppy ad had stated) but they both looked SO HEALTHY, strong and slim, like HORSES! We were so impressed with their size and the mum had given birth half a dozen pups!! We had our pick from six horse-pug puppies!! Shocking and exciting at the same time!! I loved Petal’s mum, we could tell she was a very sensitive pug, smaller than her mate, dark and brindle just like Pettie. Her dad was a large fawn pug, and the funny thing is that half the litter looked like mum: black and brindle, while the other looked like dad: fawn!! Crazy eh?! Genetics…The parents and pups were all clean and the pups had been corralled into a metal pen on the kitchen floor. There were blankets and pee pads under the pups and they were all rolling around playing with each other in a little heap of fur and pug rolls….so cute I could hardly breathe!! We already had an idea of which pup we wanted, as the breeder had posted pics of each pup on their Kijiji ad. We had our hearts set on a black pup with a white heart-shaped patch of fun on her chest…our Pettie. We had told the breeder, before driving to their home in the country, which pup we had our eyes on so she pulled our favourite pup out of the litter and handed her to us right away. Now, what could we do but love her as soon as we held her tiny little pug puppy body in our hands…she was no bigger than baseball!! There was no turning back. We were interested in seeing the other pups but our little black bundle of joy was decided the instant we held her. I agree that a more rational person might have wanted to interact with each pup, to chose the smartest, boldest or healthiest pup in the litter…and perhaps run away at the sight of huge horse-pugs with strange brindle markings, but not us, we knew that although we were probably being ripped off on the price (as the breeder was selling “purebred” pug puppies) but we knew that a mixed-breed pug is actually a healthier dog, and our Petal is much healthier than Pig. But that’s another story altogether.
We are no pugsperts, but we hope this little blog post is helpful for you, as choosing the right pug puppy out of the litter you have chosen is a very meaningful experience which you will remember for years to come, so try to stay calm (not too giddy with pure joy) so that you can chose the perfect new addition to your family!
