Sometimes when walking our puglings people stop and ask: Where to find a pug puppy? You would think buying a puppy is as easy as going to a pet store but this is not advised, as pug pups are likely from a commercial puppy mill that breeds dogs in mass production. Puppy mills breed dogs in inhumane conditions and the puppies which are born there are prone to bad health. Brachycephalic breeds, like pugs and frenchies, (with a short broad muzzle) born into puppy mills usually have very poor breathing problems which causes them respiratory distress. It is best to stay away from pet stores once you decide to purchase a new pug puppy.
The ethical way to find a pug puppy requires professional breeding from a reputable breeder listed on your Country’s Kennel Club. In Canada it’s the Candian Kennel Club “CKC” https://www.ckc.ca/en. Search online for your Country’s kennel Club to find your KC Registered pug puppy. Be prepared to wait up to 12 months, from signing up on the breeders waiting list to bringing your pug puppy home. Once your pug puppy is born (I’m sure you’ll be waiting impatiently for a phone call from your breeder) your breeder will tell you that your pug puppy will be ready to take home in approximately 8 – 12 weeks, this is the required time that a newborn needs to be with their mother. At about 6 weeks the breeder will invite you to visit the litter and choose your new pug puppy! How exciting, lucky you! The cost of a purebred pug puppy from a certified Kennel club breeder can be quite expensive. Be prepared to pay anywhere from $2000 to $4000 for this potential show dog super pug model, but the benefit is that you’ll have a gorgeous dog with little to no health problems that you can either prance around the neighborhood or in the dog show ring!! How exciting!!
Another great and possibly the most humane option is to adopt a pug puppy from a not for profit pug rescue society, or your local SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). You can search online for the SPCA in your city. Unfortunately some dogs are abused from their evil human owners, even pug puppies, so the occasional pug will end up at a local shelter, be patient and keep looking online at your shelter’s available dogs…you never know who might be available. There are even a few pug-specific dog shelters out there, such as Under My Wing Pug Shelter in Ontario, Canada: http://www.undermywingpugrescue.com/ The cost of adoption for a dog from a shelter vary from $300 – $600, so not only is it cheaper to save a sweet pug from a shelter it’s also a wonderful way to bring your new best friend home.
Another way to find a pug puppy is to look around you! Maybe the reason you fell in love with pugs in the first place is because you saw a local pug being walked in your neighborhood, at the park, the beach, or you may have an acquaintance with a pug. Pug parents are usually proud parents and would be happy to assist you in the direction of a good local breeder close by, just ask! A local pug breeder may not have a CKC standard “perfect” specimen of a pug, but they should be able to provide health clearance paperwork for both parents of the litter, that will guarantee that your puppy will be healthy. But make sure you visit these breeders at their home, and meet the parents, just to rule out any “puppy mill” situations. Local Pug clubs are also a great way to find fellow pug lovers and can provide valuable leads to finding a good local breeder. Pug club events can be a fun way to meet fellow pug lovers and learn more about the breed. When you see pugs in a big group playing together, you learn about their temperament, playfulness, and their sweet little bursts of energy. We cannot recommend this enough. Search online for your local pug club today. Expect to pay a good local breeder approximately $1200 – $1500 for a pug puppy.
Finally, the last option is to search your local classifieds. Kijiji and Craigslist are good options in Canada. Please be careful with this option though, do your research, learn to spot a good ad from a bad one, because the “breeders” who post puppies for sale on free online classifieds are never CKC registered professional dog breeders. These are “backyard breeders” who have most likely decided to breed dogs for extra money. With this in mind, there will be a wide range of “backyard breeders” trying to sell a wide range of pugs, some healthy and happy and some unhealthy and unloved who have had the bad fortune to be born into a horrible puppy mill or to someone greedy and heartless who will not spend time or money to ensure the pups and their parents have received the best care possible. We found our pug puppy Petal from a Kijiji ad in Alberta. We had the good fortune to find a good “backyard” pug breeder who really cared for her dogs’ litter. She owned both parents and bred them to produce a litter of pups. When we went to her home, an acreage outside Edmonton, we walked into a clean kitchen with all the pups in a pen. We met both parents: both unregistered pugs but big and healthy, so we knew that our pup would grow into a big healthy pug too. Upon paying a fee to hold our chosen puppy (its so much fun but a bit stressful to choose the puppy you plan to raise and love for its entire life) we ended up choosing the cutest little black female pug that we had ever seen: Petal!! We were lucky to find Petal, but in our search we came across many bad “backyard” breeders.
Here are a few pointers in weeding the good breeders from the bad (if you chose to purchase your pug from a breeder). A good breeder should screen you to find information about you, such as where you live, what type of building you live in, how often you plan to walk your pug, if there are other dogs/kids at home and how long and often you will leave it alone at home. Remember that pugs (and any dog for that matter) do not like to be left at home alone for hours at a time, they get sad and lonely without their human “pack”. A good breeder may even want to visit you at your home to see if it meets a minimum quality living standard within which to raise a pug. A good breeder will provide you with the correct paperwork to prove that the pup and its parents are CKC registered dogs (if you are using a Kennel Club quality breeder) and always provide you with a puppy care package to get you started. The care package should include a sample of the food the pup has been eating, so that it doesn’t get sick right away with a different type of food. A good breeder will have the puppy dewormed and given the first round of vaccination shots, proof of this should also be provided to you for your own ease of mind and also to pass onto your vet, for their new file on your puppy. If you don’t have a vet, it’s time to find a good one. A good breeder will encourage you to visit the litter and meet both the pug puppy’s parents. A good breeder may also make you sign a waiver clause, i.e welcome back program, so if you ever need to give up your pup it will be returned to the breeder. A good breeder will tell you about their breeding experience. The last piece of advice, but probably the most important is that a good breeder will not release the puppy at no less than 8 weeks old. Bad breeders will usually sell the puppy for less than other breeders, they usually do this because they have many puppies (like a puppy mill) and sell many pups from many litters at a time. A bad breeder will not ask anything about you: how you plan to raise your puppy, where you live, etc. this shows the breeder is only it for the money and does not care about the health or welfare of their pups. A bad breeder might want to meet you at a parking lot to make the puppy / payment exchange so that you will not see where the pup has been raised, this is a major red flag. Even if you need to drive 500 miles to visit the litter and see their living conditions, you should always do your due diligence and find out where your pup has come from, who its parents are and how they have been living. If the breeder accepts cash only, this is another sign of bad business. If the breeder is selling multiple breeds, and there are no health records for the puppies or their parents, no veterinarian visits, no welcome back program, and finally if a breeder releases the puppy at 6 weeks or less, then you should not support this breeder by purchasing one of their puppies! So please be careful when you are looking for your sweet little pug puppy, so that you can support the responsible breeders and come home with a happy healthy puppy that will live a long and healthy life.
I’m no pugspert, but this information will ensure that your pug puppy search will be an enjoyable experience that will end with your new happy and healthy pug puppy coming home to a loving furrever home.
