Above is a picture of Finnegan in his Holiday jumper as he sunbathed at my Mom's home this past Thanksgiving. Three years ago, Z and I bought Finnegan from a family in San Diego whose pugs had puppies and the family could not take care of the extra pups in the house hold. Finnegan is probably not a "pure bred" or "pedigree pug", but that will probably help him live longer since he does not have such the pronounced embedded nose, soft palate, crooked spine, and short stubby legs that are dominate in his breed today. (He is much taller that other pugs) He does however have patellar luxation in his left hind leg, which is common to pugs and it will have to be corrected one day with surgery.
After baking some fresh cranberry and candied ginger scones this morning for breakfast, I watched this interesting documentary on the devastating inbreeding that occurs in with Breeders and the Kennel Club association.There was a time when breeding dogs was not about looks but about talent. Man needed dogs that could perform a certain task better than any other animal on earth. The original philosophy of dog breeding was "form follows function". If beauty pageant breeding produces sad cripples just so people can marvel at their own "creations" regardless of what level of suffering this causes the dog, then it needs to stop.
Here is a picture of what a black pug looked like in the past:
Here are more pictures of pugs from the past:
