Izzy: The Spoiled Pug

August 10th is National Spoil Your Dog Day. No dog is more spoiled than my little pug named Izzy. Izzy has many nicknames, such as Princess Puggy Butt and Lil’ Baby. As you can tell by her nicknames and photo, she is a full-bred Pug. Pugs have been a recognized breed of the American Kennel Club since 1885. They are well known for their short muzzles and little, wrinkled faces. They have short, stocky, cube-like bodies with well-developed muscles they choose to not use. Pugs are a low-maintenance breed, making them great for people with busy lives. Despite that, here are all the reasons Izzy couldn’t survive Doomsday.

Her Puggy Throne

My dog has a bed in every room of my house. Each bed has a purpose. She lays in the kitchen bed waiting for the crumbs to fall. She eats her treats (Good Puggy Snacks) on the snack bed by the couch. The bed that is most important to her is the big one in the living room we nicknamed, The Puggy Throne. The Puggy Throne is the biggest bed in the house. It consists of a beanbag chair, a squishy pillow, a narwhal Squishable knock-off, and a fuzzy green pillow all covered by a fluffy blanket. If you take away this bed, she’ll instantly become upset and depressed over it. The bed requires daily fluffing because the material can go flat, while the blanket falls off. Once a month, I pull it aside to spray it down with flea spray (for prevention) and check for bugs. This does not go over well with Izzy.

Food

Izzy loves to eat. She is such a foodie at heart! If she had it her way, she would have an automatic feeder for her bottomless pit of a stomach. Being a pug means she is a little chunkier than most other breeds, so weight is often an issue with them. She also has a history of gallstones, meaning she has to eat foods meant to help prevent that. So, once a day, usually around the afternoon time, I give three large spoonfuls of wet food and a fourth cup of dry food from Royal Canin designed for dogs with stones. I make sure it is thoroughly mixed in because she is not a fan of dry food. Once she finishes, she is let out in our fenced-in backyard. When she comes back inside, I usually give her two Zesty Paws chicken-flavored Cranberry Bites (good puggy snacks) and a denti-stick for her teeth. She loves her puggy snacks more than anything. So, I often shower her with treats for the rest of the day for absolutely any reason. Her wet food comes in a case of 24 cans for $90. The dry food varies, but I usually get the biggest bag (10lbs) for $60. The snacks I get from Chewy every 5 weeks, and is a jar of 90 pieces for $24.

Fears

My dog is definitely not a fighter. She likes to bark at people from a distance, but if you move too close to her, she’ll run away and hide. The only fight I have seen her in was when she pounced on her blind brother because I gave him a snack first and didn’t give her one fast enough. She lost. She is also very skittish around certain noises. If you shut a door too hard, or put something down roughly she runs in terror. The squeaking from the rubber dots on my slipper socks frightens her. If you blow a raspberry or hiss in the room, she’ll run away. It’s hard to watch a zombie movie in her presence as the growling zombies have her fleeing for the hills. If you carry her too close to the sink or say the word ‘bath’, you’ve traumatized her for the rest of the day. She is also afraid of thunder, but the fear of heavy rainfall is all her. Last, like all pugs, she hates getting her nails trimmed. I made the mistake of taking her to the groomer once to get them professionally done. I wasn’t even out of the parking lot when I was called back to come and get her. She got so upset being there that they were afraid she was going to have a heart attack.

Attention Seeker

We nicknamed pugs ‘Shadows’ because they love being by your side no matter what. If you have one, then you have no privacy. Izzy requires constant attention. If you close a door on her, she’ll cry and claw at it until you open it. If you lay down on the couch or bed, then you better take her with you because if you don’t, she’ll paw at you while whimpering until you do. She doesn’t enjoy walking because she is incredibly lazy. So, you’ll need to be carried from bed to bed. Since some beds sit a little high off the ground, she’ll need help climbing into them. Izzy demands endless snuggles from everyone. You can never leave her alone because if you do, she cries the whole time.

At the end of the day, Izzy may be a spoiled marshmallow, but she’s my spoiled marshmallow. I love my Izzy! She is my baby, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.