What the Heck is a Pugapoo?

After a nice day, Saturday afternoon went to the dogs.

I realized this as my son and I stepped into the thick of Snacker’s annual pug crawl around 4:30 p.m. 

There were pugs everywhere—and a few other breeds, too—but mostly pugs. Several of the pugs were wearing costumes; there was Batman, a Superman, and a pink flower costume on one of the girls. I doubt any of the superhero-clad dogs ever took flight, but I would bet money the flower pooch had taken quite well to fertilizing.

I think people like pugs because they just look funny. They appear
menacing with their bulldog features—their strong little legs look spring-loaded, as they could leap up and knock you out at any time. However, because we know this won’t happen, they are ironically cute. 

The American Kennel Club classifies pugs as a “toy” breed. Their guidelines say the dogss’ “ymmetry and general appearance are decidedly square and cobby.”

Microsoft Word doesn’t even know what “cobby” means or how it is spelled, but I assume this means a pug should resemble an ear of Indian corn. 

One dog we saw on Saturday was Goober. He didn’t fit the Kennel Club’s mold. Goober was a pug and poodle mix called a pugapoo. His nose looked longer than the other dog, like someone tried to un-squish it. Goober the pugapoo was the Pinocchio of the pug party. 

The standard poodle is about as far away from a pug as a dog could be. The tall and long-snouted dog, also known as the “spoo,” is nothing like its distant smoosh-faced cousin. 

You may have noticed there are a lot more spoos around town. I can count at least seven on one hand with my eyes closed. That’s because they are really smart, sporty, and have hypoallergenic hair.

Poodles’ coats can be clipped like boxwoods—you can shape them any way you want. When my dog was featured in a competition, he sported a German clip—shaved ears and high neck. That didn’t work out so well. 

So many people told me he looked like Rod Blagojevich, we decided to “grow our hair out.” We went with a puppy cut for a while, and now
he has pom pons above his shaved feet and long fluffy ears. 

Go ahead, make fun. My poodle has pom pon feet and long hair, but at least he’s not dressed like a self-fertilizing flower. The important thing is that he looks like a poodle. He’s also probably the best dog we’ve ever had. Most of the day he lies around like a sleepy Muppet, but when it’s time to play, he’ll choose to play baseball over keeping his title as the “National Dog of France.”

When Napoleon Bonapart married Josephine, she insisted they share their bed with her beloved dog—or not share a bed at all. Josephine got her way, and her short and stocky pug earned a place next to a short and stocky emperor.

I guess breed is in the eye of the beholder.