The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-02-23
The AristOcratic Pug.


The pug was born great; not large,
by any means, nor has he ever attained
bigness in any considerable degree; but,
in the sense of importance and inherited
prestige, it cannot be denied that in be-
ing born pug he was born great. His
innate gentility is as obvious. one may
say, as the nose on his face, which GER
tainly is not the least prominent feature
of his distinguished countenance. One
glance at him should set at rest any
question of his superior relation to aver
age dogkind.
There is a distinction, founded not on
superficial grounds, but in the deep
lying strata of illustrious lineage and
noble blood. The pug is conscious Of
this; he can no more help being an airs,
tocrat than he could help being born.
Historians differ concerning his remote
genealogy, some pretending to discover
a trace of the original tree in Muscovy.
as it was formerly called, in Northern
Russia, while others, by far the larger
portion, agree that it was native to Hol-
land. There are imaginative ones who
suggest that the line may be found in
the royal house of Denmark. These
writers assume distinct allusion to the
progenitor of the pug in the remark OF
Hamlet's father that he could tale I'M
fold. meaning presumably, that he could
brighten the dog with the same utterance
that would cause his sons hair to stand
on end, and with somewhat simila If
feet.
But stronger than any theory is in
contestable evidence pointing back to
Queen Charlotte and Dutch William,
within whose domains sprang up the old
families of Morrison and Willoughby.
from which the bluest-blooded pugs Of
Boston claim immediate descent. Let
not the Stuyvesants and Van Rensselaers
carry their ancestral honors too high;
they are not more thoroughly Dutch
than the pure-bred pug.
How fine and yet how definite are the
marks distinguishing him from his con-
tempOraries! Observe the nicely of dis
tinction. He must not be lean, or long.
or lank; this we know is not good
form" He must be stocky, broad
chested, round-ribbed; having large;
lustrous, protruding eyes, set well apart.
and ears that stand up the least bit and
tumble over the veriest trifle at the tips.
His muzzle should be short and square
and black; his mask should cut
straight across the forehead above
the eyes, and clear of this, on his head.
should be, if he is perfect, at least one
black thumb-mark; but, mind, he must
not be smutted with black all over the
body. His tail curls, not with simple
upward turn, like that of the plebeian
street cur, but tightly into what is known
as the ..double curl" According to
some authorities, this tail should lie over
on the right hip. if he is male, and to
the left, if he is not; bat others declare
that it needs not that it should turn to
the right hand nor to the left, but only
straight upward and roundward, in ex-
celsiOr fashion.
II your pug have warts on the face, so
much the better. Count the hairs grow
ing from one of these; if they are three
in number, he is according to Hoyle;"
if FIVE, according to Stonehenge. Then,
to paraphrase from the bard:
Look; what pug should have he does NOS
lack,
Save black trace along his spinal back
And this is Imperative. 1t should not
be over an inch wide at most, and ought
to extend from his head to the tip of his
tail. Every pug, like every man, has
his price; you may get him Tor NIFTY
dollars, but in his best estate he Is valued
at five times that WoLStGra
Direy, in Boston rraisscript,