Austin’s Pug Dog – “Leland”

Austin’s Pug Dog – “Leland”

Austin holding his pug dog -“Leland”

Being one of the most popular household dog breeds, the pug is an exceptionally adorable breed. Originally introduced to America after the Civil War, the pug breed has turned out to be famous in human families and Hollywood. Pugs have been turned out to be famous in human families and Hollywood.  Pugs have been seen in such films as the Men in Black series and Hotel for Dogs.  Despondently, the pug breed is one of the most common breeds that is neglected and abandoned.

Commencing in Europe, the word “pug” was first utilized in England in 1566 and was geared towards humans as a term of blandishment. Over the subsequent century, the word attained supplementary characterizations. In today’s up-to-the-minute animal jargon, the word “pug” is expressed as “a diminutive breed of dog bearing a resemblance to a bull-dog in minuscule.” Some animal connoisseurs believe the word is a degeneracy of Puck, the ill-behaved fairy in Shakespeare’s celebrated play, A Midsummers Night’s Dream. The pug breed was much-loved amongst Dutch females. At virtually the same time, the pug breed was known as Mopshond, which is distinguished as the Dutch for “grumble.”

Possessing irreplaceable health and anatomy, the    Pug is a much respected dog. One unique health/anatomical characteristic possessed by the dog is its face and muzzle area. The pug’s face is very fragile, and the muzzle is

Leland’s Pug face

compressed. Frequent assiduousness is necessitated for the pug as it can fracture its skull easily. Its muzzle triggers breathing inconveniences because it is compressed. Another unique health/anatomical characteristic possessed by the pug is its physique. A pug’s weight can fluctuate as it is seen in many sizes. The weight is a major factor in a pug’s mobility, as the legs can only secure a certain amount of weight.

Leland enjoying a doggie candy cane

Overweight can cause health problems such as bone fractures, diabetes, and other health complications. A third health/anatomical characteristic possessed by the pug is its longevity. Many dog experts believe the key to a pug’s longevity is its temperament with young children and other people. Pugs are very playful and joyful and practically love to be in the presence of anybody.

Leland in his doggie coat in the snow

Leland sleeping with his stuffed pug animal

Our Rescue Dog – Buddy

It seems like just yesterday when a nearby town announced an open house for their newly built animal shelter.  Prior to building this new shelter, animals were housed in an older worn down building.  At this time, we didn’t have a dog for a pet. But being good neighbors, we just wanted to see the new building out of curiosity. Our plans were not to get any dogs.  My husband and I arrived at the new building and remarked that the turn-out seemed great.  There were many people wondering around with their children and looking at the different rows of cages containing many different dogs, and cats.  We discovered, they even had a viewing room for families to play with a selected dog and see if that dog was suitable for taking home.  We even saw a family playing with one of the dogs.  All at once, I realized, my husband was missing.  I had been so engrossed looking at all the dogs that I had not realized he was no longer by my side.  So, I started going back around the cages, looking for my husband.  Suddenly, I noticed a cute cocker spaniel-terrier dog sitting in his cage looking up at a man looking down at him.  You could see there was no need for words being spoken between them …as their eyes communicated everything between them.  Yes, it was my husband.  While they continued to stare at each other my husband quietly… slowly… turned and looked at me with those cocker-spaniel like eyes.  No words needed to be spoken. My husband’s look was all that was needed.  My husband looked at me and said, “ his name is Buddy”.  And Buddy it was.  Yes…Buddy may had been a rescue dog to others …but…he has become a rescue to us… my husband said ” Buddy is not a dog, he is a child with a hair problem and has four feet to travel faster.”

Our Little Boston Terrier – “Princess”

OK, I have arrived…my name is Princes … this is my story!

Hello…my name is Princess. I am a Boston terrier. For the past four years, I have been living with my new wonderful family. Wow…how time flies!  Now, you are probably wondering where I came from.  It’s a long story and would love to tell you about it.  But first a little bit of history.

A Brief History about my Breed – The Boston Terrier

My family history began around 1865 when a group of coachmen from Beacon Hill wanted to create a unique new breed. (Let me repeat that again…they wanted to create a unique new breed…hey that’s me they are talking about.  I am a unique breed!) So they started by crossing an Old English Toy Bulldog with a white English Terrier.  They also added a bit of French bulldog. (Sounds like they are mixing a delicious dish from a recipe rather than creating a new breed. Bark- LOL.)

After inbreeding, mutations, and some accidents, the Boston Terrier was shaped into the breed known today as the Boston Terrier. (…Swoosh).  The English Toy Bulldog was small and considered to have no useful purpose. What the coachmen really wanted to develop was a larger dog and a new type of fighting dog.  To their disappointment, my family (the Boston Terriers) did not gain popularity as a fighting dog, instead we became known as a pet for women!

Since it was common practice to prefix a dog’s personal name with the owner’s last name,  the first Boston terrier was named Hooper’s Judge named after Mr. Robert C Hooper of Boston.   In the 1860’s  Mr. Hooper purchased Judge from Mr. William O’Brien who had imported the dog from Europe…(That’s how we got here in American). Judge was a dark brindle with a white stripe through his face.  He weighed about 32 pounds (14.5 kg)   Judge was bred to a white female named Gype or Kate.  She weighted around 20 pounds and was well built with a three-quarter tail. More inbreeding was continued over several years with other imported bloodlines including a 6 pound Scottish Perry with a straight three-quarter tail and then O’Brien’s Ben. Again more inbreeding continue until Well’s Eph and Tobin’s Kate came with a screw tail.  At first this tail was regarded as a deformity but then it was found the females with the screw tail  produced the best highly regarded of springs…thus, my beautiful screwed tail was accepted.  With more breeding the new cross of dogs became known as Round-headed Bull and Terrier, Bullethead, and American Bull Terrier.

At first, the Bostons met with opposition from the dog fanciers especially the Bull Terriers and the Bulldog fanciers. And, in the shows were the Boston Terriers were accepted, they were given a separate class.  These shows became very nasty and a press campaign was attempted to portray the Bulldog as savage and unfit for the gently society. The Bulldog fanciers retaliated with claims the Boston Terrier was a mongrel.  And so it went back and forth.   In 1898 around Boston a group was formed called the American Bull Terrier Club.  This group met with a lot of opposition and the American Kennel Club did not want to recognize the Boston Terrier as a breed. So two years later, the group rename the club as the Boston Terrier and became accepted by the American Kennel Club in 1893 as a breed.  By the 1920s, my breed, the Boston terrier was so popular we representative 20 to 30 percent of the dogs being shown at  dog shows. By now we were not just popular in the United States but throughout the world.  (..I feel so special and wanted!)

I am so cute!  Don’t you just love me?

General Characteristics

General Characteristics: Lively, highly intelligent, smooth coat, short-head, compactly built, short-tail,  brindle, seal or black in color with evenly marked “white”  markings, weight usually around 10 – 25  pounds, ears are small, carried erect, skull is square and flat on top; eyes are wide apart, large and round and dark in color, the tail is set on low, short, fine and tapering, straight or screw.

This is the part I love as I am known as the “American Gentleman”.  I may not be a scrapper, but if needed I can protect myself if threatened.  You Bet!  My disposition is gentle and I make an excellent house dog and companion, especially with children as I love to play.  I will even initiate the play and will bring you my toys to play with me. I love my family and am very affectionate to them. I am a very intelligent breed. I am also very alert which makes me an excellent watch dog for the home because I am quick to alert the family if something is not right.  Don’t you just love me!  I do not like ignored…. if you are playing a game and not including me I will raise a fuss.  I would rather play too!!! I am not a barker, so, if I do bark it’s because there is something wrong or I am trying to tell you something. My breed is very affectionate and we make lively, amusing companions. Because of our social nature, fun-loving spirits, and warm soft eyes, we can entice someone to play with us. Just watch me…if my master is on the computer I will just take my ball in my mouth, put my two paws on their leg and look at them with my warm soft eyes and bingo…..they will stop and play with me!  (I have them so well trained.) My lifeline is usually 10 – 13 years of age.

Just a few General Care Tips:

First and foremost I need love…lots of love and attention!! Next, I need to be cool in summer  time and warm in colder weather.  Dog coats are great! I need a car carrier or dog seat belt when traveling and an ample supply of water. Also remember, I get car motion sickness, so be sure and not to mention dog treats of dog food at least several hours before a trip or traveling.  On hot days, please do not leave me in the car for any time at all.

Back to my story – I meet my new brother Buddy

The first day I met my new family, they  brought their 9 year old dog Buddy, a cross between a cocker spaniel and terrier. He had been a rescue dog my new family had gotten when Buddy was just 6 months old. My new family wanted to see if the two of us would get along. I was only a few weeks old…what did they think I would do…Buddy was at least 2 feet tall and weighted around 25 pounds. I was at his mercy.  Just his one paw would take me out!  He sniffed me over real good and looked me straight in the eye as if to say…you can come home with us but remember…I am the Master of this Household!

And so my new life started. Buddy and I became great friends and we loved to play together. We would play tag running back and forth. But my favorite game was tug-a-war.  I would get my pull toy and tease him with it until he would put it in his mouth and then we would be off playing tug a war.  Buddy even taught me how a growl a little as we pulled in opposite directions.

 It is fun to play tug-a-war  with Buddy and see my family laughing as they watch us play.

I have been with my family now for over four years and love it very much.  I think they love me too…but I do have them wrapped around my little paw and well trained!

Thank you for letting me tell you my story.  I am so lucky to find a great family. Do you have special dogs in your family?

Our New Blog Begins

Looking for a new Niche

We have been involved on an online business for over 10 years. As we first started, we were delighted to see our traffic and sales continue to climb. Then suddenly about the last 7 – 8 years we noticed things had changed…traffic had slowed down and sales had dropped off. Like everyone else, we blamed it on the economy and our lack of business skills. We both are educated but not in the fields of business. To remedy this we started to get some education about website development. So…we started shelling out the cash for coaching programs which were designed to help us remedy our business problems. Yes, this was costly, but we learned many things about what we had done wrong in our first endeavors in setting up our website. (You can read about our errors in our giftsandcollectiblesgalore wordpress blog.) One of the first things we realized was we needed to start over with a new website and a new product line. Letting the past website continue to run, (not doing anything with it right now), we started looking around for our niche and a product to fill that niche.

Doggie Dog Coats is Launched

So in 2011, we joined a coaching team to learn more about an online business. Our plan was not only to set up a new business but to take what we were learning and use it on our old  website also.  Our first goal was to find a niche.  My husband and I spend a lot of time listing all our experiences, education, loves, what we do best, etc.  We finally arrived at our first love (besides our children and each other)…our dogs. This was a natural because; over the years we have always had dogs in our lives.  Our children have had dogs in their lives. Our neighbors around us have had dogs…and when we took walks we head many dogs barking!  It suddenly dawned on us…Could dogs be our niche?  Deciding it was, we next set out to find products for our dog niche.  Dog apparel, dog carriers, dog beds, dog food, dog insurance, and even dog jewelry were looked into.  This also took many hours of research in order to find products and suppliers for our dog niche. We also thought of a name for our site…Doggie Dog Coats. We also needed a domain name for our Doggie Dog Coats site.  And by luck, DoggieDogCoats.com was available.  And so we purchased our new domain DoggieDogCoats.com. If you get a chance PLEASE visit Doggie Dog Coats and give us your valuable opinion.

Hello and Welcome to our Doggie Dog Coats!

Welcome to our new Doggie Dog Coats blog.  This blog is about our Pet Boutique, Doggie Dog Coats, from its beginning to the present.

Check out our Pet Boutique!  You will find professionally designed dog coats.  And, if fashion is what you are seeking, we offer doggie dog coats which are continually updated to stay in style. From casual to high fashion our Pet Boutique dog coat designs can’t be beat.  We even offer a tuxedo or a wedding gown for special occasions or for holiday dog photos!  Your dog will be the talk of the town as they wear our doggie designer dog coats, motorcycle jackets, sweaters, vest, and more. We continue to add new products and have increased our lines to include dog collars, dog leashes, and hair accessories for dogs.  We will be adding dog jewelry in the near future.  Be sure to check us out from time to time as we offer more doggie items.

Thanks for letting us share our new blog with you.