It's Really Starting to Bother Me! (Rant Alert)

... The number of people that will shun me and the pictures i post on my Pug Forums simply because i keep my Pugs fit and trim.

Every single bloody picture i post there i get comments on "oh your pug are too thin! You should feed them more". These are from pug fanciers, people that breed and show pugs. The only ones that don't say that to me is one pug rescuer from ontario who feeds raw and is on the same page as me about food and health, and the 2 agility people (i kid you not there is only 2 individuals that do any form of activity with their dogs). I only post the pictures up there for a select few that want to see them, i'm gonna start going to email or facebook now i think. Why should i bother with the bench pug people that insist pugs should be huge and fat and insist that pro-plan and kibbles and bits beats the pants off Orijen and how Raw is going to kill me and my dogs. Right.

It's really getting to me. I put in so much hard work to keep my dogs fit and trim and healthy, but according to almost every other pug person on the internet my dogs are sickly looking. Right, they don't look like bloody beach balls and can play for more than 5 minutes without wheezing and passing out. I don't want a fat pug. I've told them that, you know what they said to me? They told me if i don't want a fat dog and i want an active dog i shouldn't get a pug. What kind of attitude is that?

Ugh sorry for the meltdown... I guess i'm just not a "pug person" and i really don't want to be. I care about health more than that super smushed nose or the "stocky" being equal to "obese" attitude.

I wonder if anyone will even read this, it's just a bunch of whining. I'm going to hug my pugs now.

End Rant.

Heh I looked up what you were talking about. I don't know... I meet so so many FAT pugs. I have never seen any as fit as yours. It's a nice breath of fresh air imo.

Some lab people are the same way. Though I can't say I've been personally attacked for Jack's leanness I have been slammed plenty of times for "just not getting it," when I point out how overweight many show labs are...

I think it's fantastic that you keep your pugs in good shape! Kepp up the good work--it's people like YOU who have the best interests of the dogs in mind at the end of the day......

I've pointed out how overweight show pugs are and i get the ol' "we heath test and our dogs are perfectly healthy, their weight is perfectly healthy too and they're supposed to look this way. Pugs shouldn't look or be athletic they're just lap dogs and couch cushions and shouldn't be treated any other way. You don't understand what a pug should be".

I do believe i got the same bitch out from a member here in a thread when i posted a picture of Izzie. I'm certainly glad SHE'S gone at least.

Not that you need gratification because you KNOW you're doing what's right for your dogs and that's awesome, but your pugs look FAB. I see no ribs or bone protrusions. I see a tight tummy tuck and muscle definition, and that is SO refreshing to see on pugs. Not to mention most of the pics you post are of your pugs PLAYING and having FUN, not being fat on a couch!

(all dogs are fat on couches sometimes, of course, my border collie included, but I digress!

You should see the chi forum. I lurked it once looking for something (can't recall what) and found a thread bragging about dogs being 2-3 pounds or smaller, people breeding everything to everything, etc.

We won't even start on the border collie forums, lol! I give up on breed specific forums.

There is no papillon forum, which I guess is good.

I also couldn't be on the chi forum for this reason

Oh goodness, breeding anything to everything, comparing weights every 15 seconds, ughhh such a pain! they dont "approve" of how much exercise romeo gets, because hes JUST a companion dog. Its so DUMB

I would leave honestly, I creep on the chi forum and post pictures sometimes, they are nice sometimes. but i've given up on arguing and fighting with them..I KNOW what im doing for MY DOG is right. l

So sorry you have to deal with that, sounds like a pain in the BEHIND. but your dogs look amazing and you know they are healthy and doing great. just rememeber that, I would try to avoid some of that forum if it really brings nothing but stress

And they don't understand what a dog should be... maybe if all they want are 'couch cushions' they should get a stuffed animal instead.

My sister-in-law had a pug (she left it with her last boyfriend - which is good, she was a lousy dog owner anyway); and the poor thing couldn't run ten feet without wheezing.

I think your dogs look perfect!

This. I love seeing how fit your pugs are. It makes me feel happy. It makes me feel very sad when I see a pug who can barely make it from one room to another without falling over.

Yep, chi forums are very scary. I found one that's better than most of them, but there is still the same undertone.

Me, too. Gah. :/

we could all go there & troll & tell them what @$$hats they are

we could say things like
"OMG that looks like 50 pounds of crap in a 20 pound bag"
"in some places obesity like that is grounds for cruelty charges"
"what kind of lazy selfish ***** would allow their dog to be so fat & unhealthy"

Haha couch potato pug. I thought that's what the breed was like before I got mine. He is CRAZY.

I saw the most interesting story once about a show pug, the owner worked the dog out on a treadmill every day so that he wouldn't pant so much when he trotted around the show ring. I thought it was cute. I don't particularly remember if the dog was overweight, though.

Anyway, yeah, it's an ongoing argument with the service dogs in public. We keep the dogs at or under a good weight - it's actually been proven that dogs just slightly underweight live longer than dogs slightly overweight - and of course we get comments all the time about it. It doesn't bother me, but what does bother me is when we place the dogs in homes and 6 months later they're 10 pounds overweight. And then there's no talking to the recipients, because their "vet said they were healthy." Grr.

Heck, on a LAB board I've seen a guy get bitched at because he gave his adult labs "too much exercise" because he would go mountain biking 5-10 miles a day and his labs would go off leash with him. They were both fit, happy looking dogs....

maybe we need to start charging the vets w/ negligence &/or malpractice

Seriously. We even tell people all the time that vets are so used to seeing overweight dogs, they will say that your dog is underweight... but they're wrong. But vets are the "authority" you know!

Seriously, between weight and diet, vets sure could screw up a lot of dogs. At least they're good at diagnosing problems if your dog is sick.

One more thing i'm sick of seeing with the other boards too is the dominance theory bullcrap.

They WORSHIP Cesar. Literally worship him. He's the best thing since sliced cheese to them... Say anything about their beloved Cesar and they freak out. Provide articles i've seen on here to them to back your position and they claim that it's all crap because Cesar is THE authority on dog training. They can't fathom that i don't use spray bottles, alpha rolls and neck jabs to get my dogs to do what i want. They don't get clicker training at all either.

It's like talking to a brick wall there lately. It never used to be this bad.

Yep, lab boards are like that too.....I don't get it....

Which Lab boards? Lol the one im on is all about keeping Labs at a healthy lean weight. And they airn't Ceasar Milan followers. I actually enjoy it there alot. No fat couch potato dogs. Most compete in dock diving and hunting trials.

Not all Lab boards are like that

The one I used to go on had a lot of show people/show breeders, and a lot of people who didn't want to ever question what they said. There were some field/dock diving types but that was not the majority.