I first encountered a pug as an MP at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in the mid-sixties. One of our troop picked up a lost pug while on patrol and brought it back to the barracks, where it sauntered around for several hours before being reclaimed. I was quite smitten with this gregarious and peculiar creature and for more than three decades harbored the vague notion of someday “owning” one—realized when my daughter gave my wife a Christmas gift of a pug puppy in 1997. A “replacement” for the 14-year old cockapoo who died the year before. –DP

Chloe

Registered name: Calvert’s Christmas Chloe.* Nine years old, Chloe has all the attributes of a pug “show dog” --the cobby build, elegant markings, perfect ears, etc.—but her aristocratic and inflexible disposition would no doubt render her unsuitable for such a regimen. The great crisis of her life (not counting being once bitten by a copperhead) came with the arrival of puppy Skye in 2002. This intrusion provoked a yearlong bout of introspection and depression. They have since reached an accommodation (involving no more than 3-4 fights a day) and Chloe has almost, but not quite, forgiven us for bringing this interloper into our home.

Skye

Registered name: St. Leonard’s Starlit Skye.* Now four years old, Skye came to us by way of adoption from a young owner, who found she had neither the time nor patience to deal with an extremely unruly puppy. Skye is very much a plebian. Her head is too small; her ears are too long; her physique, strangely lean for a pug. Her most distinctive characteristic is the “plop-over:” when called, she instinctively runs the other way and at a suitable moment stops, rolls slowly over, belly up – appearing as dead to the world as a possum. She makes up for her somewhat ungainly appearance by her high-spirited and very lovable temperament. She appears to harbor no ill will towards any living creature – except Chloe, of whom she is extremely jealous.

* Names chosen by my wife. I would have picked something less imaginative like Fido, or Lady or…Tutus.