Pug Care Archives - Two Pug Tails

Are Pugs Easy To Look After? Pug Activity Level & Care Needs

January 19, 2022 by emilyreviews Leave a Comment

If you’re considering getting a pug, knowing how hard it is to look after a pug is really important. Or maybe you’re considering dog-sitting for your friend or family member who has a pug. In either case, it’s a great question to ask.

Are Pugs Easy To Look After?

Adult pugs are fairly low-maintenance dogs. They want to be near you often, and they require a daily walk, daily food and fresh water, and regular nail trimming and baths. Their wrinkles need to be kept clean and dry, but that’s about the only unique care that pugs require versus other dog breeds.

I’ve blogged before about how pugs are clingy and how pugs don’t do well when left alone a lot. These are both very true, and if you’re asking yourself if you are a good match for a pug, it is important to consider how much affection you like to give and receive from pets. If you like a really independent dog who will do its own thing most of the time, a pug is not a great choice. They aren’t independent dogs.

Which many may assume to mean that pugs are high maintenance dogs…but that isn’t really true. They are clingy, but not needy.

What I mean by this is, you just have to be comfortable with your dog following you around, sitting near you or on your lap. As long as you’re happy with that? You don’t have to give them special care. They just want to be close to you as often as possible. They don’t necessarily need to be played with or given more one-on-one attention than other dogs. They just want to be close by you.

Pug Basic Daily Needs

Like all dogs, pugs have some basic daily needs. They should be given constant access to fresh water for drinking, and they need to eat at least once a day. Puppies need to be fed multiple times a day. Pugs should be taken outside multiple times a day to go to the bathroom. Pug puppies need to be taken outside more frequently.

Pug Activity Needs

Pugs are relatively low-energy dogs. Mature pugs are usually couch potatoes, and even younger adult pugs are usually pretty low energy. Pug puppies are a different story. They don’t have excessive energy when compared to other puppies, but don’t get a pug puppy if you want a couch potato – get an older pug.

Pug puppy activity needs.

Pug puppies will need a couple of short walks a day, and you’ll want to play with them regularly and try to keep them mentally focused, too. I got my pugs when they were adults, so I don’t have experience with pug puppies yet.

However, I’ve seen others say that the trick with pug puppies is to keep the from getting bored mentally, rather than tiring them out physically. Giving them their meals in a kong or slow kibble dispensing toy will help calm them down better than giving them tons of exercise.

Sometimes people think pugs are unintelligent dogs. I think the crossed-eyes and general “goofy” cartoon style that pugs are often drawn in contributes to this misconception. Pugs are not low-intelligence dogs, they’re considered to be pretty average intelligence compared to other dog breeds. As puppies, they need to be given “brain food” to calm their energy.

Adult pug activity needs.

Adult pugs are low energy dogs. They should still be given a walk each day, and playing with them, taking them to the park or dog park, etc is all great for their health. Some pugs are even athletic! However, they aren’t high-strung dogs who need tons of exercise. This is good news for apartment dwellers because pugs make good apartment pets.

I have a whole blog post about pugs activity needs if you want to learn more.

Pug Hygiene Needs

Like all dogs, pugs have some hygiene needs. They should be bathed at least monthly. Pugs have thick fur and shed year-round, so they require regular brushing. They need their nails trimmed frequently enough to keep them from getting too long. Pugs often have excess skin that results in wrinkle folds in their face or in other places on their bodies.

Any areas where their wrinkles form creases, they should be cleaned more regularly (in some cases, as frequently as daily) to keep bacteria from growing in those folds. Their ears should be cleaned about once a week. Some pugs have a lot of ‘eye boogers’ and those may need cleaned as often as daily. One of my pugs needed their eyes cleared of boogers a couple times a week, the other only had eye boogers on rare occasion.

Pug Training Needs

Pugs are known for being hard to train. This isn’t a result of their intelligence (they aren’t intelligent, though it’s a common misconception). They can be hard to train because they are stubborn! So they may know what you want them to do, but they may not want to do it. Potty training in particular is a common struggle for pug parents.

I got my pugs while they were adults, and they were house trained and had good manners, so training wasn’t necessary. However, if you get a pug that is a puppy or isn’t well-trained when you get them, you may have to invest a lot of tie into their training initially. Once a pug is well-trained, then their behaviors are usually easy to maintain.

Pug Health Needs

If your pug doesn’t close their eyes while sleeping (some don’t due to their eye and head shape) they will be prone to excess eye-boogers and dry eye. These pugs usually need daily eye drops.

As mentioned earlier in this post, pugs need a small amount of regular exercise, such as a daily walk.

All dogs should see their vet at least once a year for a regular check-up. Whether your pug will need o see the vet more often will depend on if they have any health conditions or illnesses.

If you’d like to learn about what health issues you may have to assist with if you get a pug, check out my blog post common health problems in pugs.

Like other dogs, it’s important to get them vaccinated, and to keep up with flea and tick and heartworm preventative medications.

Pug Emotional Needs

Pugs were bred to be lapdogs. As a result, they live to be at your side! They do not do well if left home alone, or not given much attention. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be direct attention such as playing fetch with them for hours a day.

They are quite happy to get ‘attention’ from you by sitting near your feet while you do the dishes or work on an art project, or sitting on your lap while you watch a movie or play a video game.

Are Pugs Expensive To Look After?

How expensive pugs are to care for really depends on the specific pug. Some pugs can be sensitive to skin issues unless they are on high-quality, more expensive dog food. Some pugs will have medical problems that require frequent vet visits, which can be rather expensive. Other pugs may do well on affordable dog food and may have no health concerns. It really varies.

Personally, my pugs were not very expensive to care for until they were 14+ years old, when they started t have health issues due to old age. I bought them mid-level dog food which was around $60 for a 20lb bag but that would last over 3 months and would feed both dogs, so overall it was still quite affordable thanks to pugs being small and not eating a lot of food.

The other expense we had for them was flea and tick medications (averaged out to $20 a month total for both dogs), and the occasional vet visit, probably $300 or less spent at the vet each year. Overall, this meant the necessary expenses of owning both dogs was under $500 a year some years.

In their final years, we spent much more time and money at the vet, tripling or quadrupling those expenses.

Are Pugs Hard To Look After?

Pugs aren’t particularly hard to look after. Many pugs have a few unique hygiene needs (cleaning their eyes and wrinkles). Most pugs need to be around their people frequently (not left home alone too much). In all the other areas of dog care, pugs are either easier to care for than other breeds, or as-hard, not harder. Overall, I’d say pugs are a low to average maintenance breed.

Are pugs hard to dogsit?

Most pugs aren’t hard to dog sit. If you’re unsure about a specific dog and its needs, it’s best to ask their owner if they have any medical conditions/needs. You can also just ask their owner if they have any problem behaviors or unusual needs.ac Puppies are almost always higher maintenance than adult dogs. As long as an adult pug has been house trained, they are usually pretty easy to watch over.

Using Belly Bands On Pugs

October 23, 2021 by emilyreviews Leave a Comment

There are affiliate links in this post.

For the last six months or so of my pug Frank’s life, he was urine incontinent. I had already dealt with diapering my female pug, Beans. At first, I tried to diaper Frank in the same way that I was used to diapering Beans. He was a bigger pug, and the anatomy difference from their genders made the diapers I used on her, not work on him. We found belly bands to be a better solution for Frank.

What are belly bands?

Belly bands are male dog diapers designed just to absorb urine. They wrap around the pug’s waist, so if they pee, the pee is absorbed by the belly band.

There are disposable and reusable belly bands available in various sizes for different sizes of dogs.

Why are dog belly bands used on pugs?

Pugs are known for being hard to train, so some people use belly bands on their dogs who are not housetrained. In some cases, pugs will not urinate while wearing a belly band, so this keeps them from peeing while inside. In other cases, they will still urinate but it will just be contained to the belly band rather than getting on your floors or furniture. In other cases, pugs become incontinent with old age or injury.

Our Story With Male Pug Incontinence

In our case, Frank’s urinary incontinence was caused from degenerative myelopathy. DM is less common in pugs than pug myelopathy, which is a fairly common condition in pugs, sadly. It’s a neurological condition that causes them to lose control of their hind legs, and then DM continues to work up their spine, eventually rendering them completely paralyzed. On the other hand, pug myelapthy only affects the rear end and doesn’t travel up the spine further, however it often still affects the bladder.

If your pug becomes incontinent as part of their myelopathy, it’s important to look out for signs that your pug is emptying their bladder fully. They may be unable to express their bladder fully and/or regularly on their own. I recommend checking out this article about helping your dog express their bladder.

While we sometimes assisted Frank with expressing his bladder, he was often able to urinate on his own, into a belly band. We had him wear a belly band full time just to keep him dry and our furniture protected.

Frank wearing a Teamoy L1 belly band.

Reusable belly bands for pugs

You can buy reusable belly bands on Amazon or other sites. These bands are made to be very absorbent and can be washed in your washer and dryer and then reused.

I didn’t really like the idea of the cloth portion being peed into. What we opted to do was combine reusable with disposable. We purchased reusable belly bands, but then we used adult incontinence pads inside of the belly band. Then when Frank peed, we’d just swap out the pad and he could rewear the belly band as long as the urine was contained to the disposable pad (and it usually was). Then even if he went an entire day without getting any urine on the reusable belly band, we still tossed it in the wash just in case. With this routine, he usually only wore 1 reusable pad a day. We kept six reusable belly bands and I do laundry about twice a week normally anyway. That system worked out well to where we always had a clean reusable pad.

Our favorite reusable belly bands for pugs

Pugs are often difficult to fit into dog sizing. They are technically a toy breed, so it seems like they ‘should’ be a size small or perhaps even extra small in dogs items, yet they never seem to be. They are short and stocky for being such small dogs!

Frank was a bigger pug, about 26lbs. The biggest part of his belly was 17 inches. We tried a few brands of dog belly bands that didn’t fit very well. The brand that we wound up liking best was Teamoy brand from Amazon, in the size L1. These are for dogs with a waist size of 16-20 inches. We had tried other belly bands that said they were a similar size, but they were much thicker and longer, so they would extend farther up frank’s belly.

The teamoy L1 belly bands are a bit shorter, so they didn’t go as high up his back/belly which allowed him more range of movement. They were also a thinner material that hugged his body in a way that just was a trimmer fit.

We used them with these adult incontinence pads and they worked well together.

Frank wearing a different Teamoy L1 belly band.

Disposable belly bands

They do make disposable belly bands for dogs. We never tried theme with Frank. We did try disposable dog diapers with beans, and they were quite challenging to get them to stay on. Based on that, my assumption was that disposable belly bands would be challenging to keep on, too. The reusable belly bands that we used had a strong velcro that is quite adjustable so we were able to get a nice, snug fit.

Pug Shivering After Bath

October 13, 2021 by emilyreviews Leave a Comment

Have you ever noticed your pug shivering after their bath? If so, you may wonder what you can do to help, or even if you should be concerned. My pugs used to shiver after their baths sometimes, and it often made me feel bad, so we tried to find ways to minimize it.

Why your pug shivers after their bath

Most likely, your pug is shivering because they feel cold after their bath. If their bath was warm, the air in your home may feel cool to them afterwards, even if it’s fairly warm.

It’s also possible that they’re shaking in response to anxiety. Some dogs really dislike being bathed and will get worked up enough to still be shaking afterwards. If this is the cause, they probably were shaking while in the bath, too. Trying to comfort and reassure them, and perhaps giving them some treats can help make the experience more positive.

However, if the shivering is severe or their behavior seems off, you may need to rule out that it’s not an allergic reaction. Some pugs may have some bad reactions to some soaps or shampoos. I’ve heard of animals convulsing after having a bath with flea shampoo, for example. If the shivering seems excessive or your dog shows any signs of being unconscious, head to an emergency vet!

How to keep your pug warmer after their bath

Dry them off as much as you can. If your dog will tolerate it, you can use a blow dryer using a cool setting until they dry. If they won’t tolerate being blow-dried, you can towel dry them as thoroughly as possible.
Keep the environment extra warm. If it’s winter time, you may want to raise your thermostat while you bathe your pug, so that the air in your home is warmer after they get out of their bath. Alternatively, you could set up a small electric heater in one room that you plan to put them in after their bath. Don’t let them get too close to the heater though! They may not know that it can hurt them if they touch it.
Cover them with a blanket. After towel-drying my pugs, we’d hold them in an extra blanket. Of course, this would result in the blanket smelling like wet dog. We would intentionally use an extra blanket that we didn’t care about too much, and we’d wash it as soon as the dogs were done using it that day. That way, the pugs could stay a bit warmer but we didn’t have to ‘sacrifice’ our favorite blankets.
Make sure you’re bathing in lukewarm water. Sometimes people instinctually assume that they should use warm water to bathe their dogs, because we humans like to bathe in warm water. For animals, it’s best to use lukewarm water, as their skin isn’t as tolerant of heat as ours is. Their skin is used to being protected by fur, so it’s sensitive. Also, if you use warm or hot water to bathe your dog, they’ll feel colder once the bath is over, than they would if you used lukewarm water.

Can Pugs Be Left Home Alone All Day?

July 12, 2021 by emilyreviews 7 Comments

Pugs are typically clingy “velcro dogs” and they often struggle with separation anxiety. If you’re considering getting a pug you may find yourself wondering how long is reasonable to leave them home alone. Especially if your entire household works outside of the home.

Can Pugs Be Left Home Alone All Day?

Adult pugs should be physically fine if left home alone all day. Emotionally, it’s likely to be tough on them. Pugs were bred to be lapdogs, and prefer to be with people as often as possible. Pugs are much happier if they have consistent contact with people.

Pug puppies will need to be able to go to the bathroom more frequently, so they’ll need a puppy pee pad, litter box, or some other way to go to the bathroom if they will be left alone for several hours.

Will pugs bark if left home alone?

Pugs are prone to separation anxiety. As a result of that anxiety, they might bark when left alone.

My pugs Frank and Beans were not bad about barking a lot. They didn’t bark at the mailman or UPS person, or when people came over to visit. About the only time they did bark, was when we left them home alone. Beans in particular, would bark almost non-stop the entire time she was left home alone. We didn’t realize this until after we had her for a couple of years, and got a new neighbor who let us know that she would bark for hours on end sometimes. Of course, this barking can cause a problem if you live in an apartment complex, condo, etc.

Some pugs cry when left alone, instead of barking. If your pug is severely bothered by being left at home, your pug may bawl when you leave.

In some cases, you may find your pug acting distant after you get back home.

Can Pugs Be Taken To Work?

Pugs have a pretty good temperament and would do okay in work settings that allow employees to bring their pets to work. Once they are past the puppy stage, pugs are pretty low energy. They aren’t usually prone to barking much, either. If you have an office job where you can set up a dog bed and let your pug be near you while you are on your computer most of the day? Your pug would likely do well to come to work with you.

The temperature of your work environment is something else to consider. Pugs don’t do well in high heat or humidity.

How much space should pugs have when left home alone?

What is needed to keep your pug safe while home alone will depend somewhat on their energy level and whether they still are chewing things that they shouldn’t. Pug puppies may need to be kept in a very limited area with access to almost nothing. More mature pugs may be capable of being left home alone with free range of the house.

To some degree, you have to know your dog. If you aren’t sure what is reasonable to expect of your dog, err on the cautious side. Some different possibilities that may work for keeping your pug safe while you leave them home alone, whether it’s while you get groceries or while you’re at work all day.

My pugs Frank and Beans were well beyond the puppy chewing phase when we got them. They never tried to eat anything that wasn’t edible, so we didn’t have to worry about them destroying anything in our house. We could leave them alone with free range of the house if we wanted and they would be safe and wouldn’t harm anything. The only exception to this would be if food packaging was left in their reach. We once had a snack bag left on the floor which they found, chewed through and ate. So, keeping food packaging from being accessible was important. I 100% view this as our failure though, not theirs!

When we lived with roommates, we chose to confine them to our portion of the house. We would put up a baby gate or pet gate at the entrance of our bedroom or kitchen to keep them in just that room. I liked this option because it kept our dog out of our roommate’s stuff. Even though I never really worried bout our dog being destructive while we were gone, it just felt the most respectful to keep our dogs in our space even while we weren’t home.

When we first got our pugs, we had been told they were kennel trained, and used to sharing a single large kennel. When we first got them, we left them in the kennel when we left the house. This worked fine, and was a reasonable option. We just found that they did fine without needing to be confined to such a small space.

Getting your pug companionship if you have to work away from home

If you have to be away from home 8+ hours a day, you may not be able to be with your pug as much as you’d like. In that case, you may seek out other ways to get your pug companionship while you work. Some options:

Doggy daycare. Some people leave their pugs at doggy daycares during the work day so that they get socialization and more physical activity in.

Dog walkers. You could hire a dog walker to come mid-day to take your dog out for a walk and play with them a bit.

Come home for lunch. If you don’t have too long of a commute, perhaps you can come home to have lunch with your pug and let them outside briefly.

How To Make Alone Time Easier On Your Pug

If your pug struggles with separation anxiety, you’re likely to need ways to assist them with being home alone. None of us can be with our dogs 24/7. So what can you do to help soothe your pug when they do have to be left at home?

Keep their environment safe. Makes sure they can’t access anything that may harm them if they were to chew on it. Separation anxiety can lead dogs to chewing things they shouldn’t. Keeping your pug away from electric cords, household cleaners or other dangerous items is important.
Give them a cozy spot. Some pugs may take great comfort in their dog crate. Others may have a favorite stuffed toy, blanket or dog bed. Try to give them access to whatever brings them comfort (as long as it is safe).
Leave them something that smells like you. Leaving them with a t-shirt you’ve worn, or a blanket you’ve slept with, may bring them comfort as they can smell you.
Make sure your pug has had enough exercise. If left alone without having had any exercise, your dog is more likely to go ‘stir crazy’. Leaving them home alone after you’ve tired them out a bit is more likely to result in a successful experience.