I have been enamored with the Pug breed since the late 80’s, when a friend’s Pug weaseled it’s way into my heart, as Pugs tend to do. It was not until years later, when a conformation Pug breeder brought along one of his pugs to the barn where we both boarded our horses, that I became obsessed. His Pug was absolutely gorgeous, and I was smitten. I began a mission to acquire a Pug of my own. After a year of waiting on lists, and visiting numerous breeders, I finally and fortunately got lucky. I fell in love with baby Otto; I picked him up and didn’t put him back down. We took Otto home that night, and it was one of the happiest days of my life. Later that week, the breeder called me and explained how she really would love for us to also take the other male in the litter. My arm was twisted, and Otto’s littermate Ernie came home to join our family as well. Otto and Ernie were super easy to train, mellow and obedient, and they quickly earned their CGC titles and passed their therapy dog tests for TDinc. We spent many years visiting hospitals and nursing homes, sharing their magical therapeutic powers.
When they were around 4 years old, I began to think about adding another Pug and decided I was interested in getting involved with conformation showing. I had recently retired from the horse show world and was missing the competition aspect. I began to attend all the local dog shows and tried to soak in all that I could about the whole thing. At one of the shows, there also happened to be an agility ring running. I loved watching it and thought it looked like a blast for both the dogs and their handlers. Although I didn’t see any Pugs running, I began to wonder about the possibility. I found an on-line group for agility Pugs and discovered that AKC had recently started their PAL program, so even though Ernie and Otto were not registered, they would be allowed to compete in AKC performance events. I was so excited that I could start showing again, even without acquiring a conformation Pug first. I was very lucky to find a great agility trainer that was local to us, and although they may not have been the fastest dogs out there, they were accurate, and we quickly worked our way up into Excellent level. I was hooked on agility – but still wanted to get into the conformation ring, so now would search for a Pug that could do both.
Little did I know this was not going to be an easy task; but after persevering for 7 long years, the wait became worth it, and I landed the most beautiful and talented girl I could have dreamed of (thank you Kathie Rizzo/Felzar Pugs). Driving home with Ava in my arms was another highlight in my life.
I became a member of Pug Dog Club of America in 2009 and am currently one of three members residing in Maine. I am also a member of Patriot Pug Dog Club and am happy to be actively supporting and serving this local chapter club as well. I am currently serving as the Breeder Referral, the Sunshine “Committee”, publish the quarterly newsletter, and am serving as the Corresponding Secretary. I became an AKC Breeder of Merit on Sept 16, 2022.
As far as my non-Pug life, I have been involved with (and obsessed with) horses since I was a child. We built an attached barn and kept horses at home for many years until dogs and dog shows took over; despite being a “horse person” we no longer keep them and have converted the barn into a dog training space. I have a very supportive husband of over 25 years and I am a retired molecular biologist. I worked for 16 years in the field and specialized in DNA sequencing. I contributed to sequencing efforts for the Human Genome Project, the 1000 Genomes Project, and the Dog Genome Project. I am absolutely amazed at how far technology has come, and continues to grow, from the time that I graduated college in 1993. I am happy that some of this technology can now be used (amongst lots of other things) to help breed healthier dogs.