Summoning the Gremlin: A New Pug Puppy Guide
You’ve decided to adopt a pug puppy. Congratulations! You’re about to invite a flat-faced whirlwind into your life. Part potato. Part cyclone. 100% mischief.
Choosing Your Goblin Wisely
Before falling for the first smooshy face that blinks at you like it knows your PIN number, take a moment to consider:
Reputable breeder or rescue: Look for ethical breeders who screen for health issues like BOAS and luxating patellas, or rescues that can give you an honest lowdown on temperament.
Health checks: Ask about vaccinations, deworming, vet records, and genetic screenings.
Behavior signs: Curious but not manic? Relaxed but not lifeless? Choose a pup with balanced gremlin energy.
Don’t pick the one biting its sibling’s ear like it’s a chicken wing. Unless you’re into that sort of chaos.
Preparing Your Home (for Anarchy)
Your home may feel cozy now. Soon, it’ll look like a tiny, furry tornado passed through.
Remove chewables: That includes phone chargers, table corners, and your hopes for a quiet morning.
Create a safe zone: A playpen or crate with comfy bedding, toys, and a spot for destruction.
Puppy pads & wipes: Accidents will happen. So will proud carpet pees directly after walks.
Optional: Sacrifice a slipper to the gods of distraction.
Incoming: Challenges You Didn’t Ask For (but signed up for anyway)
Toilet training: Ha. Good luck. Consistency, praise, and puppy pads are your arsenal. (consider a porch potty)
Teething: Expect bitey fingers, shredded toy baskets, and the emotional toll of “But I just bought that!”
Screaming at nothing: Shadows, chairs, their own reflection… it’s all fair game.
Night-time howls: The symphony of loneliness. Earplugs and heart-of-steel recommended.
They’ll look up at you after a mess with those big eyes like “what mess?” and you’ll forgive them every time.
Health & Wellbeing (Despite the Mayhem)
Feed a good quality puppy diet designed for small breeds
Regular vet visits and puppy vaccinations
Start grooming early—face wipes, ear checks, paw touching (they will fight it later)
Monitor breathing—pugs can struggle in heat and with overexertion
Keep flea treatments, wormers, and your sanity up to date.
Socialising Your Mini Monster
Socialisation is code for: teaching your gremlin to cope with the world without screaming at joggers.
Introduce slowly to sights, sounds, smells, people, other dogs
Keep experiences positive with treats, praise, or sacrificial snacks
Expose them to vacuum cleaners, buses, the postman, and umbrellas (trust me)
Enrol in a puppy class or arrange playdates with other chaos-muffins
The goal? A pug who can walk past a squirrel without initiating interdimensional war.
Final Thought: You’ve Got This
There will be sleepless nights, questionable smells, and moments where your pug zooms around like it’s possessed by a snack demon. But there’ll also be snorts of joy, sleepy snuggles, and loyalty wrapped in four wobbly legs.
You're not just raising a pug. You’re forging an unbreakable, goblin-infused bond.
The Porch Potty! An incredibly stylish design, around a very functional product!
I now own two of these, one for indoors and one for my decking area. Having an elderly pug and a puppy sleep upstairs with you can offer a toileting challenge, and when the puppy starts eating disposable pads, you need alternative options!
The design of this fantastic, simply place a bowl under the grass, and it’s good to use. Of course, remember to clean the bowl each day and wash the grass once a week to save any unwanted smells.
The one I have outdoor is fantastic for pugs who hate the rain, and makes clean up super easy. It also saves my real grass from burns.
Without doubt, the best toy I have ever bought my dogs!
This octopus is pretty large, but also reasonably light, meaning even as a puppy Roo could drag it around (at a push).
I’d bought one pretty much the same when Molly was a baby 13 years ago, and all my dogs loved to play with it then. This is Roo’s favourite toy!
The head is stuffed slightly, but contains a honk squeaker. The tentacles are hollow but have a wrinkly product inside, so they make a crinkling noise, and the “feet” contain squeakers too!
Brilliant toy, with no plastic eyes for him to chew out! Great comforter too!
