My history with Pugs is a long and varied one. I have trained them (P is for Park), feted them (Pet Fair and Pug Fest), calmed them (Get Well Soon), puzzled over them (Check One: Female Male Other), and even saved one (Lost Dog Magnet).
I’ve noted before that, like potato chips, no one can have just one Pug. It seems obligatory to acquire them in pairs, usually one fawn and one black. This particular client happens to have three fawn Pugs, all males.
“The Boys” are inseparable, so much so that they have morphed each others quirks.
Duane considers it a weakness of character to Sit when asked. If pressed to do so, he will grudgingly Sit, but with his broad back facing the requester. Richard and William follow suit, until there is a tableaux of sulking little dogs.
William is an expert at surreptitious furniture watering. He will meander into seldom used rooms and lift his leg onto a skirted sofa hem or polished Queen Anne dining chair. Duane and Richard tag a
long noisily, and so are nearly always caught red-pawed.
Richard discovered how much better the view from the kitchen dinette is, and so hops up on it with cheery confidence. The word Off to him seems to mean “Let’s see how many times you can bounce from floor to chair and back again.” All four chairs are dimpled from Pug nails and fuzzy with Pug hair.
But, I am not hired to resolve the marking, the jumping, or the recalcitrant obedience, though it would most certainly be a bonus if I did. Nope, the main issue is the barking – relentless, shrill, unbidden – echoing with the power of a choir.
As we know from But All My Friends Are Doing It! and Dog Times Two, the only way to get a foothold here is to divide and conquer.
The Boys, to their horror, would have to be separated, albeit temporarily.
Though their owner swears the barking ringleader is Richard, a few doorbell jangles later, we discover that Duane is the culprit. With his pals out of earshot, Duane is a swirling dervish of rhythmic, indignant woofing, so adamant and incessant that he is hoarse with the effort.
Once Duane was convinced that Quiet – not barking – would cause the door to open, his chums followed his lead.
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