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OriginsBred to adorn the laps of the Chinese emperors during the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC), in East China, where they were known as "Lo-Chiang-Sze" or "Foo" (ceramic foos, transmogrified into dragon, with their bulging eyes are very Pug-like). The Pugs popularity spread to Tibet, where they were kept by monks, and then went onto Japan, and finally Europe.Sixteenth and seventeenth centuryThe breed was first imported in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries by merchants and crews from the Dutch East Indies Trading Company. The Pug later became the official dog of the House of Orange, and traveled with William III and Mary II when they left the Netherlands to ascend to the throne in 1688.
This century also saw Pugs' popularity on the rise in other European countries. In Spain, they were painted by Goya, in Italy Pugs dressed in matching jackets and pantaloons sat by the coachmen of the rich, and in Germany and France Pugs appear several times as footnotes to history.Eighteenth and nineteenth centuryThe popularity of the Pug continued to spread in France during the eighteenth century. Before her marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte, Joséphine utilized her Pug "Fortune" to carry concealed messages to her family while she was confined at Les Carmes prison as the pet was the only recipient of visiting rights.
In nineteenth century England, Pugs flourished under the patronage of the monarch Queen Victoria. Her many Pugs, which she bred herself, had such names as Olga, Pedro, Minka, Fatima and Venus. Her involvement with the dogs in general helped to establish the Kennel Club, which was formed in 1873.
Victoria favoured fawn and apricot Pugs, whereas the aristocrat Lady Brassey is credited with making black Pugs fashionable after she brought some back from China in 1886. The Pug has also thrived in democratic circles, arriving in the United States sometime in the nineteenth century (the American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1885) and was soon making its way into the family home and show ring. |
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