The Breed Standard of The Pug

Way back in 1885, the American Kennel Club (AKC) first recognized the Pug breed.

Today, it is an AKC and FCI recognized dog breed and classified in the Toy Dogs group.

Over the last few years, this breed has grown more popular and is ranked at 13 in the AKC Dog Breeds 2006 Top 50.

General appearance.

Its body symmetry and general appearance are a definite square, giving him a stocky appearance.

If your Pug is thin and leggy, or if he has short legs and a long body, this would go against the standard.

Size, proportion and substance.

 As mentioned before, your Pug should ideally be quite solid  looking. This would be evident in his compact and proportionate body and tough muscle structure. If he weighs about 14 - 18 pounds (6-8 kg), that’s desirable.

Head.

 If his head is large and round and without any furrow of the skull, you’ve got yourself a typical Pug.

His eyes should be dark, large, bold and prominent and almost globular in shape and sharply offset by a soft and gentle expression.

Check if his thin and small ears are soft and velvety to touch. Pugs may have either the “rose” kind of ears or the “button,” though the latter is preferable.

While button ears fold over with the fold of the ear level with the top of the skull and do not hang lower than the corner of the eye, rose ears appear smaller and fold with the inner edge of the ear against the side of the head. The latter also gives the Pug’s head a smaller and fuller appearance.

While wrinkles on the Pug head should ideally be deep and easily visible, generally just one large, unbroken wrinkle on the nose is preferred. The wrinkles on his face, though large and deep, are an endearing aspect of his features.

 His muzzle is short, blunt, square but not turned up.

Neck, top line and body.

 Is his neck slightly arched, strong, thick and long enough for him to carry his head with pride? That’s the demeanor of a typical Pug.

 If you notice, he has a short back that runs level from the withers to his tail set high. Besides, his short body is stocky too and consists of a wide chest and well-structured ribs.

 Set high over his hip is his tightly curled tail, though if it is doubly curled, this is perfect! He should neither have a loose tail that bounces over his back nor an uncurled one.

Forequarters.

 Your Pug should have strong and straight legs of medium length and set under well. When viewed from the side, are his elbows directly under the withers? If yes, that’s ideal.

His shoulders should ideally be laid back but only moderately so. His pasterns should look strong and should neither be steep nor down. His feet should not be so long that they are neither disproportionate with the rest of his body nor overly round. He should also boast well split-up toes ending in black nails.

 Dewclaws are usually removed . 

Hindquarters.

 His strong hindquarters will usually reveal a slight bend of stifle and hocks, short but perpendicular to the ground. If  viewed from the rear, the legs will appear to be parallel. You will find that usually his hindquarters balance his forequarters, while his thighs and buttocks look not just full but muscular too. .

Coat.

 His coat is usually fine and smooth; short and soft; and glossy though not hard nor woolly.

Color.

 Recognized colors of his coat are silver, apricot-fawn or black. These colors, barring the black, should be decided so that the contrast between the color, trace and mask are easily evident. Often, fawn Pugs are called “apricot fawn,” “silver fawn” or “stone fawn,” only to differentiate them, but really they are all fawn Pugs.

However, apricot fawns have a peach or apricot tint to the coat which otherwise would have been a clear, cream based one. Alternatively, a fawn coat could also have a mix of black-tipped guard hairs in it, making him look not just darker but “cooler” in color too.

All these colors are acceptable, but the dark coloration all over the body is said to be “smutty” and is therefore undesirable. But if these basic colors come with a few white hairs on the chest, that’s acceptable. In that case, both colors will turn gray in the muzzle as the dog ages.

Markings.

 The markings on a true-blue Pug are clearly defined.

 You will notice that his muzzle or mask, ears, moles on cheeks, thumb mark or diamond on forehead and the back trace are black. To conform to the standard, he should have a black mask. The nearer these features are to black, the more well defined and the better. Usually, the trace in a Pug begins in the occiputal region and goes on to his tail.

Gait.

 When viewed from the front, his forelegs should give him a good carriage—one that shows no weakness in his pasterns, with his paws resting squarely ahead with the central toes. The rear action should be strong and free and generated through hocks and stifles, without any reason to twist or turn in or out at the joints.

The hind legs should move in harmony with the front. You will find that there is a slight natural meeting of the limbs—both front and rear. From a slight roll of his hindquarters, you can expect him to have a free and confident stride, and perhaps just a little jaunty too.

 Thanks for visiting us and we hope  you enjoyed learning a little about the breed standard of the Pug.

Feel free to look around some more at our other pages on our   Pug website.

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