Friday, November 04, 2005

The trouble with Puggles...

I was talking with my dad this morning and he said that Good Morning America or the Today Show did a story on the newest craze.

Apparently someone got the bright idea to breed Beagle hounds with Pugs to create this super species of sinfully cute dogs known as Puggles.

So what is the trouble with Puggles? The price tag.

The website that I've linked in the title sells Puggles for around $750. This particular website is a regular Island of Dr. Moreau for crossing small dogs and creating some very cute mutants.

I saw on another website that black ones are rare and sometimes command more cash. Regardless, that's crazy to pay $750 for a dog that you and your neighbors could come up.

The Pug would be a little more difficult to find, but they are a dog that I've heard of people looking for because they look like someone smashed their snout with a sledge hammer. Apparently that equals cute. I've never thought much of them because 1) they are house dogs and 2) I've heard that the smashed face causes breathing issues and snoring. It's all fun and games until you have to purchase a C-PAP machine for your dog.

Beagles, on the other hand are quite easy to come by around here. I have a buddy that actually breeds and sells them for rabbit hunting. That being said, if you told me I had to get a Beagle I could have one in a couple of hours and there's a good chance it would be a stray or runaway on the side of the road with means "free."

I suppose the good thing about Puggles is that their noses aren't as smashed so that might aleviate some of the breathing issues and most of them seem to get to the 15-20 pound size of a Beagle. Some call them miniature Mastiffs because of how they look despite weighing 150 pounds less than a Mastiff.

The only thing I've seen on the internet about them is that they aren't hyper lap dogs like Yorkies, which is good, but they can eat you out of house and home if you let them.

1 comment:

my_merlin77 said...

It's definitely deepening the gene pool to get these mixes, and I have no problem with the whole concept of these new mixes. My problem is the huge price tag for, in my opinion, a mutt. There are tons of dogs at the humane society. I'm sure they're some version of a puggle, cheagle (chiuaua/beagle), or whatever other concoction you can imagine.