We start with a quote:

“Is the Pug a toy dog? This is a question which is promptly answered by most everyone, “Yes, of course it is!”  Why, then, do we see the huge dogs that are benched today winning at the show?”

This was written in 1905 in “The Stockkeeper.” The quote, in our view,  vividly illustrates that dog people have been getting their knickers in a twist over every aspect of our dogs since we first started noticing them.

There’s a somewhat old article that we noticed is making the rounds on social media again these days. It makes great “hay” over how much some of our breeds have changed since “back in the day.’ If the authors were true dog men, they would have known better than to share photos they think make their case because what they see as photographic indictments, we see as illustrations of dogs with terrible toplines, unbalanced front and rear assemblies, and dogs that probably didn’t know a day without pain from arthritis and/or hip dysplasia. As dog people, we admire balance in our dogs, but balance is evidently a concept that eludes those don’t know dog structure, and who fail to see that breeds ebb and flow as balance is sought. This is as close to an editorial as we’re likely to get, but after having seen the aforementioned article yet again this week, we thought it was time to speak up. 

“Frida Kahlo with Black Pug” by Tascha Parkinson
This print is available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/tascha?ref=l2-shopheader-name