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The Pugdashian's 2019
Greeting friends at Meet The Breed in New York at Westminster.
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AKC Meet the Breeds® 2019: What an exciting event!
The 10th annual AKC Meet the Breeds brought more than 100 canine breeds from Akitas to Xoloitzcuintlis to Piers 92 and 94 in New York City on February 9th, 2019. This event gives dog lovers the unique opportunity to meet and play with more than 100 different breeds in booths individually decorated to depict each breed’s country of origin, historical purpose/function, and attributes as a family pet, all while learning about responsible dog ownership. This event also included the opportunity to meet and play with 35-40 different cat breeds from The International Cat Association® (TICA®). The 2019 event marks the tenth annual AKC Meet the Breeds and the fifth year that the event is part of the exciting Westminster Week roster. Visitors were encouraged to interact with the animals while learning about their history and unique attributes as family pets, show animals and service/therapy pets directly from knowledgeable breeders, handlers and family-pet owners. Most importantly, visitors had the opportunity to ask questions about these animals to help identify the best breed for their lifestyle and how to best care for them.
As you all know, the pug is an ancient breed that can be traced back about 2000 years to the emperors of ancient China who loved the flat-faced toy dogs and were so treasured that outsiders could only acquire them as gifts. So we decided to decorate our booth with that Chinese theme: cherry blossom-decorated pug dog panels showing off their skills in conformation, agility, obedience and pet therapy, symbolic Chinese cut-outs, a quilt with a scene including a Chinese pagoda, cherry blossoms and pugs, and Asian take-out containers with everyone’s favorite fortune cookies for the pug-lovers to sample. Our pugs and owners were dressed in Asian-style garb to follow the theme!
What a wonderful thing it is to see the joy that your dog brings to those who meet him/her! It seems like we heard the sounds of “Where are the pugs?” coming from everywhere!!! From 10am through 5pm the pug booth had pug-lovers 5 and 6 people deep to meet these wonderful animals, their owners, show pictures of their pugs and ask lots of questions like: "Do they make good family pets?" "Do they snore?" "Do they like kids?" Do they shed?" Yes, Yes, Yes and YES!
More than 10,000 visitors were expected at the 2019 AKC Meet the Breeds and I'd be willing to wager that nearly all of them crowded by the pug booth to get a glimpse and touch these wonderful dogs! Children and adults alike seemed to be enchanted by the pug's sweetness and likeability. By the end of each day, the pugs and their owners were ready for a well-earned nap!
Lori Sirois and her social-media sensations, the “Pugdashians” (Sissy, Tilly and Natty) were very popular and so comfortable being fashionistas with their wonderful outfits, pearls and hairbows! Kathie Rizzo brought her beautiful pugs Roomba in a beautiful Chinese dress with Darwin as one of the only 2 males among a bevy of female beauties. Champion Colby with owner Janet McLaughlin (PDCA Board of Directors and Yankee Pug Dog Club President) reveled in being the other male surrounded by the Pugdashians and Bella at our table!!! My Bella enjoyed all the attention but after a few hours snoozed on the table while still being admired by from puglovers! Little Summa and Ginger from Helen Barnes and Tracy Bradshaw rounded out our wonderful crew of pugs on display.
Overall, AKC Meet the Breeds NYC 2019 was an experience we will not soon forget!
Respectfully submitted,
Judith M. Pepin, PDCA Liaison to NYC Meet the Breeds
Send your Meet The Breed Event information to, email PDCAinformation@Gmail.com
The 10th annual AKC Meet the Breeds brought more than 100 canine breeds from Akitas to Xoloitzcuintlis to Piers 92 and 94 in New York City on February 9th, 2019. This event gives dog lovers the unique opportunity to meet and play with more than 100 different breeds in booths individually decorated to depict each breed’s country of origin, historical purpose/function, and attributes as a family pet, all while learning about responsible dog ownership. This event also included the opportunity to meet and play with 35-40 different cat breeds from The International Cat Association® (TICA®). The 2019 event marks the tenth annual AKC Meet the Breeds and the fifth year that the event is part of the exciting Westminster Week roster. Visitors were encouraged to interact with the animals while learning about their history and unique attributes as family pets, show animals and service/therapy pets directly from knowledgeable breeders, handlers and family-pet owners. Most importantly, visitors had the opportunity to ask questions about these animals to help identify the best breed for their lifestyle and how to best care for them.
As you all know, the pug is an ancient breed that can be traced back about 2000 years to the emperors of ancient China who loved the flat-faced toy dogs and were so treasured that outsiders could only acquire them as gifts. So we decided to decorate our booth with that Chinese theme: cherry blossom-decorated pug dog panels showing off their skills in conformation, agility, obedience and pet therapy, symbolic Chinese cut-outs, a quilt with a scene including a Chinese pagoda, cherry blossoms and pugs, and Asian take-out containers with everyone’s favorite fortune cookies for the pug-lovers to sample. Our pugs and owners were dressed in Asian-style garb to follow the theme!
What a wonderful thing it is to see the joy that your dog brings to those who meet him/her! It seems like we heard the sounds of “Where are the pugs?” coming from everywhere!!! From 10am through 5pm the pug booth had pug-lovers 5 and 6 people deep to meet these wonderful animals, their owners, show pictures of their pugs and ask lots of questions like: "Do they make good family pets?" "Do they snore?" "Do they like kids?" Do they shed?" Yes, Yes, Yes and YES!
More than 10,000 visitors were expected at the 2019 AKC Meet the Breeds and I'd be willing to wager that nearly all of them crowded by the pug booth to get a glimpse and touch these wonderful dogs! Children and adults alike seemed to be enchanted by the pug's sweetness and likeability. By the end of each day, the pugs and their owners were ready for a well-earned nap!
Lori Sirois and her social-media sensations, the “Pugdashians” (Sissy, Tilly and Natty) were very popular and so comfortable being fashionistas with their wonderful outfits, pearls and hairbows! Kathie Rizzo brought her beautiful pugs Roomba in a beautiful Chinese dress with Darwin as one of the only 2 males among a bevy of female beauties. Champion Colby with owner Janet McLaughlin (PDCA Board of Directors and Yankee Pug Dog Club President) reveled in being the other male surrounded by the Pugdashians and Bella at our table!!! My Bella enjoyed all the attention but after a few hours snoozed on the table while still being admired by from puglovers! Little Summa and Ginger from Helen Barnes and Tracy Bradshaw rounded out our wonderful crew of pugs on display.
Overall, AKC Meet the Breeds NYC 2019 was an experience we will not soon forget!
Respectfully submitted,
Judith M. Pepin, PDCA Liaison to NYC Meet the Breeds
Send your Meet The Breed Event information to, email PDCAinformation@Gmail.com