As you may recall, Tales of Pug People interviewed the lovely Cleo the Carolina Pug recently and now we get to talk to her man, her lovemonkey, her fella, her main squeeze, CHUBS! Oh, and his delightful Person, Kelley, of course. Their story is just charming and since Chubs is known for his random acts of kindness, it is our act of kindness to share his tale with all the Pug People out there.
PP: Kelley, we’re pretty much in love with Chubs and his gorgeous droopy lips. Can you tell us a little bit about your pug history?
Kelley: When my youngest son was in third grade, they did a research project on their favorite dog breed. Now mind you, I was a dachshund person, hard-core. And he came out and said, my dream dog is a pug.
PP: Oooh, the betrayal!
Kelley: Seriously, I was like, how did I give birth to you, child?! He had to work on me for two years. Meanwhile, he saved his money, he mowed lawns, errands, he did it all. He even found a breeder and called and got the cost of a puppy: $400. Remember this is ten years ago, but four hundred bucks for a twelve-year old boy is a lot. When we went and got the pug, my son had a Ziploc bag of coins and singles that he kept counting over and over to make sure he had enough. And we took Chubs home.
PP: Wowwww. And what’s your son’s name?
Kelley: Skylar. We call him Sky.
PP: A beautiful name for a beautiful man. Because he loves pugs. Does he still live at home?
Kelley: No, and when he left for college, it was so hard because he knew Chubs couldn’t go. But he said “Mom, I’m leaving Chubs to take care of you.” So, Chubs and I have been taking care of each other ever since.
PP: So, dare we ask… did you cross the line? Did you go from being a dachshund person to being a Pug Person?
Kelley: Funny story about that. Last year my husband was working on a big surprise for me. I came home and there was, like just out of a movie, a red mini Cooper with a big bow on it in the driveway. And inside of it there was a note that we were going on a little road trip and then there was a poem that revealed that we were going back to Chubs’ breeder for a puppy. A new car and a puppy! This is fairy tale land!
PP: That is definitely our idea of heaven.
Kelley: But I’ve read that you’re not supposed to get a puppy when you have older dogs because it can cause them anxiety. So, I said ‘we’re just going to look.’ Yeah, right. You can’t just look at a pug puppy!
PP: It’s a physical and emotional impossibility.
Kelley: But this is how I knew that I’d become a Pug Person. My husband had been feeling me out, asking if I was going to get a puppy, would I get a dachshund or a pug? And I said… a pug.
PP: Boom. Game over.
Kelley: Yeah, I had built a lot of relationships around pugs. When my kids were teenagers the thing to do was be on Snapchat. So, I would take a picture every morning of Chubs and send it to them. And I named this account—this is the worst—I named this Snapchat group “The Morning Chubs”.
PP: You did not.
Kelley: I had no idea.
PP: Who finally broke it to you that it may not have been the best choice?
Kelley: My kids were like, “Oh, Mommmm.”
Kelley: But then they were the ones who said I should go on Instagram. “You already take a picture of him every day and it makes us happy, why not make other people happy at the same time?”
PP: They’re so sweet.
Kelley: But they also said don’t call it “The Morning Chubs”.
PP: And wise.
Kelley: So, I called it “The Daily Chubs”, knowing that if you call something ‘daily’, you’d better be ready to do it every day. My husband and I call the work I do for the Instagram account, “pugging”. He’ll say “are you pugging again?”
PP: We call it “pugging”, too!
Kelley: So funny. And I have a life beyond Instagram, you know, so luckily, I can multitask and pug at the same time.
PP: Kelley, now we’d like to know a little bit about Chubs’ romantic life. How did he and Cleo get together?
Kelley: Cleo sent him a bandanna that said “Chick Magnet”. And Chubs wrote back, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were sweet on me.” And then she invited him on a date-- on Instagram, of course. Now they’re just attached at the hip, she always writes posts like “I have to find my Chubs on the dance floor”. Obviously, we’d love to meet Cleo and Mary in person someday. But we’re in Nebraska and they’re all the way in South Carolina.
PP: Star-crossed lovers.
PP: In a question unrelated to Chubs’ love life, does he sleep with you?
Kelley: I said I was a Pug Person now, didn’t I?
PP: Got it. And do your other dogs sleep with you, too?
Kelley: Yes, we have Rocky the dachshund and Dot, our other pug. Dot started out in his crate and the next thing you know, someone is going to get him out of the kennel and sneaking him into the bed.
PP: Someone being your husband, we’re presuming.
Kelley: Yeah, I’m like, I’m so glad I got this puppy that you didn’t even really want and now you two are thick as thieves.
PP: Kelley, we only have one more question for you and it’s the big one: do you have a True Pug Confession?
Kelley: I do have kind of a sweet one. Chubs is known for doing random acts of kindness. And we were just walking one day in the neighborhood and everyone knows Chubs, of course, and we walked past one house with a big tree in the front yard. And underneath the tree was this little note that said, “Hi, my name is Scarlett. What is your name?” We knew it was our neighbor’s granddaughter who visits occasionally and after we walked past it several times, Chubs wrote back. “To Scarlett. Under Grandma’s tree.”
PP: OMP, we already know this is gonna make us cry.
Kelley: And at the end of our little note, we wrote “Do you like unicorns?” And she wrote back, “I love unicorns. What’s your favorite color?” And Chubs wrote, “Apricot. Because I’m an apricot pug.” So, we started having this dialogue back and forth with this little girl and now she can’t wait to visit Grandma because there might be a note from Chubs under the tree! And just today, we actually saw her for the first time. She asked my dogs’ names and when I got to Chubs, her eyes got huge and she said, “Chubs?! My fairy pug’s name is Chubs!”
PP: Oh my pugness, what a story. Talk about random acts of kindness.
Kelley: Well, pugs were bred to be companions and bring joy. And they’re doing their job very well.
