We are kinda freaking out about interviewing one of our absolute favorite Pug People in the world: Andrea, the 'voice' of Rupert and Leia from @thepugrupert It's hard to express how much joy and how many laughs we get from Boopie’s perby smile and watching him ‘lubbin’ his stuffies as Leia sits calmly by with the perfect "what the pug" expression on her beautiful face. We hope you will love this feature as much as we do, because Andrea, writer of comments and hashtags that destroy us daily, totally lived up to (and exceeded) our expectations. Enjoy!
PP: Andrea, we have a brand-new pug puppy, Marcin, sitting in on this interview and he’s being so sweet. He’s usually such a tiny terror.
Andrea: But that’s what a puppy is, right? I’m going to be pugsitting Dilly for Mareike (@pugridesshotgun) and you know he’s “testa duda” (Italian for ‘stubborn’).
PP: We adore Dilly and Ma! Oh, now Marcin's decided to lick our hands instead of the usual wicked puppy bites, he’s really on his best behavior.
Andrea: Well, he’s fake news-ing it.
PP: Ha! Can we just tell you that your Instagram blurbs and hashtags are to die for?
Andrea: I have so many people ask who writes them for me, is it my kids? That’s insulting! I have a sense of humor!
PP: Okay, Andrea, lay it on us, give us your pug backstory.
Andrea: We used to live in a place where our neighbor, her husband passed, and her kids were desperate to help her, so they brought her a two-year old pug. And she just couldn’t do it. I was a dog person, but I didn’t have any idea what a pug even was. It was cute, that’s all I knew. We brought him over and our lab mix adjusted to him. So, Harry, he was our first pug.
PP: Harry the pug. That just sounds delightful.
Andrea: He was. But when he passed, rather tragically, it was the hardest thing I ever had to go through with an animal. Afterwards, I grieved for a while, and one of my son’s friends said, “Let me put you on Instagram, so you can get your pug fix.”
PP: Ah, we know that type of drug.
Andrea: So, I’m starting to interact with other Pug People and I’m thinking people are going to think I’m a freak, who is this lady with no pug bothering us. But Instagram is where I found out about Pug Nation L.A. and went to one of their adoption events. But I wasn’t ready, I couldn’t bear the thought of getting an older pug and suffering another loss and that’s usually what rescues have.
PP: Yeah, that’s hard. It was probably still too fresh.
Andrea: But one day they call me and say, “we have a younger pug and he looks like a model.”
PP: Rupert?
Andrea: Yes!
PP: He is quite sexy.
Andrea: I took him for a walk and he’s got that ‘swish’, you know?
PP: He knows how to work it.
Andrea: So, we decide to adopt him and they send him home with his—I wound up calling it his ‘honey bunny’, a stuffed bunny rabbit—and I put his dolly down and he starts going at it.
PP: Boopie and his lubbin’ started right away.
Andrea: Except I put my hand down to pet him while he’s doing this and he bit me.
PP: Oh, no!
Andrea: Yeah, it was ‘coitus interruptus’ and you don’t do that, apparently. I had to learn to leave him alone because he’s… um, quirky. I told the vet, “I don’t think they fixed him! They didn’t fix him!” No, he was fixed, they just informed me he’s a chronic masturbator.
PP: When ya know, ya know.
Andrea: I can’t use that word on Instagram obviously. Maybe I could say ‘pugurbator’, I don’t know. I don’t want to get blocked.
PP: Boopie and his sex addiction, OMP.
PP: Andrea, did you have a specific moment when you knew you were no longer just a dog person, you were a Pug Person?
Andrea: We used to live across from a church that had the blessing of the animals. And these people would bring their dog strollers and I would think, ‘what a bunch of freaks, man.’ But then my heart completely changed and I’m going to these pug meet-ups and I’m like, ‘that’s it, man, you’re done, you’re frickin’ done.’
PP: You’re a frickin’ Pug Person.
Andrea: I am. I am. So, I met Mareike at one of the meet-ups and at the time Finn was so popular, he was like a god. Seriously, I felt like a starstruck moron. But she had such a good sense of humor that I felt like I could be my usual… whatever, I could be me, instead of quiet and boring. And we became the best of friends.
PP: We thoroughly enjoy your relationship, the little quips back and forth, the ‘mommywitch’ and ‘Ma’ thing. And we always feel like Pug People are very particular, they have that thing in common—
Andrea: Yeah. We’re all freaks.
PP: How did Leia come about?
Andrea: She was supposed to be a foster. The poor thing, she had lived her whole life outside in a cage because she existed to breed; she’d never been in a house, never had a toy, didn’t know what a couch was. And a few days after we got her, Boopie had emergency surgery for a corneal abrasion and we thought he would never be the same again, he was so sad afterwards, he wasn’t humping, and Leia came and sat with him in his bed. And we thought, that’s it. We’re not giving her up.
PP: A beautiful foster fail story. And Rupert has since returned to humping everything.
Andrea: Yeah, he’s disgusting.
PP: Andrea, if your pugs were celebrities, who would they be? We need someone randy for Boopie, obviously.
Andrea: Has to be someone who loves the ladies, and a more classic celebrity. Hmmm… let me Google. (Googles) “Male celebrity ladies’ man.” Um… “26 Sexiest Men”… Oh, I don’t know, can you think of someone?
PP: Maybe Warren Beatty?
Andrea: Ohhhh yes! He was such a man whore!
PP: What about Leia?
Andrea: She’s really bossy, so—
PP: Bette Midler?
Andrea: I’m thinking Bea Arthur.
PP: Love it!
Andrea: She can get a real bug up her tuchus.
PP: Andrea, we wish this interview could go on forever, but alas, we're at our last question: do you have a True Pug Confession?
Andrea: Oh, gosh. I can’t think of anything! Well… this is just me and not at all about the pugs, but whenever I see a dachshund I have an irresistible urge to say, “Can I touch your wiener?” Does that count?
PP: We’re gonna give you that one.
