The Tales of Pug People traveled through the metaverse to upstate New York to visit the unbearably cute Sammie Snuffles, whose perfectly round fawn head and perfectly round black snout gives him the appearance of a cartoon pug (according to his Person, Sara). As we do in so many of our interviews, we prodded the inner depths of Sara’s puggish soul, leading her to declare that she felt like she was undergoing a psych evaluation. You were, Sara, you definitely were. That’s just how we roll.
PP: Sara, we love ‘Sammie Snuffles’. Do you always call him by both names?
Sara: Yeah, it’s one of those first names that’s two names, like Marybeth or Annemarie. But I’ll be honest, when someone on the street asks his name, I kind of gauge how crazy I want them to think I am.
PP: That’s probably smart.
Sara: Or when I’m on dating profiles, if the guy messages and asks my dog’s name, I think “how strong am I gonna go here?”
PP: How far into the pugiverse do I want to draw them?
Sara: Exactly. Something I go with,” this is me, whatever, my dog is named Sammie Snuffles.” And sometimes I’m just gonna go with “Sammie”.
PP: Not everyone gets Pug People. We’re a breed apart.
Sara: Most of my friends don’t even know that I have this account. (laughs) But it’s such an outlet for me. The Instagram page is the pure joy I didn’t know I needed in my life.
PP: Right?? We wish interviewing Pug People was our full-time job. So, how did you get here anyway, to this alternate universe?
Sara: When I was a little kid, my best friend was obsessed with pugs. She didn’t have one, she just wanted one. And I think I internalized that desire. I grew up saying “pugs are my favorite dogs!” but I didn’t have one and I didn’t really know anyone who had one. And… this is bad… before I got him, I did zero research.
PP: Yikes. The reality of pug life must have been startling.
Sara: Totally. I thought all pugs were roly-poly and laid around on the couch all the time, you know, sweet and fat and sedentary. But of course, I got a wild man.
PP: You didn’t get the couch pugtato.
Sara: I did not.
PP: So, did it take a while to become an official Pug Person?
Sara: Oh, no. I did have to adjust to his ‘wild idiot runs’, you know, the ‘zoomies’, but I really settled into my role as Pug Lady. I leaned in.
PP: You’re the Sheryl Sandberg of Pug People. What do you love most about the breed?
Sara: I love that they’re just so extra. All the love, all the food, all the fat rolls.
PP: Yessssss…
*Slight pause as the two interviewers and the interviewee snuggle their respective pugs.
PP: Does Sammie Snuffles have any quirks?
Sara: He does this funny yawning thing. Every time you try to make him do something he doesn’t want to do, he yawns. Like, when you’re trying to make him do tricks, or just obey, he yawns in your face. I sent him to a trainer when he was young and I was like, “oh, it’s so cute, he’s so sleepy all the time” and the guy was like, yeah, no, that’s basically his way of giving you the finger.
PP: Genius. We wish we could get away with that. Sara, all Pug People have a ridiculous amount of pug paraphernalia, so what’s the weirdest pug item that you own?
Sara: I went to one of those paint’n’sip classes—actually, this one was called Paint ‘n’ Chips, you know, for sober people—and we were doing a big painting of sunflowers and I’m just a terrible painter. So, inspiration struck and I printed out a bunch of pictures of Sammie Snuffles’ head and put it in the center of all the flowers.
PP: We can’t begin to express how much we adore this.
Sara: It’s both amazing and horrifying.
PP: We always ask this, does Sammie Snuffles have a ‘voice’? Like, does he talk back to you when you talk to him?
Sara: Well, yeah. I mean, I live alone with him and the cat—you know what, this really does feel like a psych evaluation--but I can’t do the voice. My dad does the voice. I won’t be able to come back from attempting the pug voice.
PP: Okay, you don’t do the pug voice, but you know what he’s thinking when he looks at you.
Sara: Yep. It’s “When is she going to be committed? Is someone going to come rescue me or is this my life forever?”
PP: That really is his expression in most of his pictures.
Sara: “What wrong turn did I take that I ended up here?”
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