I feel it is time that I spoke my personal opinion on some things that have occurred over the last couple years, regarding the silver color in pugs.
I have been a member of the Pug Dog Club of America for the past 12 years; as such, I naively thought that would afford me some respect for my work all these years with the silver Pug, within that organization. I found that was not the case at all. For many years, I have tried to persuade them to allow me to present a program on my silvers and my research to date, to no avail. It was at least 4 or 5 years ago that I first (officially) proposed presenting a one-hour program, several members of the board of directors at that time wanted to call me before the ethics committee, accusing me of having gone against our code of ethics. That time, a friend who was on the board, did defend me, and assured them of my ethics as a breeder; that I was doing this solely for my own purpose, and not to capitalize on them. She also defended the fact that this is a naturally occurring color in our breed, and as a result they simply denied my request.
I have always made it known that I would gladly be available to talk with them openly about my breeding program, and that I would share any information I had managed to learn or discover both on my own, and through my associations with respected researchers, such as Dr. Schmutz in Canada.
In 2006, the PDCA nationals were held in Wisconsin, near where I lived at the time. I felt this was the perfect time to introduce the silvers to the membership; three of my close friends had been training 5 of my silver–colored pugs in obedience, in preparation for showing them at this national. This was the one venue in which they could be shown at an AKC show, and not be discriminated against because of their color. I had purposely NOT exhibited them in the conformation ring, for fear of the “shock value”, and confusing the judges. (This had been part of my program, to educate the judges after recognition by PDCA…).
I was pleasantly surprised by the overall reaction of the members to seeing the silvers at the nationals; most people were interested, and commented favorably on their conformation, as well as their color. There had been “rumblings” of the board possibly asking me to present my program, finally, but that thought quietly ‘went away’, and nothing was ever said. None of the board members or officers of the club even recognized publicly that the silvers were there in attendance.
About the same time, the big controversy over the awarding of a ribbon to a “brindle” pug in Canada became the focus of Pug people all over the U.S., and the world. PDCA wanted to be sure that no brindle was ever allowed in the U. S. show ring, so they began looking at the wording of the AKC standard for the pug, which had stood for over 100 years. Allowed colors were fawn, silver-fawn, and black. There was no mention of the word, “disqualification”, and there never had been. They appointed a committee to revise the standard. It took a year to come up with wording that the general membership would agree to, but that particular wording also put an end to my hopes of having the silver color recognized in pugs. (At least for the next five years – the standard can be revised no more often than every five years). People that I knew on the board of PDCA stood by and did nothing to help the cause of the silvers, throwing themselves completely behind the new wording that now makes any other color than fawn or black a disqualification.
Needless to say, I am disappointed in the Pug Dog Club of America, to put it mildly. In their efforts to deny the brindle in pugs, they also purposely denied the silvers. Therefore, I have let my membership in this organization lapse, and I am no longer a member of PDCA.
I have always thought that the board of any club was there to listen to its members. I’ve tried to talk them multiple times, in different approaches, but they turned a deaf ear or simply refused to hear me. I know they did not want to deal with “another color” – it’s not fawn, and it’s not black; therefore, apparently it cannot be Pug, despite my proof of history, and ongoing research. It really wasn’t all that long ago the black pugs were battling the same issue of color and acceptance. But their breeders did manage to overcome the hurtle; the blacks are recognized, and are slowly becoming more popular. I can only hope it won’t take another 50 years or more before PDCA and AKC accept and recognize the silvers.
I want to emphasize that this is my personal opinion. I have always believed that the silver pug has a place in history, and is an important part of the gene pool of the Pug breed, both past, present and future.
