Welcome to the virtual home of Pickwick Pugs! We have a passion for pugs and pug people and we are proud supporters and champions of this incredible breed.
Dedicated to the pug breed since 1990, we are a small (2 people) hobby/show kennel located outside of Birmingham, Alabama USA. We love, train, rescue, and show pugs. Our pugs live with us in our home as cherished family members.
We do not breed often, and only when looking for a show prospect for our line, but we occasionally have pug puppies and older pugs available to be placed in loving homes as pets and companions. As preservationist breeders, we are honored and humbled to be guardians of one of the oldest breeds today, first known as lo-sze in the time of Confucius in 700 BC. Our breeding program is designed to produce healthy and sound, conformationally correct Pugs through a selective breeding program. We believe that overall health, sound temperament, and sociability are just as important as outward looks when meeting the breed standard.
Pickwick puppies are raised using Puppy Culture protocols and positive training techniques. They are extensively trained and socialized. They are microchipped, AKC registered, vaccinated (1st two sets by 12 weeks of age), vet checked on numerous occasions, socialized, and trained thoroughly, with enough skills to even obtain an AKC tricks title! Pickwick puppies go to their new homes at 12 weeks of age after extensive training in important life skills such as watch me/attention, leave it, drop it, sit, down, stay, wait, come, touch, house-training, loose leash walking, and fun tricks like spin, bow, crawl, shake, hi-5, get on, get in, play the piano, and even paint. In fact, inside the puppy basket that accompanies each puppy to his or her new home is a paw-painted original masterpiece, painted entirely by the puppy!
As members of The Pug Dog Club of America, Greater Atlanta Pug Club, Birmingham Obedience Training Club, Good Dog Good Breeder, AKC Bred with Heart program, and other professional organizations, Pickwick Pugs is committed to improving the health and well-being of purebred pugs and we strive to produce pugs who are beautiful inside and out. Through continuing education, workshop and seminar attendance, participation in AKC dog shows, and mentorship with many of the best pug breeders and canine experts alive today, we strive to stay abreast of the latest developments and research in health, testing, training, diet, conformation, and all things pugs.
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Because our pugs live with us in our home we are able to truly examine their temperament. Their participation in performance sports such as rally obedience, canine freestyle, tricks, and scent work, allow us to observe each dog's learning curve and intelligence quotient. Pickwick pugs are intelligent as well as jolly and loving.
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We carefully evaluate and select only the finest, health-tested AKC registered and foreign registered pugs with champion pedigrees from both America and Europe that will contribute to the future of our breeding program and the future of this marvelous breed. When you look through the pedigrees of our breeding stock you will find a sea of AKC champions and grand champions as well as the kennel names of some of the most important pug breeders.
Dr. Jeffrey and Amy McLelland, Owners Pickwick Pugs
Here are some of our champions and wins. In addition to AKC conformation championships and wins like "Best of Breed", "Best of Opposite Sex", "Best of Winners", "Winners Bitch", "Winners Dog", "Best of Breed Owner Handled", "Best Puppy", and even "Best in Show", we also have titles in Canine Good Citizenship, Rally Obedience, Tricks, and even an AKC Achiever Dog title!
Having owned and loved pugs for 3 decades now, we purposefully chose this breed when we first married after scouring through a dog breed book. We were drawn to the description of the pug with its minimal grooming and exercise needs and with their comical and loving dispositions. We definitely made the right decision because, 3 decades and several "grumbles" later, we have savored every minute of our lives with these adorable, intelligent little clowns!
We train, rescue, show, breed, and love pugs and our "canine children" hold AKC titles in rally obedience, tricks, Canine Good Citizenship, and of course, AKC champions in conformation. We even have an AKC Achiever Dog because of his multiple titles and awards.
Macintosh who, like his half sister Miss Dior, finished his Championship at 8 months of age with just a couple of shows.
The puppies we breed are like our children. Their well-being is paramount to us and we want to find each pup the perfect match and perfect home resulting in our scrupulous selection process with an initial, in depth inquiry form, subsequent dialogue, and sometimes even home visits so we can find the perfect match for each pup and pug lover. Pickwick Pug owners are important to us to ... like family ... and we make ourselves available to them throughout the pug's life and beyond.
Why are Pickwick Pugs special?
- Extensive Health-Testing
- Puppy Culture Protocols, from before birth and then daily until puppy goes to forever home
- Temperament Testing (performed at 7.5-8 weeks by hired professional trainer/animal behaviorist)
- Conformation Evaluation (performed at 8 weeks by master breeder of merits and champion pugs)
- Extensive Training (each puppy receives daily training sessions in important skills such as sit, wait, leave it, drop it, down, crate training, loose leash walking, and fun tricks like spin, shake, bow, crawl, even paint .... yes, each Pickwick Puppy paints an original paw-painted masterpiece all on his own which is included in the puppy basket. Each puppy is litterbox trained by the time it is just a few weeks old.)
- Extensive Socialization (following Puppy Culture Protocols and teachings of Ian Dunbar and other expert behaviorists)
- Pickwick Puppies are AKC Registered (paid for by Pickwick Pugs)
- Pickwick Puppies are microchipped with AKC Reunite (paid for by Pickwick Pugs)
- Diet: Pickwick Pugs and puppies eat high quality, human-grade food including raw meat, raw organic goat milk, Honest Kitchen, Primal, Farmina N&D, Northwest Naturals, TruDog and similar top of the line brands
- Vet Checked: Each puppy is examined by our fabulous vets numerous times and has receive its first 2 sets of vaccinations and regular wormings every 2 weeks before going to its forever home at 12 weeks of age
- Dew claws are removed when the puppy is about 4-5 days old
- Health Guarantee
- AKC Champions and Champion Bloodlines
- World Famous Pedigrees
- AKC Performance Titles (such as Canine Good Citizenship, Rally Obedience, Tricks)
- Reimbursement for spay/neuter
- Pickwick Pugs offers unlimited, ongoing relationships with our puppy families. Any pug of ours, no matter the health or age or circumstances, has a forever home with us.
We are members of The Pug Dog Club of America, Greater Atlanta Pug Club, Birmingham Obedience Training Club, Good Breeder Good Dog programs and other organizations and we are committed to improving the health and well-being of purebred pugs.
We strive to produce pugs who are beautiful inside and out and believe that overall health, sound temperament, and sociability are just as important as outward looks when meeting breed standard.
We strive to produce pugs who are beautiful inside and out and believe that overall health, sound temperament, and sociability are just as important as outward looks when meeting breed standard.
 Miss Dior at a dog park in Nashville, TN
Pickwick Pugs have personality and love life. They also, equally love treats, belly rubs, and snuggle time. Here is our CH Miss Dior and Lilly after playing ball at a park. Beauty and Brains is our Motto! We train our puppies! With daily, individual training sessions, each puppy learns important life skills and even fun tricks. |
We socialize our puppies:
From teaching puppies about resource guarding to learning how to handle different challenges and sound protocols, to visits and outings once they are strong enough, to puppy classes and parties, we thoroughly socialize each puppy as we know first hand, through our work with rescue, the ramifications of a puppy not having received this during their critical socialization period.
From teaching puppies about resource guarding to learning how to handle different challenges and sound protocols, to visits and outings once they are strong enough, to puppy classes and parties, we thoroughly socialize each puppy as we know first hand, through our work with rescue, the ramifications of a puppy not having received this during their critical socialization period.
Fun at restaurants!
Through special puppy parties, outings to hardware stores, restaurants, banks, churches, stores, and all sorts of novel environments, meeting, and being handled and trained by all sorts of people from children, to women with walkers or men with beards and hats, our puppies have truly been socialized following scientifically based protocols taught by such important animal behaviorists and veterinarians as Ian Dunbar, (often called "the grandfather of positive dog training") and Jane Killion's Puppy Culture, Click here to read more about the importance of socialization during the first critical 12 weeks of a puppy's life.
AKC Registration: All Pickwick puppies go to their new with AKC registration papers, paid for entirely by Pickwick Pugs. Companion puppies are registered with limited registration.
Vet Checked: Pickwick puppies have visited our amazing vets on numerous occasions, for check-ups, dew claw removal, 1st 2 sets of vaccinations, worming, microchip, and final wellness checkup. The entire puppy is examined closely by our amazing vets, from heart, lungs, eyes, ears, to overall structure, hips, spine, patellar. Additionally, when indicated, specific tests such as PDE and xrays are also administered.
Microchip: At one of their visits to the vet, each Pickwick puppy receives an AKC Reunite identification microchip, paid for by Pickwick Pugs.
Microchip: At one of their visits to the vet, each Pickwick puppy receives an AKC Reunite identification microchip, paid for by Pickwick Pugs.
Nature + Nurture:
Emotional resilience/inquisitive puppies. The Puppy Culture protocols we implement with EVERY Pickwick puppy provides the right environment that interacts with genetics to create a stable, inquisitive puppy who learns well, is resilient after surprised or when faced with novelty, and is affectionate to both people and dogs. From as early as the first weeks of the puppy's life, we work on things like Early Neurological Stimulation exercises, and throughout the following 12 weeks things like resource guarding, and games that teach the pup how to think and learn.
We actually begin our training protocols early, while the puppy is still in the womb. Within days after their 1st breaths, we begin ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) exercises and we work with each puppy daily, assisting the mother by overseeing and helping with each feeding and elimination every 90 minutes or so. The first 3 weeks involve the humans catching a few minutes of sleep when they can, because they are up with the mother pug for every feeding. Raising pug puppies can often be like raising an orphan pup or bird. It is all consuming and nothing like, say, a Labrador, Poodle, or Golden Retriever.
You can read more about the Puppy Culture protocols to understand what it is involved, but here are a few behind-the-scenes glimpses from our LeMaitre Litter with 6 puppies out of our KK (CH Peachtree's Kirkcudbright Kayleigh, CGC, RI, TKN) and Bazinga (CH Hill Country's Big Bang Theory):
You can read more about the Puppy Culture protocols to understand what it is involved, but here are a few behind-the-scenes glimpses from our LeMaitre Litter with 6 puppies out of our KK (CH Peachtree's Kirkcudbright Kayleigh, CGC, RI, TKN) and Bazinga (CH Hill Country's Big Bang Theory):
Temperament Evaluations: At 7.5-8 weeks we hire a professional trainer to complete a temperament evaluation on each puppy. This helps us not only match each pup with just the right home, but it also helps us know what elements to concentrate on during their upcoming training sessions before going to their new homes.
All of our pugs -- show pugs who are part of our breeding program, to rescue pugs and retired show pugs who are spayed/neutered) train in areas of rally obedience, tricks, and other fun things that keep their minds active and alert. Here is our 1st champion and foundation bitch, KK nailing a perfect score at rally obedience.
We supervise all nursing sessions to make sure no puppy is accidentally smothered or stepped on by the pug mama.... even when this means waking up every 90 minutes throughout the night.
The puppies also visit the vet for "dew claw removal". We avoid ENS around this time or any other times a pup is under stress.
Day 9, stimulating the GR (glucocorticoid receptor) gene. At birth, the gene is "dormant". Licking by the mother (or supplementing with a soft brush during the neonatal period) stimulates the gene to demethylate, making it more active, and allowing pup to grow up to be more relaxed in response to stress.
Each puppy is weighed at approximately the same time each day and look for the puppies to double in weight by Day 10 (200% of birth weight). Here is the Lemaitre Litter's 10 day weigh-in.
Macintosh, 15 days old, learning to walk:
Day 28. With eyes and ears open the pups enjoy listening to music and "watching" their dvd player. Time to move from the whelping box to the larger pen!
5 weeks old. Toys, toys, toys!
Training, training, and more training! It all begins with attention and loading the clicker. As soon as the puppies can "eat" gruel, we begin individual training sessions.
Every day, the puppies are introduced to a new item, experience, scent, sound, toy as they explore their environment and become braver and stronger.
Grooming: Pickwick Puppies are used to being groomed as we clip and later dremel their toenails regularly and, once they are old enough, bathe, blow-dry, clean nose fold and ears. We even tape their ears when necessary, whether or not they will be going to show homes, to "train" them to hang properly to frame the face as we know that even pet homes will want the most beautiful pug possible!
Show pugs have to look pretty too and need lots of baths and grooming! Here are some great ways we've found to dremel toenails. These swings actually work great and we've found that, along with a diamond bit dremel, the pugs don't mind the process as much. (If you've ever owned pugs, you know how they don't usually like their feet messed with!) Highly recommend!
Diet: Pickwick puppies have been fed the highest grade food available including Ross Wells Raw Rations, organic Raw Goat Milk, Green Beef Tripe, other raw selections from PetCarnivore.com (Farmina N&D Ancestral Grains and Primal Nuggets Grain-Free Raw Freeze-Dried Dog Food, supplements such as Ester C, Fresh Factors, Fish Oil, Probiotic Yogurt, Calcium, Collostrum, organic Pumpkin, Lamb, chicken paws, homemade chicken broth etc.)
Getting close to "gotcha day" at 12 weeks, pups continue their work on things like attention, sit, down, stand, leave it, wait, bow, drop, shake, spin, loose leash walking.
Puppy Basket: Pickwick Pugs provides a puppy welcome package filled with all sorts of treats, toys, blankets, food, books. supplies and, of course, the puppy's painting for you to proudly display at home.
Paw-Painted Masterpiece: Tucked inside your basket will be a very special gift ... a paw-painted original painting by your own pup. Yes, one of the final tricks we teach each puppy is to paint! Using non-toxic acrylic paint, each pup enjoys a painting session as he or she creates a truly unique, paw-painted original masterpiece which they will bring with them to their new forever home. Additionally, they create another painting which will be used to sell for animal rescue. Yep, Pickwick puppies start supporting rescue at only 10-11 weeks of age!
We believe pugs can do more than just sit on a couch, (although they do, and should, excel at this :) and we love for our own pugs to get the most out of life as possible. Working for an active lifestyle for our own canine family, this philosophy influences our emphasis on health testing and scrupulous selection process for our pugs in our breeding program. We strive to breed strong, healthy pugs for future generations to come … pugs who can hike, breath easily, take jolly walks and jaunts, dance, and savor life to the fullest!
Pugs can lead active lifestyles!
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Sebastian and Jerry hiking 24 waterfall trail at Ricketts Glen in Pennsylvania.
Our pugs hold AKC titles in such things as Rally Obedience, Trick Dog, Canine Good Citizenship, and some have earned their AKC Achiever Dog Award. Here is one of our rescue pugs, Sebastian, at a rally class. Marie Claire is our latest pug to enter the Rally Obedience ring, and her mother, KK, recently completed her 2nd title, often receiving 100% perfect scores!
Pugs are intelligent, "loving, charming, mischievous" cuddle partners, and our pugs love learning new tricks like playing the piano, painting, and other cute tricks like bow, wave, crawl, and shake as well as important obedience commands like come, sit, stay, snore. Our Champion Pickwick's Peachtree Hill Country Mighty Macintosh, TKN loves learning new tricks. Here he is performing his novice trick routine at the Pug Dog Club of America National Convention.
Believe it or not, pugs are actually pretty good at nose work sports ... and they LOVE it. Here is Lilly 'finding it' at her scentwork class.
Rescue
We also support animal rescue and have fostered and adopted many pugs and dogs of other breeds who need a home.
www.FureverHomeRescue.weebly.com
www.FureverHomeRescue.weebly.com
Here is Sebastian pug supervising a training session with one of our foster puppies, Cambridge as he learns to "load the clicker".
The Painting Pugcassos
All Pickwick Pugs ... from the show pugs, to the rescues, to the puppies ... help to raise money for animal rescue with their paintings! Checkout some of their latest paw-painted masterpieces. Feel free to purchase anything you like as all proceeds are donated to animal rescue (and, besides, they make really cool and unique gifts and completely original decor for your home.) From handmade soaps (all organic, natural ingredients) to canvas paintings, to tissue boxes, and tote bags, you'll be sure to find something you like!
Here are some "behind the scenes" shots of the talented Painting Pugcassos hard at work, along with some of their paintings and creations.
While we love all of our non-conformation rescue pugs, we have learned first hand over the years the consequences of dealing with poorly bred dogs. From seizures and life-time dependence upon drugs like phenobarbitol, to bad hips and degenerative myelopathy, to patellar luxation and expensive surgeries, eye problems, psychological and behavioral problems, to expensive brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome issues, we've seen a lot, and we want to minimize, and eliminate when possible, all of these conditions for future generations of pugs!
If you would like to become a part of the Pickwick Pugs family and be considered to own a Pickwick puppy or pug, please complete the inquiry form so that we can get to know you. We look forward to hearing from you!
If you would like to become a part of the Pickwick Pugs family and be considered to own a Pickwick puppy or pug, please complete the inquiry form so that we can get to know you. We look forward to hearing from you!