Well-Behaved Pugs

A walk with Ralphy and Chloe is always interesting

As I walk in the Luxembourg Gardens almost every day, I have a chance to see a lot of dogs. Primarily small dogs, although yesterday I saw an Irish Wolfhound.

One thing I notice is that all the dogs are well-behaved, they walk properly on a leash, they seem happy.

What about Ralphy and Chloe, you ask? I'm not saying they're not well-behaved, just that walking them is quite a chaotic experience. As you can tell from this picture, it's not too orderly.

Ralphy wants to run ahead, then charge back and kiss Chloe. This happens about 500 times on one walk. He also barks, snaps and charges at runners, bicycles, cars, motorcycles and other dogs. He is a ball of energy. Chloe, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with any of it. She wants to walk about 100 feet, smell a few things and then go home. If we try to walk her in a direction that she isn't interested in, she sits down. If you try to get her up, she resists by putting her front legs stiff. She is so heavy and so low to the ground that she can't be budged. She probably sits down 15 times during a 30 minute walk.

Today, I saw several well-behaved pugs in the garden. They walked politely, kept going without encouragement, didn't bark, growl or charge, didn't pull on the leash. They were just enjoying the beautiful springtime day in the garden.