If you have a pug and are thinking of having a baby, or if you have a baby and are planning to get a pug…it’s important to know what to expect! Even if you aren’t planning to have a baby soon, you’ll want to consider the next 15+ years of your life when getting a pug puppy as they have an average life expectancy of 12-15 years.

Are Pugs Good With Babies?

There is always some risk with having any child around any dog. However, generally speaking, pugs are good with babies and kids.

Reasons Why Are Pugs Good With Kids

Pugs are usually a very loyal breed. Pugs always want to be with their people, and if you have a baby your pug will likely be at their side almost all the time.

Pugs are calm and friendly. Pug puppies often have high energy and are a bit nuts (aren’t all puppies, though?). Adult pugs are usually calm, passive and friendly. They usually love to cuddle and be pet. The ATTS (America temperament test society) says that pugs score a 91.7% pass rate, meaning pugs are very unlikely to snap at kids. For reference, all dog breeds combined have a 83.4%

Pugs are docile. Most pugs are docile and have no trouble making friends with new people, so introducing a pug to a new child will usually go well.

Pugs are quiet. Pugs aren’t usually prone to barking a lot, so they aren’t likely to wake your baby up from their nap.

Small but stocky. Pugs are small dogs, they are actually classified as a ‘toy’ breed. Many parents find having a smaller dog is easier with small kids because they can’t knock young children over the way big dogs can. However, for being small, they aren’t frail.

How To Prepare Your Pug For Your Baby

Let them get familiar with baby’s items before baby arrives.

Enforce any rules with pug before baby arrives (for example, don’t let the pug in the crib or car sea)

Plan a dog sitter to watch your pug while you are in the hospital. If possible, have your pug spend time with this person before the baby arrives so it’s not too jarring when they are left wth the caregiver when you go into labor.

After your baby is born, you can let your pug sniff a baby blanket or a baby outfit the baby wore before they meet the baby.

If possible, have someone else carry your baby inside so you can greet your pug and get that initial impression off to a good start.

Try to strike a balance between remaining positive towards your pug while enforcing any rules or behaviors as needed. If you are overly-nervous about your pug and baby interacting, your pug may pick up on that negative energy. At the same time, you don’t want to permit any behaviors that won’t be tolerated long term.

If your pug is nervous about the baby, don’t force them to come close to the baby. Let the dog come up to the baby whe nthey are ready on their own. You can use positive reinforcement once they do come see the baby.

Make sure that your pug is well supervised anytime they’ll be around the baby.

Potential Downsides Of Having A Pug And A Baby

Pugs are not hypoallergenic dogs, so if your baby is born with a pet dander allergy, they may be allergic to your pug.

Pugs shed year-round. If you don’t want your child to ever get dog hair on their clothing, toys, etc – a pug is not a good choice. No matter how much you try to vacuum and clean, your child is likely to come into contact with pug hair if you have a pug.

Pugs really love their people. They are “clingy” dogs. If you had your pug before you have a baby, they may be saddened by having less time with you as you get busy with caring for your baby.

My Personal Experience With Pugs And Kids

I don’t have any children of my own, but I have nieces and nephews who were around my pugs while I had them. My pug Frank really liked kids. He would sometimes try to sit on top of young toddlers as he didn’t seem to realize his own size. Outside of having to make sure he didn’t sit on a kid too small to be comfortable under his weight, he was great with kids of any/all ages.

I think he preferred most kids to most adults. When we had adul company, he’d go near them to sniff them and get some petting at first, but then would come to sit with me or Ryan, as usual. However, when we had kids visit, he’d often stay near the kid(s) the whole time they were over!

Neither of our pugs really seemed to notice or care about young babies (under a year old). Even when I babysat young babies who would cry loudly, they didn’t care.

Beans was always our more reserved pug. She was 9 when we adopted her. She wasn’t particularly excited to have company come over, regardless of their age. Shortly after we got her, it became clear that her vision was imperfect, and over time she became outright blind. She also was hard of hearing for her last several years. I think these health issues contributed, but she was a bit nervous around some children. Especially children who were very active, loud or high-energy.

Sometimes when kids were over (especially younger, busier kids) she would seem nervous, so we’d either have her stay on my lap and away from the kids, or we’d kennel her in our bedroom.

She gave a “warning” to a kid once. One of our nephews was around 10 at the time. He was gently petting the top of her head (which she seemed fine with) And then he leaned over into her face to talk to her from just a few inches in front of her. At the time, we didn’t know this was bothersome to her. She responded by lunging straight out at him. She didn’t bite him, her mouth was closed – but she clearly was trying to tell him to back off. I suspect that her vision being poor may have caused her to be started by him moving close to her face, I’m not sure. After that, we made sure to tell any kids that they should stay away from her face, and we erred on the side of having her stay away from kids altogether more often.

Personally, I think we could have had kids living with us and Beans would have done alright as long as we taught the children how to avoid triggering her…but, she preferred adults to kids. However, this may have been age related, too. I don’t know what either of our pugs were like before age 8 as we got them both at older ages.