Some people don’t know or care about proper dog etiquette nor use commonsense.  Rachel and I have owned pugs for over eight years.  We consider ourselves to be above average owners.  No, we are not bragging.  As part of being guardians, we strongly believe that you should educate yourself on the breed(s) you own.

Rosie, Ming and Olivander “Ollie” are our pugs.  In addition to owning three pugs, we also forever foster one pug, Casey Jones, for the rescue we started (Philly Pug & Short Nose Rescue).  Rosie was adopted from a shelter in Arkansas, and Ming and Ollie were adopted from Philly Pug.  

Before making the leap into the RV life, Rachel and I discussed the pros and cons for taking the pugs with us.  This included the individual personalities of each of the pugs.  Rosie and Ming are very typical pugs in that they are generally very laid back and go with the flow.  Cassey Jones is also generally laid back but can exhibit food aggression at meal and treat time.  With the help of a professional trainer and a lot of work with Casey, she is much improved.  However, we still feed her in her crate “room” away from the other pugs.

This leaves Ollie.  Ollie is the youngest at about 3 years old.  We did not find out until about six months after we adopted him, he was taught to fight with his father.  (Don’t get me started on dog fighting.)  This explained why he would get stressed and agitated around other dogs.  With the help of our trainer, we have been working with him to lower his response in these situations.

In the short time, we have been camping in our RV we found a nice KOA campground about 2 hours from home.  In general, our fellow campers are very nice and respectful.  But, there is always that one.  Late one Saturday afternoon we were sitting around our campsite with the pugs in their x-pen.  Along came another camper walking his dog past our site.  He stopped to look at our dogs.  This was not a problem until Ollie caught site the other dog.  Ollie got upset and started to bark.

I very politely asked the gentlemen to move along.  He refused!  Not only did he refuse, but proceed to yell at the two of us that ‘we had no right to tell him what to do!’  Common sense would tell the average person that if a dog you are looking at is upset and barking you should move along.

The lesson learned here is that not everyone will treat you and your dogs with the kindness and common sense you try to live by are not shared by others, no matter the location.