THE PUG The origin of the Pug as a dog breed probably begins a long time ago in ancient China, although it certainly did not look the same as today's Pugs. Dogs known as "short mouthed" dogs are described in writings that date to around 600 years BC and were likely the forerunners of todays modern breed that we call the Pug. Emperor Kang Hsi, about 950 AD, commissioned a dictionary of all the Chinese characters, and in it there are two references that could be describing the Pug: "dogs with short legs" and "a dog with a short head". By the 1300s there were three separate types of dogs that are identifiable as founders of breeds of today: the Pekingese, the Japanese Spaniel, and the Pug. It wasn't until the end of the 1500s and early 1600s that China began trading with European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Holland and England