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His Story

After pestering Mike for countless months about my desire to get a dog, he finally (foolishly) agreed given the sole condition: We must own a home! Fast forward a few months later... Thanksgiving 2006...a friend, who is also a builder, invited us up to his river house, where a vague discussion transpired about new homes he was building in Houston’s inner loop. While we were not in the market for a new home, we agreed to take a look without any expectations. We closed on the home one month later.

Before we could even finish unpacking, I was already on the hunt for a dog. I knew from the very beginning I did not want a dog that sheds and so I immediately began looking at the Maltese. They are cute, small and easy to manage, I thought. As my planning for a dog centered around allergies, Mike had a different criteria in mind. He was determined to get a pug ... a childhood fascination stemming from “Milo and Otis”. My initial reaction was pretty typical - “They snore!!!” Though I resisted, Mike stood his ground and thus I began doing my own research on site after site, the consensus was the same: Strong willed and opinionated. I was sold.

Around this time, a Houston area pug rescue named Pug Hearts was just forming. Mike immediately signed us up for their fostering program, where we agree to take in a pug until a permanent home is found. We thought this would be a good test to see if could handle the responsibility that comes with owning an animal so “strong willed and opinionated.” Pug Hearts contacted us shortly thereafter and scheduled a time to drop off a pug named “Max.” All we knew about Max was that his owner was leaving the state and could not take him with her, he was around 3 years old…oh, and that he was black. This whole time Mike had hi heart set on a fawn pug and suggested to me “Don’t get too attached.” Neither he nor I listened and attached we became.

When Pug Hearts called to tell us they were right down the street, Mike and I expected to receive a happy, lovable, strong willed and opinionated little guy. Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite. We quickly learned Max had been abused. He was skittish. He was missing hair. He was underweight. He was stressed. It took him 10 days before he allowed me to really pet him. His previous owners let him down and we were determined to not let that happen again. We both knew there was only one thing left for us to do – we had to adopt him and provide the home that he promised. With that, Chincho was born! We decided to change his name to represent a fresh new start to his life. With a little bit of love, patience and a whole lot of treat, Chincho start coming into his own.

Over the years, Chincho has become the life, personality and soul of our home. He has become the strong willed and opinionated pug we had anticipated – and so much more.

Please vote for Chincho, your second spent voting for him will earn Pughearts a guaranteed article in the newly launched Life and Dog Magazine and Chincho will be featured on the Cover!