Curious

I have been plagued lately by a deeply puzzling question. About personal taste. Granted, what I chose in this area is far and away the cutest ever, but still… I don’t think i’m so biased that I can’t recognize cuteness in others when I see it. This has been coming up a lot though, ever since Mike signed me up for a puppy photo group on Flickr. Every day I look at the new pictures people have posted, and every day I see one of these I ask the same question -

Why do people think pugs are cute? or chihuahuas? or other similarly small ratlike dogs? Although pugs are far and away the worst. They have noses so squished up they sound like perverts panting into a telephone when they breath. They have little curled up tails that do nothing to hide they uncute little square butts. They are just NOT CUTE. Yet every day people post pictures of their dogs with “oh they’re so cute” captions and their dogs are anything but. Why do people choose such dogs? When you say to yourself, “I want a dog” what thought process goes on to get you somehow to “I want a pug”?

This really has nothing to do with me personally. They’re not hurting anything. I’m sure they’re perfectly nice dogs. Maybe I’m just offended by people improperly using words. There’s no law that says you must have a cute dog, but it really bugs me when people say things are cute and they’re not. What’s worse is when Ampersand and I are out walking and we encounter someone else with a dog who says “oh your dog is so cute” (which is true and should always be acknowledged) but when their dog isn’t I feel morally obligated to be polite and say “oh yours is too!” even when it’s not true. That must be why I feel cranky about this… it turns me into a liar!

All snideness aside, I really am curious as to why people think pugs are cute, and/or like them enough to pick them over all other kids of dogs. Any ideas?