Doug the Pug (born May 20, 2012) is a

pug The Pug is a breed of dog originally from China, with physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most often light brown (Fawn (colour) ...

living in Nashville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, who has gained a large internet and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

following, and has reached the status of a "celebrity dog". Doug became famous on social media in 2014, when his owner Leslie Mosier created the Instagram account Doug the Pug. In 2016, a book named "Doug the Pug: The King of Pop" was published, which was accompanied by an international promotion campaign.

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

named Doug the Pug the second most influential pet in 2018. Doug won two

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

for Animal Star in 2019 and 2020. In 2021 Doug the Pug subsequently provided all the voice work (including every bark and snore) for the role of Monchi, the Mitchells' pet pug, in the Sony Pictures-

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

animated feature '' The Mitchells vs. the Machines''. In 2022, a foundation was established in his name, that helps children fighting cancer and their families. He is the most followed pug on the internet with over 18 million collective followers. Doug's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

page has over 6 million likes and 10 billion

video views; his Instagram account has 3.9 million followers, and his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account has just hit over 2.6 million followers as of 28 November 2021.

Career

Doug has made appearances with various

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

and also appears at music festivals, meet and greets, and movie premieres. Among these celebrities are

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is n ...

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

Cole Sprouse Cole Mitchell Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) is an American actor and photographer. He is known for his role as Cody Martin on the Disney Channel series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' (2005–2008) and its spin-off series ''The Suite Life on ...

Brendon Urie Brendon Boyd Urie (born April 12, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist of Panic! at the Disco, of which he is the only remaining member. In ...

PewDiePie Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ( , ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie ( ), is a Swedish YouTuber known for his Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos and shows. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage ...

and actors from the

series '' Stranger Things''. In 2016 He appeared in Katy Perry's music video for " Swish Swish", in 2017 he appeared in

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurle ...

's music video for "Irresistible", and in

DNCE DNCE is an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. ...

's lyric video for "Kissing Strangers".

Books

Doug's owner, Leslie Mosier, is ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' best-seller author of ''Doug the Pug: The King of Pop Culture'', released in November 2016. Following the release of her book, Mosier took Doug on an international book tour with stops in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Paris, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. To accompany her book, Mosier has released a line of

calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a ph ...

and a line of Doug the Pug apparel. Doug's first children's book was released with Scholastic in September 2019.

Media

The first national feature article on Doug was in Mashable. Since then, outlets such as ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'', BuzzFeed, ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' have posted features of him. Doug has appeared in national commercials fo
Truth

Febreze Febreze is an American brand of household odor eliminators manufactured by Procter & Gamble. It is sold in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. First introduced in test markets in March 1996, the fabric ...

, Home Goods,

Sabra Sabra may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Sabra (comics), a fictional Israeli female superhero in the Marvel Comics universe * Sabra (magazine), a Japanese magazine for men * '' Sabra Command'' the original title of the film ''Warhead'' * "Sab ...

, and

Pedigree Petfoods Pedigree Petfoods is a subsidiary of the American group Mars, Incorporated specializing in pet food, with factories in England at Melton Mowbray and Birstall, West Yorkshire, Birstall, Leeds; and offices at McLean, Virginia. History Manchester ...

. He has made his acting debut in '' The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' as the voice of Monchi the pug. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award.

Merchandise

Doug has a line of merchandise at the retailer

Claire's Claire's (formerly known as Claire's Boutiques, Claire's Boutique and Claire's Accessories) is an American retailer of accessories, jewelry, and toys primarily aimed toward tween and teen girls. It was founded in 1961 and is based in Hoffman ...

, with a range of

Gund Gund is a Canadian-owned manufacturer of plush stuffed animals. The company is based in Edison, New Jersey, and distributes throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. Gund is currently ru ...

stuffed animals, backpacks, and apparel. Doug also has a line of greeting cards with

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting cards, electr ...

, sold at

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

and

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, a pair of shoes with

Skechers Skechers USA, Inc. is an American multinational footwear company. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, it was founded in 1992 and is now the third largest footwear brand in the United States. History Skechers was founded in 1992 by Rob ...

, and a line of dog toys with Outward Hound.

Awards and recognition

* In 2019, the mayor of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, declared May 20 " Doug the Pug Day" in the city. *

Nashville Scene ''Nashville Scene'' is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with ...

(2015) - Best of Nashville - "Best Instagram" Winner *

Webby Awards The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

(2016) - "Social Media Animal" Nominated *World Dog Awards (2016) - "Best Dressed" Winner * Shorty Awards (2016) - "Social Media Animal" Nominated * Shorty Awards (2017) - "Instagrammer of the Year" Winner * Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

) - "Favorite Instagram Pet" Nominee *

(

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

) - "The Animal Star of 2019" Winner *

(

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

) - "The Animal Star of 2020" Winner

References

External links

*{{YouTube, user=leslieanddoug
Doug the Pug's InstagramDoug the Pug's Twitter
2012 animal births Animals on the Internet Dogs in popular culture Individual dogs in the United States