HISTORY OF THE PUGGLE
The Puggle is not a hybrid dog. It is not a baby Echidna or a baby Platypus, both of which are monotremes from Australia.
1970
The Puggle character has been around since the mid-1970s. He is a toy character from The Lost Woods. Puggle is a registered trademark owned by The Lost Forests group in Australia.
http://www.thelostforests.com.au
DOGS
Puggles are a relatively new type of hybrid dog breed; The first puggles to be bred were in 2000 by a breeder named Wallace Havens, owner and operator of Puppy Haven Kennels in Kingston, Wisconsin. The puggle is not purebred; He is a cross of a purebred Beagle mother and a purebred Pug father. The hybrid puggle is recognized by the American Canine Hybrid Club.
BABY ORNIÑO AND ECIDNA
Information from the Australian Platypus Conservatory on the Puggle
Dr. Shaw, in his scientific description of 1799, gave the name Platypus anatinus, from Greek and Latin words meaning “flat-footed, like a duck.” However, when it became known that Platypus had already been used to name a group of beetles, a new term had to be adopted. The official scientific name became and remains Ornithorhynchus anatinus, with the first word meaning “bird’s snout”.
Although the name “duckbill” was widely used as a popular description for the animal, the abandoned scientific name “platypus” gradually became the accepted common name for the species.
The preferred plural of platypus is “platypus” or “platypuses”, depending on which dictionary you consult. (We use the former for the sake of simplicity.) The term “platypus” is no longer considered valid.
There is no accepted term, equivalent to pup or pup, to describe a baby platypus. A recently suggested possible name is “platypus”.
In recent years, the misnomer “puggles” for baby platypus has been commonly used. This term was applied to baby echidnas a few years ago because of their resemblance to Puggles, an American stuffed animal character. (It is understood that the toy company in question may have considered legal action to protect its trademark in relation to unauthorized use). For some reason, this name is now applied to the baby platypus. This is misinformed (baby platypuses and echidnas don’t look much alike, once they get past the initial post-hatching “jelly bean” stage, so baby platypuses don’t look much like Puggles) and possibly illegal. http://www.thelostforests.com.au
ABORIGINAL LEGEND
According to Aboriginal legend, the first platypus was born after a young duck mated with a lonely and persuasive water vole. The duck’s offspring had his mother’s beak and webbed feet and his father’s four feet and beautiful brown fur.
The True (True) Story of the Puggle from The Lost Forests
Once upon a time there were four million, three thousand, two hundred and one… Puggles, but now there are only a few sacks left, like this one. Puggles lived in the Australian bush underground in tunnels. They came out of their burrows at night to feed on their favorite tucker, split peas! All night long, they would puggle through all the peas they could find, and as daylight approached, they “realized” that they had to go home.
Waiting for them at their front doors would be the local people (which is why they were called “the first settlers”). Of course, the Puggles had gotten so full of split peas that they couldn’t get down their holes and got stuck with their butts on top, making them easy prey for people who loved Puggle Pie.
So, late at night, tie it up tight and don’t let it out until morning. This way Puggles won’t go extinct and maybe one day there will be as many Puggles as before…