Many dogs were created as result of the interbreeding of mystical animals and wild dog breeds. The pug is a result of the peluda, the mythical salamander, the mythical tanuki, and Tjinimin’s descendants.

The peluda is essentially a porcupine dragon, and originally they were massive creatures that could travel extraordinarily long distances without tiring. The mythical salamander was also a large creature, though not exactly giant, that lived in fire without burning. The mythical tanuki is a raccoon dog, that it is mischievous in nature, has a connection to the divine, and is able to shape shift. Tjinimin is a bat deity of Australian origin, and is the reason why many of the bats in the country have snub noses.

Pudge, this particular pug, has various characteristics of this mix that stand out more than others.

There are two characteristics of the peluda that stand out more for Pudge, he has the spikes (though not as many as the original breed) and can travel without growing weary. The second picture of Pudge is him without wings, so that you can see what his tail looks like with the spikes.

He has four salamander characteristics that are prominent, three of which are not exactly typical of the salamander mythos. He can survive in fire, and has the element of fire in him (the element of electricity/lightning to be more specific, which is not typical of the mythos but still a part of the fire element). The other two pertain more to the type of lizard, being chameleon. He has the protruding eyes that can move independently of each other, as well as the ability to blend into his surroundings, which also correlates with one of his tanuki abilities.

Pudge is a mischievous little shit at times which is one of the tanuki traits that stands out the most. His other tanuki traits are his connection to the divine, and and his ability to shape shift (though the shapeshifting is more like blending in to the surroundings). Pudge’s connection to the divine isn’t exactly what one might think, he is connected to a darker divinity. This divinity connection grants him dark elemental abilities such as teleportation, and telepathy. His telepathic abilities pertain more to receiving commands and knowing where he is needed most, and less to communicating. Though he can communicate, he isn’t exactly the smartest of beings (which is another tanuki trait).

Lastly the traits correlating to Tjinimin are the obvious snub nose (which all pugs have), and the bat wings. Yes he can fly. Pudge’s connection to the dark divinity is a part of the Tjinimin breeding, as well as his multidimensionalism trait.

Though animals have traits of the creatures breed into them come to the surface when awakened, the original size of the creatures don’t always come back. These breeding mixes are to blame for this. Pudge isn’t the full size of a peluda, but he grows to be larger than a pug.