Mopens historia:

Mopsen som ras är ett verkligt kulturarv som vi har att förvalta.

Mopsen är ett levande museiföremål, ett stycke kulturhistoria. Rasen är kinesisk och vad man vet är den 2000 år gammal. Troligt är att mopsen användes som värmekrus i kalla kinesiska palats.

Wilhelm av Oranien hade en mops i bädden i fält.

Det finns många bra hemsidor som beskriver mopsens långa historia vid sidan av oss människor.

Jag hänvisar därför till dessa sidor:

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mops

http://www.zookoll.se/dp_artarkiv.php?go=info&id=297&site=2

http://www.pugfactsguide.com/pug-history

http://www.akc.org/breeds/pug/history.cfm

Kända och okända personer har älskat rasen genom tiderna.

Några exempel på kända Puglovers är:

Vicco von Bülow.

Ett citat som jag älskar och instämmer i, är av Loriot, d.v.s. Vicco von Bülow.

Ein Leben ohne Mops ist möglich, aber sinnlos.

"Ett liv utan en mops är visserligen möjligt, men ganska meningslöst"

Ett annat favorit uttryck=

Möpse, sind mit Hunden nicht zu vergleichen.

"Mopsar är inte jämförbara med hundar"

Loriot med  'Emil' und 'Paul'

Läs mer om Loriot genom länken nedan:

http://www.vonosterberg.de/aktuell/loriot/index.php

Nedan kan du också läsa en underbar kärleksförklaring till mopsar.

Texten är på Engelska.

No one can imagine how this creature came about, how it was possible to cross an Andalusian fighting-bull with a Marzipan-piglet. The pug is a prodigy of incomparable allure - a face like a crushable bin after a major car-crash, with somewhat grotesque wrinkles above his tiny nose, an unbelievably sad facial expression, but with eyes full of fire. The pug is only for the self-confident, for the self-assured who do not need an Afghan Hound or Doberman to impress their importance upon their surroundings. The pug is only for individualists.

The history of the pug is - as in many aristocratic families - a little nebulous. It is safe to say, though, that he comes from China. Apparently Genghis Khan's cavalry brought the little big dog to Eastern Europe. From there, it's said the Turks brought the pug to France in 1553, which is why the French ladies called him "Little Turk". None of this has actually been proven. It is known, though, that the pug was Dutch before he became English.

The political significance of the pug has long been underestimated. Europe would look quite differently, had it not been for his pug Pompey, who barked one night of the year 1570 and this way prevented the ruthless murder of his master, William of Orange, Prince of the Netherlands, called "William the Silent" through Spanish henchmen. "I often heard the Prince remark that it would all have been over for him had it not been for the dog", said Sir Roger William in 1618. "The nightly assault took place with such determination that the armed guards never sounded alarm. In the meantime, the little dog, which heard the enemy in time, scratched and barked and even more, licked the Prince's face, thus waking him from his slumber, before any of his people did so."
This is why after this, the House of Orange was deeply attached to the pug-breed, which were always adorned with an orange ribbon - to emphasize their connection with the house of Orange. When William and Mary of Orange came to England to be King and Queen in 1688, they brought along their pugs and thus introduced them to the English. By the seventeenth century the pug was very much favoured by European aristocracy. Other pugs became very famous - like Fortuné, Joséphine Behaurnais' pug, wife of Napoleon. She used to hide secret messages underneath his collar and sent them - pug attached - to Napoleon. This charming little animal was apparently not very fond of the Empresses husband, though: Long before the European States gathered in a fight for freedom against Napoleon Bonaparte, he was bitten in the leg by the jealous Fortuné - in his wedding night. Fortuné is the only historical personage who not only wounded the later Emperor of France in open battle, but forced him to surrender. "Good God! Tell me, you, who knows so well to make others love you without loving them back, do you know how to be cured from love???" Napoleon wrote to Joséphine. "No price would be to high for this medicine....What fool I was to await you on the 13th. How could a woman as pretty as you are give up her customs, her friends, ...her diners... and Fortuné, yes, Fortuné! You love everything else better than you love your husband..." Napoleon did grow to love the little Fortuné.
When the pug died after a disagreement with the cook's mastiff, Josephine was so distressed that Napoleon soon gave her a successor - and for the rest of her life, Joséphine was possessed by pugs.
In 1857, Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria decided to want some pugs around the house. Of course, her spontaneous wish was as good as an order, but alas! In all of Old England, there was not a single pug to be found. The British diplomat to Germany in Frankfurt was called. The British envoy looked around, but could not find a pug for sale, either. In the course of several tea-parties, his wife was able to find out that there were still two model-examples of the wanted breed living in Wiesbaden (this was long before Elvis was being stationed there). The envoy paid a visit to the owners of said pugs and introduced them to the honourable idea of giving up their pugs for the Queen of England. Both ladies seemed to be deaf to this idea. The diplomat tried to lure them with money, to no avail. He had a lot of money he would have liked to spend in order to please his Queen. But the two ladies preferred their pugs to gold. And so Queen Victoria never did aquire a German pug. Someone did find pugs for her somewhere, though, because Queen Victoria soon after always kept pugs, and quite a number of them, "as nature gave them to the world", without cropped ears - which was still quite the fashion then -, and without docked tails. Her favourite pug, Bosco, was buried in Frogmore House Gardens, Windsor, complete with gravestone. From Victorian times onwards, there had always been pugs in the Royal family (except for the last, and current Queen - who is a dog-lover, but prefers the more proletarian Corgies and Labradors). - The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, for instance, were famous for it, not the least because a few years ago, Sotheby'sauctioned their entire estate of many ornaments, pictures and other pug-reminiscences. In absence of throne or children, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor devoted a great part of their lives to pugs, and showered their dogs with luxury: They were sprayed daily with Christian Dior-perfume and dressed in mink collars, ate fresh capon breast, steak or liver, with freshly baked biscuits on silver dishes. The Duke had a favourite pug named Diamond, who used to sleep on his bed. 12 days before the Duke died after a long illness, Diamond suddenly refused to enter the room, even though his master constantly asked for him. But the night before he died, Diamond demanded to be let back into his master's bedroom. "Your are a most faithful friend", the Duke greeted his dog. He slept that night with his hand resting on his pug's head, and died the next day.

Sir Winston Churchill also owned a pug when his children were young, most people know the little verse he did for his daughter when her pug was ill:
"Oh what is the matter with poor Puggy-Wug,
Pet him and kiss him and give him a hug,
Run and fetch him a suitable drug,
Wrap him up tenderly all in a rug,
That is the way to cure Puggy-Wug."
Madame Dubarry, Jackie Kennedy, the Duke and Duchess of Monaco, the poets Heinrich Heine and Rainer Maria Rilke, Andy Warhol and fashion designer Valentino all spent their lives with pugs, for good reasons. And one thing is certain: Their wrinkles and worrisome faces are just a cover-up. The people they live with really do all they can to turn their lives into a song. A lovesong at that.

Katharina von der Leyen
http://vonderleyen.com/vestibulum.