Doug The Pug

Background

Doug the Pug has to be one of the most recognized dogs on the planet, with a following of over 18 million. He was born on May 20, 2012, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his owner, Leslie Mosier, and her husband Rob Chianelli. Before all the fame, Doug was a happy little pug. His owner brought him to her home in the summer of 2012. The dream of owning a pug started when she was 13 years old but did not happen then. She had thought of the name “Doug” and when she got one in 2012, she remembered the name and that is how Doug came to be. She opened and managed Doug’s Instagram account the same way she did at work. At the time, she was working at a record label and artist management company as a social media strategist and manager but didn’t have her own Instagram account.

In 2013, she opened her account and started posting her images as well as Doug’s and within no time Doug’s images started gaining popularity. This resulted in her creating Doug’s own account in 2014, “itsdougthepug” and began promoting it. One of her emails one day found its way to Brian Koerber from Mashable. He was intrigued by Doug and immediately set up an interview. This was Doug’s first national feature. Other features that followed were “Cosmopolitan,” “Good Morning America,” “BuzzFeed,” and “TIME.” He has also been featured in numerous national commercials for Home Goods, Pedigree Pet Foods, Febreze, and Truth among others. He made his acting debut in 2021 when he voiced Monchi in “The Mitchells vs the Machines,” a movie that was nominated for an Academy Award.

Mosier signed a book deal in 2015 titled, “Doug the Pug: King of Pop Culture,” which went on to become a “New York Times” Best-seller after its release in 2016. Following the book’s release, they had to do an international book tour. They toured England, Paris, and the United States. Because of this, Mosier made calendars and a line of Doug the Pug apparel. At this time, she had quit her job and had started her own company, and took Doug as her first client. In 2019, he released a Doug the Pug children’s book and this made Mosier’s mother happy — she was a first-grade teacher. Doug has also launched merchandise with Claire’s which is a wide variety of Gund stuffed animals, apparel, and backpacks. He also has a line of greeting cards with American Greetings and shoes with Sketchers. Finally, he launched a line of dog toys together with Outward Hound.