Meet the South African Woman Going Googly-Eyed Over Pug Pooches!

Cheryl Gaw has a soft spot for pug dogs. Those adorable, short-haired pooches with a deeply wrinkled face, a tightly curled tail, and smooth coats that come in shades of black, silver and fawn, as the Dictionary portal explains. But Gaw isn’t just a fan. This former marketer has made it her mission to rescue and rehome over two thousand of these endearing canines, as CNN reports. 

Pugs and Kisses!
It’s all true! This pug savior is willing to put up with the hair shedding and wave goodbye to personal space. But that’s not all. 

Over the years, assisted by her husband, a fellow devoted pug fan, the couple’s passion for helping these animals has led them to reset their lives to give them their unconditional love. They sold their home, and even spent time living out of a trailer home to maximize their ability to assist pugs in need.

Gaw’s pug life started when her husband, Malcolm, gave her a pug dog as a gift in 2008, CNN details. At a pug  club, someone asked if the couple could foster a couple of pugs, a number which swelled to 60 pugs in just the first year alone!

She is also keenly aware of the health issues that this breed is particularly vulnerable to. Their short muzzles can cause breathing problems, while they are susceptible to eye and ear infections, for instance. 

But Gaw finds pug dogs irresistible. “They are known as the clowns of the dog world, and they can make you laugh,” she shares. Always in your space, she says they are just an amazing, loveable breed.

Pug Rescue South Africa: A True Paradise for Pugs
In 2010, the Gaw couple established Pug Rescue South Africa, in Johannesburg, which rescues over 201 pugs a year. Not initially a part of their retirement plan, (Gaw is in her mid-60s) she admits to CNN that “Of Course, the pugs won.” This is borne out by the figures. Since it opened back in 2008, their pug rescue center has taken in over 2500 dogs. 

The center’s purpose, as its portal outlines, is to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome pugs in need, irrespective of their age, breed standard, or health. It also offers sanctuary to pugs who fail to get adopted, and to the many older pugs in its care.

This haven aims for the highest standards of care, giving the dogs a “home-from-home experience.” This includes a routine that makes time for bathtime, playtime, grooming, and sleeping in groups “according to their age and personality,” Gaw tells the New York Post.

When rehoming dogs, it also works to ensure that it rehomes the right pug to the right home, and it is rewarded with an extremely low return rate.

With kindness never in short supply, the center also cares for a small number of dogs from other breeds that it calls honorary pugs!

As our Poland Daily Life video clip outlines, the couple drive around the country collecting pug dogs who are neglected, or whose owners are no longer able to care for them. They bring them back to their pug sanctuary. It is now caring for 208 of these animals, some of whom are in foster homes in Cape Town as well as Johannesburg. 

Gaw explains that the demand for her center’s help has grown in recent years. The reasons for this are varied, but include that more South Africans are immigrating overseas, and can’t afford the prohibitively expensive cost of flying with their pets, while landlords abroad are often unwilling to permit dogs to live in their properties.

Gaw also emphasizes that the high cost of veterinary treatment in South Africa, means that sick dogs requiring any kind of treatment, are often put to sleep. Thankfully, she is able to help reverse this trend.  “We are very fortunate that we actually have our own veterinary clinic on the property, registered with the country’s Veterinary Council, which enables the center to treat pugs at a reduced cost,” she shares. 

Meanwhile, the sanctuary’s social media proudly shares how the local community is happy to help out.

This committed dog lover also confesses to What’s the Jam? that she instinctively knew that being surrounded by pug dogs was her destiny: “I remember one day I picked up this little pug and I said, ‘One day I’d like to have a hundred of you running around my home…the universe listened and gave me exactly what I wanted.’”