Mallory and Eleanor take their Puggy New Year attire seriously. Or at least the dogs’ owner, Amanda Kleps, makes sure they do. “We have no shame,” says Kleps, organizer of the Cleveland Pug Meet-Up Group. “Mallory will be in a stunning, sparkling velvet-tulle number, and Eleanor will be in red satin. It doesn’t faze them, because they get more attention.”

Kleps and crew are throwing the New Year’s party today — complete with appetizers, booze, and desserts — so that pugs and their owners can ring in 2006. WXTM-FM 92.3 DJ Igor will handle the turntables. But the stars for the night will be the pooches with the pushed-in snouts.

“They can be divas, but I’ve never met a nasty pug,” says Kleps. “Every pug I’ve ever met is a sweetheart. Once you own a pug, you’re part of our cult, and there’s no getting out.”
Sat., Jan. 7, 6 p.m.

This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2006.