Pug buddies: writer Richard Jones meets star attraction Bertie

the messages going down his spinal cord were getting intercepted. So we took him to Noel Fitzpatrick – the super-vet on Channel 4 – and he had a huge operation. They took out some vertebrae and replaced them with metal rods.”

After the operation, Bertie was crate-rested – put in a cage so he wouldn’t move about and injure himself. This is a traumatic period for any pup, let along one so young. “During the months he was going through rehabilitation,” says Fernando, “he missed out on that vital socialisation that puppies need around children, other dogs, the road. Bertie wasn’t exposed to any of those situations.”

As a consequence, Fernando arranged a pug meet-up in their Surrey home town so Bertie could catch up, which eventually morphed into the pop-up café for owners and admirers of the dog. “I saw that there was a pug café in Tokyo,” acknowledges Fernando, “but that is more like a petting zoo for pug lovers. I thought: ‘Why don’t we do a café just for pugs?’”

Guildford is, she says, a “very dog-friendly town”, so it was easy for Fernando to get a nearby coffee shop, Esquires, to host the first event back in May. It caught the attention of a local newspaper, and the turnout far exceeded the number of dogs in the Guildford Pug Club. There were a few teething problems, with some greedy pets having too many treats, but the logistics were ironed out at their second event in Brighton, the boho haven by the sea that’s inevitably home to a large pug community.

After this weekend’s London café, Morgan says there will be as yet unannounced events in Glasgow and Birmingham. “It’s like a hobby that’s got out of control,” he concedes. “Some people eat out, others go to the gym – we go home and organise the next pug café.”

While scrolling through Bertie’s Instagram account (instagram.com/ fernando_pug), Fernando knocks back her pet’s ears every few minutes so they flop over like normal (“No one wants to see your ear wax, Bertie”). I’d say the couple loved Bertie like a child, but I don’t know any parents who are so besotted with their offspring.

“I had loved them for years, way before Bertie came along,” says Fernando. “Whenever I met one walking down the street, it would make it the best day ever, and we want to share that experience with everyone. You’ll see. If the pugs are happy, than everyone’s happy.”

Tomorrow’s Pop-up Pug Café is at The Book Club (100-106 Leonard Street, London EC2A, 020 7684 8618, wearetbc.com). For future events, go to pugcafe.co.uk