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Saturday's LAT postulated the imminent obsolescence of the chihuahua as the must-have accessory amongst celebrities who may or may not realize they're toting around a living thing in their purses, noting a high-profile surge in the popularity of pugs:

Packs of the little flat-faced canines are showing up in advertisements for Barneys New York, in the windows of Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, in the arms of celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Balthazar Getty and fashion designers Valentino and Tommy Hilfiger, and not incidentally, in this year's best of breed winner's circle at the Westminster Dog Show. Mimi la Rue even has her own loyal fans on Spelling's new VH1 show, "So NoTORIous."

The pug's place at the stiletto heels of fashion's discerning tastemakers has reaffirmed the ancient breed's everlasting appeal. It's as if fashion is saying, "Pugs, this is your moment — and try not to drool."

If the Times piece isn't enough to extinguish the pug's ostensible hotness, being associated with Tori Spelling should almost certainly do the job. We expect that by the end of next week, pug early-adopters will be callously ejecting the dogs from their convertible Mercedes as they speed down Robertson Boulevard, leaving their suddenly unfashionable companions to be scooped up by the clot of trend-hungry Midwesterners in the line outside Kitson.