Nashville, TN – Behind the floppy ears and signature tongue-out smile of Doug the Pug—the internet’s beloved “King of Pop Culture”—lies a deeply personal story of resilience. While the 14-year-old pooch has amassed over 19 million followers and celebrity friendships with Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish, his owner and “dad,” Rob Chianelli, was silently battling a life-altering health crisis. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Chianelli reveals the terrifying journey that led to his multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and how he’s turning his struggle into a mission to help others.
It was the early summer of 2023 when Chianelli, then 36, was building a chicken coop at his Nashville home. Suddenly, his left leg went numb. Fatigue overwhelmed him to the point of being bedridden for two weeks—his first unrecognized MS flare. “We were super confused,” Chianelli told PEOPLE. “It just came out of nowhere.” The symptoms mysteriously vanished, only to be replaced by vision problems and light sensitivity. An optometrist dismissed it, but during a trip to Australia, Chianelli suffered a horrifying seizure. He woke up in an ambulance with no memory of the event.
Doctors in Australia instructed him to see a neurologist immediately. Back in the U.S., an MRI, lumbar puncture, and extensive bloodwork confirmed the devastating truth: relapsing-remitting MS. “Being 36, 37, I was just distraught. I was shell-shocked,” Chianelli recalls. “I never even really knew much of MS before I got diagnosed… it took a long time to adjust.” The diagnosis stripped away his independence—he couldn’t drive for six months, developed double vision requiring an eye patch, and saw his daily step count plummet from 20,000 to 1,000. “It made me feel inadequate or like a burden or emasculated,” he admits. “It was a grieving process of who I used to be.”
Perhaps the deepest blow was to his identity as a musician. A pop-punk drummer, Chianelli feared his career was over. “I tried to play a song. I kept losing feeling in my hands and couldn’t hold my drumsticks,” he shares. “By halfway through this song, I had to give up… it was utter heartbreak.” However, Chianelli found an unexpected source of strength: his wife, Leslie Mosier, who had navigated her own endometriosis journey, and their two pugs, Doug and their rescue dog Dory. “Pugs are Velcro dogs… they never look at me like I have a disease,” he says. “They just look at me like I’m their favorite person in the world.”
Motivated by Mosier’s advocacy, Chianelli decided to share his diagnosis publicly on Doug’s social media. The response was overwhelming. “People DMing me saying, ‘I have MS,’ or, ‘It’s going to be OK’—hearing that was so relieving,” he shares. He has since partnered with biotechnology company Genentech for their Hidden GeMS campaign, which highlights diverse stories of those living with MS. He also joined Facebook groups and Reddit forums to build community. “If I could help one person find the strength to go to a doctor because they’ve been having weird symptoms, then it’s worth it for me.”
Reflecting on his journey, Chianelli offers a powerful, counterintuitive perspective: his seizure was a blessing. “If it didn’t happen to me, I would’ve been shrugging off these little symptoms for God knows how long,” he explains. “The longer you go undiagnosed, the more damage is done. I can look back and have gratitude for that moment because it saved me from even worse of a situation.” His advice to others is clear: trust your gut, advocate for yourself, and don’t ignore unusual symptoms. “It’s going to be scary,” he acknowledges, “but you’re going to come out the other end a stronger, wiser person. As my wife always says, ‘You can do hard things.'”
