Dogs

We have two dogs that I love dearly. They are messy and noisy and always want to wrestle in the living room during the evening news. In a moment of boredom several months back, I ordered dog DNA kits.  Why not? They weren't very expensive and it might be fun to see what kind of dogs we have.

Both our dogs are rescues.  Sadie came from Citizens for Animal Protection (CAPS) in Katy, TX.  Gus came from the front yard of a lady who used to work at my vet's office. Both came to me with no historical information.

CAPS suggested that Sadie is half black lab and half border collie. I'm sure this was based on her coloring - she is almost completely black except for dashes of white on her face, chest and paws. Her conformation in neither lab or border collie but someplace in between.  I asked my vet, Dr. Michael Ridlen, about it and he said that was as good a guess as any. So what is Sadie really?

According to DNAmydog.com, Sadie is 68% Golden Retriever and 32% Labrador Retriever with a trace of Ibizan Hound. Hmmm.  That is interesting.  She is 100% retriever and won't retrieve a stick or a ball for love or money. It goes a long way in explaining why she doesn't have a border collie brain. And why she loves the water so much.

Gus looks like a Blue Heeler but not exactly.  He is taller and thinner than the standard heeler so I always assumed he was a cross of some sort but I never had any idea what.  According to DNAmydog.com, Gus is 80% Australian Cattle Dog, 15% Labrador Retriever and 5% Rottweiler. Again, very interesting.  A Blue Heeler is the American name for the Australian Cattle Dog so we are on the same page there.  But Lab and Rottweiler? Gus does not have the heavy body or the square head of either of those breeds.

The answers were not quite what I expected but it was fun to go through the process.  Now I know.