The composite dog...

Some time ago, I was reading ohmidog, the blog of John Woestendiek. Woestendiek, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Baltimore Sun, did a 7 part series based on the question Hey mister, what kind of dog is that? The searh for the answer to that question was prompted by the unique appearance of Woestendiek's dog, Ace. During the series, Woestendiek and Ace visited the shelter from which Ace was adopted, the neighborhood where he was purportedly found straying, consulted an animal communicator, and had a DNA test run. It's a very interesting series- you should read it. There's video, too.

We know about Juniper's genetic heritage, at least we think we do- she was brought into the shelter with her litter mates. The person bringing them in said they were Akita, Lab and Rottweiler. She looks like a mix of those breeds, so we feel pretty comfortable saying that's what she is.

Boodles, on the other hand, was a stray. She could be any of a number of things, because her physical characteristics are all over the place. Here, let's take a look.

Her face is reminiscent of a St. Bernard, in fact, when we took her to the vet for the first time that's what they put down as her breed. However, her muzzle is far more pointy than a St. Bernard, and she doesn't have the droopy lips nor the body mass. Taller and longer in the body than Juniper, she weighs about 10 pounds less- around 60 pounds.



She has very large feet, with soft pads, and these nice feathers. Perhaps part Clydesdale? Actually, the chest, feathery legs and feet are very Collie-like. The ears, though- not collie.



While her coloring is harmonious, and could be that of either the St. Bernard or the Collie, her hair style is really odd. Her back looks like it belongs to two different dogs: She has a patch of hair on her shoulders that looks like someone tossed a bad toupee at her and it stuck.
However, the hair on her hips is oddly spiky- almost like some of the Australian Shepherds we have seen. And the dog in this picture has a lot of the same characteristics. Maybe there's no Collie, and instead Australian Shepherd genes floating around in there. The ears are sort of Australian Shepherd-like. However, the Rough Coated Collie in this picture has a little of the bad toupee look.

Her tail is another mystery- White tipped like the Collie, she carries it in a curve, something neither the St. Bernards nor the Collies or Australian Shepherds do. Chows, Huskies, Akitas, Basenjis and pugs all have curly tails.

Actually, she has many things in common with this dog, who lived with us from 1977 until 1990. We never knew what he was, either, but his mother looked like a short-haired hound. Not a feather on her.

Boodles behavior is somewhat that of a herding dog, although she has no interest in herding things together. She is very fast, though, and can turn on a dime. She is high energy, and mouthy.

So, does it matter what she is? Yes, and no. Purebred dogs have distinct physical and behavioral characteristics, and known health problems. When Ace's DNA results came back that he was 50% Rottweiler, 25% Akita and 25% Unknown, Woestendiek was told to watch for problems with hip displasia and cataracts. Good information to know.

For me, it's interesting to think about the genetics. Obviously, dogs didn't start out as purebreds and then fool around with each other to produce mixed breeds. Instead, people bred the archetypal dog for desired characteristics. There are dogs out there without a single purebred relative in the entire family tree. But does that mean that if a dog has St. Bernard coloring, there is a St. Bernard lurking in the bushes? I dunno- it could just mean that the gene mutation that produced the observed characteristic just showed up. Probably not, though.

This information from the Wisdom Panel MX Website tells what can be expected from dogs with a long mixed breed background:

"Identifying the heritage of a mixed breed dog in the absence of information about its parents or grandparents is difficult, even for knowledgeable dog observers such as veterinarians, because mixed breeds display much more genetic variation than purebreds.

Fading Hereditary Characteristics

With each generation of indiscriminate breeding, the offspring of mixed breed dogs lose the distinguishing traits that are observed in pedigree breeds, and will take on characteristics that are common to many breeds.

For example, wild dogs that have descended from many generations of mixed breed dogs often match the following profile:

• Light brown or black in color
• Weigh approximately 40 lbs
• Stand between 1 and 2 feet tall at the withers"

This would seem to indicate that dogs with observable breed characteristics are probably fairly close to a purebred relative. By the way- the Wisdom site is an interesting site to explore- give it a look.

Why do I want to know? Curiosity. I am fascinated by the story of Adrian Targett, whose DNA marks him as a direct descendant of a 9,000 year old skeleton found in a cave 43 miles from Targett's house. How cool is that? I would love to participate in the National Geographic Genographic Project.

Ultimately, though, Boodles is Boodles, whether she is a St Bercolaussie or a "composite" dog. I love her look- Every time I look at her, I think she looks like she was put together by a kid just sticking things together from a box of dog parts...

Read what Woestendiek has to say about Ace's family history here. I knew he was part Akita- there was something about him that reminded me of Juniper.