For Christmas this year I got son a DNA test kit to run on Hazel. Just for fun. We took some cheek swabs and mailed them off.We just got the results back. They are not quite what I had expected. I remember her mother as a smallish, (smaller than Hazel who is 70 lb.) brownish southern hound. Of course nobody knows who the father is-- there were 12 pups, they may not have even had the same dad.
Hazel came back as Boxer X Amstaff on one side, (presumably the dad,) and nearly impenetrable mutt on the other. Ingredients there included possibly Bloodhound, and Catahoula Leopard Dog!
Of course a mutt mix is harder to sort out than a straight cross between two established types. I often wonder what happened to her siblings-- are they out there somewhere, and are their people as delighted with them as we are with Hazel?
We got very lucky with Hazel-- she is a lovely person who happens to be a dog. Finding out what may have gone into the soup pot is interesting-- but it changes nothing else.
Comments
Dave
We also had several mutts. They were all good dogs, even the one that bit me. (She just disliked me for some reason-- she adored my mom.)
Hazel is a little afraid of very small dogs. They often bark at her. But she knows that even the tiniest Chihuahua is a dog-- and she will play with them.
Dave
I know a dog who is Border Collie crossed with Australian Shepard he is... intense.
Yes, I am all for hybrid vigor. Hazel is quite healthy. She did need ACL surgery two years ago, but she has none of the weird inbred troubles.
If left to their own devices, dogs would have none of those.