Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Say What!?!


I have a couple of really nice, thoughtful, blog posts stewing in my brain. One about my experiences with cultures, personal growth, and all that jazz and the other giving a glimpse into my new position at the studio. However, I'm going to set that all aside for now and talk about Louie my 7 month old mutant puppy.


Now I know you all have had a whole lotta Louie. It's hard not to constantly post pictures of his cuteness. Fortunatly, this entry is not about Louie's cuteness, but, rather his ancestry. About three weeks ago I bought a DNA breed identification kit, swabed the inside of Louie's cheek, and sent it off in hopes that we could uncover the mystery that is my Heinz 57 special puppy.

Originally we were told Louie is a Corgi/Collie mix. I had some doubts those were the only breeds in Louie as he has rather webbed feet and floppy ears. The trainers at the training school I took Louie said he had Golden Retriever, even a Duck Tolling Retriever was thrown out there. So, when I recieved the big envelope with Louie's results in the mail yesterday I was eager to see what it said.

Drumroll please....
A chow chow, chihuahua mix!?!?!? Are you effin' kidding me? Now the American Eskimo and Sheltie I can wrap my head around. Though level 4 means he has only 20-40% of that in him. However, that means the chow chow and chihuahua should be the dominant breeds within Loulou.

According to these papers Louie's DNA is at minimum 65% ish acounted for. There was also the caveat that not all breeds are on their records and IF by chance there is an unidentifiable breed they would then find the nearest ancient breed(s) within your doggie's DNA. Both chow-chow and chihuahua are ancient breeds. So, maybe, just maybe Louie has an unusual breed within him?

I ask you.... does he look like a chow chow/chihuahua mix to you? Where did his floppy ears come from, the webbed feet? Is Louie in that 8% of the mix breed population that has DNA in them that this company BioPet doesn't have listed? I have no flippin' idea. Instead of answers I now have even more questions. Ah life's little loopdie-loops- apparently they can seep in anywhere- even your dog's 'questionable' lineage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It boggles the mind thinking about a chow-chow and a chihuahua mating!
Louie, you're too cute to be a chihuahua!

Habebi said...

LoL I know right? The sheer mechanics of those two mating are rather mind boggling! I've been calling Louie my 'chow-huahua' because it's just too funny.

I seriously believe Louie is part Duck Tolling Retriever with the sheltie/eskimo dog mix. He fits a lot of the physical and tempermental standards and like you said- he's just too cute to be a chihuahua!