Bet

Winnie has now been with us for two and a quarter years. She was found by a dumpster in Walsenburg, Colorado on September 16, 2005, a three day old pup of an unspecified mutt of a mother. She was eight weeks old when Lia brought her home from the rescue. The above picture was taken shortly thereafter.

I was less keen on the decision than she was (an understatement). We had recently gone through the pain of losing our fourteen year old extremely well-bred English Springer Spaniel, Chelsea, and I confess I wasn't emotionally prepared for another longterm relationship. However, Lia was on a mission, and so against my better judgement I allowed her to go on her own to choose us a next pet. I left her with the instructions that I wanted the largest, fattest, laziest dog in the pound, something that would keep my feet warm as I wrote. She said, "Sure thing," and proceeded to disobey every word.

Winnie was energetic from the start (an understatement). She took her first nap, I think, when she was three months old. And she took everything out of me. It didn't help that when I asked the vet her opinion on what breeding background Winnie might have she said that she looked to be mostly jack russell terrier and had a winning chance of making it to 25 lbs someday. Just what I needed.

I started feeding her triple the prescribed amount and added stretching and calisthenics to her already rigorous natural training regimen. Winning chance...I wasn't going to give up without giving it a fighting one...

By her one year birthday, she was 45 lbs, stood as tall as any lab, and was faster than every dog, every dog, at the dog park. She could catch a frisbee like a champion. During the spring, summer and fall, I show off her leaping prowess for the neighborhood as we wait for Lia to come home from work. She jets across two lawns, launches all four feet off the ground, snatches the disc, ducks around a looming oak tree, and sprints back to my feet to await the next toss. She has become the most obedient dog I have ever been a part of training. One whistle and she comes flying to your side. She is patient and passive with the most vicious of children. She has never growled a day in her life. She takes long naps (not at my feet). Her one behavioral question mark is her ardent tongue. She is one heck of a licker. "Fastest tongue in the west," is what I usually say. We have been able to do little to assuage her ferver.

All in all, Lia made a wonderful choice. We love Winnie. She is family. Yet we still have this ongoing debate on what she is. Is she part pit bull, greyhound, boxer, border collie, lab, jack russell? If there was only a way to find out...

Well, it turns out there is. We were at the vet yesterday and learned of a test you can take to find out your dogs exact breeding. Eric, our vet, said he had always wanted to try it out but had never found a pet owner willing to go through with it. "We will," I said without even consulting. Didn't have to. Lia said it at the exact same time.

So the blood test went out in the mail this morning. We should know in a couple weeks. And so, I ask you: what do you think? What is Winnie? What is this love child of two mutts?

We'll see...let us know what you think. We're giving a prize to the winner.