Mystery mutt

Our beloved Duke is a mutt – or as someone once corrected me – a “hybrid.” Because we got him from the Friends for Life shelter, and they themselves found him living on the streets, we don’t really know what breeds of dog he is.

Nose to the ground, brown and black coloring, wiry hair – all these traits tell us he has bloodhound in him. But there’s definitely something else – his face does not at all resemble a bloodhound, nor does his body shape. After doing some searches on the Internet, I realized how much his head and face looks like a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

A couple weeks ago I met a lady at the dog park who has one, and after analyzing his head, hip/back leg area, stride and observing him with the other dogs, she agreed that yes, he probably was one. We even noticed that both our dogs had black spots on their tongues!

Here’s an episode of “Breed All About It” that talks about the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and even better, shows them in action. Sorry – video embedding was disabled by Animal Planet so just click on the link to watch it on YouTube.

So what do you think? Could Duke be part Ridgeback?

Blessed be dog forever

View more photos by clicking here

Justin and I took Duke to church today for the Blessing of the Pets – a tradition some Catholic churches observe in conjunction with the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I think this might have been the first time St. Anne’s had it, but years back we took Lady to our old church’s ceremony.

We’ve seen lots of dogs, cats, mice, lizards, birds, guinea pigs, snakes, tarantulas and all sorts of creatures in the past. This year someone brought a sheep, which got spooked by some dogs (just doing what they find to be natural) then broke its leash and ran away! Fortunately a couple dozen people were able to help round it up before it got out into traffic.

Duke made a lot of new friends, but I think he kind of expected it to be like the dog park where he can run, jump and play. It was hard to keep him restrained but overall he was a good boy. He even laid down a couple of times, surprisingly enough.

It was a beautiful morning, and a lovely ceremony.

A prayer for our pets

O God, you have redeemed all creation
through the incarnation of your eternal Word;
Protect our pets, your creatures,
who provide us with joy
and nonjudgmental companionship;
Give us respect
for all of your Word-redeemed creation,
that we may care for creation
as just and humble stewards;
We pray this in the name of the same Word, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
~David Bennett

A long-neglected blog…

Well not for lack of things to post, really – just too busy to! The biggest thing going on with us is that we have a new addition to our family – adopted on Monday night (2/16).

We found Duke through www.petfinder.com at the Friends for Life animal shelter just up the street from us. He was found on the streets and the estimate his age at 9 months. They think he is part beagle, part coonhound, but nobody knows for sure. He looks like a large dog in the photo, but he is really medium-sized. Larger than your average beagle, but not as big as a lab. He’s mostly, if not fully, grown.

One of the things that scared us a little bit about getting him from the shelter is that you never really know for sure how well behaved your dog is – or even whether he is housebroken. I am thrilled to say that not only does he know to do his business outside, he even started using the doggy door (which he very obviously had no previous experience with). He is extremely well-behaved, especially for a puppy, and we’ve only heard him bark twice. He even knows the “sit” command! We are working on leash-walking – he’s really good on it for his age, but still needs practice (which he’s getting quite a few times per day).

He has a playful streak and loves his tennis balls – he kicks them around like he’s playing soccer. He also loves the tug-rope but he sometimes gets carried away and starts biting at hands, which is obviously a no-no. We’ve taken the rope toy away for a while, until he gets a little older and learns not to snap (very common for puppies).

Well, time for a walk!

  

World’s most obedient dog

and his master is a bit of a sadist I think…