Last week, I was going thru some old photos of Sugar's puppydom. DH was out of town. (We determined last week that if Dad is out of town, someone WILL pee in the house. The pattern has been established....) I really enjoyed looking at pictures and remembering how dang sweet she was. Something was nagging at me, tho-we always KNEW Sonny had different eyes. I reflected on her shape, her muzzle....and I couldn't quite name it. Later, I took the boy out to pee, and LOOKED at him....
And then it hit me. I drove to MY library, and then the San Antonio library. (My stupid computer was being beat into submission in Apple land). The answer was so obvious-specific, and I am not exactly SURE how I hit on the exact one as I stood pondering the guy at the end of the leash but I think I am right....(ignore the jowls and the tail)
Oh. Oh yeah, I get it now. The idiot we got him from thought he owned a boxer-but Sonny isn't really boxy, nor does he have that triangular neck, and he's kinda grumpy, and.....
Sonny's probably half Rhodesian Ridgeback (bottom illustration). I looked in several breed books-he's 75 lbs, about 27" at the shoulder NOW, countersurfs, thieves at every turn, will do ANYTHING for a snack, is DEDICATED to ONE person, and my breed book has PAGES on demodetic mange. (We spent hundreds on mange treatment in Feb.) They are reserved and observant. A canine Cliff Clavin, compared to the boxer's "NORM!"
DH thinks I am nuts. I've researched the canine DNA kits-they have as many detractors as they do proponents, so I may wait on that-at this point, a kit could be an "I told you so" (I thought his mama didn't look quite right), but that's about it.
He'll be a much BETTER Rhodesian-Boxer than he was a Boxer. I feel much better. And it's easy to see he's a Daddy's boy.
3 comments:
Good detective work! Now, you can concentrate on figuring out how to translate that knowledge into easier dealings with Sonny, right? (at least I hope so!)
All the best,
Marta
Oh Bets, you make me miss my dogs with all this talk if Rhodesian Ridgebacks!
My ex and I had 2 that we adopted from the SPCA way back when. They were crossed with Dalmatians and were wonderful dogs....once they grew up!
We got Bailey first, as a puppy, and she was a brat! She was always into everything and dominating the kids...the boys were 6 and 8 at the time. Then....we get a call from the SPCA wondering if we were missing Bailey, because they thought they had caught her running the neighborhood....NOT! Turns out they had caught her brother. (Like they couldn't tell he was a young male!?) So we HAD to go and see him. He was a gangly 8 month old and took our hearts as soon as we saw him....
They looked like a pair of Orka together! They were black except for their chests and paws were white...black and white speckled bellies:-) But the ridge looked like a fin:-) It wasn't flat like a ridgeback usually is but came up in the center. (But the build is JUST like your new pooch!! Spitting image, except for the colour!)
Having 2 was the trick! Honestly Bailey would have driven us insane had we just had her. She stopped being a brat with the kids and focused her attention on Angus McDougall (Gus)...Yeah!.... They loved the kennel and all was happy and only because we found Gus!
Thanks for the memories:-)
Diane
BTW, we knew they were Ridgeback/Dalmatian crosses because the SPCA had also, on numerous occasions, had the mom, Dutches the Dalmatian and the father, the roaming Ridgeback recently in their custody.
So be careful cause Ridgebacks like to follow their noses on occasion. Mostly they were couch potatoes and totally lovable!!!
Your boys are so cute together, just like two puppies, crashed on top of each other.
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