This is a tale of Willie dating back to 2010. My dogs, Willie and Ivy, frequently show up in my social media posts. The simple reason for that is that they go with me damn near everywhere I go and they are always ready for action, whether it be running as I mountain bike at Camp Robinson, fishing on the Little Red, canoeing the Buffalo, paddle boarding on the river or the lake, or just wandering the woods.
Willie is one handsome dude and he takes naturally to modeling.
He is a competitive trout fisherman but struggles to tie his own flies. He chases MY fish without shame. That's right, Willie, mine!
Flatboat Willie. He's better at wade/swim fishing but is always up for any kind of boat ride.
At the time of this post, Willie had been in the family for almost a year, and the best guess is that he was about three years old. He is now over eleven years old and not slowing down. I think he's actually doing this senior athlete thing better than I am, as he is still good for running 10-12 miles of trail out at Camp, while my road mileage has dropped significantly over the last few years. I had Willie's DNA tested for breed and, as you can read, he's a fine blend.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Another Dog Tale (No Biting!)
Pop Quiz: What do these dog breeds have in common?
My man, Willie, shown here cooling off in a creek at Camp Robinson during a mountain bike escort run. He loves to run the trails, but at home, he's a Mama's boy.
Golden Retriever
Beagle
Maltese
Poodle
Chihuahua
Dachshund
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you given up, yet? Think about it...it's coming to you....
The correct answer is: Willie
Last Thanksgiving, we adopted Willie, a rescue dog that was purported to be Border Collie and who was still recovering from a badly shattered leg that he had suffered six months prior. We'd lost Diane's beloved Josie a few months earlier and we decided it was time for another dog. Our little Aussie mix Zuli also needed a pal, so Willie came into our lives. We speculated at length on his ancestry and my opinion was that he was most likely a cattle dog/terrier blend. We continued to speculate until one day Diane read an article about DNA testing to determine the genetic make-up of mutts. The subject came up a few more times, so I dropped by the CARE office one day and picked up the testing kit. We swabbed Willie and sent his sample off to the lab. Two weeks later, we got Willie's report. While chatting with the volunteer at C.A.R.E. as I purchased the kit, she had mentioned that one dog tested had been the product of seven different breeds. Willie came up one short of the local record with six. Yes, we are the proud owners of a purebred Golden Retriever-Beagle-Chihuahua-Dachshund-Maltese-Poodle, and we have the papers to prove it.
Willie is the product of several generations of artfully indiscriminate breeding and we couldn't be prouder! He is one very fine dog.
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