The Spotty Hooligans and Visitor

Things with our visitor, Kiana, are going well. The first 48 hours she was clearly distressed, but now she has settled in and learned the routine here.

Dexter is looking less emo about Kiana staying with us. He has even stopped shooting me pleading looks when Kiana takes his favourite spot on the sofa. He's also playing with her more.

Fig and Kiana are requiring less play breaks to keep play from escalating to insane levels of excitement. (They had one small tiff the other night. Things have been considerably calmer since then.) We even had two tiny puppies visit for a play date without incident. (Five dogs in my house? Oh my!) Fig did require a couple of reminders about wrestling with puppies on top of humans. (We discourage wrestling on top of people.) Kiana needed a reminder about not stepping on tiny puppies. (Um, ow?) Meanwhile, Dexter managed to not drop his brain, minding both his manners and where his paws landed so no pups were squooshed. (Hooray!)


All three dogs playing nicely. Joy!

Breed tests -- What are you, Dexter?

Last month I surprised my husband with a very early Christmas gift: a DNA test to determine Dexter and Fig's breeds. I have seen some wild breed results with these DNA tests so I admit I'm rather skeptical. I've seen a Pit Bull come back as predominantly Saluki and a Retriever mix come back as a Basenji. They're supposed to be accurate, but they warn against testing purebred dogs. How can they confidently tell me what my mutt is when they can't guarantee they can tell a purebred Labrador Retriever from, well, any other breed?

At any rate, I ordered the DNA tests and sent in the swabs. It's for my husband so I don't need to believe in their accuracy.

When the results came back I kind of giggled. According to the Wisdom Panel Dexter was at least 12.5% Bull Terrier. Bull Terrier? If it had said any other bully breed, I'd have bought it. But Bull Terrier? Really? He doesn't appear to have any of their characteristics.

Then a friend showed me photos of Bull Arab dogs. Bull Arabs are mixed breed dogs originally bred in Australia to hunt pig. One of the breeds used to create this breed-in-the-making was the Bull Terrier. Why is this relevant? The dogs my friend showed me looked like Dexter. Some even had his colouring. Suddenly his DNA results didn't seem so ridiculous.

I asked myself: Could Dexter be a Bull Arab, whether in part or in whole?

Dexter was born and raised in Hawai'i. Hawai'i is a rabies free state so animals imported to Hawai'i must go through quarantine. There are a few exceptions, one being jumping through months of hoops to prove your animal is not a threat to Hawaii's rabies-free status. Another exception is any pet imported from Australia. A number of Hawai'i pet stores get their puppies from Australian puppy mills as a result. A Bull Arab imported from Australia was definitely a possibility. It wasn't even a difficult possibility.

Feral pigs are a problem in Hawai'i. They damage land and threaten endangered species of plants. Hunting feral pigs is not uncommon. In fact, it's not uncommon to see pickup trucks loaded with hog dogs any day of the week. Hunters can and do use many breeds and mixes. Some are always on the lookout for the next awesome hog dog and will go to great lengths to acquire one.


So I began looking for Bull Arabs in Hawai'i. And with a few quick clicks I found forums where Hawai'ian hunters were showing off their Bull Arab dogs. One even had a litter for sale that looked like Dexter, right down to the colouring. There were photos of the litter's older half-siblings who also looked like Dexter. Wow.

I thought I adopted an Australian Cattle Dog (also known as Red Heeler or Queensland Heeler) mix puppy in October of 2007. But maybe what I adopted was a Bull Arab puppy, some hunter's reject. It's certainly possible. It also explains the similarities he shares with the Hawai'ian hog dogs I'm accustomed to seeing.

If nothing else I did manage to adopt a very mixed mutt who has Bull Terrier ancestry. That much seems clear to me now.

Visitor update

Kiana, our golden visitor, has settled in nicely.



See? She's in Dexter's favourite spot. (Don't ask me how he feels about this. I had to remind him that in this house we do indeed share. He showed me that he understood by taking MY favourite spot. Nrf.)

A visitor to the House of Spotted Hooligans

The dog on the right is Kiana, a 1.5 year old Lab mix. She's staying here with us from Dec 15 to Jan 7, 2011 while her family is away for the holidays.

Dexter is not entirely thrilled. At first, he was excited beyond thinking at a new dog in the house. And then he realized she wasn't leaving and started giving me these sad expressions. He's spending most of his time tucked away at one end of the house. Occasionally Kiana solicits play and Dexter responds kindly, but it doesn't last long before he's headed back to our room.

Meanwhile, Fig alternates between being thrilled at someone new to wrestle with and being disinterested. One minute, Kiana is the Best Thing Ever™ and the next Fig just wants to nap, please.

Kiana is settling in pretty well, though I can tell she misses her family. She's a sweet dog with soulful eyes; it's hard to miss how she's feeling.

Wish me luck! I am so thoroughly outnumbered that it's scary. ;]

Snow day!

It has been snowing all day. It's the first real snow day we've had since Figlet came to be part of our family. As you might guess, this meant there had to be photos.



There's lots more photos to be viewed--if you're so inclined--at Flickr. Click on the photo of Dex and Fig to head that way.

Dogs on death row in Broward County, FL going home for the holidays

Earlier this year a Siberian Husky being walked on a leash encountered a small Poodle who was off-leash. There was a fight--or attack, depending on whose story is to be believed--and the Poodle died at the hands (paws?) of the Husky. Despite the fact that the Poodle's owners were in violation of the county's leash law it was the law-abiding Husky (and her family) who was punished. Brandie, an 11-year-old Husky, was labeled "dangerous" and later sentenced to death.

Brandie's death sentence turned into a lawsuit, soon to be followed by more law suits, a country-wide plea to change the one-strike dangerous dog law and save Broward County's death row dogs.

Now Brandie and Gigi, another dog sitting on Broward County's doggie death row, are going home. Just in time for the holidays.

See http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/12/broward_county_releasing_dogs.html for more information.

This is one of those stories that I cannot help but feel strongly about. I have found myself in a similar situation more than once. Just this past week I was walking Dexter, my delightfully doofy dog, on a 6 ft leash when a dog charged down his driveway at us. Dexter is a very non-confrontational dog; I've seen him diffuse some pretty sketchy situations by displaying appropriate body language, he will walk away from dogs who are bothering him, and would rather give up his prized bone than fight over it. But he's not a total push-over. The second time he was attacked by another dog he actually fought back. He will do what he can to keep his hide out of trouble, but when push comes to shove he will defend himself.

So as I turned to face this cream coloured dog barreling down the driveway straight for Dexter I wasn't sure whether Dexter was about to run the other way or stand and defend himself. And I didn't want to find out.


The good news is that this time the dog was more scared of me acting like a crazy person--limbs flailing and voice booming threats--than intent on harming Dexter. And Dexter got away without a scratch on him (probably because he tried to stay behind me) that I could find. I got away with a twisted ankle and no bite marks. But it could have been worse. Dexter and the aggressor could have tangled in a deadly fight. And what if Dexter defended himself successfully?

This is not the first time we've been attacked by an off-leash dog while my dog was on-leash. It is unlikely to be the last. And it is one of my worst nightmares that one day, despite all of my efforts to raise my dogs to be safe, polite members of society, that I could lose one to someone else's negligence and irresponsibility.

Leashes and fences exist for a reason: let's use them. Use them so we don't scare or harm people or their pets. There's no excuse to let dogs roam at large, threatening children, pets and wildlife. Your dog may pay the ultimate price. Or someone else might instead.

We all need to be considerate of those around us and responsible with our pets.


My leash keeps me safe. It looks pretty snazzy, too!

Late night walks and Christmas lights

A number of the neighbors have begun decorating for Christmas, which has inspired me to take more late night walks with the dogs (to enjoy the lights). It has also inspired me to put blue-and-white lights in the front windows and garden.



Behold! Figlet and Dexter photographed separately after their walks. (We usually go on separate walks for one-on-one time). Apologies for the quality of the images. Hopefully the cute subjects make up for it. ;]