Our elderly Miniature Pinscher, Bella, has never been much of a companion for our other rescue dog, Hannibal. Hannibal fooled an unwitting worker at a North Philadelphia SPCA into thinking he was also a Min Pin, but turns out, he’s a Manchester Terrier. And anyone who’s ever had a terrier knows they literally bounce off the walls (and furniture, and pillars).
So my husband and I decided that we should adopt another rescue dog, this time, a puppy, and one that’s a Labrador Retriever or lab mix. We just put an in-ground swimming pool in last summer, and thought it would be great to have a dog that enjoyed the water, as well as someone for Hannibal to pal around with.
We looked on PetFinder for a young male lab mix, and after unsuccessfully trying to reach several dog rescues that advertised just such an animal, we stumbled upon a Dalmation Rescue, of all places, who had a litter of puppies whose mother was a Labrador/Beagle mix. Eureka! So we picked out a pup from one of the photos and drove three (THREE!!) hours up into God’s country to pick up this puppy.
Trapper, his mother, and litter mates were brought up from a Kentucky SPCA to Lewistown, Pennsylvania ‘Pony Express’ style, and were being fostered at a Dalmation rescue, all awaiting adoption into permanent homes.
He looked like a Lab mix, for sure, but then the woman who we got him from posted a photo of his mother on her Facebook page. She looked like a Spaniel! or a Pointer! — so we had to find out for sure.
I bought a DNA test, swabbed his cheek, and sent the sample off to the laboratory for analysis. Three long weeks passed. Trapper was carrying around sticks and stuffed animals and was already learning how to fetch. Was he, in fact, a Lab mix?
Finally, the results: English Coonhound, Doberman Pinscher, and Miniature Pinscher, with lots of other things in the mix that weren’t in enough quantities for the test to detect. No Labrador Retriever?! Not even any Beagle?! OK, so I looked up the English Coonhound. Trapper was beginning to display distinct Coonhound characteristics, and I have to say, I couldn’t be happier.
He’s a floppy, mellow, content little dog (big dog, actually) who is about as easygoing as they come. His story has yet to be written, as he’s only now four months old, but I’m looking forward to every chapter.
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