Written by Gary Chomse
Professional photography by Strike a Pose Studios
We already have 2 rescue dogs from K9 Friends in Dubai, whom we brought back with us when we returned to SA in 2012. These lovely 2 Saluki-cross-somethings are now nearly 14 years old, and for a while, I had been thinking about getting a new, more active puppy in our house. It took 2 years or so, but I eventually wore my wife down, and she agreed to get a puppy – some good advice: it takes time, but you just have to stay the course, persevere, nag, and whine like a little toddler and they eventually give in!.
I’ve always had rescue dogs in my house, but for a long time had longed for a pure-bred/pedigree – just for once in my life! AGreat Dane, Hungarian Vizsla, English Mastiff, Boerbul, Bull Terrier, and Boxer were a real consideration until we saw a Woodrock Animal Rescue post on FaceBook one day that they were having a pop-up rescue dog/puppy viewing at a nursery in Rosebank. We had nothing to do that Saturday so we took a drive to go take a look.
I am not good at going to these sorts of dog adoption places, SPCA, etc., as they make me sad and if I had my way, I’d adopt all of the dogs there!
I was intent on getting a male dog for a change, as most of my dogs had been female. However, that fortuitous day, we walked into where all the Woodrock dogs were, and in one pen were 3 little mixed-breed puppies, one of them being male. But he was already taken, so a male was out. The other female was also taken, which left the last female (“Buttercup” – who names a dog that, Woodrock?!).
At that moment, “Buttercup” was “aggressively” wrestling with her much larger brother. She had him pinned down on the ground and had him by his collar – they were having a ball! I immediately loved her feistiness and playfulness, and my thoughts on getting a male went out the window – along with my longing for a pure-bred/pedigree dog. I immediately told my wife that this was our dog and we were doing it! We hadn’t even held her yet.
We still had to go through Woodrock’s home vetting process. With a swimming pool, we were a bit concerned that this may be an obstacle. However, with previously having had at least 7 dogs on the same property over the last 23 years, I think they realised that we were not novices with pets. We were approved, and a couple of days later, I got my beautiful puppy. Her Woodrock name was immediately changed from Buttercup to Chobe.
Watching this little pup growing up, with all her quirks and idiosyncrasies, we were really interested to find out what dog breeds Chobe could possibly be made up of. After much debate between friends and family as to what she may be, we decided to do the MuttMix DNA test. We got the results back after about 6 weeks.
Chobe’s MuttMix Results:
33% American Pit Bull Terrier
32% Chinese Shar-Pei
14% American Staffordshire Terrier
12% Bloodhound
9% Belgian Malinois
We found Chobe’s MuttMix results really interesting! It's official – our girl is a highly intelligent, talented, rare, pure-bred mixed-breed canine of high standing!
Many of the traits are very inherent in Chobe, I must say! The bloodhound part was a surprise, but it makes absolute sense when we see the way she puts her nose to the ground and sniffs the whole route that the ball has taken when we throw it for her!
She is definitely smaller in stature than all 5 of the dog species shown, but her stature/physical features are definitely consistent with a Pit Bull / Staffie / Shar-pei.
The (very small) Belgian Malinois part of her mix definitely shows through much more than the measly 9% of the result shows – her athleticism and jumping in the air and long jumping skills are awesome and something to see, but it means many hours spent in the garden and in parks with a ball and obstacles to challenge her. See some of the photos of her jumping into the air to catch her beloved ball!
I’ve decided her official mixed breed name is a DIEPSLOOT MALINOIS!
She is a beautiful dog and seems to have ended up with all the best traits of all 5 of the dogs she's made up of, and we love her all the more for it! She is one of the best dogs I have ever had. Some people say that people’s dogs are often just like their owners (or vice versa!) – well, in this case, I don’t think there could be a truer statement (to name a few traits we share: good looks, intelligent, obedient, athletic, loving, courageous, social, eager to please, and my wife’s input: noisy, annoying, dominant, pain in the butt a lot of the time, requires firm handling, takes up too much space on her side of the bed in the mornings but loves to cuddle)!
.jpg)
