Written by Denise Moodie
Professional photography by Blue Lace Photography
It had been six months since losing my last Husky from old age, and I was ready to adopt another fur kid. I’m a big lover of dogs. I grew up having dogs as part of the family, and our home felt empty without one.
We tried to adopt a two-year-old Corgi-Collie cross in December 2020, but, sadly, it didn’t work out due to serious behavioural issues. But, about a week or so later, we went through to the Kempton SPCA hoping to adopt a Labrador girl we’d seen on their Facebook page.
We were on our way to her kennel when my husband pointed out our Loki-to-be with his two sisters and commented how beautiful and unique he looked. We still went to see the Labrador girl but, being very high energy, we were worried she would be a little much around our toddler.
Instead, we asked to meet the three puppies we’d passed. It turned out that they had just been moved to the public cages because they’d been too young to be adopted when they were surrendered. I immediately took to Loki as he was the colours of both his sisters together. He was very timid and quiet, which made me want him even more. We were told he was a Husky-Labrador cross, and that’s why we liked his mix. I’ve had Huskies before and used to foster them for Husky Rescue South Africa, and Labradors are great family members.
We were finally able to bring Loki home on Christmas Eve of 2020.
Loki looooves car rides and knows the phrases: “Let’s go”, “We need to fetch Owen”, and “shoes” because those mean he gets to have a ride. He is very obedient and enjoyed attending puppy school. He loves his teddy toys and has a cat for a best friend (he thinks he’s the cat, and she thinks she’s the dog). He is like my Velcro baby; he follows me everywhere, no sneaking allowed. Loki’s favourite place besides “his mom” is on the couch next to me or on my lap.
As he grew, we noticed that he looked less like Labrador and not much Husky, so I found MuttMix through Facebook and was intrigued to see what results came back.
Loki’s MuttMix Results:
Level 2 German Shepherd Dog
Level 4 American Staffordshire Terrier
Level 4 Shih Tzu
Level 5 Belgian Malinois
We were very surprised to see neither Husky nor Lab but rather German Shepard and (as I had suspected) Belgian Malinois. But what really took our breath away and gave us a good laugh is that he had Shih Tzu in him too.
We now occasionally call him our big little Shih Tzu. Loki’s very much part of the family, and the kids love him. He is definitely a momma’s boy and has a big place in all our hearts.
