Written by Megan from MuttMix
Bindy entered her humans’ lives as a starving, tick-infested little veld gremlin from rural Mpumalanga… and within approximately seven seconds, completely took over their hearts.
What began as a rescue quickly became the kind of love story that changes people forever.
Since then, Bindy has become the softest cuddle addict, the friendliest dog on earth, and a professional collector of attention from strangers who all ask the exact same question: “What on earth is she?”
Over the years, she’s been lovingly described as everything from a Himalayan Bush-Collie to a Brindle Luck-Dragon – because honestly, nobody had a clue.
But behind the hilarious breed guesses, oversized lapdog behaviour, and relentless snack negotiations lies the story of a once-forgotten puppy who transformed into the soul of a family… the dog who filled spaces her humans never even realised were empty.
And when her MuttMix DNA results finally arrived?
Suddenly, the wonderfully chaotic little puzzle that is Bindy started making perfect sense.
Bindy: our Brindle Beauty
Written by Diane Smith
Photography by Mariaan Browne
Bindy hails from the highlands of rural Mpumalanga where we picked her up alone in the veld; a starving, tick-infested, roughly five-month-old fleabag. It took seven seconds to completely fall in love with her, and after three days of some proper nutrition and biliary shots, she started to flourish.
She’s since been the friendliest (and we truly mean this, she loves EVERYBODY), softest (we mean this too) and most affectionate creature that we never knew we lacked in our lives. Until this week, we just smiled and shrugged, or deferred to the well-worn “We have no idea” rhetoric when people would ask us what she was. We can’t go anywhere without somebody commenting on her unique looks!
If we felt playful, we told them she was a Himalayan Bush-Collie, an Andean Shrew-catcher, a Brindle Luck-Dragon or a Summerhound (“She’s Some-of-this, and Some-of-that”). Now, we can take a deep breath and rattle off her half-expected/half-surprising pedigree.
Bindy’s MuttMix Results:
17% Greyhound
16% Belgian Malinois
13% Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier
12% Miniature Poodle
11% English Shepherd
11% Boxer
10% Whippet
10% Dobermann Pinscher
The Greyhound-Whippet combo explains her calm demeanour at home, her brindle coat, deep chest, speed, and undying prey drive. The Belgian Malinois comes out when she gives the death-shake to her toys and catches on to new tricks in half a tick. The English Shepherd and Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier genes must contribute to her luxuriously strokable pelt, while the cocktail of some other unexpected breeds lends to her distinctiveness.
Bindy is rather oversized regarding lapdog proportions, but she doesn’t know this. She’ll crawl into your lap for the longest, softest cuddles, in which her Mommy delights.
Her favourite thing in the whole world (besides us, naturally) is food. Or things that approximate food. “What are you eating?”, almost always followed by “LEAVE IT!” are daily refrains. Perhaps this a remnant of her days of fending for herself as a ravenous pup. It’s her one vice – but the irresistible incentive of a treat has made her extremely trainable. A warm muzzle always gently rests on someone’s lap under the dinner table, and she cycles between the messiest eaters and the weakest-willed (usually Mommy).
Bindy has been instrumental in collecting new friends for us; at our local dog park we’ve established beautiful friendships with the other regulars who also started off asking us the Original Question: “What is she?” As self-employed work-from-homers, she’s crafted us into active walkers who must leave the house at least twice a day and talk to strangers (to answer the Original Question). She’s brought us so much joy in her big little life and to imagine a reality in which we didn’t fly her home from Mpumalanga is unthinkable.
Though we wouldn’t have been surprised if MuttMix returned brown hyena, jackal or chinchilla to us in her ancestry, we now know the winning recipe for one Heaven-sent canine.
