Written by Monique Visagie
Professional photography by Blue Lace Photography
Pinky was the pet of children who treated her like a doll. They carried her around all day and didn’t let her be a dog. One evening, these children walked with her door-to-door and asked all the residents in the complex if anyone wanted to take her. The family were moving to a new complex that same evening and the children’s parents had failed to tell them beforehand that she wasn’t allowed in the new complex. Although the children didn’t treat her well or feed her the correct food (they only fed her mielie pap), I’m sure they really loved her!
Our house was one of the last the children came to ask at and, by that time, they were devastated.
My husband answered the door and asked the children to give us a couple of minutes to decide. I initially said no, but I could see by my husband’s face that he was already convinced! One of our dogs had passed away just two weeks prior to this, and we have an old Dachshund as well (she’s 16 years at the moment and still doing well). Zoe, the Dachshund, was 13 years old at that point and Pinky was three years of age. I thought that I didn’t want to put Zoe in an uncomfortable situation by bringing in this young dog that might not get along with her.
The children came back, and now I had to tell them that I didn’t want another dog. When I opened the door and saw Pinky, my heart immediately melted and I simply couldn’t say no! Zoe and Pinky got along well from the start; however, it took about a year to get Pinky house-trained and about two years to get her over her extreme anxiety about being picked up.
I’ve never regretted taking her in and love to spend time with her. She’s a great companion to Zoe, and a fantastic addition to our household!
Pinky is well-mannered and an absolute sweetheart, but she’s very sceptical about strangers and strange noises. Her first response is to bark and then she calls me for assistance. Whenever Zoe needs something during the night, Pinky will bark and wake me up to tend to her. Pinky is very excitable and has a bad case of FOMO! She’s very intelligent and insists on doing a couple of tricks before I give her food to her!
The reason I wanted to have her DNA tested was two-fold. Firstly, I wanted to know what to look out for, such as breed-specific problems which can sometimes be avoided with the correct diet; and knowing about it can assist me in properly caring for her and giving her the absolute best. The second reason was pure curiosity! Based on her appearance, I thought she might be a Pomeranian cross, and our veterinarian suggested that she’s probably a Toy Pomeranian cross. Apparently, we were all wrong!
Pinky’s MuttMix Results
Level 2 Chinese Crested
Level 4 Chow
Level 4 Chihuahua
The DNA collection was easier than I thought it would be, and I’d recommend it to anyone! I love the traits that MuttMix supplied with the results – I can see where Pinky got her personality from. The very active side is from the Chinese Crested and Chihuahua, while the protectiveness and suspicion of strangers are from the Chow and Chihuahua. All three of these breeds refer to intelligence, and definitely not a dog which likes to be carried around. Pinky’s very independent, but she also wants to be near me and is very loyal.
Thanks so much, MuttMix, for this and for enabling us to further understand our girl!
