{"id":545,"date":"2011-01-25T18:36:55","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T23:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/?p=545"},"modified":"2011-01-25T18:36:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-25T23:36:56","slug":"just-a-mutt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/2011\/01\/25\/just-a-mutt\/","title":{"rendered":"Just A Mutt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What type of dog is she?<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s what I usually reply when asked “What kind of dog is she?” It seems most people are disappointed by my answer. Risa is a very unique-looking (aka weird-looking) dog. I suppose everyone expects her to be some rare breed or some new designer dog. Alas, no. She is simply a mutt.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s my word choice too. I always call her a mutt. To most people, this is a derogatory term. But it matters not to me. Mixed breed, mongrel, All American Dog. . . Whatever you want to call her doesn’t change what she is. She is a dog without a purebred pedigree. A mix of this and who knows what.<\/p>\n

I have, at times, toyed with the idea of making up a fancy name for her along the lines of goldendoodle or puggle. There’s only one major problem with that: I don’t know what type of mix she is. If I knew, I would probably answer “border collie cross” instead of “mutt!”<\/p>\n

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Border collie + greyhound = Risa? I think there's more to it than that.<\/p><\/div>\n

At one point, I decided to call her a “Western Montana Herding Dog.” I’ve always suspected she has some herding breed(s) in her and she was born in the western part of Big Sky Country. However, I had to stop calling her that after I took her herding. She had no herding instinct at all and preferred chasing sheep rather than trying to gather them up and move them somewhere.<\/p>\n

I suppose I could answer “lurcher” as I’m fairly certain she fits that description. A lurcher isn’t a breed of dog, but a type of dog. It’s a cross between a sighthound and another breed of dog (historically it was a herding breed or a terrier). However, that requires more explanation than “mutt” and still doesn’t give any definitive answers. I have no idea which sighthound or other breed(s) are in her background. <\/p>\n

It is certainly human curiosity to want to know. I do not blame people for asking. I wish I knew what she was! Honestly, I would love to give a straight answer and one more descriptive. But I cannot. I will never know for certain what breeds are behind my dog. People can continue to guess what she is. I like when they play the guessing game with her mix. I have heard some combinations that sound plausible and others that are out there in left field. Her uniqueness is something I treasure.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what she is. It’s clear to me that she’s certainly more than “Just a mutt.” She’s my friend and my close family. My exercise partner. My social life (I meet the best people through my dog!). Risa has helped me be a better person and has taught me many things. She’s a one-in-a-million dog. And she’s all mine. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s what I usually reply when asked “What kind of dog is she?” It seems most people are disappointed by my answer. Risa is a very unique-looking (aka weird-looking) dog. I suppose everyone expects her to be some rare breed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dancingcavy.com\/mysterisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}