Animal Updates
Something is always happening in the lives of Home for Life® residents: achievements, visits from sponsors and supporters, and milestones. This page highlights just a few of the many events that residents experience throughout the year.
March 30, 2008
In the Mix
Tiger, the dog who stumped science.
At Home for Life®, we have never met a mutt we didn't like. One of our lovable mutts, Tiger, was included in a recent St. Paul Pioneer Press investigative report titled "There's a Certain Charm about a Mutt." The investigation involved testing the DNA of several mixed-breed dogs to determine their breed heritage. Tiger was the only dog studied whose lineage was unidentifiable!
Tiger came to Home for Life® as a puppy from the Animal Welfare League shelter in Chicago, IL. He was confiscated as an abuse case, having been starved to the point that his bones failed to develop properly, leaving him with painful deformity in his hind legs and hips.
In honor of the potential athlete within, Tiger was named after golfer Tiger Woods. He will soon undergo surgery at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital to correct his disability and free his athletic spirit. Meanwhile, Tiger completed the Renaissance Program this fall with a student from Totem Town and is already a certified therapy dog!
Your Guess is as Good as Ours
Below we profile a few of HFL's lovable mixed-breed dogs that have not graced our website before, and take our best guess at their heritage based on looks and temperament. See if you agree!
Spanky: Pitbull + Australian Shepherd? Husky? Yellow Lab?
Spanky
Spanky is a husky blond boy who came to Home for Life® as
a puppy.
We know that Spanky's mom was a Pitbull due to the circumstances of his rescue: One of our employees found a female Pitbull wandering on Wisconsin Highway 64 in the middle of traffic, looking for something to eat. It turned out that the dog, named Maxine, had been abandoned in an empty rental property with her nine newborn puppies. The renter had left the starving mother dog nothing to eat and to drink, only a little dirty water in an ice cream bucket. The property owner was only too glad to give the dog and her babies to Home for Life®. The whole family moved in when we opened for business at our Star Prairie location.
Spanky is one of Maxine's puppies. Six of his littermates found permanent homes, but Spanky, his brother Alfalfa, and his sister Pepper (who was adopted and returned) did not find adoptive homes and are still with us. Maxine also remained at HFL until she died last year.
Spanky resides in a townhouse with his brother Alfalfa, who is a short haired version of Spanky. Sister Pepper, who has one blue eye and one brown eye, takes after her mother and has a shiny black coat with white bib and feet.
Based on Spanky's appearance, his father may have been an Australian Shepherd or a Husky. Some speculate that he may have been a yellow Lab with some Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Husky mixed in to account for Spanky's wavy thick coat. Spanky's charming smile, however, is all his own.
Beauty: Border Collie + Husky?
Beauty
Beauty was the subject of our 2006
holiday card. She is a tall dog with a thick short coat of shimmering
black and pristine white. She is athletic and leggy with a curled tail.
Her beautiful sky blue eyes are stunning against the black fur of her mask.
Beauty's name matches not just her appearance, but her loving temperament and intelligence as well. When she came to us, she was already a guide dog to her companion Pepper, a blind cattle dog who followed the bells on Beauty's collar to help him get around. Since then, Beauty has participated in the Renaissance Program and is now a certified therapy dog.
Pepper and Beauty were surrendered to Home for Life® by a Minnesota shelter that wanted to ensure that the dogs stayed together. The shelter took in Beauty and Pepper when their family had to abandon their home due to domestic abuse.
Based on her striking looks and temperament, we speculate that Beauty is a Husky-Border Collie mix.
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice: Doberman + Collie?
Beetle came to Home for Life® from the Northshore Animal League, a shelter in New York with a heavy emphasis on adoption. Beetlejuice had been confiscated in a neglect case by the shelter's animal cruelty investigators.
Beetle lived at Northshore for over three years, and in that time was adopted and returned three times. Why? His heritage, believed to be a Collie-Doberman mix. Beetlejuice expressed both the herding instincts of the Collie and the protective nature of the Doberman with sometimes misunderstood consequences.
Beetle has been at Home for Life® for three years and is now age 11. At the sanctuary he feels safe and has lost the anxious tendency to nip and bark in a menacing fashion. He is very smart and excels in obedience training and in performing tricks. He keeps a close eye on sanctuary activities, but is reassured and steadied by his current roommates, who include Macy, Anook and Patches (see link in right column).
Beetle has the characteristic handsome markings and facial features of a Doberman, but fur like a Collie on a bad hair day—fuzzy, wooly, and prone to expansion in humid weather. Beetle likes his hair cut short in the warm summer months but appreciates its warmth and insulating qualities during the winter when he wears it longer.