This little girl is from Tijuana. Roughly 6 months old, 16lbs. Wire-coat with a hilarious mohawk on the back of her neck. Completely bonkers energy level and VERY much a terrier in her stubbornness. She’s pretty smart. I sent off the dna test, but in the meantime for fun what’s in the mix in your opinion?
13 Likes
That’s definitely a Boopaschnoot also known as a Crested Vamanos!
I’ve heard they were bred to guard goats from the Chupacabra…
14 Likes
Considering she was utterly terrified of the cats when she first arrived and then had a heart attack meeting horses for the first time I think any goat being protected by her would be toast…
7 Likes
Well, maybe she’s just “pet quality”? 
But she’s dang cute! I’m glad she got such a soft landing.
3 Likes
100 % Adorable ! Thank you for giving her your home !
3 Likes
Chinese crested x border terrier!
2 Likes
Looks suspiciously Schnauzerish in the face….and they come in wire-hair.
2 Likes
Whatever breed totally adorable is! Oh my, that is a lot of cuteness.
2 Likes
I suspect she may be 3 or 4 breeds but when I see such a cute dog, I wonder why we don’t have “that” as a special breed.
Lucky you to have found such a special little friend. Which brand dna test did you do?
What a cutie! Love that wild-looking mohawk on her neck!
I’m thinking she may have rough coat Jack Russell in her pedigree although her face from the side looks like a Border Terrier. Or she could have gotten the rough coat from a Wirehaired Dachshund. She’s a little bit long in the body so maybe it’s dachshund. As for the rest - who knows? She got that cream color from somewhere - maybe an English Cream Dachshund but those come only in longhair.
I take those genetic tests with a grain of salt but it will be interesting to know what it says.
2 Likes
Well, I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at peoples’ results on r/DoggyDNA on reddit, and the one thing that always seems to surprise dog owners whose dogs have wiry “furnishings” like this is that it’s often caused by some poodle in the mix, and not schnauzer. Your guy looks mixed enough that I can’t even make an educated guess.
I had a friend guess Chinese Crested also, so now that’s two votes for that being in the mix. Lol. The rescue I fostered for previously pulled dogs from the same area and had ones before that looked like they could be Chinese Crested mixes so it does seem possible there is at least one down there running around unfixed.
I used Embark. I did one on my previous dog and it matched my guess almost dead-on but in percentages that were a lot different than I was expecting. And came back with a health warning that solved the mystery of the back & neck issues she was having that were undiagnosed at the time. I’m much more of a believer in them now than I was before.
2 Likes
The mohawk is what got me. It wasn’t showing in her adoption photos but as soon as I met her and saw her punk rock look I was sold.
My guess is rough coat Jack mixed with yellow lab. With maybe some chihuahua thrown in since it’s Mexico and to shrink down the size. Lol. She paces like some Labs do and her shade of gold/yellow looks very lab-like. The rescue guessed she will finish around 22lbs but I’m thinking she’ll be heavier. She’s pretty tall, has a lot of extra skin right now and is putting away an astounding amount of food.
Will be fun to see what the results are- hopefully it will come back as distinct breeds rather than being a super-mutt.
That was the one bit of trivia in the Embark welcome email that did surprise me! I will crack up if it turns out she’s a poodle/shih tzu cross.
“Terrier Mix? Maybe not! The same genetic variant of the RSPO2 gene that gives terriers their wire coat can also be inherited from Poodles, Shih Tzus, and other breeds.”
1 Like
Oh good for choosing Embark. I agree they are quite accurate and the health panel is well worth the money.
I tested my recent rescue German Shepherd and learned she was free of the genetic flaw causing Degenerative Myelopathy which was a huge relief as I lost my previous rescued GSD to DM.
How did you end up getting a pup from Mexico? What’s her name?
1 Like
She came with the name Mika (pronounced Meeka) and it seems to have stuck. All the names I like are boy names and not gender-neutral enough.
I’m in the LA area and a lot of the rescues here get the majority of their dogs and puppies from Mexico. Tijuana, San Luis Rey, basically all the areas just across the border. A lot of them are in really bad shape, lots of tick-borne diseases and starvation cases. Boxes of puppies left on street corners or dumped in the desert. The rescue I fostered for has 7-10 dogs come up every week for adoption. Most need several weeks of vet care before they are healthy enough to cross the border. It’s a very sad situation there.
Mika was a street stray, they picked her up in July at roughly 3 months old, very skinny and frightened.
1 Like
Aww poor little waif.
She just may come out in her test as a “Village Dog” where there’s soo many different breeds for so long that they become one type dog.
When do you expect her results back?
1 Like
1-3 weeks. She could end up being a super-mutt for sure with how weird her appearance is but I hope there are some discernible breeds in there just because it’s fun to see if anyone guessed correctly. But either way she’s adorable and silly. And will be a very good dog in another 3 years or so when she finally grows out of the Tasmanian devil lunatic puppy phase. 
1 Like
I am far from an expert but I recall seeing something some time back that a variation of RSPO2 results in wiry coats (Wirehaired Dachshund, etc.). Curly coats (Poodles, etc.) result from variants of combinations of FGF5 and KRT71. And variants of RSPO2 plus KRT71 produces wiry curly coats such as in some terriers like mine (Welsh).
This dog’s coat looks wiry but not curly. OP, do let us know when you get the test results back.
But no matter what her ancestry is - she looks adorable and good on OP for taking her in!
1 Like
