Maggie's mixed breed DNA test...

So excited that we will be sending out a mixed breed DNA test on our unique and beautiful small-medium  36 pound girl, Maggie :)  We rescued her five years ago from a shelter who had rescued

 her from Puerto Rico, she is a Sato.  

We are guessing there could be Basenji, Xolo (see sample of Xolo in this video), and possibly whippet or Italian Greyhound in her as well. These are our guesses based on many traits: her speed, she turns corners amazingly while running, intelligence, body language, her bark, which is a bark but also has some of that muffled 'roo' to it like a Basenji. She is a hunter, like a sight hound.  Here are some of her moves in the yard few years ago!

She has that dark grey-ish brown warm skin, not pink, like a Xoloitzcuintli and has that instinct, protectiveness, aloofness and just so smart! More of a body and stance of a Xolo too. She also has a "wild feral animal" type of personality, which is very interesting! We think its much more than from just being a stray when she was younger. She has an ancient survival way about her that's hard to explain unless you live with her...different from most dogs...almost like a cat but much more intense! 

Can't wait to find out what the DNA test results say.....stay tuned!

Cooling off by a window fan

Summer 2010

Yaay! Just found out Maggie is in the NorthEast Area UPDATE  Postal Service magazine!! The clip will be posted on our Photography BLOG soon!

Love those eyes and ears!! 

Photogenic Maggie

Maggie's Portrait

(she posed for me while I was practicing on camera flash techniques, what a model!)

iPhone Pic of Maggie at the Vet

Maggie went to a Farm :)

While Thorne is at Boarding School, Mags went to Great Brook Farm in Carlisle, Ma with us. We read in the Dog Lover's guide to New England Book that it was a great place to take dogs, and they mention off leash. We wouldn't dare take Maggie off leash, she's a runner and a sight hound!!

She had fun except for one incident where a father had been videotaping his son near the farm animals and his dogs were supposed to be on leash in that area but when we walked up there, those two big Great Pyranees of his came rushing at Maggie and they were not leashed. One of them grabbed Maggie instantly and pinned her down and tried biting her and Rob, my hubby, was trying to get the dog off of her and yelling. Finally the owner came over, very apologetic.

Now a Rant (again):
Anything can happen with dogs at anytime and owners NEED to be aware of their dogs when out on a trail or at a park. This happens way to often, owners just let their dogs do whatever as they are talking or something, not paying attention. What makes me more upset is that if no one is paying attention they don't see what happened and blame could be wrongly placed. If we had our Doberman with us and that dog did that to him, he probably would have defended himself but would have been blamed because he is a Doberman.
Anyways, it was a good day up until that point. The place was nice but I wouldn't recommend off leash here even though it's allowed on the trails. Reason being is that there are lots of horse back riders at this place.
Here are some photos from our day

Hunting snakes and weekend pics....

Today in the yard, trying to stop Maggie and Thorne from pursuing a Garter snake was a failure.... Maggie is a hunter and wouldn't give up or listen to me for that matter. I should have put a collar on her and took her in but there wasn't time. Thorne was trying to grab Maggie in the meantime to keep her from danger. Too late, though, the poor baby snake, came out of his hiding spot and Maggie grabbed his tail then Thorne got very protective and barked in his deep threatening bark at the snake non-stop. He grabbed it as there was lots of commotion between them and I trying to stop them. Neighbors probably thought a masacre was going on in our yard from what it sounded like.

Thorne grabbed it and threw it quite a few feet and poor thing landed upside down , bleeding and no movement. This is something they were proud of, their kill, but I was very saddened for the poor snake who was an asset to the yard and garden.
I had to use a stick, quickly picked up the snake while it was hanging lifeless over the stick and toss it out of the yard. The dogs were not thrilled, they looked at me like hey, that was ours, lady!!
I didn't want them to eat or swallow it so they will just have to understand. Oh, boy, it's gonna be a fun summer...that was not the usual snake we have in our yard, either. We have a much bigger one, I see yearly and they shouldn't mess with that one if it comes around. Gotta watch 'em like hawks, now. I kept thinking, in the heat of the snake hunt, would Thorne or Maggie have listened and let the snake be if they were properly obedience trained? Hmmmmm?

Here are some photos of them in the yard during the weekend , prior to the snake event

Maggie finally meets Herra, the Dobie :)

While, Thorne was away (being neuterd ) Maggie got to play :) We took her for a walk at Tufts, it's been awhile since she has been up there. It was a beautiful Spring day, temps in the High 50's...might have reached 60's. Here she is in one shot, as Herra initiated play, Maggie did her move..

Maggie's photo on Buddy Dog's Website :)

Maggie is about 2 Years old now, according to the estimate of her age when we adopted her... We got her Nov 18, 2007 and she's lived with us for almost a year and half. She's awesome, such a sweetie. She is in the Happy Tales section of adopted dogs....

Here is the link   .... just scroll down to about third row :)

We love her soooo much and we're so glad we adopted her from Buddy Dog in Sudbury, MA

Xolo Breed Article

Click on article images (2 pages) to read about 

how Xolo's (a rare breed) make great family dogs!

 Looking at many pics and characteristics of this breed from several websites, I am pretty positive that Mags is mixed with Xolo  :)