Hank News

While talking to a friend of Ryan's family who is a vet, she mentioned to me that she thinks Hank has hound in him because of his ears. That got me to thinking because although we were told that he was a shepherd/malamute/shar pei mix other than the wrinkles around his shoulder, neck and face he has no other shar pei qualities. I started thinking about different hounds and came up with one that shares quite a few characteristics with our Hank. We all know hounds are good sniffers and Hank is top dog in the picking up random scents when outside. When he catches a scent all hope for having him listen to you is lost. He his mind focused soley on the scent he got in the air or on the ground. He astounded me the other day with his sniffer actually. He was in the backyard, when we had Arctic Blast 2008 happening, and started sniffing around the yard. He finally stopped and shoved his face into the snow and started digging. A few minutes later he came up with his tennis ball. This wouldn't be so amazing to me if it had been a few inches of snow, but it was 6 inches of snow, covered by 1/4 inch of ice, covered by another 6 inches of snow! He apparently did not like having his ball under all the snow the silly dog. Another key thing about Hank is his excess skin; it's only around his upper body, and not on the legs. He also has really deep set, droopy eyes and the loose skin under his chin resembles balls.

So, after thinking more deeply about hound breeds and doing some research I think I figured out what Hank really is. He is not a Shepherd/Malamute/Shar pei mix, in fact I believe he is only ONE of those breeds. His thick double coat, webbed snow shoe paws, love for snow and fear of water, and stubbornness can only mean his is definitly part Malamute. There is no doubt in mind about that. I feel that I can confidently identify that he other part of him, the hound part is......................................................................BLOODHOUND! They all have the chin balls, the deep set, droopy eyes, excessive skin around the upper body and can smell like no other. I read many descriptions of them and Hank fits the bill. If we really wanted to know we could do a DNA test, but I think it's more fun trying to discover it on our own and for now we have a Malamute/Bloodhound mix named Hank. I am going to put some pictures of Hanks droopy eyes and chin balls up, along with some bloodhound pictures so you can decide for yourself. It's a fun game guessing what breeds are in a mutt and that's part of the reason I love them so much. Let us know if you agree with our breed diagnosis!