DNA and Puppy Knucklehead

Many of you are familiar with our “puppy knucklehead.”  A mid-sized canine who has confounded us from the time he was a puppy with his personality. We thought he was a Belgian “Tuv,” the long haired Belgian Shepherd, but he wasn’t fitting the breed profile. We had been spoiled by Ryan’s Belgian Malinois, Engel. Best dog ever. Engel anticipated what you wanted him to do, show him once and he owned it, was eager to please, quick to obey, and always happy to protect.

So when we went looking to adopt, we naturally wanted another Belgian. Found a four month old pup advertised as a Belgian, rescued out of a high kill shelter in Ohio.  Beautiful black mask, fawn and black coat, heavy ruff, we had found our Belgian. We did obedience classes, he got his AKC Canine Good Citizen award, we even did agility with him. The trainer called him the pokey puppy and mentioned that Micah was a bit lazy. He plodded through agility somewhat bored with the whole routine, but then sometimes he would get that look in his eye, tilt his head and laugh and go through the course like a shot. Trainer would shake his head and tell us if we could ever tap into that speed and get him to channel it, he would be something. Our Belgian just laughed at us and went and rolled in rabbit droppings.

We even said to Ryan that we didn’t think Micah was very smart, certainly not as clever as Engel. Ryan quickly dispelled that thought, said Micah was plenty smart, just lazy, and that he had us fooled. Ryan was right. We modified our training a bit and got good results, but he certainly was not like any Belgian we had ever met.

We knew you could test your dog’s DNA and find out its breed with pretty close accuracy. We shrugged it off and said no, wouldn’t be a prudent expenditure of money. A dog is a dog is a dog, right? For years we toyed with testing, Ryan encouraged us to do it, he was really curious as to what Micah was breed wise. The kits had come down in price, so we ordered one. Had a blast, was like doing forensics, cheek swab, special envelopes, great fun.

Instead of our preconceived notion and anticipation of what he should have been, we saw him for what he was.

Our laughing Belgian certainly got the last laugh on us. Results came in, dominant breed: Chow Chow! Followed with Akita, and Alaskan Malamute. We were silent, stunned. We looked at him, cocked our heads, and looked again. Called Ryan. Read everything we could lay our hands on about the three breeds. Suddenly, Micah made sense. He went from being a very marginal Belgian to being an exceptionally well-adjusted, well-mannered Chow, Akita, and Malamute mix.  But nothing about Micah changed, he was the same dog. Our perception and understanding of Micah changed. We had gained knowledge of him. Instead of our preconceived notion and anticipation of what he should have been, we saw him for what he was, saw his characteristics as rather charming now and admired how far he had come in his social skills. We learned his story, dogs like people, have their own stories.

Dogs can teach us much about living the authentic life, they can teach us about taking the time to learn someone’s story.

How often do we do the same with humans?  Label them as this and that, set preconceived notions and expectations of them, and then miss who they really are. Do we do that with ourselves first? Accept those labels and expectations and live an unauthentic life, thinking we are Belgian and failing, miserable with who we are because we aren’t who we think we should be, when actually, we are a great Chow. Do we do that with our children? Force them into breeds that don’t fit? Ask of them what simply is not in their DNA, and all the while miss their extraordinary gifts in another area? Is leaving the life of quiet desperation and mediocrity as simple as finding out what “breed” we are and then celebrating those strengths?

Dogs can teach us much about living the authentic life, they can teach us about taking the time to learn someone’s story.