What kind of dog is that?

I'll never forget when I was at an agility trial in Evansville, Indiana back when I was just starting Exec A in AKC, someone took a look at me and asked, 'what kind is that?'

And then I'll never forget the response my vet (who was with me at the time) gave. She said, 'it's a dog!.'

Give that lady a treat!

If you were doing agility back 8-9 years ago, you may remember there was no PAL (for pure breed) or Canine Partners (for mixed breed) program, only the ILP (Indefinitely Listing Privilege) program (of which I am a proud member). So a 'different' looking dog was many times, well, looked at differently.

I don't get those comments anymore, but I sure did get a lot of them back in my younger days, as even though I am a sheltie, I lost all my undercoat after the big surgery when I was one year old, and I never looked quite like a sheltie again after they shaved me.

So lately Mum gets asked a lot, again. What kind of dog is Rach? Not because of the reasons above, but because they are truly curious. Times sure have changed, and in a good way, we believe.

When we originally saw Rach on Facebook, they listed his Mum as a sheltie, but they didn't mention anything about the dad, as they didn't know anything about him, is my best guess. But I remember well, from the photos of the pups and the comments in the posts that the dad was most probably a cattle dog (who some call a Blue Heeler).

Just recently, we met someone who knew more about Rach's Mum and they believe that Rach's Mum who was listed as a sheltie is actually a BC/sheltie mix. Combine that with a cattle dog dad and Rach is most probably a Cattle Dog, BC, Sheltie mix.

So now when we get asked what Rach is.....we tell folks what he is made of, and they start saying things like, 'hmmmm....interesting combo! Should be good for agility!' and 'interesting, I'd like to get my hands on one of those!"

Yep....times, they sure have changed.

We'll leave you with a few more photos of Rach's life before us. Enjoy!

Rach's Mum with her wonder litter of seven.

Rach, only days old.

Rach, at just a few weeks!

Yep, that's Rach, see that brown stripe up his butt, LOL!  A true identifier and a true cutie pawtutie.

And here's Rach today!