I keep comparing the situation here to the story of Gonzo finding his alien family in the movie Muppets From Space. As we all know, Gonzo was always considered a “weirdo”, with no other creatures on earth anything like him. But in the film, he finds out he’s one of a huge band of alien creatures. A whole civilization of Gonzos!
It has recently come to our attention that our dog, previously considered quite muttly, is in fact a member of the Large Munsterlander breed of dog. Can you believe it? She might not be pure-bred, but something close! Who knew!? We had always gone with the guess of part Brittany Spaniel, part Border Collie, but it never quite added up.
I just think this one's really funny. Taken with my iPhone and the Shake It app.
Apparently this breed is quite new to North America, originating as a variation of the German Longhair Pointer in, you guessed it, Germany (Munster, Germany, actually). It’s bred in Germany, the UK and Canada, and slowly making its way into the US. And aren’t we glad for that! She has always displayed tendencies for hunting and chasing, pointing and sniffing out, but little did we know these are precisely the traits she was bred for. Including hunting birds, you know, like chickens. :::::sigh::::: Guess we won’t be having that free-range farm we dream of anytime soon. Thankfully besides chickens, she REALLY likes squeaky toys.
The above photos are of our girl, Happy. Full name “Happy Anniversary.” We tried and tried for months to come up with a new name for her after we adopted her, but it just stuck. She’s almost 4 years old now, having lived with us for the last 3. She was given up to the Berkshire Humane Society because she was a bit, shall we say, rowdy. She was very mouthy and bit us all the time and howled like we were killing her when we put her harness on for a walk. But with a bit of persistence, a very tiring obedience class and replacing the bad behaviors with new ones, she soon learned it was much more rewarding to behave herself. She’s one of the best dogs I’ve ever met. Except maybe when she jumps on our guests to greet them. I always say “she wants to give you a hug” and I think I mean it. She just gets really excited!
So these photos below are of other dogs from this breed. What do you think? See the resemblance?
Image borrowed from the Raycris Large Munsterlanders
Image borrowed from the Wild Rose Dogs' Flickr
ZOMG wasn’t she the cutest puppy ever? I mean, all puppies are cute… but can’t you just imagine this is our sweet HappyGirl? I had to include this one, mostly because I can’t stop looking at it. A few people suggested I print it out and save it and say it was her as a puppy. I mean, the resemblance is pretty amazing, wouldn’t you say?
More photos of other Large Munsterlanders here. In case you are as curious as I was.
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Love his curly fur, sounds like a real character. I want chickens also but I think my cat would try and eat them.
x
I love that Happy + Muppets From Space are in the same blog entry, but it works! She’s a great dog!
see you soon,
S
Not that mutts are weirdos or anything.
I LOVE THIS POST!
How did you find out about this? Those pictures look just like her!! When I need a pick-me-up I google bassadors and look at pictures of Sadie-like doggies – but I haven’t found any puppy pics yet!
well, kinda. ;>