Havamalt, Cojack, Bascottie….These are not fine cheeses or fine wines, they are puppies. I recently traveled to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico where it seemed everyone had a dog of some kind. I met a Snorkie and a Domeranian. In my day these were all affectionately called mutts, now they are called hybrid dogs and they are big bucks!
When I was growing up on the Cramer Road in Schroeder there was always one rogue male dog that took it upon himself to populate the neighborhood with puppies. Who knew we had stumbled on the next big ticket item and didn’t even know it? Instead of a pellet gun aimed at the backside of the lab we should have been offering him meatballs to breed a poodle. Labradoodle puppies now sell for $1,200 each.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a lover of dogs! There was never a day in my childhood where I did not wake up to at least one dog in our house. My days were filled with memories of Tinys and Missys and Calebs and Dugans. I even bought a “Name Your Baby” book at a garage sale to come up with cute puppy names.
But our dogs ate leftovers and scraps. They slept in the kitchen and were not allowed on the carpets or furniture. They were pets, not people. Now I often hear people refer to their pets as “children.”
I guess dogs have really “wormed” their way into our hearts—pun fully intended—and our checkbooks. That I don’t fully understand. Just because we give it the name hybrid, designer or boutique does that make it more valuable? Well at over a thousand dollars apiece I guess I have answered my own question.
In case you haven’t figured out the breed combinations I have mentioned I will give you a breakdown….it’s simple addition, only with doggie DNA.
. Havenese + Maltese
= Havamalt
. Corgi + Jack Russell
= CoJack
. Basset Hound +
Scottish Terrier
= Bascottie
. Schnauzer + Yorkshire Terrier
= Snorkie
. Dachshund + Pomeranian
= Domeranian
. Labrador + Poodle
= Labradoodle
It’s a melting pot of puppies!
I will let you figure out what makes up an American Eagle Dog!
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring–it was peace.
Milan Kundera
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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