Ever have that question in the back of your mind, the one that may surface on occasion, but you try not to think about too much? That one that goes something like, I love my dog, my best friend, how long can I expect him/her to be around? Well, no one can tell you how long anyone or anything is going to live, but one thing we do know is an average among breeds. I chose some small breeds to take a look at; we’ll look at larger breeds another time.
Let’s look first at the smallest, and possibly the most ferocious, or so in my eyes, the Chihuahua. Just look at that killer instinct!
Pronounced Cha wa wa, I like to say Cha hua hua, just to see who corrects me. Heh, heh, heh. The reason I think they’re ferocious, which in reality they’re not, is because when I was five, I went to my great aunt, Ruby’s house, and stuck my face too close to her Chihuahua and its chew toy, and it snarled at me – right in my face. I nearly wet my pants, I’m embarrassed to say. So I cried and she gave me a Hershey bar, and I was happy again. Anyway, in reality they’re pretty cool dogs and fun to own. There’s both short hair and long hair Chihuahuas, and they live approximately 17 years..
Next we have the Shih Tzu, just love saying that name, along with the Lhaso Apso, with a 15 year life span. Those that live between 12 and 15 years are the Pug and the Maltese. Then there’re Beagles that live approximately 15 years. There is on record, however, one that lived to be 27! The interesting thing about Beagles is, because of their keen sense of smell, they’re used for a variety of smell related functions like hunting, drug sniffing at border patrol agencies, and even sniffing for termites!
Pug 
Maltese
Along with the 27 year old Beagle, the record for the longest living dog is Maggie, an Australian Kelpie, that lived for 30 years on a dairy farm. If, like they say, every year for a dog is like 7 for a human, then Maggie was 210 in human years. Damn, that’s old!
Toy poodles live on average 16 years, the same for Jack Russell Terriers. A very famous Jack Russell Terrier was the one and only Wishbone. His claim to fame…TV! He actually had his own series and dressed up as characters from well-known books. My mom got me interested in some of the old episodes and they were quite, what’s the word…entertaining! Yes, they really are! My little sisters and I love him.
Here’s where you can see more of Wishbone!
You know how “they” make different breeds of dogs, right? They mix them to get whatever they want, like for better hunters, better sniffers, and the list goes on. Now let’s bring back the Beagle. They mixed him with a pug and ta da…they created the “Puggle.” And here he is:
Isn’t he just the cutest! Click here for more about small breeds.
Now that we have a mixture of breeds, we go to the mutt, or as they used to say, Heinz 57. How you get a mutt is mixing breeds, but not on purpose. So you have a female schnauzer that falls in love with a dachshund and their puppies can be the combination of their names, or really they’re mutts unless that mixture becomes popular. Or you have a dog that’s a mixed breed falling for another mixed breed, then you have who knows what and you’ve got you a mutt. But you know what? All breeds of dogs are wonderful, and mutts are some of the best dogs you can get! Rhaya got Snoozle from a shelter and she’s a, well, she’s a, hmmm… she looks a little like, well, let’s just call her a mix. Or better yet, let’s call her Rhaya’s wonderful, loving, priceless mutt.
Luv ya, Snoozle!
I’ll be seeing’ya, Marisal
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Photos: : Puggle on Wikipedia.org taken by Sav127, File Braxton Puggle made by sav127 License Shorthaired Chihuahua photo via Wikipedia.org Gabriela Vega – Own work Pug photo by: http://newallwallpaper.blogspot.com/2012/07/pug-dog-hd-wallpapers.html Maltese by Melanie Dullinger at White Magic Kennels ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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