Journey to His Past

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share a pedigree chart of a different sort, a dog pedigree chart. My daughter, Kirsten, and her husband, Chase, adopted a puppy from PAWS Chicago. They didn't know what kind of dog Ella was and when they asked the veterinarian, she thought Ella was part dachshund and possibly, a little basset hound.

Kirsten was curious and decided to do a DNA test on her.  In order for the doggy DNA to work, a dog must have a pure-breed in their preceding three generations.  Well, who would have thought that Ella's breed comes from the Netherlands.  I am surrounded by Dutch ancestry.  My husband is half dutch, my children have dutch ancestry, and now I find out my grand-dog is Dutch!

Ella, the dachshund mix is now Ella, the Keeshond mix.  I had never heard of a Keeshond before. My daughter did a little research to learn more and wrote an excellent blog post about it.  A Keeshond, pronounced kayz-hawnd, was bred between the 17th and 18th century in The Netherlands.  It came to the United States in the 1920's.  The Keeshond is also known as a Dutch Barge Dog.

Ella doesn't look like a Keeshond, but some of her traits match one.  Ella is a part of our family and I think it is wonderful that she is a Dutch breed.  Who would have known?