I’ve been on countless websites, ever since I first brought her home, trying to determine was breed she might have in her.  The adoption papers say lab mix and when she was a 9 lb puppy, she looked very much like a lab, short nose and all.  Then as she grew, her proportions changed and her nose got longer and her ears never quite grew to lab size.  She has a lab body and some lab mannerisms, for sure.  But there is definitely something else.

At first, I thought maybe she was a lab/greyhound mix – she is impossibly fast and has a sort of greyhound face.

But there are things about her that didn’t add up.

She is neurotic.  She doesn’t sit still much unless thoroughly exercised (meaning 2 hours at the dog park with still energy leftover) and she is very possessive of me.  She whines when she knows we are leaving the house but haven’t left immediately after she’s figured it out.  She herds – mostly people, not so much dogs but she cannot sit still if someone leaves a room.  She needs to know where they are going and tries to coax them back in.  She’s more relaxed when it’s just the two of us.

Did I mention fast and high strung?  She chews a lot, more when she gets bored.  The only things she’s ever destroyed of mine were a result of me not being careful enough or not being able to walk her that day.

She stands over me in the mornings with her paw on my stomach but doesn’t start to whine until she really, really has to pee.  She is super cuddly and lovey and doesn’t really understand why everyone wouldn’t want to say hi to her.

I did some digging on her quirks and her strange coat – a mix of long, silky fur and short, lab-like fur (easy to clean and super soft) and her overall personality.  I’m almost positive now that she is a lab / border collie mix.  There is a good deal of info on the breed mix out there and most of the descriptions really nail her.

I suppose it doesn’t matter what she’s got in her – she’s my golden-furred, crazy pants puppy.  That’s pretty much all the description she needs.