Agouti

When I was getting Daisy's municipal dog licence, I had to fill out her color. Hmmm. Black, grey, white, tan, red. All that's missing is chocolate brown. This means that you cannot fall back on the old dog owner's trick of buying clothes which match your dog so that the hairs don't show. The only thing I can imagine that wouldn't show this kind of hair is maybe one of those old velourish couches with large flowers in numerous shades of orange & brown....

And Daisy is not only multicolored, she's an agouti.

agouti (&-'gü-tE)
Etymology: French, from Spanish agutí, from Tupi
1 : any of a genus (Dasyprocta) of tropical American rodents about the size of a rabbit
2 : a grizzled color of fur resulting from the barring of each hair in several alternate dark and light bands

It's a neat thing to watch an agouti dog blow her coat & grow her summer frock. As the hair is banded, her overall color changes. The outer tips are black and so for a while, when it was short & just growing in, she was very dark. Now, as the tan band grows in, we're seeing a more dappled effect. When we first got her, she was quite grey - now I realize that that was an optical blending of the black tips & the white bands.


This is what she looked like on May 1. Oy, bad hair day! Look at all that whispy stuff around her neck ruff!


Here is Daisy on June 10. She is looking lovely!

She was officially listed as a Siberian Husky/German Shepherd cross. But, her history was vague and at least 2 forms list her as an Alaskan Malamute cross. I now think it's way more likely that that's what she really is, because of her shape, the coat, and her size.

Husky bitches weigh in at 35-50, while Alaskan Malamute bitches should be around 70-85 pounds. Daisy weighs 85 pounds. Her large size is what I think made people think of GSD, but even GSD bitches are usually around 70-75 pounds (though many breeders have been breeding for larger and larger size). What really makes me think more malamute than GSD & husky is the overall shape of her face & head.

She has a fairly round face. Look at the comparison of the Malamute head & Husky head here. A great comparison of the 2 breeds is here.

German Shepherd Dogs have even longer and pointier snouts than huskies - Daisy is just very round compared to both of those breeds.

I've also found several photos of agouti malamutes which look quite like Daisy.

Not Daisy. An AKC Malamute from here

Another not Daisy - from a Danish breeder here

And have a look at the beauty here. Daisy sits in just the same splay mannered way.

Does it matter? Not really. Temperamentally she's a marshmallow. Typical Malamute characteristics which she displays: strong predatory drive (she loves squirrels and crows. Aw mom, why can't I chase them??); sunny disposition; face licking; likes people; will eat a rawhide bone instead of chewing it (ooops. She's not going to get anymore of those). Not usual Mal characteristics: she leaves our cat alone; she leaves our hamster alone; she does not steal food (except the cat's) or raid garbage.

Interestingly, malamutes are listed as sometimes aggressive with other dogs, especially of the same sex.

Tags: dogs - agouti - malamute - husky - Daisy