Mighty Morphing Power Mutt



I spent a significant portion of Saturday afternoon in my back yard, pulling out burr plants.  We have two areas that grow weeds at the back edge of the yard -- in one of our empty raised flower beds, and in the gravel RV parking strip along the very back of our lot.  I don't remember having any burrs back there last year, but I filled a medium-sized wastebasket with them this year.  I have decided the reason for this is our dog, Cara, is a virtually-perfect burr delivery system.

When I first got Cara in the summer of 2006, there was almost no hint that she would become a burr magnet.  She was sleek and black, with a very short coat all over.  The only long hair on her was a hint of fluffiness behind her lab-like ears.

The first day I had her at home

On a hike, about a week later

Once she got her winter coat that year, though, things started to change.  By spring, the new hair hadn't shed out -- suddenly, she had fuzzy paws that were perfect for picking up sock burrs.  I would spend hours picking them off her feet and out from between her toes.


Burr nightmare

During 2007 and 2008, the changes were continuing to progress.  Now she had more fuzz behind the ears, feathers growing from her front legs, and a hint of eyebrows coming in.

Feathery legs, and a blurred-out wagging tail

The beginning of the eyebrows

By this point, she was getting so many burrs in her feet and leg hair, and even behind her ears, that I started trimming them to make our lives easier.

neat and trimmed

By the time we moved to Utah in 2009, the hair was out of control.  The eyebrows, foot and leg hair kept getting longer and longer, plus she started growing long hair on the inside of her thighs and armpits, and on her belly.  And more and more of the hair that was growing in was either white, or literally striped black and white.


Snow everywhere

Armpit hair

There aren't as many burrs in our area here, so all of her hair has been allowed to grow untrimmed for the last few years.  And, as you can see, it has just kept on going -- she has longer toe, leg, and armpit hair, her eyebrows have gotten longer and turned into a larger fan around her eyes, she has long wisps growing off of her everywhere, and she's even grown a pretty good goatee.  The eyebrows, in fact, have become her defining feature -- everyone comments on them.  We call them her "crazy old man eyebrows."  We think it's possible that she's slowly morphing into a schnauzer, or possibly a sheepdog.

Furball

Full eye fan and goatee

I pulled out a picture the other day that a friend had taken of Cara, just a few months after I'd gotten her.  I showed it to T, and he looked at it for a sec and then said, "Cute pup."  He didn't even recognize her.  And would you?

The short-haired puppy