Husky/Boxer, Boxer/Husky

Look at those Husky ears

Hey.  Welcome back.

Refresher, according to the 2 DNA tests that we had ran on Duchess, she's half Husky, half boxer mix.

We belong to a local Husky Enthusiast group that we meet up with at the local area dog parks.

It is very interesting to see the dogs play among all those purebred Huskies.  I enjoy seeing them and seeing which traits of Duchess come from the Husky.

Because of this, I've done some research to determine which of the traits for each breed that are dominate and show in Duchess.


Because I like spreadsheets, I put the info on the below sheet.
I filled in under the breed that she gets that trait from.
Pretty neat genetics, eh?

Features	Gets this from a Boxer	Gets this from Husky
Ears		Tall Erect
Eyes	Coppery Brown	Coppery Brown
Build	Deep chest, narrow hips, Muscular
Fur	Short hair/brindle
Tail		Furry & curls like a sycle
Paws		slightly webbed
Howl		Howls sound exactly like other huskies
Bark	little w/out reason	little, sounds like other huskies
Meticulously clean		All the time
Very Independent		very & stubborn
Robust/Athletic	X
Energetic	Highly	High
little /no smell		X
Agility	XX	X
Obedience	X
Wanderer/Runner	X	X
Guard Dog	Fiercly protective of family
Enjoys Mental Challenges	X
Tendency to dig	Low
Prefer	Company of owners
Children	too boisterous for small kids
Plays	too rough for small dogs
Playfullness	"never lose desire to romp & play"
Other pets	Get along with other pets and rarely show aggression towards them

Sisters sleeping

Showing off her intelligence

Sorry. IT's been awhile. A note from Mommy.

Hey Duchess & Athena fans.


It's been awhile and I apologize for not posting any updates.

I'll get right to it.

Athena had some issues the past 6 months or so with her right ear.  We started noticing that we couldn't rub behind her ear. She kept shaking her head and eventually it started to stink.  
We took her to the vet and they didn't find an infection. Just an overabundance of wax.

We had to start cleaning her ears every other day and putting medicine in the ear.   While it stopped the smell, it didn't stop her from constantly shaking her head.  Her right ear no longer was standing straight up.  

At hear annual visit, we mentioned her ear again.  They didn't see anything and told us to keep  using the ear cream and clean it.   Additionally the vet thought it might be a food allergy.

Thus began a change up with the food that was more of a pain then anything else.  Her ear still bothered her.   

Finally I took her in again and forced the issue. They found her ear infected and we got new cream and antibiotics.  Four days later, poof all gone.  She is no longer shaking her head. We can pet behind her ear and it stands up straight.

We just switched back to their old food because the new food caused digestion issues.Duchess and Athena protested the food change, but ultimately had no choice in the matter.  Now the digestion issues are all done.

The girls are in love with the new neighbor.  About a month and a half ago, the neighbors adopted a new puppy. He's the CUTEST thing ever. The dogs are obsessed with this puppy. It is so cute. I'll try to snap pics the next time they visit him.  

Duchess is becoming a bit more sociable at the dog park. I don't know if it's due her seeing the same dogs all the time or something else.   It's nice to see.


My parents came for a visit and stayed a week. The girls loved them, especially Duchess (surprise!).   I think they were both quite bummed out when they returned home. They also took to my brother when he visited a month prior to that.  


We did a DNA test on the girls. We'd done one on Duchess before, but were curious if it would garner the same results. We were curious to what Athena was.  I'll blog about that next time. It won't be as long in between posts I swear.

Athena is doing fantastic. Aside from weaker back legs than a dog her age would normally have, she's adapted wonderfully. She's very happy and loves her home, neighbors and friends.  She lives for the dog parks, eating and Rocky (her raccoon).