Dog or Mountain Goat?

Mia

Since Bekah asked to see more pictures of Mia, here they are. We did some more research on dog breeds to try to find out what Mia is actually mixed with, and have come to the conclusion that she is mostly Miniature Pinscher mixed with Chihuahua. Because we don't know anything about her past or breeding, we can't be certain, but she looks mainly like a Miniature Pinscher and her only real Chihuahua characteristics are her shorter legs and a bit of extra fur around her neck. Her facial features are very similar to the Min. Pin.'s. She doesn't have the big round eyes of the Chihuahua or the short rounded nose. She also doesn't have that frail appearance, her body is very straight, smooth, and muscular. It was easy to assume she was a Chihuahua because of her size and big ears, but look at the difference between the pure bred Chihuahua and purebred Miniature Pinscher:

Mia

Mia

Purebred red Miniature Pinscher whose ears and tail have been cropped.

Chihuahua

 

Chihuahua

This Miniature Pinscher could be Mia's twin if it's ears and tail had not been cropped. Lucky also looks very similar to this dog. Mia's nose is long like the pinscher's, and she has very strong, muscular back legs. She also has a white spot on her chest (covered by the ribbon for Eric's birthday), which is a common characteristic of the Miniature Pinscher. Here's a picture of a Miniature Pinscher whose ears and tail have not been cropped:

Min Pin on the right--looks like Mia to me! The dog on the left looks like a Chipin.

Apparently the name for a cross between Min. Pin. and Chihuahua is a "Chipin." So Mia is our little Chipin. Although, she definitely proved to share similar characteristics with the Mountain Goat, when she jumped from rock to rock on my recent hike with Eric's parents in Saratoga. Due to her wild animal behavior, Eric and I also have suspicions that she is mixed with fox:

Whatever she is, she is still my favorite girl. We just need to work on our puppy social skills and stop scaring away all potential friends. Since dog training only took us so far for a large price, I might start borrowing Caesar Milan's books from the library. The Dog Whisperer has to have some good advice on how to train a Miniature Pinscher/Chihuahua/Fox/Mountain Goat.