Mixed-breed owners celebrate doggie diversity for National Mutt Day
Growing up on a Wisconsin farm, Kate Manka of Murrysville said her family always preferred mutts.
“They just have an overall better disposition,” Manka said. “I had a mutt in Chicago from my brother’s farm – the mother was a springer spaniel-Labrador mix and the father was a border collie. Great dog, and sharp as a whip.”
Recently, Manka adopted Hank, a “Morkie” – part Maltese, part Yorkie.
“He’s probably the most lovable dog I’ve ever had,” she said.
Saturday is National Mutt Day, and mixed-breed lovers throughout the region will celebrate their dogs’ diverse backgrounds.
Stacy Iezzi-Ciak of Plum is the proud owner of four mutts including Murray, a 5-year-old who is part pit bull and part bassett hound.
“We weren’t specifically looking for a mutt, but he was so wild-looking, he stood out,” Iezzi-Ciak said. “Plus, he got along with my other dog, a German shepherd-Labrador mix.
Erin Katribe, medical director for the Best Friends Animal Society, a no-kill sanctuary and adoption group with a national network of animal welfare and shelter partners and a branch in Waynesboro, Franklin County, said mutts hold a special place in her heart.
“As an adult, the first dog I had was a rescue mutt that I encountered at the local non-profit clinic where I was volunteering before vet school,” Katribe said. “Akasha and I were immediately connected, and we spent the next 16 years together. She was my ‘heart’ dog.”
Katribe loves that no two mutts are alike.
“Every time I walk through a shelter, large or small, I see a stunning array of dogs of all shapes and sizes,” she said. “Each one is beautifully unique.”
Lisa Martinez of Penn Hills agrees.
“We got both our dogs from a humane rescue, and a lot of times you never really know what they are,” said Martinez of Fred, who she’s owned for the past decade.
Fred spends his days alongside Martinez’s other mutts, a Chesapeake Bay retriever/chocolate Lab mix named Lilly, and a possible Yorkie/Jack Russell terrier mix named Carlos.
“I like that I could give them a home when they needed it,” Martinez said. “They’re good companions.”
In addition, Katribe said, mutts are not as prone to the hereditary conditions more common in purebreds.
“Even when breeders make efforts to remove dogs with heritable medical problems from their breeding pools, some conditions will get by undetected in earlier generations,” Katribe said.
Allyson Dinsmore of Unity was on the lookout for a purebred black Labrador retriever, “but I always kept my eye on rescues and shelters,” she said.
That’s where she found June, part of a litter of Labrador/German shepherd puppies and adopted through Helping Hearts and Healing Tails Animal Rescue. June is a year-and-a-half old now, and is inseparable from Dinsmore’s son, Abe.
“He even plays hide and seek with her,” Dinsmore said. “She finds him every time.”
In addition to working as a dog walker, Iezzi-Ciak also volunteers at a local animal rescue and said mutts’ singular heritage makes them all the more endearing.
“They’re all one-of-a-kind in their own special way,” she said of her four mutts. “I love them all.”
National Mutt Day is celebrated on July 31 and Dec. 2.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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