Cassandra Calliope

Guess what the best solution to the hyper active, high drive challenge that is Ada is?

Another dog. We have become a two dog family, although technically the new resident canine is not ours but Bronte’s. Bronte has taken on a dog of her own, a truly beautiful, approximately eight month old bull arab, Bron has named her Cassandra Calliope (Cassie for short). A rescue taken from a kill pound, a lovely gentle dog, a bit traumatised by everything at the moment but she is settling in well and bonding with both Bronte and Ada.

Cassie is a gentle giant, whose breeding is at best guess primarily bull arab, a uniquely Australian dog, not so much a breed, as a hunting dog type, cross bred to be the perfect pig hunting dog. Bull arabs are generally thought to be the product of cross breeding english bull terriers with greyhounds or salukis (hence the name bull arab), and english or german short haired pointers, I believe over the years other mastiff or hunting hound breeds have been added to the mix. They are not so much a breed, as a cross breed type created to be the ideal pigging dog. Like pitbulls in America they are a much misunderstood, maligned and abused dog, often ending up in pounds and rescues. Link to wikipedia article for interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Arab and another link to a breeder of the dogs http://www.klement.com.au/bullarab/history.html

In Cassie’s beautiful long face I can see bull terrier, she has beautiful blue speckling in parts of her coat which could be from blue cattle dog, although I think it is more likely from pointer in her ancestry, I can also see pointer in her head and face but to be honest she is a bit of a mystery dog and her ancestry is anyone’s guess.

Thankfully there are dedicated volunteers out there rescuing dogs like Cassie from country pounds where if it was not for these rescue groups, dogs like Cassie would have short, bleak lives.

We have three rescue cats, so we have been careful to supervise the introduction of both Ada and Cassie to the cats, so far everything has gone smoothly. At the moment both dogs seem to understand the cats are to be respected. I am a bit concerned about the pugnacious Morty’s tendency to try and stir Ada up, for him it is a game to tease and stir Ada but with two high drive dogs in the house that is a potentially dangerous game, so we are supervising and discouraging behavior that could get out of hand. Dash is a tough old cat who firmly believes dogs should know their place, so he is only to happy to swipe an inquiring nose that intrudes into his space and if he is curled up on the couch the dogs had better know to give him ample space. Hobbit, his brother. on the other hand is a lovely gentle soul who is only to happy to get on with everyone whether they be feline, canine or homo sapiens. Our last dog Lilly was also a bull type and Hobbit had a particularly strong friendship with Lilly, he adored her, often curling up to nap with her, at the moment he and Cassie seem to be developing a relationship that may go beyond mere tolerance. Ada does not sit still long enough for Hobbit to curl up with her but Cassie is a much quieter dog more inclined to laze around and snuggle.

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Ada is delighted to have a resident playmate and despite both dogs being female they seem to be getting on, essentially they are both still big pups, Ada has just turned 1 and Cass is slightly younger. Both are desexed which helps. Both dogs are crate trained which is fantastic, don’t let anyone ever tell you crates are a bad idea, they can be a life saver. Cass has displayed some minor resource guarding which is probably a result of her previous experience. Adding Cass to the family has been a big positive so far and Ada seems to think we have just provided her with the best new toy ever.