One of those dogs?

I get very excited when I see a dog that resembles my Balu, as the dog’s owner will almost always confirm that the dog is (a) a rescue, and (b) of unknown origin. All the owners suspect Rottweiler is somewhere in the mix because all these dogs have ‘Rottweiler eyebrows’ – but I know this isn’t necessarily the case, because Balu’s parents were both pure breeds, a chocolate Labrador and a border collie.

Elvis (left, and below looking groovy), a lovely big male dog we met here in Riebeek Kasteel a few months ago, and also a rescue dog, threw in another possibility: he’s probably a Hovawart. This German breed (it originated in the Black Forest region) has been around since the 1200s. Hovawarts are intelligent, loyal and devoted working dogs – much like many of the other mixed-breeds that resemble them. They come in three colour forms – black, tan and Elvis’s black-and-tan mix.

I managed to find this picture (below) of a full-breed Hovawart in Elvis’s colour-form, and it has to be said that Elvis does appear to be a perfect Hovawart specimen.