When seven puppies were found abandoned at a recycling center, they were brought to Sacramento SPCA as strays. The pups were clean, healthy and friendly, leading the shelter employees to believe that they’d had a home somewhere before being dumped.
As
the pups settled in, the employees began taking a closer look at them — and realized that the entire litter looked a little odd.
“There were definitely a lot of ‘Have you seen that strange-looking litter of puppies?’ questions among the staff,” Sarah Varanini, communications manager at Sacramento SPCA, told The Dodo. “I myself did a double take while doing a live shelter tour and thought, ‘... what in the WORLD are these guys?’”
Some of the puppies had beards, mustaches and fluffy eyebrows, and some didn’t. They all had big ears, but all of their coloring was different. Even though they were all from the same litter, none of them looked quite the same. It was impossible to tell what breed they might be, but that didn’t stop the employees from guessing.
“Staff guesses included: Malinois mixes, ‘terrier’ mixes, Schnauzer mixes, pittie mixes, dingo mixes (jokingly, of course!) and even some sort of doodle, as we have seen DNA tests come back on scruffy mixes actually having poodle in them,” Varanini said.
The shelter posted about the puppies on social media, and everyone there was just as confused.
“Social media followers guessed Xoloitzcuintli mixes, Basenji mixes, Dutch shepherd mixes, rat terrier mixes and even (jokingly) bunny mixes,” Varanini said. “The general consensus is that they look like the dogs from the Wes Anderson movie, ‘Isle of Dogs.’”
Regardless of what breed the puppies are, no one could deny that they were extremely cute. Six of the puppies were adopted the day they became available, and the seventh was adopted the next day. Since the puppies' backstory is unknown, the shelter wasn’t able to solve the mystery of what breed they are, but all hope isn’t lost.
“An adopter has already chimed in on the [Facebook] comments saying that they have sent out a DNA test, and we can't wait to hear the results,” Varanini said.
Hopefully, the shelter will keep everyone updated on the biggest mystery to hit the Sacramento SPCA.
