What is in the DNA of A San Pedro Potlicker

Belizean potlickers are the best pets on earth. Loyal, street-smart, forever grateful…they are also incredibly well adapted to life in this hot, humid climate.

Here is my definition:

potlicker
noun

1. A Belizean street-smart, hardy dog, often found roaming freely – though always returning home. Named for its habit of cleaning the family’s rice and beans pot after the meal is done, a potlicker is clever, resourceful, and fiercely loyal. Their primary food source is chicken bones, which they expertly scavenge from the trash or hustle from humans eating lunch. You may even spot a potlicker trotting down the street with a “to-go” bag in tow, proudly scavenged from the trash. Note: Similar to but distinct (and clearly superior to) the Bahamian “potcake” blend. Note 2: Visitors may be surprised by their discriminating palates. A potlicker will unwrap a burrito to eat the meat, leaving the tortilla behind.

More pure-bred dogs can have a hard time adapting to the heat, sun, and bug bites (our three legged pitbull mix, Elsie, was allergic to mosquito & flea bites and broke out in an awful rash all over her tender belly).

But potlickers? You’ll find them laying in direct sun even on the warmest days. Heat rash? Pffft. They’ve never heard of it. The hotter, the better.

But I’ve always been intrigued by the genetic mix of our island potlickers. If you watch around town – you’ll notice that many are shorties…low-riders. Oh, look, a German shepherd whose legs are about 1/3 the size they usually would be.

There’s a low rider pit bull or two.

Maybe there was a very fertile Corgy with a very active social life at one point on the island?

You’ll also see what I call “San Pedro Legs”. One front paw or both will kind…wing out. The legs bow a bit. A deformity (such an ugly word) that often affects short dogs like dashunchnds or

Our dog Frannie has the cutest, wonkiest looking legs.

We always wonder what our Belizean dogs are made of… ESPECIALLY Frannie who, we always thought, wasn’t just your average brown mutt.

Jeff jokes that she was put together by a committee. We KNEW she was a bunch chihuahua and maybe a blue tick hound (she has a funny woo-woo-woo howl – she’s got big expressive hound-like eyes). Recently we’ve been calling her a Bah-wa-wa (a mix between chihuahua and beagle).

And so…when…I saw my friend Heather post a DNA test for her new dog Peanut…

Here were the results!

I KNEW knew knew we had to do it. I’d been hemming and hawing for years…THINKING about it during Amazon Prime days when the price went from $109US to $89…or $79… (Here’s the link to the test we used)

That’s STILL crazy expensive. But Heather’s post…I HAD TO DO IT. And what better way to spend too-much-money on something you want than get it for someone ELSE as a gift.

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!! Now let’s test Fran. You need to put a swab in her mouth and rub it on her gums for 20 seconds and then put it in a sealed envelope.

We got emails once a week hyping us up. Your sample has arrived! Our scientists are studying Frannie’s genome…

Frannie today. With all her Frannie grays. She’s opinionated, always the boss -especially with other dogs; she’s the sergeant with our cats, stubborn, super smart, independent…gosh I love her so much.

What is Frannie?! 4 weeks later…we got this!

Ummmm….huh. I am not picturing this. Maybe the ears from a German Shepherd? The eyes and size from a Pekingese? But Rottweiler and…the old cop-out. Super Mutt.

Here’s the definition: A “supermutt” refers to a mixed-breed dog where the genetic contributions from various breeds are so small and distant that they are difficult to pinpoint or identify as a specific breed, often appearing as an “unresolved” portion in DNA tests.

A German Pekingweiler. She is also related to a variety of German Shepards around the US – but only 10% common DNA.

Shout out to her primos: Greta in Crescent City, CA, Tank in Huffman, TX, Cayde Sundance in Springfield MO, Dovakkiin in Linkoping, Sweden and may more!

What do you think?

Let this go…or try another brand! Another $100US?

Also…I’m especially thankful to Heather because I’m pretty sure our dog Belly is a cousin of Peanut. German shepherd, Pit bull, husky…it makes sense.

And Biscuit – our newest dog up at the camp. She is sooooooo clearly….

…an Australian dingo. No DNA test is going to tell us how that happened.