Name, age, sex, breed: “Risa” which is Spanish for laugh/laughter. I am a 2.5 year old fixed female mixed breed. The shelter told my mom I was a Dachshund mix but I kept growing and growing and I am now very tall, almost 26” tall. I may be a Doberman mixed with a hound, but I am a hound dog at heard. Mom has thought about getting me tested to know my breed, but she says it doesn’t matter as long as I stay so sweet and smart.

Owner, city: My mom’s name is Cera Wadsworth and we live together in Lexington, VA; I love Lexington because it is horse country and every day my mom takes my sister and me running in a wide open field where horses practice cross country sometimes. We love it and Loca jumps the horse jumps like a pro; I have tried to jump the horse fences but I am a little clumsy.

How I got my name: When my mom rescued me from the shelter she noticed I have a Mohawk on my head (you people call it a cow-lick). I was a pretty funny puppy and help my mom smile a lot by being so silly, if I do say so myself. Since I was such a goof-ball mom named me “Risa”, which is Spanish for laugh/laughter. Sometimes she calls me “Rís”, and also has pet names for me like “Rís -cakes”, Rís-piece, or Risa Marie and it is SO embarrassing. My big sister’s name is also Spanish; her name is Loca, or “Loca bean”. We are both rescues and my mother loves us both.

How we met: My mom thought she saw a dog that she wanted to adopt. She already had one dog, my sister Loca. She wanted a play-mate for Loca, so she began to look into shelters. She found a dog at the shelter I was, but when she visited he was very timid, scared, and not sociable with Loca. As she prepared to leave she saw me in the other room. I was about 6 months old, smelled terrible, and was very squirmy, but I had a BIG goofy grin. She was hooked. She visited me twice, and then brought Loca to meet me. When we met were first shy, but when we both went outside we were best friends. She took me home that day!

Personality type: I am goofy, floppy, fairly obedient, and full of surprises.

Siblings: “Loca” is my sister, but not biologically. Loca is an adopted pit bull terrier mix. She is shorter than me (she can walk right under me) but we weigh the same. She’s my best friend and really helped me be comfortable with my new home.

Pet peeves: I don’t like it when mom tries to clean my big ole’ hound dog ears.

Favorite place to lounge: Under the covers in mom’s bed… even after a bath (she doesn’t like that!).

Favorite foods: Raw Cabbage (I don’t know why).

Forbidden indulgences: Whipped cream and fresh raw milk

Strangest habits: I like to army crawl under my mom’s bed. I think she can’t see me but somehow she always finds me.
When you rub my back I grunt and I LOVE to turn upside down and scratch my back on the floor.

Stand-out physical feature: Like all of the great deviants, I have a MO-HAWK (i.e. Cowlick) in the middle of my head, from the top of my head down to my neck.

Things you might not know if I didn’t tell or show you: I have completed two levels of canine obedience, I go to the stables with my mom and I get jealous when she plays with the horses and not me, but I wait patiently. Also, my Uncle Gordon is my favorite person in the world (other than my mom, of course). When I visit him I get SO excited that I just have to run and hop around in front of him.

(Images: Cera Wadsworth)

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