Just call me "big bones" Regis

Regis looks like a textbook Shiba Inu, no doubt about it. His color, markings, curly tail, temperment and personality are all Shiba Inu except for his size. He's like a Shiba enlarged 97%. The average male Shiba Inu is 23 lbs., Regis is 41 lbs. Since Regis was found as a stray, we have no idea what his background is and only guessed why he's such a big boy. We suspected that he might have some Akita, Husky or some other Spitz-type dog in him somewhere that gives him his size.

We recently met up with one of Brian's friends who also have a rescue dog. When they adopted their dog they were under the assumption that he too was a Shiba Inu albeit a big one. They discovered genetic breed testing and told us for less than $100 you can send in a swab of your dog's saliva and they can determine your dog's genetic breed make-up. The testing is based solely on the swab sample, no pictures are sent in. Their results were a little disappointing for them - they discovered their dog wasn't a Shiba afterall but rather pre-dominantly Chow with some other breeds mixed-in yet he has he look of a Shiba.

Of course, we had to do too. While at first I was totally into the idea and ordered the kit as soon as we got home that night, I started to feel hesitant and worried that we could be thrown for a loop if Regis turned out to be 0% Shiba. I could accept and have even suspected that he might have another breed in him, but what if he turned out 0% Shiba like Brian's friend's dog? I had wanted a Shiba for so long and while I love Regis, would my feelings somehow change for him if he turned out to be something else? Would I look into his eyes and see a fraud if he was some other breed in a Shiba suit?

Well after two weeks of waiting for the test we results, we got them back on Monday night. Much to our surprise (and relief) he's total Shiba!!! He's just really, really big. He's like the Yao Ming of Shibas. I guess there's always at least one person or dog who over-indexes and that's Regis.