Hi! My name is Baxter. You may recognize me from my trip with ViaGen to the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego. I was there because I am one of the many awesome cloned dogs ViaGen has provided its happy clients. At BIO, I had my picture taken with many of the people that I met (some of them were important, although I was excited to meet everyone, especially if they let me lick their face!) and some of the pics made it on Facebook. It was fun going to San Diego, but I was thrilled to be home because I have a fun life here in southern Alberta!
Since people saw the fun I had at Bio2017, I figured I would show you a little about my life at home. My family includes 5 people and many furry friends. There are three daughters in my family and most of the furry friends are females, so Dad was very excited to have another male around the house!
My family had a pack of 2 dogs that I joined. The oldest and one in charge is Tessa, she is a big white Maremma whose job it is too keep all the other animals and people at our place safe. She roams around in the fields and keeps the coyotes, other dogs and anything else she feels is a threat away from our house and the other animals. I am learning how to be her back up. When she lets me, I go lay with her when she is watching the fields and I bark when she barks. I get in trouble for barking when I am in the house and I hear her bark outside, so I am trying to quit, but it is really hard! I don’t go on patrol around the fields with Tessa yet, she covers a lot of ground and my little legs could never keep up! Maggie the other dog in our pack, is a big black Schnoodle (that is a Giant Schnauzer and Standard Poodle cross for those of you who don’t know). She is more of a people dog than Tessa, she loves to go in the house and get treats and attention. Maggie and I have a love/growl relationship. I love her and she growls at me! She reminds me of my squeaky toys that I love because I know, without a doubt, every time I play with them they squeak, just like every time I get near Maggie she growls. When I first met her, she was a little scary and I approached with caution, but now I am sure it is just her special way of playing with me.
Our pack is awesome and we share everything (except Tessa’s dog house of course), including our many treasures like bones or hooves that we all love to chew. I may not get first chance at chewing on one of our treasurers, but eventually after I have patiently waited (okay, maybe not that patiently, there is a lot of circling and staring involved) I get a turn.
My best furry friends are Toothless and Clyde. When I first came home there were 6 kittens and they were very little and fuzzy. I loved to play with them and may have given them a little more attention than they could handle! Four of the kittens went to live with other families as they got bigger, but thankfully Toothless and Clyde stayed. They meet me on the deck in the morning and we play every day, rolling, chewing and chasing each other. They are now bigger than I am, but that’s okay we still have lots of fun!
I also have sheep and a horse named Anna living in the barn yard and fields at my house. When I first came home there were lots of little lambs and I really wanted to meet them all. But most of their mothers were very protective and didn’t want their lambs playing with me so I had to stay out of their field. I loved the bottle-fed lambs though, especially at feeding time! I went out every time I could to help.
Anna is SarahAnn’s horse and she lives out in the corral. She is very big and I am not too sure about her yet. SarahAnn has taken me down to meet her quite a few times and I really like to sniff her as long as her head is facing the other way!
Well, that is an introduction to my family and all the furry friends I have living at my home right now. Check back, I think next I am going to tell you about some of my favorite things to do in a day!
-Baxter