Dingo Dogs and Rad Raccoons

Emma Heny, Contributor

Alexis Johnson, 11 has a pet like many students at East, but he is very unusual. Dax is a German Shepard mixed with a mystery of other breeds, but he doesn’t act like a normal dog.

  He can jump Johnson’s five-foot fence, and he has very odd behavior.  He isn’t like most “normal” dogs, instead he takes on traits of animals like dingoes and kangaroos.  He eats foods that dogs don’t usually eat, like popcorn and ice cubes. Johnson says, “he will do tricks for ice cubes, and he will grab food from the counter and eat it when she isn’t paying attention.  Some would think that he is a smart dog, but Johnson and her close friends see that he only thinks he is smart. Dax is a little on the chunky side who might do anything to get a bite of human food.  So, the question is, is Dax a German Shepard mix, or is he a dingo taken from the wild?

Mikala Hall, 11 has a pet that acts completely differently than she should.  Zip is a raccoon, who practically acts like a dog.  “She’s 20 pounds of fluff and character!” said Hall.

Her family found her in a hat hut in Torrington when she was just a baby, now she is 2 and loves Petco visits and eating grapes.  Others might think that raccoons can only live in the wild away from humans, but Zip has proved that with the help of a family, other people’s perspectives can easily be changed.  One time Hall was shopping, and Zip was with her, the employees thought she was a cat. When they found out she was a racoon they were scared.  Sometimes wild animals can act like house pets and vice versa.