Thursday, April 14, 2016

Dachshund Harlan and My Family Tree

My favorite lakeside walk around Monte Sassalto always brings pleasant surprises. Last week I ran into Dachshund Harlan, who was visiting all the way from Germany.


Harlan works as a research scientist and is pioneering a new application of deep learning to family tree reconstruction by means of butt-sniffing. A quick round of data collection revealed that Harlan and I share a common ancestor who lived in the 1840s.


"His name was Dachshund Piripinko," Harlan said, "and his human was the German painter Carl Friedrich Deiker".


It was Dachshund Piripinko who inspired Herr Deiker to create this famous painting, which reminds me of my recent badger encounter.


Do you think Dachshund Piripinko would be very unimpressed if he knew that his great-great-....-great-granddaughter Tootsie would one day meet a badger and simply stare at him while safely ensconced in Dachshund Daddy's arms? Or would he be proud of my self-control?

3 comments:

  1. Pleasant surprises are why we go for walks. Fancy meeting an important research scientist (and distant cousin).
    And I am sure Dachshund Piripinko would have been proud of your self control, dear Tootsie.
    Toodle pip!
    Bertie.

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  2. Amazing ! That's a very interesting study, and Harlan looks like an erudite scientist ! We think that Dachshund Piripinko, understanding the 21th century's new habits, would have been proud of your self-control. Purrs

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  3. Amazing self control, Tootsie. I'm just learning about scientific research.
    Teddy

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