Saturday, March 1, 2008

Leopold the Maltese/Jack Russell cross


Leopold at Work

It’s late summer here in Melbourne but over the last week the weather turned cold and we had some rain.

The day I saw Leopold was a day to get out the wet weather gear. Leopold was sitting outside his owner’s shop, Arbor Redux, dressed in his oil skin coat for the cold and the wet day.


He is so cute he was stopping the passing foot traffic.

Leopold is a 15 monh old Jack Russell/ Maltese X. His ‘Mum’ Greta owns Shop 12 Sparta Place, which is at 459 Sydney Road, Brunswick. It's a charming shop that sells creative local and imported designer jewelry at very affordable prices.

Leopold is not a designer dog. Greta said she wanted a “a mongrelly-looking dog” . For a while she searched through dog shelters but didn’t find a dog that actually ‘spoke’ to her.


One day she saw a picture of Leopold on Trading Post and knew he was the dog she wanted. Leopold is the runt and not as fluffy as the other Maltese/Jack Russell pups in the litter but he was just what Greta was looking for.

Every day is not a work day for Leopold. Some days he stays home with the other resident dog at his house. Greta’s house-mate has an eight year old Staffy X who is very patient with the younger and more playful Leopold.

I’m sure when he’s at work, in the front of the shop, he draws the crowd and he is very happy to pose for photos.


If you are passing Sparta Place at 459 Sydney Street turn in there and see if you can see him taking the sun or watching from the people as they come into the shop.

It's very easy to nod off for a little nap when the sun's out.


6 comments:

pudelflicka said...

A cute story about a cute dog.
Hedvig

pudelflicka said...

Maggie is Ophelias mother. She is only 8 weeks when I took the photo. (2006)
Hedvig

Anonymous said...

Gushing over Leopold's cuteness is all very well, but aren't we missing something important? In this era of moral laxity there is a deplorable insensitivity to the perils of a boy dog being raised without a father, in such feminine environs as a jewelery shop, no less. What safeguards are in place to prevent this 'Leopold' becoming a girly-dog?

Em said...

Concernedcitizen26 you have a point but you are accepting that maleness is learned not something a male is born with. If that is the case who is to say what a boy-dog should be or for that matter how a 'girly-dog' behaves.

Anonymous said...

my dog looks very similar to this. and ive never seen one like it! hopefully this link works:

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs197.snc1/6660_103359672490_630222490_2026788_6221239_n.jpg

Em said...

Dear Anonymous
Thanks for your comment and your link did work. I have comments sent to my gmail and it opened there.
Leopold was the first and only dog I have seen that looked like that until I saw yours. They are very alike. I wonder if they are the same mixture of Maltese and Jack Russell.
Em