Breed Misidentification

[Chequeredblackdog]

My family bought Rocky as a 'purebred Border Collie' apparently his parents were star sheepdogs and show champions lol.

Mind you they were selling him by walking through the local markets with a box, for $20!

Rocky has been identified as a: Maremma, a Lab cross, a GR cross, a sheep and a lady once compared him to her old house's shag carpet

I always welcome discussion on Rocky (he does too, cos it usually means he gets pats!) and often introduce him as a 'supposed to be Border Collie'.

Where I work (pet supplies) we often get people come in with their super-duper designer breeds or 'purebred' whatever. Which they usually paid ridiculous amounts for. It can be very amusing.

The best one I had when I first started, an older, quite serious gent (who I later found out is a regular) came in with his dog, which looked very much like a BC cross Husky. I asked if that was what is was, by God he acted offended! and proceeded to tell me all about his rare 'French mountain shepherd dog' I can't remember the exact name he called it. I was rather shocked at this point and just when along with him. Just as I was starting to believe him that MAYBE it WAS a rare breed, that I had just never heard of, he burst out laughing and proceeded to tell me how gullible I was! Apparently he likes to (mis)inform people quite often....sigh.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Chequeredblackdog

[Dame Aussie]

We got some great comments about the Australian Shepherds at the royal last week. :D Although you get used to it, I have people asking me all the time what sort of cross he is, oh what a good looking coolie he is, is he blind with his marbled eyes? haha

YES! People always ask me if Lili is blind!

[Dame Aussie]

My family bought Rocky as a 'purebred Border Collie' apparently his parents were star sheepdogs and show champions lol.

Mind you they were selling him by walking through the local markets with a box, for $20!

Rocky has been identified as a: Maremma, a Lab cross, a GR cross, a sheep and a lady once compared him to her old house's shag carpet

I always welcome discussion on Rocky (he does too, cos it usually means he gets pats!) and often introduce him as a 'supposed to be Border Collie'.

Where I work (pet supplies) we often get people come in with their super-duper designer breeds or 'purebred' whatever. Which they usually paid ridiculous amounts for. It can be very amusing.

The best one I had when I first started, an older, quite serious gent (who I later found out is a regular) came in with his dog, which looked very much like a BC cross Husky. I asked if that was what is was, by God he acted offended! and proceeded to tell me all about his rare 'French mountain shepherd dog' I can't remember the exact name he called it. I was rather shocked at this point and just when along with him. Just as I was starting to believe him that MAYBE it WAS a rare breed, that I had just never heard of, he burst out laughing and proceeded to tell me how gullible I was! Apparently he likes to (mis)inform people quite often....sigh.

Rocky is gorgeous!!!!!

[~Rumour~]

We got some great comments about the Australian Shepherds at the royal last week. :D Although you get used to it, I have people asking me all the time what sort of cross he is, oh what a good looking coolie he is, is he blind with his marbled eyes? haha

YES! People always ask me if Lili is blind!

I don't get asked if my girl is blind. It's normally just 'poor dog' 'your cruel for making her do this' (aka flyball, agility, obedience).

[pepe001]

1. My working line GSD was called a cross-bred mutt by a GSD breeder - show-line of course. He claimed the history of East German Shepherds was false and the only German Shepherds were show-line.

2. Confusing crosses are sometimes an advantage. My dingo*shepherd was often called a lab*shepherd to keep people happy.

3. My sister a few years ago decided to get a dog. Her hubby wanted a BC, she liked labs. She saw a sign at the local shop for give aways - said collie cross lab. So we decided to go and look. Cute cream and white fluffy puppies - quite big. Looked healthy etc. I asked to see mum - lady walks out what looks like a cream shepherd. Said she bought it as a pure lab and always wondered why it was different to other ones she has seen ??? Still a nice dog. Then my sister commented that they look like border collies - lady says 'oh dad was a lassie dog not a BC - he lives up the road'. So neither lab or BC in pups. Sister took pup anyway and he has turned out to be a great dog and what they needed. But we now think mum was a dingo*shepherd as once he grew up he looks like a dingo and has many attributes. Occasionally he looks at you are seems a little lassie-like in his lookon his face - but you have to search to find it.

[Guest Willow]

I have a little mixed breed SWF....came through a rescue who had him listed as a Chi x, but i see no Chi in him....some Tibbie maybe....a whole heap of other stuff...who knows....people ask me a lot what he is, and when I say "Dunno....mixed breed" it seems to drive them mad and they ahve to play "guess the breed" :laugh: I don't really care what he is, so I don't really try to guess :laugh:

[pie]

My boyfriend thinks everything with black and tan markings is a Dobermann, or 'must have some Dobermann in him', even if it's Chihuahua sized. It doesn't matter how many times I've shown him pictures of CKCS, kelpies, .. myriad breeds that can be black and tan, he won't learn!

Yep I see this a bit too, I see dogs in rescue that are labelled a Manchester Terrier X because they are black and tan, when they don't resemble a mannie at all, and sometimes even have a white chest, and MTs are quite rare so the chance of there being crosses of them in the pound is highly unlikely.

Yet mine rarely gets called a Manchester terrier :laugh:

I think the most impressive one is how many dogs get called a 'Mastiff' or 'Mastiff X' when they look absolutely nothing like an actual Mastiff!

[prplhydra]

My personal fav is the guy (it is always a guy) who assures me there us no such thing as a Deerhound Because He Has Never Heard Of Them.

:rofl:

an attitude in the community not just limited to dogs tho...

[Alyosha]

I do think that shelters or rescues sticking blindly to their flawed breed descriptions can be unfair to purchasers/adopters. I recall when I worked in a shelter a tiny Pom female coming in, heavily in whelp. She had two pups within days, which were subsequently advertised as purebred Pomeramians, and generted much interest, and lists of people wanting to adopt. All well and good. Except the babies were much bigger than Poms at only 6 weeeks old, and clearly not purebred, heavy heads, big bone etc. So it's anyone's guess how big they ended up.

So almost false advertising.

It's like the story of the shelter that was convinced they had an Azawakh a couple of years ago, or the grizzle/domino sort of colored crossbreds that get called Saluki crosses when it is hghly unlikely. staff get keen on googling breeds, which is fine. But if they advertise and sell dogs as a certain breed I think it's unfair.

The habit people have of identifying breeds in crosses by colouration really bugs me. If it's black masked tan its a Mastiff x, even if t's less than knee high etc etc. Colour genetics is hideously complicated business. You need to discount colour and have a look at some structural features which are often a little more conclusive.

edit to add - anyone with a red/sable and white Borzoi will tell you how painfully often they are called, with great authority, " a Lassie".

Edited April 18, 2012 by Alyosha

[Dame Aussie]

I know when I worked at a shelter, we would have loved to label everything as a mix but adopters want a breed. For some reason they aren't happy with "mix" which kind of forces the shelter to take a guess and give it a breed.

[raineth]

I know when I worked at a shelter, we would have loved to label everything as a mix but adopters want a breed. For some reason they aren't happy with "mix" which kind of forces the shelter to take a guess and give it a breed.

that's true in my experience too. People are very disatisfied when there is no breed attached to a dog! I'm always amazed when people ask me what Digby is (I always say a 'dog'). Then they say what sort of a dog and i say "a good dog". Then they but what breed? and I say no, no breed, he's a mutt. And they start squirming, and repeat, but what breed, what breed? It's so strange.

I can't seem to convey that he doesn't belong to a breed.

[Bjelkier]

I know when I worked at a shelter, we would have loved to label everything as a mix but adopters want a breed. For some reason they aren't happy with "mix" which kind of forces the shelter to take a guess and give it a breed.

I find this bizarre.

It use to happen at the vet practise I worked at. If people are so hell bent on having a certain breed I can't understand why they don't just go to a breeder in the first place.

Weird.

Honnestly breeds misidentification annoys me and I do correct people. Rescues naming any large tan x as a mastiff drives me nuts.

Having Samoyeds is alot of fun. We get all kinds of things from long haired siberian malamutes to polar bears :laugh: I love it though when people ask me the breed, I tell them and then they say....'what's a Samoyed?...'

Edited April 18, 2012 by Bjelkier

[ironbutterfly]

We used to own a German Shepard cross the people swore it was a GSD x Belgian however we only saw the mum so never called him anything more than a shepard x. But we had people asking if he was a wolf, he had been hit by a car and had an odd gait. We nicknamed him Mr Woolfe because of it and peoples faces when we called him was hilarious.

I get asked if my SBT is an English pure bred, when I say no they go "oh so he's just a staffy x". If I can be bothered I'll explain there's no such thing as a English SBT but a lot of the time now I just smile and nod, their brains just don't compute.

[Red Fox]

I'm always amazed when people ask me what Digby is (I always say a 'dog'). Then they say what sort of a dog and i say "a good dog". Then they but what breed? and I say no, no breed, he's a mutt. And they start squirming, and repeat, but what breed, what breed? It's so strange.

I can't seem to convey that he doesn't belong to a breed.

That's gold.

I've been asked what my Ridgeback is crossed with a few times. "Ummmmm another Ridgeback". Then get told "Oh, but he looks nothing like my Ridgeback x Mastiff??" No shit Sherlock.

[pebbles]

Years ago when Afghans weren't known a lot, I had my teenage boy at the local river swimming spot. Two men were discussing what breed he was and making all sorts of weird guesses. I took Kush for a paddle, we came out of the water with the coat on his lower legs wet and stuck to the legs. With great authority one man said "I know what he is! A Poodle which hasn't been clipped!!"

[LOLAFOLATA]

I know when I worked at a shelter, we would have loved to label everything as a mix but adopters want a breed. For some reason they aren't happy with "mix" which kind of forces the shelter to take a guess and give it a breed.

I find this bizarre.

It use to happen at the vet practise I worked at. If people are so hell bent on having a certain breed I can't understand why they don't just go to a breeder in the first place.

Weird.

Honnestly breeds misidentification annoys me and I do correct people. Rescues naming any large tan x as a mastiff drives me nuts.Having Samoyeds is alot of fun. We get all kinds of things from long haired siberian malamutes to polar bears :laugh: I love it though when people ask me the breed, I tell them and then they say....'what's a Samoyed?...'

I'm with you on the 'Mastiff' thing. I've seen some recent pound listings as Mastiffs and photo would indicate some are not much bigger than an SBT and are described as being around the 30-40kg. An adult Mastiff, regardless of type ie Neo, English, Dogue, Bull etc should be 60-70kg & upwards. My 8 mnth bitch is close to 40kg.

They should allow 'Heinz' as breed description - would be closer to the truth in a lot of cases :)

[Red Fox]

I recently saw "mini Maltese" pups advertised. Underneath in brackets it said (Bichon Frise x Chihuahua) ...interesting how you can cross two unrelated breeds and get a brand new one! :p

[Meea]

When I was a kid it was quite acceptable to have a Heinz ir a 49'r but now uit seems they all need the brand lable.

[rusty&biscuit]

Love reading through these! :laugh:

Rusty my Aussie shepherd is usually a BC, because he does look a lot more BC than Aussie anyway :laugh: However at the AG shows "experts" tell their friends he's a kelpie cross, or a long haired kelpie. But they're fine when I tell them the breed, quite facsinated actually. When I tell them the breed history, the American's always get critisized :laugh:

People always ask me if Biscuit is a pom X, then I say no, a schipperke :) "a WHAT?" then I say it a few more times before they catch on :laugh: Some people ask if that is a designer breed, but I promptly correct them ;)

And Cherry is just a staffy X who knows what, but it's fun hearing peoples guesses :)

[tdierikx]

When people ask me what type of dog Pickles is, I just say "take your pick, it's probably in there"... she's a true blue Australian Camp Dog (born in an Aboriginal camp in the middle of the Northern Territory).

This is Pickles...

I just picked up 5 pups from the pound today - listed by the RSPCA as GSD/Husky. They weigh between 2.4kgs and 3.3kgs and are about 7 weeks old. Anyone care to guess what may be in there? 'Cos I'm sure as all heck that GSD and Husky certainly aren't high on the list... I'm seeing ACD, Kelpie, Aussie Shep, Dingo, etc, myself...

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