Aphra Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Please participate and spread the link. Since visual identification can mean life or death for a dog, good research is important. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/breedidentity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mita Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Sure is a very important issue! I know that from how easily my own breed, tibetan spaniels, are mislabeled. I notice that the researchers are targeting US and UK. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY A primary goal of the research is to examine how those who work in shelters, rescues, and pounds identify dog breeds, crosses (mixes), and types that are commonly encountered as stray or owner-relinquished animals in the US and UK. In addition, this study examines what characteristics individuals use to identify breed type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I have completed this survey but have basically suggested that they scrap it and start again as the images provided are not of sufficient quality to enable you to assess the dog in question. Many were blurry, taken on the wrong angle the dogs were laying down etc. I have suggested they start again with a head shot both front on and profile, a front on body shot and also a side body profile. I labelled one a possible APBT cross but reserved judgement based on the image provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I'll agree that most of the images were hard to judge based on the weird angle they were taken at. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garnali Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Done... Lots of poor photos though.. stance & weight also make deciding breed easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddy Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Besides a few purebreds (and a couple of molosser type mixes), most just looked like random bully mixes to me I assume the point of it was to determine "pit bulls" by appearance? If it was, meh. Anything that was not obviously a purebred to me just got labeled as a bull breed cross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Besides a few purebreds (and a couple of molosser type mixes), most just looked like random bully mixes to me I assume the point of it was to determine "pit bulls" by appearance? If it was, meh. Anything that was not obviously a purebred to me just got labeled as a bull breed cross. Yeah I thought the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aphra Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 The survey isn't interested in whether people can identify particular breeds of dog; what they're looking at is what the decision-making process is for people making identification, i.e. what visual characteristics of dogs people use to make decisions about breed. I suspect that's why odd-angled photos and the not-so-clear visuals, they're looking for the big categories. Besides a few purebreds (and a couple of molosser type mixes), most just looked like random bully mixes to me I assume the point of it was to determine "pit bulls" by appearance? If it was, meh. Anything that was not obviously a purebred to me just got labeled as a bull breed cross. Yeah I thought the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I didn't think there was anything wrong with the quality of the photos or the angles etc. Perfect photos showing various angles and weights of the dogs etc would have defeated the whole purpose of the survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I thought many were mixes. I find it hard with Staffies as they're a breed highly BYB and can have a huge spectrum of what they look like even if 'pure'. I didn't have any issues with photos or angles. There was one photo where I couldn't guess what it was, simply a mixed breed imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I thought many were mixes. I find it hard with Staffies as they're a breed highly BYB and can have a huge spectrum of what they look like even if 'pure'. I didn't have any issues with photos or angles. There was one photo where I couldn't guess what it was, simply a mixed breed imo. I figured most of them were mixes or BYB. The photos looked like they were taken at a pound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddy Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 The survey isn't interested in whether people can identify particular breeds of dog; what they're looking at is what the decision-making process is for people making identification, i.e. what visual characteristics of dogs people use to make decisions about breed. I suspect that's why odd-angled photos and the not-so-clear visuals, they're looking for the big categories. Besides a few purebreds (and a couple of molosser type mixes), most just looked like random bully mixes to me I assume the point of it was to determine "pit bulls" by appearance? If it was, meh. Anything that was not obviously a purebred to me just got labeled as a bull breed cross. Yeah I thought the same. I'd have thought visual identification methods would be pretty simple- does the dog look like a fairly typical example of its suspected breed (coat type/colour, build, head, size, mouth, etc) or have considerable characteristics of a particular breed if it is a crossbred dog. If it has no defining characteristics, it's likely just pure mutt and breed identification is sort of pointless. I'm not sure what else you'd be making that assessment on, if not to a basic breed standard. Ritually slaughtering a chicken and interpreting the coils of its intestines using tarot cards? Maybe I'm doing it wrong or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 There were one or two dogs in the lot that looked to be closer to a "pure" breed than most... I still labelled them as crosses, because without papers, one can't really say any dog is of pure descent, right? As for the angles on the pictures - most pound/shelter staff have the luxury of being able to view the animal in question from all angles - so I think we may get some skewed results due to that. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Yes for a few I said 'either cross bred or badly bred pure' because they looked a lot like a pure bred dog but slightly off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Yes for a few I said 'either cross bred or badly bred pure' because they looked a lot like a pure bred dog but slightly off. I said that a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieEvans Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I agree. Too much poor photos and these may not really be off help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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