Dear Pound Staff ...

[Aphra]

I picked up a young dog from a pound yesterday. He was listed a "mastiff X puppy". I've learned to take pound descriptions with a fair degree of skepticism, but sometimes you have to wonder who teaches them dog identification.

The dog I picked up is about 8 months old and probably doesn't weigh much more than 6 kilos, if that.

So dear Pound Staff, this is a mastiff X. He weighed 50 kilos at 8 months and topped out at 68 as an adult.

This little guy is the one I picked up yesterday, he's probably a Jack Russell crossed with maybe a Staffy? He's only little and will be lucky to top 8 kilos as an adult.

I know that it's really hard to tell breed from just looking at a dog, but sometimes you look at the descriptors and go WTF?

[mita]

Oh, Aphra, that's a classic!

[tdierikx]

Anything tan or fawn with a dark muzzle HAS to be a Mastiff, right?

Seriously though - my horse puppy wasn't all that big when she was 6-8 weeks old either - absolutely no idea she was a Dane cross until about 12 weeks when she really "blossomed"... she's well over 30kgs now at 9 months, and still growing (slower now thank dog).

T.

[Aphra]

Sometimes they do surprise us, particularly when they've not had good maternal nutrition ... I remember a litter we labelled Whippet Xs who grew and grew and grew ... But this little guy is 8 months old and the mastiff X in the photo weighed more than he does at 8 weeks. :laugh:

Anything tan or fawn with a dark muzzle HAS to be a Mastiff, right?

Seriously though - my horse puppy wasn't all that big when she was 6-8 weeks old either - absolutely no idea she was a Dane cross until about 12 weeks when she really "blossomed"... she's well over 30kgs now at 9 months, and still growing (slower now thank dog).

T.

[greytpets]

I sometimes have a laugh at the descriptions given to dogs in Blacktown pound then I think how sad it is that they may miss out on a home or rescue because of that description.

As Tdierikx says if it is tan with a fawn muzzle it must be a mastiff X & anything black & tan (regardles of how small) must be a rottie X, everything else must be a staffy X. Talk about condemming them from the start.

[Nic.B]

I looked at your first pic and thought ohhh I would say thats a Mastiff mix, then I read your post :laugh:

I have to say HP are pretty good at breed ID's. At times there will be three or four staff all looking at a dog to ID breed mix.

[Pjrt]

That is a Lilliputlian Wiggywack Mastiff cross. For certain.

[tdierikx]

It's also funny how many Rotti, Dobe, or Huntaway crosses there are in country pounds... most of them are actually Kelpie crosses people!

Some pounds classify anything brindle as being "staffy" cross.

I think that maybe anyone tasked with the job of attempting to identify breeds or breed mixes of impounded dogs really needs to do a course in same...

T.

[Staffyluv]

It isn't just breeds they have problems with it is ages as well.

When we found Zig, they said he was a 12 month old staffy cross.

After having a look at him, his testicles were not there and his canines were still not fully grown.

I suggested that he was only about 6 months old and was told that they had been doing this for a while.

Upon taking him to my vet for desexing, even the vet agreed that he would be probably be between 6-7 months old tops..

I know once a dog has a full set of teeth and appear to be fully developed it is harder to tell but surely anyone can see when canines are not fully there or testicles are missing, when they should be there..

[lillypilly]

The best I have personally encountered were described by the pound as 2 black female poodles.

When I went to collect them they had morphed into pure bred skye girls.

Even the microchip registry had them listed as Skye terriers, complete with the breeders prefix as part of their names.

Aw well - at least the pound staff could tell me they were both female

Happy endings - the breeder was wonderful and these girls were rehomed to Skye homes.

xx LP xx