Mistaken Dog Identity

[The Spotted Devil]

Is it a dalmatian? Strangely, I am always asked that.

I'm not aware of many other black and white spotted dogs who look EXACTLY like the dogs in 101 dalmatians. Guess people just want to be sure!

My grandma insisted that the dallies would be HUGE. Nope, 20kgs and 55cm high.

Seeing as Nova was mistaken as a 'long haired Dalmatian' I'm pretty sure some people just don't even know what Dalmatians are!

[Bundyburger]

My vizsla is a ridgeback because he had his hackles up after being rushed by another dog while walking.he's also an oversize staffy.. he's a small v but really?!

[swazzie]

So many funny stories , had no idea the mistaken dog identity there is out there.

I must admit while I'm the biggest dog lover ever,I get mixed up with some breeds and I'm the one asking what breed is it, but I don't guess unless I'm fairly certain of the breed . However I'm am still laughing at the Labrador/ Rottweiler mix up- he also pronounced it as Rott wheeler ????????????????

[Alibi]

My Shibas get fox, husky, basenji, Dingo ect all the time. I had a guy argue with me at the vet because he "knew they had Dingo in them," he could tell. Once when I was asked what breed they were and I replied "Shiba Inu" I kept getting, "no, but what are they a cross off? I kept telling the lady they were a real breed but she kept says, "yes, but what breeds are they mixed with?" I guess she was used to so many designer "breeds" with owners insisting their cross was a "breed" ?

Every one used to think Loki was a girl. ( He is pretty slight for a Shiba ) I'd constantly get "are they brother and sister?" or "Isn't she pretty" Now that he is a million years old I just get "Oh isn't he old!"

Lol I get the same! When I say a griffon bruxellois I get "so is that a pug x chihuahua". Some people are convinced she is a pug x and I'm just putting a fancy name to a cross breed lol.

[JulesP]

Having Aussies has almost made me miss having a Border Collie at least everyone knew what a chocolate BC was because of "Toby the Wonder Dog" off Harry's Practice.

Try having a sable border collie. Everyone asks what she is. Most people think she is gorgeous so it doesn't bother me too much.

Have had some people think she is red. One guy said 'what a lovely tri', getting closer I guess.

[RiverStar-Aura]

My Shibas get fox, husky, basenji, Dingo ect all the time. I had a guy argue with me at the vet because he "knew they had Dingo in them," he could tell. Once when I was asked what breed they were and I replied "Shiba Inu" I kept getting, "no, but what are they a cross off? I kept telling the lady they were a real breed but she kept says, "yes, but what breeds are they mixed with?" I guess she was used to so many designer "breeds" with owners insisting their cross was a "breed" ?

Every one used to think Loki was a girl. ( He is pretty slight for a Shiba ) I'd constantly get "are they brother and sister?" or "Isn't she pretty" Now that he is a million years old I just get "Oh isn't he old!"

Lol I get the same! When I say a griffon bruxellois I get "so is that a pug x chihuahua". Some people are convinced she is a pug x and I'm just putting a fancy name to a cross breed lol.

I can see the idea behind a pug x for a Griffon (especially the smooth) and especially for non dog people, however, it must be frustrating to try and educate people when they know best. I mean, why ask about breed if you don't care for the answer?

[Alibi]

My Shibas get fox, husky, basenji, Dingo ect all the time. I had a guy argue with me at the vet because he "knew they had Dingo in them," he could tell. Once when I was asked what breed they were and I replied "Shiba Inu" I kept getting, "no, but what are they a cross off? I kept telling the lady they were a real breed but she kept says, "yes, but what breeds are they mixed with?" I guess she was used to so many designer "breeds" with owners insisting their cross was a "breed" ?

Every one used to think Loki was a girl. ( He is pretty slight for a Shiba ) I'd constantly get "are they brother and sister?" or "Isn't she pretty" Now that he is a million years old I just get "Oh isn't he old!"

Lol I get the same! When I say a griffon bruxellois I get "so is that a pug x chihuahua". Some people are convinced she is a pug x and I'm just putting a fancy name to a cross breed lol.

I can see the idea behind a pug x for a Griffon (especially the smooth) and especially for non dog people, however, it must be frustrating to try and educate people when they know best. I mean, why ask about breed if you don't care for the answer?

Yeah the part I find most frustrating about it is I try to promote pure breeds from good breeders and don't want people walking away with a idea of cute little designer breed I want one, type thing.

[Little Gifts]

At least your dogs get mistaken for other breeds of dogs. Tempeh is a Tang style pei with a very short horse coat. Most people think a pei has to be all cute and roly poly like in the toilet paper ad. If we come across a stranger Tempeh is usually pulling some kind of spazzy dewrinkled face with her ears all up periscope and people look at her and ask "what is it?" I usually answer "special".

[Podengo]

"What breed is she?"

"He's a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno"

"A what?"

"It's like an Ibizan hound"

"A what?"

"Or a Pharaoh hound"

"Huh?"

"It's a small rabbit hunting hound from Portugal"

I don't know why I assume that everyone knows what Ibizans and Pharaohs are when they can't even recognise breeds like GSD, Labs, Goldies and Greyhound accurately :laugh:

If people try guessing the breed we usually get some mixture of Chihuahua and Jack Russell as guesses. The closest guess I had was Basenji :) Even a lot of people at dog shows have never heard of his breed, or know that it was recognized here. I had someone say they had a hard time believing this was even considered a breed when it comes in so many coat types and sizes!

Edited September 6, 2016 by Podengo

[denali]

Mot people know the cavs, i occassionally get asked if they are cockers or springers, but even then thats close enough!

The funniest was when i was walking Amber, A vizsla, and Kokoda the cav together and was asked if he was her baby :laugh:

They were the same colour, but the similarities about stopped there.

And i thought i saw an affenpinscher pup the pther day at a coffee shop, excitedly asked only to be told he was a pug x shih tzu. It was significantly less exciting for me after that

[biker girl]

A friend had a lovely dog once .. the happy product of a meeting between purebred English pointer and Greyhound . he was large, yellow & white, long ears ..and just gorgeous .

Everyone would ask ..and it got tiring , so the answer became : ":he's a Sherak Hound" . (sherak was this dog's name ) Funnily enough it shut people up - they just thought it was a breed they 'should' know of ;)

we also have a little crossbreed, Scout, we are pretty sure that she is a English Pointer/Kelpie as we got her from the AWL 13 yrs ago when she was about 8weeks of age.

When people ask "what is she" our standard answer is "a Mexican Chicken Herder"!!!

Same reaction to you to Pers, people mostly say "Ohh...I was wondering what they looked like"!!!!! ;-) ;-)

Edited September 6, 2016 by biker girl

[Brandiandwe]

I've regularly had people ask me if I'm walking Greeeeeeat Danes. I think they get stuck on the 'grey' sound and then can't think of how to finish the word. They only need to say hound at the end.

The funniest one was walking Brandi and Paige when they were quite lanky two year olds. Brandi was doing her best supermodel impersonation, and a young boy pointed to her and said, very confidently to his mates 'That's a staffie! We've got one of those at home!' How a 30 kg greyhound could be mistaken for a staffie I've no idea. I think he must have seen just the brindle and not the shape of the dog. Or he's got a very atypical staffie at home.

[Kirislin]

I often get asked if my 14yo whippet Feather is "the baby" because she is small. She is grey in the face and very frail and wobbly but it doesn't stop some people thinking she is a puppy.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

People ask me what my dog is - and I say mostly cattle dog. And they say - "she looks like she's got a bit of heeler in her" - like that's some other breed.

Erm.

She also gets mistook for Dalmatian. My mum likes to say that she's extra dalmatian when my dog is being particularly slow or naughty. A bit of an insult to dalmatians.

And sometimes german short haired pointer cross, but not that often because mostly people who know what a GSP is would also know what a cattle dog is and a dalmatian.

[Camel]

My Tibetan Mastiff usually gets labelled as a Chow mix, Leonberger or German Shepherd.

My Chow is more interesting and contantly gets mistaken as a Sharpei (not sure why as he has quite and open face/no rolls or wrinkles) or a Samoyed, He also gets called an Akita, some sort of a crossbreed and once he even got called a Pomeranian!

[mita]

My Tibetan Mastiff usually gets labelled as a Chow mix, Leonberger or German Shepherd.

I reckon my Tibetan Spaniels recognised a Tibetan Mastiff when we were shopping at Pet Barn. We walked around the end of some shelves & walked straight into a magnificent TM. My 2 little Tibbies stopped, looked, & touched noses for a few seconds.... then their tails began to wag. Like as if they knew it was family. Not a sign of fear, worry or aggro among the 3.

[Sheridan]

Kerry blues generally get mistaken for schnauzers, though I was at the vet recently with Miss Bunny and someone said, 'You don't see very many kerry blues around.' I said, 'No, and thank you.'

Wheatens sometimes get something-oodle but generally most people just ask what breed they are. I say 'Irish wheaten terrier' and add 'Irish farm dog' (also for kerry blues) because even if people don't know what breed they are they know what a farm dog does.

[kdf]

A guy once told me that my cattle dog cross was a nice looking dog. She's an Aussie so I corrected him. Twice more I tried explaining but he wasn't going to believe me. He leaned down near Ivy and said "did your mummy get ripped off???".

They was my cue to tell him to have a nice day and walk away.

My 17kg whippet gets called a greyhound all the time.

My fawn greyhound got called a deer several times by kids which was kind of cute.

[Daisys Mum]

I get asked sometimes what my Kelpie is... And sometimes people say "ooh Red Dog from the movie!"

[asal]

My Aussie is ALWAYS labelled a Silky or Yorkie but I'm mostly asked if Zeus is a pointer, harrier or foxhound. When I reply no, he's my Heinz dog I get a confused look so I'll usually elaborate and say he was sold as a beagle x JRT. That's when the questions of 'why don't you get him dna tested?' start.

I don't want to have him dna tested because a) I like guessing and b) knowing his composition won't make any difference to my training or anything else.

In the end, he's just my Zeusling :D

read one lady with an Australian shepherd got back from that so called dna breed testing , that he had labrador, rottie and boxer the 3rd breed. since her dog was from pure pedigree parents I don't think any of those breeds ever contributed to the Australian shepherd somehow? Didn't they arrive in America with a shipload of sheep from Australia? hence the "Australian" bit to their name? German Coolies have been here in the land of oz for over 100 years and they too got their name because they arrived on our sunburnt shores along with a shipment of sheep from, have you guessed it? Germany old man. they are a feature out Tarana and Bathurst way. Hondo Gratton grew up on a property where the only working dogs were Coolies n gee they sure look like dare I say it? Nope better not eh.