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Breed Misidentification


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Irish Terriers are red Schnauzers or Mini Airedales. Or just "ugly". One year at the Royal we had one bloke nudge his wife and go "Hey look, it's your mother! It has a beard."

I was sitting outside the shops the other night with 5 Aussies (3 blacks, a red merle and a blue merle) and had numerous people ask me what breed were the spotty ones. I explained they were all Australian Shepherds, just different colours. Most people were fine with that. One older gentleman insisted the "spotty" ones were Koolie crosses, even after I told him they were all purebred, registered, Australian Shepherds and were all in town for the dog show, and kept asking if I was sure they weren't crosses. You just have to educate where you can, and laugh about the others.

Aussies with different coloured eyes are blind, or husky crosses. Merles are always Koolies or Koolie crosses, and the black tris are always Border Collies or BC crosses.

And Aussie people are terrible, terrible people for chopping off their tails.

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I think it's interesting when people have crossbreeds but only use one of the crosses to explain what it is. I know someone with a Vizsla X. She always said she had a Vizsla until one day when I saw a photo of him and she said oh no he's a crossbreed but he's mostly vizsla. The only "viz' looking part of him was his colour. He was huge, heavily boned with a heavy head that didn't look at all like a gundog. Oh but he's crazy like a Vizsla. i think he's crazy because he's young and left outside all day...

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I was at the Royal with the Old English one year... worst torture ever!!! People all have the most original joke, "Which end is the head?" by the end of the day I felt like going "Well sniff here and then tell me"... :o

I also heard a person call Weimeraner puppies "Minature Weimeraners" and Zora was labelled both a hairy Weimeraner and a White Flat Coat depending on whose bench she was on :laugh:.

Hahaha 'sniff here' ROFL!!!

OP: what breed is your puppy?

Me: a Brittany

OP:not her name, what breed is it?

Me: a Brittany

OP: Did Britney Spears have a dog named after her?

Me: No, its a breed of gun dog

OP: Oh right,a cavalier king charles crossed with a beagle/cocker spaniel!!!

OP: Who knew Britney Spears had a dog named after her?? :banghead:

Edited by MishB
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I had a rescue group a while back trying to convince me they had picked up a xoloitzcuintle, I tried everything to explain it no doubt wasnt ( IT WASNT!!) but they were very hard to convince, it was a dog with a bad case of mange, the teeth were normal which was not a hairless breed in the hairless sense, and besides the fact no other xolos are here in Aus ( I wish there were!)

With all the cross matings these days one must feel for the rescue people at times.

I often get contacted about potential wheatens in pounds. There was one that was a cross (probably!) but none of the others have been wheatens. I'm always pleased that people bother to ask even if I do wish for a bit more info and better photos.

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Alkhe: Occam's razor, people. Bah!

This is one of my frustrations with it, together with disregarding expert advice when it is given. I agree with Mita and Haredown that a dog can look like pure breed when it is a mix, and that you can't guarantee it's pure breed unless you have the papers. It bothers me tho' when people aren't clear about what is most likely, and what is almost certainly not there. I would rather see Heinz allowed back in to listings for rescue with a decent description of the temperament.

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.

This sums up a lot of my concerns too.

raineth: 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.

I love the bolded bit. You also touch on the thing I find puzzling about it. If you ask any armchair expert they will say that pure breeds are bad and mixed or cross are better. But those same people are often obsessed with breed, and the more exotic the better. It's a kind of double think that I find it hard to get my head around.

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We sat at the Royal all day UNDER the breed sign, and every single person asked what they were.

I see a lot of crosses that would make excellent pure breds and vice versa. Esp in the small white (or not so white) fluffy category!

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Even though at 4 months our welshie puppy is bigger than a CKCS, people still ask if that's what she is.

Or better still, "what breed is she, some sort of spaniel cross?" Have also had Beagle/Cocker cross.

Nobody seems to have heard of a Welsh Springer Spaniel, apparently it's a "regular" Springer Spaniel crossed with "something welsh".

Oh well, I wanted something a bit different, and whatever the comment is, it's always followed by "she's beautiful" or "she's so sweet".

One person did, in all seriousness, ask what she had been playing in that left all the brown splatters on her legs :laugh:

Edited by Rosaline
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We sat at the Royal all day UNDER the breed sign, and every single person asked what they were.

I see a lot of crosses that would make excellent pure breds and vice versa. Esp in the small white (or not so white) fluffy category!

lolololol

TRY sitting under a BREED sign and a 6ft high banner and a smaller SIGN especially made and they still go

"Whats that!"

My friends lost their voices over the three days we were there, but well worth it for all the lovely people we got to meet, even the pound lady who took some information, "in case one escaped and came to her pound in NSW!" I advised her be a long run from WA but NSW but she was kind enough to say "You never know" and she is very right!

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Aussie3 and Esky... you can adopt the blue eyed boy if you can pick what breed mix we can put on the microchip register for him...

The chip register only allows for a cross of 2 breeds - and neither of those can be "mutt"... grrr! It forces you to select a first cross of only 2 breeds. I'm leaning towards Kelpie/Aussie Shep, but am seeing possibly a bit of Dingo, maybe GSD way back in the mix, and any number of other things.

All of these pups will be advertised as "crossbreed" on PetRescue - but their chip info will have to say some formal first cross...

T.

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The chip register only allows for a cross of 2 breeds - and neither of those can be "mutt"... grrr!

That's terrible. Shame on them that they don't allow you to register them truthfully.

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The chip register only allows for a cross of 2 breeds - and neither of those can be "mutt"... grrr!

That's terrible. Shame on them that they don't allow you to register them truthfully.

Do they allow 'bitza'? What if you spell it "Bitser"? Until I was about 13, I thought that Bitza was an actual breed... (I also thought that 'anon' was a prolific and long lived poet and writer though :laugh: )

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Aussie3 and Esky... you can adopt the blue eyed boy if you can pick what breed mix we can put on the microchip register for him...

The chip register only allows for a cross of 2 breeds - and neither of those can be "mutt"... grrr! It forces you to select a first cross of only 2 breeds. I'm leaning towards Kelpie/Aussie Shep, but am seeing possibly a bit of Dingo, maybe GSD way back in the mix, and any number of other things.

All of these pups will be advertised as "crossbreed" on PetRescue - but their chip info will have to say some formal first cross...

T.

I think Dingo too T, and maybe Kelpie? Oh and crossed with ADORABLE!

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Guest Arcane

If I am asked what my pure breed dog 'is crossed with' I just say Skye Terrier. If they want to believe that she is a Skye terrier crossed with a Skye Terrier that's fine!

The lack of knowledge in the general community of dog breeds gave rise to a bit of a fun idea...... I was telling my friends I was going to cash in on the designer craze and make PooPoo puppies. I'd get a Poodle & cross it with a Poodle but instead of selling them as Poodles, market them as PooPoo's and charge twice as much for them as the going rate for a Poodle. sadly people are dumb enough to fall for it! Three times as much $'s for ' Chocolate (brown) PooPoo's'

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The blue eyes on the brindle pup are the thing that makes me think there may be some Aussie Shep, but I'd be happily reappraised of that if anyone can come up with a better option... lol!

T.

They look nothing like Aussie to me, lots of breeds can have blue eyes :)

Can you just put one breed? My rescue boy is just registered as a "Crossbreed" but the vet calls him "German Shepherd X".

Edit: For a pup to be brindle, doesn't one parent need to be brindle?

Edited by wuffles
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The blue eyes on the brindle pup are the thing that makes me think there may be some Aussie Shep, but I'd be happily reappraised of that if anyone can come up with a better option... lol!

T.

They look nothing like Aussie to me, lots of breeds can have blue eyes :)

Can you just put one breed? My rescue boy is just registered as a "Crossbreed" but the vet calls him "German Shepherd X".

Edit: For a pup to be brindle, doesn't one parent need to be brindle?

Agree, I don't think they look very Aussie. Dingo actually came to mind when I saw them though

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