A Friend Rescued A "fox T X" From Pound About A Year Ago

[Simply Grand]

We nearly always put 'cross' on dogs, even if we are fairly confident they are pure as without confirmation we can't be sure and we want people to understand we are not guaranteeing that the dog is the breed we've put on it.

Fair point, but a pure bred Fox Terrier is a very distinctive animal!

I'm afraid I don't get that "logic" at all. Why can't the story about the animal say as much. Sorry, shaking my head.

DDD, i'm not clear what logic it is that you don't get, is it what I said?

[Tintin Jac]

I'm still trying to figure out how anyone could rehome their first grand champion. Obviously they have different priorities to most breeders I know who keep all their successful dogs for life.

I haven't got a clue why he was rehomed but, as others have mentioned, there could have been any number of reasons. Maybe she fell upon hard times, maybe she had to reduce numbers, maybe he wasn't happy in the environment.

The breeder is over the moon to have been contacted now and has been to see Mr Darcy.

Yes, he was labelled as a Fox Terrier x. If the surrendering family had given his papers to the pound, his exact breed would have been known. As they didn't, the pound staff couldn't have been sure of his breeding.

[j]

I'm still trying to figure out how anyone could rehome their first grand champion. Obviously they have different priorities to most breeders I know who keep all their successful dogs for life.

Success has little to do with it surely - if the dog doesn't thrive in a pack situation what is best for the dog is more important to me than how much it won/could win/might win.

Funny "foxie cross" being the real deal :laugh:

I think that while a Fox Terrier is a fairly distinctive dogs, they are now getting to the point where they aren't such a common dog, so not many people would have seen a purebred Fox Terrier. So many people confuse them with Jack Russells that they may have thought it was a Jack Russell Cross?

Or, as others said later, they say everything is a X so people don't complain that they were misled as to the breed?

[espinay2]

I can understand the reasoning for doing it. Phenotype is not the same thing as genotype. It may look like a purebred, but without papers there is no 100% guarantee it is even if it looks like it. A person may be misled into thinking that is what they are getting, and find the dog doesnt act appropriately (for LGD breeds this can be particularly important as you dont want the prey drive of a herding dog on a dog that is supposed to be a LGD!). I would personally rather they do this than misidentify something as a particular breed when it isn't. At the same time I would hope that if they do think it could be purebred (even if they don't label it as such), they are talking to breed rescue if there is one.

I must say though this is a great story of riches to rags to riches again. I am glad that Mr Darcy was identified and his breeder found :)

[WeimMe]

Generally the shelters and RSPCA have to just take an educated guess at breed, especially when they came in as strays.

We have a new dog who has been listed as both Greyhound/Bull Arab and English Pointer/Bull Arab at the RSPCA. In the absence of any solid proof they can only go on appearances.

So nice that you got such a lovely dog and also that he found himself a wonderful home with you.