[TNWalker47]

Hello! I am new to this forum but not new to the world of dog, cat and horse rescues.

I have my own thoughts on what "Mason" might be but I am interested to hear what others think. Mason's rescue effort started two weeks ago on Tuesday. He finally let someone catch him on Thursday of the same week.

This past Tuesday he was taken to my vet where he was neutered, got his shots and a major de-flea. Mercy that dog had an entire county's worth of fleas on him.

I am supposed to be fostering him and doing his basic training until a permanent home can be found, but my husband has taken a liking to him (that never happens), so we may get to keep Mason.

If I keep him, I am thinking of getting his DNA tested. Any thoughts on the validity of such tests?

I say that because I am already weary of hearing the negative sound of "oh! he's a Pit Bull". Mason isn't a purebred anything and I highly doubt his dominant genes are Pit Bull or Staffordshire Terrier related.

Even if it turns out he has Pit Bull in him and it's dominant --- he will stay right here on our farm and continue to be a house/farm dog.

I am not seeing true abuse with this dog. I have a hunch his dumping situation may have been brought on by the economy or a big fight and the wife or girlfriend decided to make the dog "go missing".

A woman in a very nice late model 4-door cream color Jeep was seen dumping Mason. At the time the witness thought the woman was just letting the dog out to do his business, elst she would have taken the license number down.

It was less time to post this picture heavy link from my horse forum instead of re-loading everything into Photobucket.

Hopefully this link will open.

http://tennesseehorseandrider.yuku.com/topic/3547

Didn't mean to write a book. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on what Mason might be made up of

[Dakota Spirit]

First, kudos for taking him in! I'm glad that Mason has a place to stay until a permanent solution is found (or he is fully adopted by you).

On the subject of DNA tests...they are not reliable enough yet that I would base any kind of final guess on the results. There have been several cases where people send in their purebred dna (just for kicks) only to get back a list of breeds that are without a doubt, not in the dogs parentage. Also, last I heard, there isn't yet a test that identifies Pit Bulls. So even if Mason has that in him, it won't come up on the test.

Anyway, looking at the pictures it does seem Catahoula is possible. They can look kind of bully at times. However, they aren't common in all area so the likely hood of that mix kind of depends on where you're at. He's also a little hefty whereas Catahoula tend to be on the leaner side. I wouldn't shake my head at Pit either...he's definitely got the face for it.

Handsome dog, either way. Thanks agian for taking him in!

[Willowy]

Wow, his eyes are very blue... it could be Catahoula, or maybe he has some Husky, Border Collie, etc. in him. His ears look like Jack Russel Terrier, and his head does have a vaguely Bully look to it. I think he's a very mixed-up mutt . Which are my favorite kinds.

If you only want the DNA test so you can tell people he's not pit, you can give it a try. Since none of the current tests can identify pit bulls, you can just tell everyone that he's the breeds that the test manages to identify. It's not like it'll change who he is whether he has pit in him or not.

How big is he? Weight, height, etc.?

[zimandtakandgrrandmimi]

he looks like a lot of the catahoula bulldogs ive seen

catahoula bulldog is a working mix. usually catahoula x american bulldog and sometimes catahoula x american pit bull terrier

[TNWalker47]

Thank you all for your replies

Mason weighed in at 50# at the vet's and he's about 20" tall.

The concensus is he's probably right around a year old.

We live in Middle Tennessee, less than an hour from the Alabama border, which is part of why I have myself convinced he has a lot of Catahoula in him.

I also thought those ears belonged in the Terrier family - lol

The more mix that's in him the happier I will be.

I had to put my 10 yo Rott to sleep last month with throat cancer. He also had cushings and sarcoma. With diet and supplements I managed to let him have a quality life 18 months beyond the one year the vet said he had left.

Beau was my third purebred Rott over 19 years and I lost them all to cancer. One at 2-1/2 years, one at 6 years, and Beau at 10 years. It's too heartbreaking to watch what these diseases do. My heart will always beat faster when I see a Rottweiler but Beau was my last one, and my last purebred.

I sort of rescued Beau when he was 16 months. If I hadn't taken his happy-go-lucky-bounce-off-the-walls self, the man was going to send him back to the dog pound. Their rules were if a dog like Beau came back, he got put to sleep

Mason is also a happy-go-lucky fella but he doesn't bounce off the walls like Beau did. Think giving a 10 yr old boy a gallon of Hi-C and a dozen Hershey bars and that was Beau up until he started getting really sick.

If Mason does have Pit Bull in him and it begins to show more as he gets older --------Oh Wellll, he's here to stay

It's a good thing we live in the toolies and that my part time job is at the insurance office that insures our homeowners and autos - lol lol lol lol lol

Thank you again for the great replies

[zimandtakandgrrandmimi]

[QUOTE=TNWalker47;630924]

If Mason does have Pit Bull in him and it begins to show more as he gets older --------Oh Wellll, he's here to stay

QUOTE]

what is this supposed to mean?

[TNWalker47]

That means that while I like Pit Bulls, they are not at all liked in my very rural county, especially in town where the type of people that own them are the ones responsible for giving them such a bad rap.

After all the negative press they see on TV (evidently the happy ending for Michael Vick's dogs didn't sink int) it does not impress someone's aunt or grandma when they're on their way to WalMart and the only Pit Bulls they get to see are the ones being walked down the sidewalk by someone with pants bagging down to his knees, the dog has a big-spiked collar on it and most often could stand to have more meat on its bones

According to the rules of my insurance company (along with many other insurance companies), I was not even allowed to own my Rottweiler without having to pay a hefty premium had they known about Beau. My agent not only knew Beau, her pre-schooler son "got down" and played with him until Beau got too sick.

I would have to face the same "premium penalty" if someone even thinks Mason is part Pit Bull and turns me in for owning him if my insurance company's home office got wind of him and sent our district's "Grim Reaper" out to look at him.

I moved to SoCal in 1998 and the selling real estate agent knew I was coming with a Rottweiler (not Beau). She warned me the insurance companies made a habit of knocking on doors when they knew the new owners weren't home to see what the barking dog sounded like.

I had my second Rott then and he never barked -- let the little Beagle/mix do all the barking.

Sure enough, my insurance agent called me at work to say she had knocked on my door and that "little dog sure sounded like she needed to quit smoking cigarettes - by the way what KIND of dog is she?!".

True-to-form Solomon had never made a sound and my drapes were closed so the agent couldn't look in the window.

That is what I meant. I am as worn out from the bias against Pit Bulls as I am Rottweilers and Dobermans. It isn't the dogs, it's the owners that need strung up.

I didn't mean to write a book, but I sensed you might have been hurt by what I said so I am glad you asked The trouble with keyboards is the voice inflection is lost and things do often get mis-interpretted

[Adustgerm]

Wow, his eyes are very blue. Does he have any Aussie in him?

[TNWalker47]

Originally Posted by Adustgerm

Wow, his eyes are very blue. Does he have any Aussie in him?

That's a great thought that never occurred to me!

[Novaluna]

He could be any mix of things, but I definitely don't think pit is very dominant at all. He looks like he's got a bit of Jack Russel or Fox terrier in him, or maybe one of the tri-color hounds (Beagle, Foxhound, Basset hound, Harrier, etc). It's really hard to say, but he's definitely a cutie!

[TNWalker47]

Originally Posted by Novaluna

He could be any mix of things, but I definitely don't think pit is very dominant at all. He looks like he's got a bit of Jack Russel or Fox terrier in him, or maybe one of the tri-color hounds (Beagle, Foxhound, Basset hound, Harrier, etc). It's really hard to say, but he's definitely a cutie!

Basset's a good thought too because Mason is splay-footed. That's the horse term for really toeing out.

Mason definitely stands with his toes pointed out - so much so that if he were a horse it might be a concern for arthritis as he gets up in age.

That's ok - I have two senior, arthritic, horses, we're used to using MSM and other things if it ever gets to that. Anything I buy for the horses is safe for the dogs in smaller doses

Mason continues to be happy-go-lucky. When my Lab/Sharpei growls, he doesn't waste anytime cowing down. He just is not an aggressive dog, nor does he desire to be a dominant dog. He looks to Luke for everything - lol

Although we have a few simple rules that I expect to be obeyed, life here is pretty laid back for all the critters, so whatever Mason's gene pool, he will never have a reason to show aggression.

I am still dazed and amazed that Mr. TNWalker47 likes Mason. He actually went out in the back yard and played with Mason when he got home from work! He's never done that with any of the other dogs