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Take your best guess

631 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  DaySleepers
My wife and I rescued our dog almost 2 years ago when he was only a few months old, they told us he was an Australian Cattle Dog/Mix by the Shelter. He was somewhere around 20 lbs and they told us they didn't think he would pass 50-60 lbs.

Now that we know he is at least 2 years old he weighs in at a trim 75, like he could easily be biggerif we ran him more but we typically stick to walks and do not over feed him. He isn't great at coming when called and he is so friendly but "large", other people and dogs shy away from him. Most people assume he is a German shepard because of his markings.

His bark is loud and bellowy (like a hound) but higher toned like he is some sort of opera singer.

Image below, he refuses to ride shotgun unless he has a belt on.

Dog Carnivore Collar Plant Dog breed
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I would definitely say some sort of hound...someone else might have a better idea of what hound. I would also say boxer or pit bull? I'm probably not even close though
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German Shepherd/ Doberman would be my guess. Nice looking dog!
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Are you looking for possibilities or have you done a dna test and just "testing us"? 😉

If the former, I'd include my usual disclaimer about identifying breeds in mixed dogs.

For the latter, I'll say shepherd (he has the notorious shepherd nose bump as well as the coloring) and beagle (the singing, easy to put on weight and his expressive face) most likely. Possibly boxer, chow, or even poodle.

He looks like a cross between my previous dogs. Bat-dog on left was shepherd, chow, sharpei, beagle, boxer, corgi, and german shorthair. Moose-dog on right was shepherd, poodle, newfie. Bat-dog weighed in at 60-65 lbs, Moose-dog at 75-80 lbs.
Plant Dog Sky Carnivore Working animal
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Are you looking for possibilities or have you done a dna test and just "testing us"? 😉

If the former, I'd include my usual disclaimer about identifying breeds in mixed dogs.

For the latter, I'll say shepherd (he has the notorious shepherd nose bump as well as the coloring) and beagle (the singing, easy to put on weight and his expressive face) most likely. Possibly boxer, chow, or even poodle.

He looks like a cross between my previous dogs. Bat-dog on left was shepherd, chow, sharpei, beagle, boxer, corgi, and german shorthair. Moose-dog on right was shepherd, poodle, newfie. Bat-dog weighed in at 60-65 lbs, Moose-dog at 75-80 lbs.
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Your Moose-dog has a lot of Similar markings for sure. The thing that has really been throwing us off are his big floppy ears. I've never thought about beagle because I've never heard of their mixes getting this big. Might could be that though.

He's got a short hair double coat.

No I'm not trying to "test" the forum haha we haven't decided to get him tested or not quite yet because all those DNA tests that seem like they are actually accurate are pretty expensive.
OK. I'm gonna give you my disclaimer because it might help answer some of those questions:

Some things about mixed breeds:

1. Outside of "designer dogs", most mixes have at least three breeds in them. Often more.

2. Not every breed in the mix will present itself physically. So while the dog may not look at all like a poodle, he may have poodle in his makeup. Same for temperament and behavior. The smaller the amount of a breed, the less likely you'll "see" it in the dog.

3. When breeds mix, they do weird things. The physical traits from each breed may combine to create something different. A large dog may have small dog dna - he just got his size from a large breed in the mix, or visa versa. A dog may get her body shape from a lab and her legs from a bassett. Or a dog may get her ears from a beagle and her muzzle shape from a pug and her tail from an akita.

With all that, the most accurate way of determining the breeds is to do a dna test. Embark and Wisdom Panel are good but more expensive. For dogs here in North America, a less expensive test is dnamydog. It doesn't test for breeds that are rare in North America and they don't do health testing, so the cost is lower. They also don't test for "pit bull" as it is not really a breed in itself (and they only test for AKC breeds). They do test for staffordshire, etc. that have been used to create "pit bulls". I've used them on my past three dogs and have been very satisfied with the results.

As for size, it can go in many directions. My Tornado-dog is parson russell terrier, shih tzu, peke, and smooth collie. Most people think border collie when they see him. But he is as tall and long as a shepherd, but is extremely narrow for his size and only weighs 54 lbs. And his boy part is actually small dog sized rather than proportioned to his body size (you barely know it's there even when you're giving him rubs).

With Moose-dog, everyone thought shepherd-rottie when he was a puppy. Then he grew tall and skinny and it was usually guessed shepherd-dobie. But the dna made sense. He got the coloring and size from the shepherd. The longer coat and the white streak down his chest from the newfie and the narrow long-leggedness from the poodle. His personality was very much a melding of the three breeds.
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He sure doesn't look like an ACD now, that's for sure! But genetics are weird - maybe his mom looked way more like an ACD mix and he just took after dad, haha. Do you live in an area with a lot of hunting? If so, I'm thinking something along the lines of black mouth cur or catahoula leopard dog might be in there.
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