I come out to visit my brothers each summer. Last summer we went to the pound and adopted a dog. The first thing I noticed about him when we saw him was his very strange head. It was pretty flat and his eyes were far apart. As you can see in even these pictures, when clean his coat is very shiny! I have some pictures from when we got him home.
Keep in mind that he was just home from the pound. He was sick, had just been fixed, and was underweight. A year later and I think he's full grown. He's big, healthy, and happy. He's very amiable, loves people, loves to play, and is also pretty obedient. His biggest fault is that he likes to catch and kill small animals--not long after we got him, we went into the kitchen to find blood smeared on the floor. He apparently caught a mouse and was chasing it around until it finally escaped. Well, he's perfected his techniques, because my brothers say he's brought in several dead animals, the latest being a crow. He loves attention, he loves fetch, and he loves to play chase. He's not shy, even of strange objects bigger than him.
We're pretty sure he at least has some flat coated retriever in him, but is there a chance he's a purebred? I know they're supposed to be solid black, but purebred dogs are born all the time that would be disqualified from shows for colors or patterns. If not, what other breeds might he have in him?