Just for fun.. (breed guessing)

That 2nd pic just throws me all off. The eyes and mouth don't seem to fit any one breed. The 3rd pic looks pitty though but all the others pics don't show that so that's probably not it.

Black spotted tongue can really only be a few breeds right? chow, shar pei (sp), and what else? I don't see those breeds in her face though!

So I guess what I'm saying is that I have no idea :) 

Jewlieee

...Black spotted tongue can really only be a few breeds right? chow, shar pei (sp), and what else?...

Not really.  I've known purebred GSDs, Goldens and Newfs with black spots on their tongues.  What is "exclusive" to Chows and Shar Peis is a blue/black solid colored tongue. 

All that said, looking at the pics and reading the description, my guess is Lab/Chow.  There's a few things in her personality that reminds me of Chows, and she does look a little "Chowie"

hmmm....in the 3rd pic her head & expression say staffie to me, same w/ size & hair says lab. so i guess my guess would be staffie x lab cross. she's adorable!

Well, besides what I've heard about the temperment I see a few chowy traits--the chestnut eyes and the way they are set--the legs, for sure--the muzzle.

Also, I wonder if she's always been gray around the eyes and under the muzzle--she could of had a blue chow parent???

I thought you'd see the comparisons easier especially in this pic with the same harness color and the hair cut.

I would say Bear-Coat Shar Pei mix.

http://www.royalsharpei.com/SPtypes.htm

scroll all the way to the bottom, there's a black long coat that reminds me of your pup!

 I agree with that the 3rd picture says staffie also. So I'd say that she has at least some staffordshire terrier as well as some lab.

I've called her a lab/chow mix for most of her life, and I definitely see some chowiness in her, I'm just not sure. I realized that the only reason I even thought there was lab in her was because she's black and medium sized. But that really doesn't mean anything. Some things she does remind me SO MUCH of a herding dog of some sort that I can't imagine she's just lab and chow. Some Australian Kelpies look a lot like her.. some so-called Aussie mixes look like her.. And her coat type reminds me of an ACD. But the solid brown/black throws me off. Maybe I just need to learn more about the genetics of coat color.

Every once in a while I think I catch a glimse of some GSD in her, but that just seems too weird and unlikely.

I also see pitty once in a while, but the rest of the time she looks so unlike a pit bull that I can't imagine it.

What's funny is..you see how not alike the pictures look? How she looks pitty in some, labby in some, chowy in some..totally unidentifiable in some? That's how she actually is. Depending on how she's sitting, or what facial expression she's wearing, or how her ears are set, she can look like a totally different dog.

I love mutts.

I know there is a blood test now to tell what breed or breeds the dog is.  I don't know how expensive it is. 

Yeah, it's like $65. Not too bad, but apparently it's not terribly reliable either, so maybe I'll do it when I have more disposable income. And maybe they'll have more breeds soon too. They only have 38 now, no pit bulls, only a few herding breeds (no Aussie, ACD or Kelpie)... I guess it would at least tell me if she's lab and chow or not, but if she's some of the other breeds I suspect, it won't tell me much.

Oh, really, I didn't know they weren't yet able to tell all breeds with it.  That's good info to have.  Are you hoping and praying that she's not chow, LOL??  I really think she is and a good part of her is at that.

 I'm not good at breed guessing, but she looks identical to my moms old Black Lab X Rotti.

willowchow

Are you hoping and praying that she's not chow, LOL??

Oh no, not at all! I like chows a lot. I think they're really adorable, and I've known perfectly likeable chows (though not what I would call "outgoing" or "friendly" LOL! But nice enough..certainly not aggressive or evil or anything else most people believe them all to be) before, so I don't have any bad feelings towards them at all.

I don't care at all what Cherokee's breed mix is. It's just fun to guess and wonder.

I think lab/pitty is unlikely, because I think even with no socialization, that mix would probably default to a non-aggressive (towards people) dog. I've never met a pit bull with an aggressive (again, towards people) bone in its body.

Chow makes more sense to me, because of the whole "one-person dog" personality. That, plus no early socialization = Cherokee to a T.

And Australian Kelpie seems possible to me, not only because Cherokee looks like them (the solid colored ones..it's hard to see past the color in the others), but because supposedly her puppies had Rottie-ish markings, which coincidently are also common Kelpie markings.

But ACDs and such also have that "one peron" mentality, a similarly shaped head and body, and a similar coat-type. When I imagine this dog in solid black with floppy ears, I see Cherokee. Am I crazy?