spiritdogs
Posted : 1/20/2009 3:13:56 PM
Liesje
Some people seem obsessed with knowing a dog's breed. People ask constantly about Coke and when I say I don't know they start making guesses like I'm stupid and can't already identify probably 100 different breeds (the same types of people who will insist Kenya is a mix because she's "way too small" and "the wrong color" even though she's within the standard and is the most dominant color). The thing is, a lot of mixes are mixes of mixes. Even a 50/50 guess really isn't appropriate and how does it even matter? We call Coke an "All American". He's a mix of at least one mixed parent. Even his temperament doesn't really indicate any predominant breed or type.
Thank you for pointing out the "mixes of mixes" issue. People always seem to want to say a dog is 1/2 this and 1/2 that. In my own case, with Sioux, we know she's 1/2 Aussie because her mother was purebred, but we have NO idea what daddy was, although we have our suspicions, and even that is up for debate, since her siblings don't all look like her. I do think that it can be important to identify a breed TYPE, ie the group that the dog favors, in some cases, especially if you are adding to a multi-dog household. That can narrow the search. But, in the end, it's all about the individual dog and whether he/she fits in your pack or with your lifestyle. I wish the descriptions were closer, though, because petfinder is such a neat tool and too many dogs probably don't come up under the right search when someone is really looking for a particular type of dog. There's a big difference, for example, between the lifestyle that hounds and Aussies lead - just ask mine;-)