Hey everyone,
I made an account on here to see if I could get some help figuring out what breed(s) my dog may be.I got him from the pound a few months ago. He's about 3-4 years old, and I am head over heels, madly in love with him. I'd been keeping an eye out for a Pekingese to adopt for a while, and when I met him, despite the shelter's warnings that he was aggressive and "not very nice," I knew he was "the one."He was listed as an owner surrender, but he weighed only 9 pounds and was all skin and bones, had a terrible flea infestation, and was covered in prickly burrs and mats -- some literally the size of golf balls. My guess is that he must have been left outside and forgotten about. The groomer said the mats were 2+ years in the making. The shelter didn't have any other information on him.The groomer had no other choice but to shave him down completely.
With some good food, supplements, and lots of love, he has blossomed into a truly amazing dog. I am happy to report that I have never seen even the slightest inclination of agression from him. It must have been the atmosphere at the shelter that freaked him out. I do wish my Pom loved him as much as I do, but as long as everyone gets on peacefully, I'm happy.
Anyway, I've been calling him a Pekingese since I got him. I didn't even know the Tibetan Spaniel existed until I was watching the dog show and did a double take when they showed the breed!
I suppose he could be a mix of both. Because his hair is still growing out from being shaved, and when I got him it was all matted and in terrible shape, I'm not quite sure exactly what it's supposed to look like, but it does look like the more "medium" length of the Tibbie as opposed to the floor-length look of the Peke. The feathering on his ears is getting pretty long, but not floor-length or anything.
His front legs are also EXTREMELY bowed, which you can see in the photos, giving him a rolling gait. When he moves, it almost looks like he's crouching down a little bit. He has huge paws...not sure if that's a particular trait of either breed. He's also veeeeeery long, much longer than he is tall.
As far as his face, it's not completely smashed in, but his muzzle has several distinct wrinkles and excess skin by the eyes, which is of course a Peke trait. He has a pretty strong underbite, and when you look at his profile, you could make a straight line from the front of his lower jaw up to his forehead. At a glance, his head is very Peke-like because of how "rounded" everything looks, and the deep wrinkles have me thinking Peke. However, the coat, as far as I can tell, seems spot-on Tibbie. Like I said, I guess he could be some kind of a mix? Or either a heavily faulted (by AKC standards) Tibbie or Peke ;)
Anyway, I love this guy half to death, whatever the heck he is. He's just perfect for me. I'm just SO curious now. It's so funny that I've been totally Peke-obsessed for months and all of the sudden I come across the Tibbie and I'm like, wait a second, I might not even have a Peke after all!
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