Okay, so, I've had Cherokee for 7 years. I've always called her a lab/chow mix. That's what she looks like to me. Then a couple weeks ago I see a picture of a dog (I think it was on here, but I'm not sure) that looks a lot like Cherokee but with *** ears. I find out it's an Australian Kelpie, but then forgot to look them up or anything. Yesterday I remembered, and I Googled pictures of kelpies, and alllll the pictures of solid black or brown kelpies I could find look SOO much like Cherokee it's unbelievable. The coat on them is exactly her coat. The face shape, body shape, pretty much everything is the same as her.
The only differences are ears and size. They have *** ears, Cherokee has floppy, I read somewhere that 20% of kelpies have floppy ears, but I can't find any pictures of them with floppy ears. And the size, they're supposed to weigh like 45 pounds max I believe, and females are supposed to be like 18-20 inches tall. Cherokee weighs 55 and she's 20.5 or 21 inches tall.
When I first read that they're a rare breed in the US, I thought, oh, there's no way she's kelpie, but then I found out they're only rare where there isn't anything to herd. Cherokee came from North Carolina.
This picture looks ridiculously like her. The face is a bit different, and the ears of course, but seriously, the body could so easily be Cherokee.
Here's Cherokee:
And this picture looks just like her face..
Cherokee:
So I guess my questions are 1) does the size and ear thing make it clear that she's not a kelpie? Or could she just be oversized with floppy ears? 2) rarity..are they rare even in country areas? Is she probably not a kelpie? Anyone have an opinion? Thanks.