Dog Community

? cattle dog, chow, husky, shepherd, collie ?

Posted : 2/22/2007 1:01:33 PM

Would you please help me?
I#%92d like to identify my dog#%92s breed mix to understand more about her personality, tendencies, aptitudes, and potential health issues (i.e., is she a high candidate for hip dysplasia?).

Physical: Approx. 1 year old, spayed female, 48 pounds, soft thick coat with different colored under-fur. Thick soft hair between pads on feet, feathered hair on back of front legs and around ears. Extra thick furry butt and chest. Hair lays flat and slick on back, stands up around throat and on side of hips. Purple/black blotches on tongue, back of tongue solid purple/black. Ears don#%92t flop forward, straight up unless she lays them back. Brown eyes. Face changes expression radically: soft silly puppy to slim serious attentive scout.

Behavior: Good jumper, likes to dig to bury bones. Obsessed with watching/chasing squirrels, lizards and other critters. Indifferent to seated cats, lunges at moving ones. Doesn#%92t naturally play with toys, prefers to nap, chew, supervise or co-navigate in car. Is fine with water, but doesn#%92t lunge in it when she sees it. Can devour a rawhide bone in minutes, but has very soft play bite. Isn't a barker, but howls (sings?) when I work the squeak toy or play treble-ey music. Has strong calming/appeasement vocabulary (acts very submissive when worried about displeasing me), very mellow (will sit near me for hours while I work … even when I#%92m using power tools, heh), a bit velcro (less so as time passes). Is very affectionate and attentive with me and BF, but indifferent to strangers unless they have high confidence/ability with dogs. Likes to be invited up into bed at night for little cuddle, but doesn#%92t linger long - gets back to night shift at “critter observation post” by front door. Learns new commands easily, but has a little attitude about following them sometimes (maybe is a bit of a clown). Food/attention motivated.

Have only exposed her to other dogs on leash or through fence, and that rarely ends peacefully. Others assume she#%92s aggressive because she#%92s so excited, growls and barks, and her thick neck fur makes it look like her hackles are up, when they aren#%92t. Also her teeth easily show when her mouth is open, even when her muzzle isn#%92t pulling up in a snarl. Have not tried her around children yet.

Regarding her breed mix, I#%92ve heard: cattle dog, chow, husky, collie, shepherd.

Thanks for your help!

rwbeagles

Posted : 2/22/2007 1:50:19 PM

Cattle dog definitely...the mottling and upright ear (they can also have a hard time getting along with other dogs at times). Husky maybe....the reverse mask on her face and whitish underside....and again, upright ear. Chow perhaps...the coat is a bit longer and there's a certain "puffiness" to the muzzle that speaks of Chow or Akita...but given her size,...more likely Chow. The saddle marking is interesting but I have seen cattle dogs that are red...with the blue mottling in a sadddle pattern across the back...so that's also possible. She may even be Simply Chow X Cattle Dog.

Look at these pics to see what I mean about the saddle mark...because her coat is longer...the mottling would be more diffused and appear solid and "black"...wheras if she had a shorter coat it might actually be blue or a mix of red and blue together.

mudpuppy

Posted : 2/22/2007 3:08:02 PM

you see cattle dog? I was thinking there might be some aussie in there. aussie X GSD. The head does have a bit of a husky look, though.

RupsMom

Posted : 2/22/2007 4:01:40 PM

In the second picture I see the cattle dog. Not sure what else...

tiffy

Posted : 2/22/2007 7:16:13 PM

I see cattle dog mix

Crystal Pate

Posted : 2/23/2007 1:59:13 AM

I most definitely, certainly see Chow in there. That face, and especially those eyes, scream it to me. I'd say Chow and cattle dog.

Laurelin_429

Posted : 2/23/2007 5:43:25 PM

Australian Cattle dog is a definite imo. The face looks very chow too, so I'll guess ACD x Chow.

brookcove

Posted : 2/25/2007 10:10:59 AM

That mask has to come from somewhere. Chows and ACDs don't have that. Cattle dog and your basic rural dog potpourri - chow, husky, aussie/bc/es, shepherd, beagle.

To answer your question, random bred dogs are really unfortunately open to all comers on the health front, though some advantage is gained through the outcrossing process (ie, breed specific problems are mostly avoided). So, yes, since canine hip dysplasia is a very common problem among most medium to large size breeds, that's one to watch out for. But it's not something to lose sleep over unless you notice a problem. Ditto other problems.

If you get a chance, you might have her eyes checked by a Board Certified Opthamologist at some point (CERF) - it's not very expensive and worth knowing, as eye trouble can cause aggression to get worse. Just do a search on google for CERF vets in your area.

brookcove

Posted : 2/25/2007 11:01:47 AM

Of course, I can't resist the color question. The longer coat on a ticked dog would actually be more white looking, as white hair is coarser and grows longer than colored. Here is a young female Border Collie - her ticking is quite even, but the long hair on her body shows more white. As her hair grew out she appeared to lighten in the body and darken in her muzzle and legs.

This puppy shortly after birth:

A brother who lacks the ticking:

Another brother, all white:

But he's got that "show through" ticking:

And the mother, who is smooth coated like an ACD and her sons above, but is ticked:

These are all purebred Border Collies, by the way.

Ixas_girl

Posted : 2/25/2007 6:14:39 PM

Thanks for the input, folks! [

]

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Look at these pics to see what I mean about the saddle mark...because her coat is longer...the mottling would be more diffused and appear solid and "black"...wheras if she had a shorter coat it might actually be blue or a mix of red and blue together.

Rwbeagles, thanks, wow pictures [

] I followed your picture link to read that the "creeping tan" up the shoulder, and the “saddle” is fairly common in ACDs. The saddle had me wondering about GSD, though Corgi's and Airedales have 'em, too. And you're right, her colors are more mottled than they look because of hair length. It shows more on her belly where her hair's growing in from her spaying.

Brookcove, thanks for the comments re: CHD and eye exam [

], I'll follow up with a CERF vet. Her white hair is actually her softest hair, very fine, rather like a cat. Is the hair on your border collie's tails soft or coarse?

Here are a couple of pics of her, on squirrel patrol, showing more of a tail curve and nose mottling on the one where she's looking away.

snownose

Posted : 2/25/2007 6:43:54 PM

Hair on the tail looks part Chow........

Here is Nanook....Husky/Chow mix......pay attention to his tail.

[linkhttp://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a268/BrushAwayGirl/Picture102-1.jpg]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a268/BrushAwayGirl/Picture102-1.jpg[/link]

Ixas_girl

Posted : 2/28/2007 1:16:33 AM

snownose [

] (I love that name)

Nanook, what a tail!

So ... cattle dog/chow/husky?

Here's a pic of a 1 yr old female chow at the shelter where I adopted Ixa ... has the saddle colors. Wonder if they're cousins!

Raja19

Posted : 3/5/2007 11:43:10 PM

ORIGINAL: Ixas_girl

snownose [] (I love that name)

Nanook, what a tail!

So ... cattle dog/chow/husky?

Here's a pic of a 1 yr old female chow at the shelter where I adopted Ixa ... has the saddle colors. Wonder if they're cousins!

My god is it just me or does that dog look very un-taken care of.

Ixas_girl

Posted : 3/7/2007 1:36:03 AM

agreed, she's still available:

http://www.laanimalservices.com/adoptapet_nc.htm

willowchow

Posted : 3/7/2007 2:05:32 AM

The Mickey Mouse mask around the face does show up very nicely on well bred chows of certain colors. Willow has one and I've been trying to bring it out for a long time. You can see it pretty well in my avatar picture because it was taken outside.

Also, the thing that makes me think she's part chow is that stilted gait. It's really obvious in the first picture, front legs short, back legs longer. There aren't too many breeds that have this.

The rest could be any of the breeds mentioned. Either way she's a gorgeous dog.