Dog Community

Messed up breed listings.

Posted : 7/28/2007 7:44:34 PM

I know rescues and shelters are doing good by helping out unwanted or abandoned animals, but don't you think they'd do so much better if they'd study up on their dog breeds so they actually list the right breed or right breed mix?

When I have nothing to do at work I'll surf the net, where I can(damn filters) and I usually look at petfinder. I did that Thursday or Friday and I was searching Aussies. I got to one in Wisconsin that listed the dog as an Aussie mix, but it was clearly a German Shepherd mix. On the page itself they said he was a "mystery breed" and that they think he's a Shepherd mix. Then why have him listed as an Australian Shepherd mix? How stupid do you have to be to not be able to recognize a German Shepherd mix? I run into a lot of clearly Cattle dog/Blue heeler mixes that are listed as Aussies. Can you imagine if you know nothing about either of these breeds and you go and adopt what's called an Aussie mix and you bring it to the vet or to the dog park and get told that it ain't an Aussie mix, it's a Cattle Dog mix? I'd be embarrased that all that time I was thinking I had an Aussie mix.

I know all dog breeds get this, but I mean seriously? Wouldn't you want the people you're getting your dog from to at least know their dog breeds? I don't expect them to know every dog breed, like the Bouvier(sp?). If you don't know that breed personally you could get it mixed up with a Giant Schnauzer and that's understandable. But dogs that are recoginzable they should be able to tell.

I know if I was to adopt one of the Aussie mixes who's clearly a Cattle dog mix or an Aussie mix who's clearly a German Shepherd mix, I'd correct the people so they hopefully wouldn't make that mistake the next time. I'm sure all these rescuers who don't know their breeds are the reason John Q Public has such a mixed up notion of what some breeds are. We had two Border Collie mixes come into the first boarding kennel I worked at. The people who owned them thought they were purebred, but they clearly weren't.

Here's the above mentioned German Shepherd mix.
[linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8806612]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8806612[/link]

Australian Shepherd/Pyrenees? Looks more like a Lab mix to me.
[linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8830838]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8830838[/link]

Looks more like a Cataholua mix or a hound mix.
[linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8915993]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8915993[/link]

Looks more like a Cattle Dog/German Shepherd mix
[linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8918712]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8918712[/link]

What is it? Any dog with merle coloring is an Aussie mix? I would never have called any of those dogs Aussie mixes.

Sorry, just had to rant.

Shiva

Workingdoglover

Posted : 7/28/2007 8:04:06 PM

Even the vets don't know half of the time. I know more breeds than any of our techs, that's for sure. One vet tech was helping us out with this really fear aggressive dog, which was a red ACD mix (looked like a solid red ACD, basically...), and the tech was like, "oh yeah, that's a chow chow, she'll bite you for sure." And not only did the dog NOT look like a chow whatsoever, I couldn't believe the comment she said about chows! I thought it was pretty sad that a vet tech would say that, and would also not even know the different between a chow and an ACD... [sm=asking03.gif]

I agree that it would be soo much better if shelters would know their breeds a little better. My boy was supposed to be a pit bull, and I don't think anyone on this forum thought that he had any pit in him, or if he did it was very little. I also think colors make a difference...merles are Aussies, brindles are boxers or pits, etc... Some people just don't know that there are other breeds that have those same colors...

2shelties

Posted : 7/28/2007 8:19:14 PM

I had a tri color Aussie years ago, and the vet insisted at our first visit that he was part Rotweiller. I asked why, and he said because of the docked tail. [8|]

houndsandjackals

Posted : 7/28/2007 9:28:40 PM

I agree with your take on the breeds. I'd say, on the second one, they mixed up Australian cattle dog with Australian shepherd, which I've heard people do before, despite the popularity of the latter. Hell, I live pretty much in the boonies, and I've still had people mistake my redtick hounds for ACD or GSP mixes.

That aside, I can definitely feel your pain. A year or so ago, we were considering adopting a Basset hound, and I lost count of how many times I'd click on Basset mix (or even just Basset) to find one of the lower-slung beagles.

Dog_ma

Posted : 7/28/2007 10:43:14 PM

Hey, when we adopted Sasha at 3 months, the shelter workers told me she was an Anatolian shepherd. I'm no breed expert, but COME on! The color was right, but that is all. Sasha is 60 lbs soaking wet as a full grown dog.Anatolians are really large livestock guardians.

I went home and snickered. We live in the suburbs. A medium sized rescue who wants to lick your face off is not going to be an Anatolian.

houndlove

Posted : 7/28/2007 10:48:53 PM

Conard was listed as a GSD x SHAR PEI!!! Shar pei, people! Do you see any pei at all in that dog's face? No? Yeah, me neither. He has a wrinkly brow that he crinkles up when he's thinking hard, but that's as close as he gets to looking anything like a shar pei. GSD yes, I can see that. We decided that's in fact not what he is, but it's definately understandable where that comes from and even now when people refer to "your shepherd mix" I know they're talking about Conrad and I don't dispute their assesment. But the pei thing just blew my mind!

I've found that a lot of the time certain shelters and pounds have a few favorite breeds that they label absolutely everything as. If' it's merle, it's an ausssie, if it's wrinkled it's a shar pei, if it has a black/tan color, it's a GSD, if it's black with tan points, it's a rottweiler, etc...

DumDog

Posted : 7/29/2007 12:52:06 AM

i think sometimes its people not caring. its just a job and a pay check.... same thing applies to teachers. you'd think a teacher would take pride in shaping the future leaders of the world, but instead its just "Shut up! sit down, copy this. Theres a test next friday!"

and i also think sometimes people do it as a way to protect the dog. in areas where the BSL is insane (even with shepherds) they will list some other likely, similar breed mix. as with pit bulls.... i have seen pure bred,WELL bred, pit bulls and Am staffs as well as staffy bulls in the shelter and read their tag to be some kind of goofy off the wall mix.
one of the weirdest things was when my cousin adopted some baby rats... they were listed as Rat mixes..... mixed wth what?!

and the vets? i still think its just a pay check. their job is to know the body, structure, etc of dogs and cats. breeds.... why?
yeah i know... because some breeds are more prone to certain diseases... but that doesnt matter. the diagnosis matters.. not the statitistics or probability of that breed getting that disease. the vet only needs to know how to treat it. sometimes they DONT know because they dont know the breed..... a lot of dogs go untreated because of bizzarre ailments. if the vet would study up on the breed they might understand whats wrong, but no. its a dog. it has a funny twinge and a bald spot....
its rare to find a vet that cares......

Amber Murphy

Posted : 7/29/2007 8:31:44 AM

Ya know, this just all goes to show why BSL is so dang bad! If a vet can't even tell your dog's an Aussie and thinks it's a Rott just cause of it's color and lack of a tail............... I think you can see where I'm going.

It's pretty sad though that people in these types of jobs can screw up the dog breeds so badly that the owner of a Cattle Dog mix thinks they have an Australian Shepherd mix and then when they see a pure Australian Shepherd they think it must be a mutt and you're just too stupid to know.

I took my dogs to the park yesterday because it's too hot to walk them and went to Petsmart after for some new bones and a couple new fish for my tank. Rio is obviously a German Shepherd mix, I don't really mind when people think he's purebred because he does look it, not much to tell the normal person he's a mix. But when we were in line to pay there was a lady in front of me who asked me if Dizzy was a............ She had to think... A Shelti. What????? Dizzy doesn't even look Shelti. I just told her she's an Australian Shepherd. At least she didn't ask me are you sure? Come on, does this dog look like a Shelti? The other dog is my mom's Staffy.

Shiva

Jennifer Cronin

Posted : 7/29/2007 9:29:51 AM

I can totally relate! I was told I was getting a beagle mix, which turned out to be a cattledog/BC mix. Quite a difference. We love our dog to death, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. This dog is going to be 20 to 30 pounds bigger than we had expected, and with behaviors that aren't that fitting with our suburban neighborhood. We are totally committed to this dog, but I wonder how many people are not able to meet the needs of a dog they didn't expect to get.

DumDog

Posted : 7/29/2007 11:25:29 AM

yeah i knew a woman who said her sheltie was a border collie and her collie mix was a sheltie.... these two dogs were Mutt and Jeff.... the sheltie was a pure bred standard sized sheltie with standard colours.... i knew exactly what she was. the other dog was much larger and looked to be a standard collie mixed with golden or possibly hound... no one knew.. to be perfectly honest he LOOKED like an English shepherd. but those dont exist in Madison County Florida lol
these were back woodsy type people. their dogs were working dogs only so breeding and standards didnt mean anything to them. they just wanted dogs to keep up with their goats and other livestock.

a few years ago i met a realtor that had a GIANT dog. i remarked on the size of her dog and she kinda chuckled and said "yyyeeeaahh.... we went to the shelter to adopt a lab puppy..and she was the only "Lab" there... but i think they lied.."
this dog looked like a border collie but was the size of a saint bernard and had the coat of a newfoundland!!
the good thing was this woman had a lot of room for a dog like that. someone with a small yard and a small house thats adopts a dog the size of a st bernard, but was expecting a dog the size of a lab would be very upset!

caveninit

Posted : 8/2/2007 11:18:43 AM

It can definately be frustrating. When we adopted our BC mix Buster, they had on his cage that he was a Lab! The cage next to him had an adorable Pit and his cage said he was a Lab too. In fact, most of the Pits there had different breed names on the cages...mostly identified as Labs. The ones that were so obviously Pits..with all the gorgeous brindle and all.. were just listed as "mixed breed".
We adopted our new puppy Callie from a different shelter.They had on her cage that she was a Border Collie. The votes still out on that..lol..
Next to her cage there was a gorgeous Hound..her cage said she was a Lab. No way was that pup a Lab!!
Janet

Workingdoglover

Posted : 8/2/2007 5:29:51 PM

They were probably calling the pits different mixes so they would be more likely to get adopted. Here its the other way around, because everything is a pit, lab, or shepherd mix...lol! My boy was listed as a pit mix, even, and I don't see much pit in him at all. I think it was mainly his brindle color... I realize it can be difficult to tell, especially if its a younger dog, but sometimes it just seems like people are completely ignorant! Oh well, I'm sure they're just doing the best they can...

DumDog

Posted : 8/2/2007 5:40:44 PM

i understand that some shelters are probably labeling pits as labs so they will have a better chance of adoption... but.... its DANGEROUS. a PIT is not a good dog for a first time owner. no they arent dangerous, but active, and that can be dangerous in some cases. the prey drive is higher, the tenacity is higher, their trainability is not the easiest in some areas, plus you have the added risk of dog aggression. these are all important things a new dog owner MUST know and be prepared to deal with.
calling a pit bull a Lab mix would be like putting an Apple Juice Label on a jug of whiskey.....