shelter breed designations LOL

I feel your pain...lol!  I actually work at our shelter, and some of the people I work with...wow...I wonder how they ever came to work there.  It's very interesting.  One girl couldn't tell the difference between a Catahoula and an Aussie (a guy came in and wanted to know).  I was like...erm...well.... 

And spelling...brendal is for brindle. 

There are a couple of knowledgeable people that work there, but what the dog gets called depends on who is there when it comes in, so it's just luck of the draw, I guess.  But also, to be fair, there was this guy that brought in a Boston terrier and her 8 week old litter.  Out of the four puppies, only one looked even remotely like a Boston terrier (and I would've guessed Boxer probably, because he seemed huge!).  The other three looked exactly like labs.  I mean just like lab puppies...  No one would ever have believed they were part Boston had the guy not brought them all in together.  Strange...  So you never know!

 Let's just say that the "knowledgeable people" were really excited when I came to work there since I also work as a tech at an animal clinic...Yay, I can give vaccines and worm and tell if the dog is neutered or not (and if the dog is male/female...Oiii...).  They actually sent a dog to us to be neutered (was down as a male on paperwork, set up a neuter, etc.), and the dog was a female.  I picked her up and started to take her back and was like...er...you're a girl!  Hehe...

     It's scary too. What happens when an owner calls about a lost dog? I always advise people to look daily at their local shelters if their pet goes missing! I think many shelter workers know about 10 breeds, and every dog is one of these breeds or a mix of same.

Bingo, dstull.  When one of my fosters went missing at her new home I SPOKE with the shelter that had her and they insisted that she wasn't there.  She is obviously a gsd, no questioning that, but they didn't have her?  I knew for almost certain that they did because one of the rescues I'd sent her pic to contacted me and told me even what row she was on.  I mean, gosh, how hard is it to spot a german shepherd?

I do know that our shelter here, and some of the rescues are more likely to say "boxer" than pit bull simply because that seems less menacing.

It's not just shelters. although I agree that some of the breed guesses they come up with are bizarre to say the least.  When I first got Rex and had him at the Vet's for something the groomer who works in the building came by and asked my if he was a Pharoah Hound???

 Here, every black dog with terrier ears is a Lab mix.  Whatever you do, don't call it a Pit.  And, of course everything brindle is a boxer mix, and everything with spots on its tongue MUST be a Chow mix.  Anything with merle is an Aussie mix (how'd they get those short coats and weigh 60 pounds anyway).  Um, came from the South...oh yeah, Catahoula's do, too. 

The ones that really make me laugh are the Shar Pei mixes that people call Yellow Labs.  Their skin may be "waterproof", but I've never patted a Lab that felt like sandpaper had icky ears and wrinkles LOL.

And, the Cattle Dogs that become Corgi mixes, the black and whites that are ALL Border Collies, of course.  Yikes.

It is kind of sad that you think these people work with dogs all day and should have more knowledge to all the breeds. The shelters around here everything is either a Lab, GSD, or Pit bull. You see dogs that look like pure breed boxers and they say pit bull, or they had a shar-pei, I mean wrinkles and little ears, and he was listed as a pit bull. After I got my dog and he obviously wasn't what they said he was I started looking into dog breeds to learn more. Before you get a dog you should investigate yourself anyways. I think it is kind of scary because a lot of people just trust what they say and don't care to question the shelter because they don't know either. People that work at a shelter should know about breeds just as good as a vet should, I think. But then the vet I took Bandit to told me he was a Newfoundland mix. Bandit is no where close to that either.

Workingdoglover

I can give vaccines and worm and tell if the dog is neutered or not

This is OT but I've always wondered if there is a way to know if a female shelter dog has been spayed?Ultrasound or something?Have you guys ever opened one up to find she's already been spayed?

Many times I will make the trip to our shelter because they have an Aussie or BC listed without a photo.In the past year only one looked close to what they guessed.I don't get irritated though........they are volunteers mostly so a good heart and willingness to roll up their sleeves make up for lack of breed identification skills.

Tena

4HAND

........they are volunteers mostly so a good heart and willingness to roll up their sleeves make up for lack of breed identification skills.

You got that right!!

4HAND

Workingdoglover

I can give vaccines and worm and tell if the dog is neutered or not

 

This is OT but I've always wondered if there is a way to know if a female shelter dog has been spayed?Ultrasound or something?Have you guys ever opened one up to find she's already been spayed?

Many times I will make the trip to our shelter because they have an Aussie or BC listed without a photo.In the past year only one looked close to what they guessed.I don't get irritated though........they are volunteers mostly so a good heart and willingness to roll up their sleeves make up for lack of breed identification skills.

Tena

 Well, sometimes you can suspect, because you might be able to see the scar, but you can still never know for certain because that could be from some other surgery (not likely, but possible).  As long as I've been working there (3 years this comming summer), we've only opened up one that was already spayed.  Most of the time if a person brings in a dog that they say is spayed we'll ask him for the name of the vet he used to do the spay, that way we can call and ask.  Strays, though, just go direct-in and usually they weren't spayed before.

Rex is my favorite kind of mixed breed! He is like a prototype for domestic dogs or what dogs really look like without selective breeding. Kinda like Carolina Dogs:

http://www.lynchesrivercarolinadogs.com/

http://www.carolinadogs.org/index.html

  And yes I have seen some REALLY bad breed IDs. Petfinder is nearly useless if you are searching for a specific breed because there are so many midID'd dogs listed. When Jeff was looking for a corgi, I couldn't believe some of the dogs listed as corgi or corgi mixes - one looked like a AmBull/GD cross! And there are always Belgian Laekens listed (none of which look like Laekens). And the dogs listed as Belgian Sheepdogs or Tervs? Most are GSDs (shelter peopel seem oblivious to the idea that GSDs can have long hair...), GSD mixes or Chow mixes.

  I remember being at our local shelter once when they decided a dog was an Ibizan Hound because people thought he looked like a picture they saw of one in a book. That same shelter went through phases of calling anything with blue eyes an Aussie mix (then a Sibe mix) and anything with any pigment on the tongue a Chow mix too. And of course, there are all the APBTs with "creative IDs".

I know Anne already touched on this....but here's mine:

Black/White = Border Collie or Pit Bull(people around here LIKE Pitties, and there adopted quickly)
Black muzzle with brown/cream/red-toned coat = GSD
Black = Lab mix
Brown = Lab mix
Yellow = Shep OR Lab mix
Brindle(if they spell it right) = Boxer
One or Two blue eyes = Sibe mix, or Aussie mix
Spotted tounge = Chow Chow
Longer fur = Collie
Merle = Aussie
Chocolate and Tan = Aussie
Black and Tan(with or without White) = Border Collie, Aussie, or Dobie mix
Tail-less = Dobie, Aussie, Rottie, ect... mix
Scruffy fur = Terrier mix

Thats basicly how they ID dogs....I could probably ID a dog better from one little pic. But, they do do all the hard work, so I figure we can cut them some slack on there IDing skills!

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.

When I was in the class for the shelter I asked about id'ing dogs. She said we make a best guess. I still look at some of the names and wonder, but I am no expert either. There are some funny adoption stories listed on thier website from people who adopted best guess puppies or young dogs and did not get what they bargained for. But they still love them. One adopted a small dog and it grew up to weigh 60 pounds!

I had the same frustration on petfinder. I would look at the picture and think "are you kidding?" It makes you wonder what you actually need to type in in order to find what you are looking for. Julie

spiritsmom

When I was in the class for the shelter I asked about id'ing dogs. She said we make a best guess. I still look at some of the names and wonder, but I am no expert either. There are some funny adoption stories listed on thier website from people who adopted best guess puppies or young dogs and did not get what they bargained for. But they still love them. One adopted a small dog and it grew up to weigh 60 pounds!

I had the same frustration on petfinder. I would look at the picture and think "are you kidding?" It makes you wonder what you actually need to type in in order to find what you are looking for. Julie

 Bull, my first dog was a "Beagle mix" adopted from the local pound. The dog warden said he should be about 30lbs when he was full grown. He seemed like a small puppy. He grew up to be 85lbs and based on his look and behavior, I would guess that one of his parents was a purebred Dobe and that the other may have been a Dobe mix. He had very few non-Dobe traits - just that he had a white chest, white toes and looser skin. His temperament was so Dobe-like that Dobe owners would remark at how much he was like their dogs. Kinda funny - shortly after I got him, I took him into a store that we were regulars at and the owners wanted to see the new puppy. I was holding Bull and  guy was in there buying something. He looked up and said "Nice Dobe puppy - I've had several Dobes over the years, great dogs". When I said he was a Beagle mix and moved my hand to show his white chest and toes, the guy laughed and said "I know Dobes and that puo is going to grow up to look like a Dobe". Never saw the guy again but he sure was right on. We called him a Beagle mix until he was about 6 months old and we started to feel silly calling the already tall, very leggy, still growing pup a Beagle....