Have you ever not recognised your own breed? Discussions

Today was Parker and Izzy's grooming day at Easton college grooming school which is an agricultural college on the outskirts of Norwich.

I was waiting in the reception area with the dogs when the lady who supervises the students came in with a large shaggy grey dog. I asked her if he was a Bouvier and she replied no he is a Kerry Blue!!

He did not look like Parker (correct breed standard size) as he was bigger and shaggier but it is the first time I have not recognised my own breed! Whoops!

Still I was really encouraged when I picked the dogs up as the student who groomed them had not seen Izzy since she was trimmed a few months ago and she said what a different dog she looked and acted. I still take a muzzle for when she is groomed but I no longer have to muzzle her at home for grooming and she has even stopped growling when being groomed. She was a right bod when I first got her (owing to neglect of her coat and also being spoiled by not being groomed because "she didn't like it"!) and would actually try and bite me if I was trying to brush her-hence the muzzle!

LOL - yes, once, about a year ago

Dex and I were at a local park and we ran into a woman and her dog. He was a sort of 'beigey' shade that I've never seen before nor since on a Lab, and I'm ashamed to say, I didn't realise he WAS a Lab!!!

Then again, people have often asked me what type of 'Lab mix' Dexter is.......!

No ,but another boxer owner has asked if Ozzie was an Am bull...

Glad I am not the only one Tabitha!

Jamie always says about Izzy having Jack Russell in her as she has quite short legs for a Kerry. Found out at the weekend that she is the Great-granddaughter of the Kerry Blue that won Crufts in 2000. Must admit we found this hard to believe!

Well I guess that is unusual as even Jamie could recognise a Boxer! (though he famously asked someone with a fox-red Labrador if it was a Rhodesian Ridgeback!)

Its his white coat and his size that confused them i suppose..

No but I went to a rescue centre once and they had a Bi-colour workline GSD down as a xbreed and a xbreed as a GSD lol

My dads new dog was listed (by the rescue) as a GSD x Alsatian!

Only once when sitting in the vet, there was an older gsd lying down next to her owner, but neither one of her ears were up( looked more like a labs ears) and there were other little things about her ( her height etc... This was way before i got xeva) i knew she had gsd in her but i genuinly thoughtshe was a cross, i was so embarresed i apoligised to the owner

Oh dear

I once mistook a welsh Springer for a Brittney... though I was 16, and really, my dog was an ESS x American Cocker... so not really, no, sorry

I was walking with a guy I know today, and his bull terrier Louie. We got to a corner, and I could see Jake watching something, and assuming it was a dog, I called him back... Then Louie's owner, looking at where Jake was looking, said 'there's a bull terrier' and turned to Louie... who wasn't there... yep, Louie was the bull terrier! I knew straight away it was Louie, I think he owner was just shocked that he was as far ahead since a minute before he was next to us, and he doesn't exactly move fast

So, not a not recognising your own breed... but not recognising your own dog!

I've had a GSD x Alsatian in at work.

I've known customers book their dog in as one thing and it's actually another. eg. a Westie that was booked in as a Scottie and a Shih Tzu that was booked in as a 'long haired Jack Russell'

Well, it's pretty hard to not recognise a shar-pei. I was on the beach with my first shar-pei years ago and bumped into someone with a big male horsecoat. He was HUGE. I asked if he was crossed with a boxer due to him being a good 24 inches at the shoulders and having large ears. But the owner swore he was a pedigree.

I don't thnk I'd ever not recognise a TM - even the American and Chinese ones that are looking less and less like the traditional TM we still have. I've had two bearcoat shar-pei and I've got used to people thinking they are either chow chows or crossbreeds. And with the TM I've only had 4 strangers in 7 years know what breed he is. Usually they think he's a GSD x rottie, 'Burmese' mountain dog, Newfoundland, St Bernard or Pyrenean.

Quite a few years ago a cold caller saleswoman knocked on my door. I greeted her with my Sharpei by my side. She looked at him and said "Goodness! That's a strange looking dog! What's he made up of?" I replied "About a month's wages!" She was so apologetic that she may have offended me that she left without even telling me what she was selling

We've only seen two other Rough Collies since we adopted Whisper in September and both times we were really excited to see another Rough' - the owners were excited to see Whisper too.

*Loads* of people have got Whisper's breed wrong though - some people even arguing with us that she's not a Rough but that she's definitely a Border Collie lol. Mostly it's easier just to let it go when they disagree that she's a Rough'.....

Only a few people have recognised her as being a 'Lassie dog' and those that have were very excited which is always nice. She gets lots of compliments and one wonderful thing is that tons of people have knocked several years off her when guessing her age! xx

I'm not very good with dog breeds generally myself though so would probably get other breeds wrong! Am learning via this forum and other places about different breeds but there are so many breeds I had never even heard of until I joined here am ashamed to say!

What a great deterrent to cold callers. The questions bearcoats attact are great for a laugh. "Is that a chow?" No but good guess. My favourite question of all was back when I had my first two who were a brushcoat and bearcoat. "Is that one male *points at fluffy one* and the other female like a lion and lioness?" and the ubiquitous "Is that one clipped?" *points at brushcoat*. And "That looks like one of those wrinkly dogs, but they're sandy coloured" pointing at same dog who was black.

One of the things people often say about the TM is "I know he's part alsatian (or GSD from the slightly more dog savvy ones), but what's he cross with?" I reply jokingly "People who think he's half alsatian" then have a 15 minute conversation about what he is. And people asking me what breed he is and when I say Tibetan Mastiff, eyeing me suspiciously and saying "So are they part rottweiler, then?"

What is that disbelief thing all about? Instant experts often think they know better than the owners of the dog or that you're lying to them about the breed or age.

Back before we got Willow, but after we'd decided on a Welshie, I saw a puppy I was convinced was a Welsh. Talking to the owner, he turned out to be a large (she said oversize, but he was only a baby), orange and white, working cocker at 4 months old. I think I might be forgiven that one, as she did say some other cocker breeders had made the same mistake.

Never mistaken a papillon for anything else, though the number of people convinced that they are black and white long haired chihuahuas...

Oh no I've done this too! I asked someone if their dog was partly Cairn terrier (when I had one) and they said "he IS a Cairn terrier!"

Now that is embarassing!

I have to admit that when I was younger (and before getting glasses! ) I used to finish work late on a Wednesday night and get the bus back to my parents' home. One night I got off the bus and there was an elderly man standing at the bus stop with 2 Cairn terriers. I said "I've got 2 dogs like that" and it was my Dad!!

Fortunately he didn't hear what I said as he was very deaf bless him!