Have you ever not recognised your own breed? Discussions

Now that DID make me chuckle! Back in the day many moons ago before some of you were even born probably - it was quite the norm to refer to them as Alsatians. These days - it's all strictly GSD it seems!

GSD x Alsatian

I don't own a toller but I've research them a fair bit. I once mistook a red and white cocker spaniel puppy for a toller puppy, it wasn't, it just had short ears

And a few weeks back me and Whichpets had a debate in Richmond park over whether a dog there was a cocker spaniel or a toller (I still maintain it was a toller )

I've mistaken a cocker for a toller too , I thought I was being very clever guessing what breed it was! I think it must just have been very working lines though as I always think of cockers as having the long showy ears and this one didn't.

I've never mistaken a Dane up close before but I have seen a few Ridgebacks in the distance and wondered if they were Dane puppies until I got closer. One was a Dane x Ridgeback so I think I can be excused .

Oh, and I have also mistaken a Tibetan Spaniel for a long haired Chi that was pretty embarrassing.

Don't forget the owners sometimes don't know what their own dogs are

I knew someone who insisted their dog was a Lakeland terrier. It was a short, smooth-coated, short-legged black and tan JRT!

There was a Toller on one of the celebrity dog training programmes that was said by Dogs Trust to be a "spaniel cross" until people alerted them to it's being a Toller.

I recently saw a black and gold GSD in standard GSD patterning, that the owner insisted was a BSD. Wrong colour, head shape, bone thickness and gait for a Belgian, just for starters, but they insisted that was what it was. Okaaay

We had people down our road who had bought a puppy farmed CKC... it was HUGE, lab sized, broad as a brick **** house, and just... not a CKC hhaha, and they wouldn't be told it was anything else (or admit they'd paid several hundred pounds for a cross breed!)

Bumped into someone else with a Rottie x the other day on a walk and didn't guess it at all. I thought Staffie x Lab, had a chunky head and was solid black. The owner didn't say what it was crossed with so could have had those breeds in it too, but wouldn't have spotted the Rottie at all really, other than it being about Kiki's height. Felt a bit guilty when he said, because there I was standing with my own, obviously Rottie crossbreed and I couldn't even guess his dog right

On a different, but related, note, I think I accidentally offended a fellow GSD owner yesterday! Was picking up a prescription at my vets and ended up standing next to someone with a GSD at the counter. Gorgeous girly but she looked quite nervous so I made sure to give her some space, the owner took it as me being afraid and quickly reassured me she was friendly. 'fessed up that I actually had one of my own at home and dutifully fussed over the lovely girly while we discussed what big wimps they are

I've sometimes mistaken a lurcher for a greyhound...some look like greys.

Not only the owners, when I was judging GSDs I met a girl with a Belgian who had travelled many miles to a show to enter the not separately classified pastoral class only to be told by the judge when she went to the ring that German Shepherds were outdoors.

No but I once got a rescued whippet who was so fat at 18kg ( correct weight for her 12 kg ) oh looked out of the window as I arrived home. He thought she was a staffie with a whippets head
She was so fat she used to fall over when she ran Soon lost the weight when she was fed a proper diet ;-)

BC's are fairly easy recognised, best one I ever saw was a terrier x pure white, both Pat and I saw WHWT in it, with long legs, 3 times bigger than Mojo whom, I agree has very little legs,....but the guy walked over to us after spotting Mojo and said....she isn't a true JRT you know...mine is a true ancestor of the very first one bred, the breeder told me and unless you paid over £400 she isn't the real thing poor Mojo:-( :-(

Oops!

The other way round I once saw a very, very, skeletally thin small cross breed (RSPCA case) that looked like an IG cross, long looking thin legs, long whippy tai, narow neck etc.

Once the weight came up it looked like a leggy SBT x and the proportions of the head, legs and tail all looked very different with the right weight on the body. Unbelievable change in the overall look

NOPE, but there is someone on here with a clipped out Wheated , and to be honest had to do a double take, only ever see them in full coat.

I guess that could be the case with many coated breeds that get clipped, :?

Haha, I've had this type of thing happen to me. I have an American Eskimo. My husbands co-worker got a new dog. I thought it looked sort of like an American Eskimo, but it had short fur... So I asked if it was a mix breed. He almost seemed offended and said it was a pure American Eskimo.

The amount of Xolo's in the country is so small that its hard not to recognise the uk lot, but online wise, it can be difficult to tell the from the peruvian inca orchids sometimes... *blushes*

I have not recognised another GWP which was in the same agility class. In my defence, this dog has no facial furnishings whatsoever and a really short coat, so I thought it was a GSP. Furthermore, conformation and movement wise, it's the worst example of any HPR i've ever seen - hock legs are the least of it's problems!

I think the owners were seriously conned!

I don't own a breed, I own crossbreeds and mutts.

However on our social walk yesterday I was waiting in the car and see a black Lab with a white flash. Couldn't help myself and got out of the car and shouted "Excuse me, is that a Lab x Springer?" Turns out he was and so I showed the owner my two and we had a chat about them

for me .i was puzzled when a saw a pic of a long haired dogo.they are extreamly rare and they do lose there long coats after a year or so,look them up you see the difference very interesting and some would say there a cross,not so says some of the experts in the dogo field.

I did a double take on that

My Mum got my Cookie as a pure staffy puppy at about 5 months old, they thought he was 7 months, but even so he was already taller than a big staffy and has what I think is midway between a staffy and GSD muzzle. Now at 30kg and when staffies walk under him I can defiantly say he isn't 100% staffy.

While helping someone with puppy classes we had a class with 6 puppies in where they appeared to come in pairs (but all from different homes), 2 cocker x poodles, 2 beagle x terrier types and 2 what I thought were reddish cocker spaniels... after a few weeks I started to realise that one of the spaniels looked like a dwarf compared to the other, only to find out the bigger one was a red setter!

I have not recognized loads of Labs. So many look so far from the breed standard they look like a mix of everything. Likewise with Yorkies; although granted mine isn't a great example of the breed so I suppose I can't talk!

Slovaks, I would always identify. They are pretty unmistakable.

Many years ago I was asked what my Great Dane was crossed with & I replied he was a GSD x GSD-mind you he was over 32" at the shoulder & only had his ears part way up otherwise he was the correct shape & colour of a GSD.

My Rjj(smooth BC)was called a lab x by a breeder of Labradors who proceeded to tell me all BCs were long coated !!!

Had my Cavaliers frequently called King Charles' Spaniels & the son of a neighbour told me they were getting a puppy just like my Roodee(Cavalier) When I asked what colour he said red just like him(Roodee is a Ruby) & he was getting the puppy from a game keeper- oh yes a Working Cocker !!!!!