foxdog!

December 2, 2007 8:45 AM

I must find the most fox-like dogs that exist!

Points given for breed names and links to photos! Yes, I have seen the tamed silver foxes, which are adorable.

posted by beerbajay to Pets & Animals (19 answers total)

Have you seen http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/? Granted hes not a fox... but you probably won't be disappointed.
posted by pwally at 8:50 AM on December 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

Shiba Inu?
posted by hooray at 8:52 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Corgi!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.pups4sale.com.au/welsh_corgi_pembroke_03a.jpg
posted by wuzandfuzz at 9:07 AM on December 2, 2007

I think shiba inu wins, but my first thought was basenji.
posted by HeroZero at 9:30 AM on December 2, 2007

Pomeranian?
posted by mbrubeck at 9:31 AM on December 2, 2007

My dog! (But she's a mutt -- chow, shepherd, other.)
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:35 AM on December 2, 2007

Check out the schipperke's "fox-like face" per AKC.
posted by mozhet at 10:00 AM on December 2, 2007

No dog I've ever heard of has a tail like a fox. But there are some whose heads and snouts are similar, as mentioned above.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:12 AM on December 2, 2007

Shiba Inu! (Love mine and people ALWAYS say she looks like a fox)
posted by stew560 at 10:23 AM on December 2, 2007

My Sheltie looked very much like a fox when he was a puppy. Of course, when his shaggy adult fur grew in, he looked less so -- though his face was still very foxy. These two Sheltie puppies aren't mine, but should give you the idea.
posted by ourobouros at 10:24 AM on December 2, 2007

Best answer: Finnish Spitz?
posted by knave at 10:26 AM on December 2, 2007

Icelandic sheepdog?
posted by kaarne at 11:30 AM on December 2, 2007

Our dog, which we suspect is a spitz-chow mix, is pretty foxy. She'd be even more so if we put her on a proper diet. She's eighteen.
posted by Lola_G at 11:51 AM on December 2, 2007

I knew a girl who had a Corgi crossed with a fox. It was the damn most regal and cunning looking dog I ever did see. It looked smart enough to do crossword puzzles.
posted by robotot at 1:12 PM on December 2, 2007 [4 favorites]

Sorry this is not more helpful, but if it's just images of fox-type dogs you want (i.e., you're not trying to actually get the dog), there was an interesting show on the evolution of dogs on PBS not too long ago. It showed some footage of a Soviet scientist "making" dogs out of foxes through selective breeding, in a time span of a dozen or so generations. Boy, were they cute.

On review, maybe that's the tamed silver foxes you refer to in your OP?
posted by Rykey at 2:00 PM on December 2, 2007

Response by poster: Ooh some good color matches, but most of these dogs lack the spry cattiness of foxes.

The Shiba Inus are pretty nice, but they're a bit too stubby. Some of the Shelties have nice pointed faces like foxes, but fail on most other counts.

The Finnish Spitz is the winner so far, having a good pointy nose, being quite slender and possessing an adequate ruddy color.

Rykey: that is indeed the silver fox to which I was referring. There's video of them being adorable.
posted by beerbajay at 2:54 PM on December 2, 2007

How about the Shikoku?
posted by arruns at 3:06 PM on December 2, 2007

The fennec fox can apparently be domesticated and are sold as pets - there's also a pair in my local zoo, so I guess they're something inbetween a pet and a wild animal.
posted by FortyT-wo at 4:46 PM on December 2, 2007

I saw a pet fennec in a bar on Thursday. Yes, it made me double-take as well. It fit the 'it's not a dog, not a cat, so must be a fox' visual identification, though it mainly just wanted its big lugs petted.
posted by holgate at 8:26 PM on December 2, 2007