dude, what's my dog?

June 2, 2008 4:28 AM

help my friends figure out what breed(s) their found dog is.

my friends found their pup on the side of a road in south carolina. at 5 months, she is about 25 pounds. she has rottweiler coloring, but pinscher features, and a hound's bark. she isn't much of a sniffer, more of a digger. she's still a puppy, so it's hard to know how hyper she is, but she seems more mellow than my bf's basset hound at that age. ears are floppy, tail is curly.

any thoughts?

posted by thinkingwoman to pets & animals (25 comments total)

I'm not a dog breeder, but it looks like a Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix.
posted by fire&wings at 4:34 AM on June 2, 2008

Looks a bit Beagley to me...
I was thinking possiblya bit of terrier, but I think it's Beagle I'm seeing.
posted by opsin at 4:40 AM on June 2, 2008

Was she found in an area where there's a lot of hunting? She could be mixed with Black and Tan Coonhound (but my first thought was Rottweiler + something).
posted by dilettante at 4:41 AM on June 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sent it to my mother who consulted her dog book, and she reckons there's some Manchester Terrier in there. The colouring is spot on, though it's a stockier dog than a typical Manchester Terrier. The tale is very Chow like though, with the curl.
I don't see any Rottweiler in there though... Not nearly big enough or stocky enough.
posted by opsin at 4:45 AM on June 2, 2008

Although I guess the tale could lend itself to being a Rottweiler cross of some sort...
posted by opsin at 4:47 AM on June 2, 2008

My guess is Manchester Terrier + Beagle.
posted by ferociouskitty at 5:02 AM on June 2, 2008

I'd definitely say a rottie/beagle mix with maybe a few other things thrown in for extra gorgeousness. I'm so glad that your friends rescued this lucky pup!
posted by ceri richard at 5:10 AM on June 2, 2008

Heinz 57, including some hound of some sort (perhaps Beagle) and some black and tan breed. Mutts are often a mix of a bunch of breeds, and you need to avoid the hoofbeats/zebra issue when assessing mixed-breeds. If pressed, I'd say Doberman X Beagle X something else. Rottie mixes are rarely that fine-boned and tend to be much more massive, and Manchester terrier mixes are rarely that big and are much lighter in build (plus are far less common), so to me it's more likely that she's a Doberman mix (any black and tan breed will give that colouring with those markings).
posted by biscotti at 5:11 AM on June 2, 2008

I guess Dobie/Beagle
posted by wayward vagabond at 5:24 AM on June 2, 2008

Apparently there's a DNA testing service for dogs that can answer this somewhat definitively, though I think that takes the fun and the mystery out of it.
posted by greatgefilte at 5:50 AM on June 2, 2008

I occasionally want to identify some fauna or such, I take a picture and google a university professor, then email them. It seems every niche of nature has a specialist somewhere.

Thay are alwasy happy to talk about their intrest and will help. Often they will ask many question (how, why, where, when), which I try to answer.
posted by matholio at 6:24 AM on June 2, 2008

The tail definitely looks like a Chow and the coloration Doberman. I'm gonna go with Chow/Dobie.
posted by wsg at 6:39 AM on June 2, 2008

It looks like it's got a lot of Beagle/Doberman to me.
posted by phunniemee at 6:55 AM on June 2, 2008

Looks a lot like Doberman mixed with randomly bred mixdog to me. But what does it matter really? Each and every dog should be loved for the individual that it is.
posted by Daddy-O at 7:23 AM on June 2, 2008

Most mutts have curly tails; the straight tail is the anomaly in dogs, not the norm. I'd go with biscotti's interpretation; she knows what she's talking about.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:23 AM on June 2, 2008

That is a beautiful dog. If I saw that dog on the side of the road, I'd have to reconsider the "dogs cannot outnumber humans" policy that my wife and I have to keep us from overrunning our own home.
posted by AaRdVarK at 8:39 AM on June 2, 2008

I vote for Rottie/Akita (there's the whole tail curl thing...)
posted by The Light Fantastic at 9:23 AM on June 2, 2008

oh, for what it's worth, she's going to be neutered, so there isn't any interest in breeding--it's mostly just curiosity and so my friends can be the best pet parents they can be, in terms of taking care of any needs/behaviors that are pertinent to her lineage.
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:21 AM on June 2, 2008

I see a lot of Black and Tan Coonhound. I could be wrong though.
posted by piedmont at 10:24 AM on June 2, 2008

Possibly an Hellenic Hare Hound, a.k.a. Greek Hound, or Hellenikos Ichnilatis.
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 11:27 AM on June 2, 2008

I see lots of rotten, with some smaller dog mixed in. If she's a digger, likely terrier of some stripe. Most breeders bob rottweiler tails, they curl when they grow natural. (as do many terriers)

who knows, and seriously: she's so cute, who cares!
posted by foxydot at 11:35 AM on June 2, 2008

Holy crap, that dog could be the twin of mine. (I have no idea what kind of dog he is, I got him from the shelter when he was 12 weeks old, they told me he was a black and tan coonhound, but now he's 5 and about 30 lbs, so...dunno)

Does your dog make a houndy ROOOING noise?

Also, what is the coat like? Kingsley's coat is very soft and shiny, and a lot longer than a beagle's.

I wish you the best of luck with your adorable new friend!
posted by capnsue at 2:49 PM on June 2, 2008

Aww - she looks a lot like my dog! Mine's a cross between a Lab and a Dachshund (!). Yours seems somewhat more, ah, normally proportioned, though.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 6:27 PM on June 2, 2008

You could ask your vet if they do Wisdom Panel Testing.
posted by ryanhealy at 6:49 PM on June 2, 2008

Whoops. Didn't see greatgefilte's comment above.
posted by ryanhealy at 6:51 PM on June 2, 2008