never thought I'd be doing a "guess that breed" thread... UNUSUAL UPDATE #14

[FondestBianca]

but here I am!

While I've always resuced kitties from the shelter, streets, or surrenders at the vet's office we've always purchased our dogs directly from breeders. Until now that is. Today we brought home Roxy (as named by dd). Our vet gave us a call and asked if we were in the market because they recently recieved an unclaimed dog. Their guess is around 8 months old due to the fact that she has her adult teeth in but, they are unsure since shes a mutt and there is no exact size reference.

She hyper as heck, very friendly. Totally unphased by our cats and pays no attention to them, trys to get our other 2 dogs to play despite them not being the friendliest toward her. She LOVES dd and they've been playing non stop since she arrived here this morning. She's definatly still in puppy phase.

She was found following shuttle vans around at the nearby large casino. They have construction going on and she had started to cause a bit of a dangerous situation trying to befriend workers while they were on duty. The casino called the vet rather than the shelter because she was so friendly they didn't want her to end up being put to sleep at the pound.

I've really only come up with one solid guess as to what part of her is but I really don't have any guesses as to what the rest of the mix is.

FACE

BODY The best body shot I could manage with her squirming and jumping all over

REFERENCE A shot of her next to my pom to give a size ref.

[tinyblackdot]

Boarder Collie!

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bordercollie.htm

[FondestBianca]

Originally Posted by tinyblackdot

Boarder Collie!

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bordercollie.htm

that was my guess but, I figured that since she was a stray and not totally consistant with border colie (from what I've seen anyway. Im certainly not an expert) there must be something else mixed in. Her snout isn't thin and pointy and her hair seems to be shorter than the border pics I've been finding.

[tinyblackdot]

There is really no telling....it could be the mother was a BC and the father was a mutt of 5 breeds....who knows.

The last pic though she reminds me of a cocker spaniel.....it might just be the pic though.

[FondestBianca]

Originally Posted by tinyblackdot

There is really no telling....it could be the mother was a BC and the father was a mutt of 5 breeds....who knows.

The last pic though she reminds me of a cocker spaniel.....it might just be the pic though.

true true.

i can see where you'd get cocker spaniel. the curly hair on the ears , the big paws compared to body size, and a little bit on the snout maybe

[graceomalley]

Originally Posted by tinyblackdot

There is really no telling....it could be the mother was a BC and the father was a mutt of 5 breeds....who knows.

Yup.

My guess is that she's close to full border collie but there's a mix of breeds a couple of generations back. BC also matches what you've said about her temperament.

I'm not sure how common different types of working breeds are in your area, but do you have kelpies or huntaways around? Her facial structure looks pretty familiar to me - but I'm in Australia where kelpies and koolies are a dime a dozen. Huntaways are less common here, but they're the kelpie of New Zealand. She just doesn't quite have a really BC shaped head, kwim?

Her profile does look very 'spaniel'. That would make sense too.

[youngwife]

I think she is beautiful! Congratulations on your newest addition to the family.

[gabysmom617]

She's probably got some lab (or some type of retriever) and spaniel in her too.

[mamallama]

My guess is spaniel mix.

What's her height and weight?

[SevenVeils]

Spaniel mix, probably with lab. Maybe Springer Spaniel or Brittany.

I do not see Border Collie at all.

[DogMomforNow]

Originally Posted by SevenVeils

Spaniel mix, probably with lab. Maybe Springer Spaniel or Brittany.

: She's very cute!!

[SequoiasMom]

I'm in the border collie spaniel mix crowd. Her head is not the normal shape for a BC. And, her hyper temperment indicates BC. She's cute as a little big, though, and I love her speckled feet!

[gingerstar]

I think she looks like a Lab/BC/something else.... her head looks very lab to me, and the tail is not that of a BC.
But geez, you can practically feel the energy vibrating out of those pictures! She sure is cute!

[FondestBianca]

update

so unusual, half sad, half great update....

This doggy ended up being FAR too rough for my little kiddos and small doggies. She was all fun, licks, and cuddles at the vet's office but once we got her home she soon made it clear that everything was to be her play thing... including dd and ds. She could not keep her paws off of either kids. Our energy here wasn't making it a very good environment for such a high energy dog that lacked any kind of training or good sense around small creatures. She jumped up on ds while I was BFing and put her giant paw right on his face and scratched it! The more I tried to push her off the more energy she'd put forth to play. Now add in digging up my yard, pouncing on and hurting my chihuahua, and jumping my 3 foot fence to play with the neighbor kids and we have a very bad fit for both us and her.

Luckily I got her from the vet (who wont put her down) and not the shelter. If I'd gotten her from the shelter I would have had to make it work until I could rehome her in a more fitting environment... and that would have been hell unitl then. She didn't like to be left outside if we were inside... nor did she like being crated.

So, I called the vet assistant, told her the situation, and met her back at the office. She gladdly went back to the vets office (she seems to be attached to the vet tech). This dog is such a sweet dog, no aggression whatsoever over food, space, touch, toys, anything. She has some issues for sure but nothing that should keep her from finding the right home.

Now, heres where the great part comes in. I didn't want to see this nice dog stuck at the vets for 6 months so I offered to craigslist her and do screening for the right kind of home for her then once I've found what I conclude is a solid home with structure, space, and some bigger family member to play with (fully warning potential owners of her issues) I will refer them to the vet. The vet assistant was very happy with this idea as they usually just use word of mouth to rehome strays and surrenders. This all got me to thinking, why couldn't I just list all of their animals for them and field the replies? What a perfect thing for me to spend some time doing! They get a couple animals a month or so. I can easily wander over, meet the animal, ask how they do with the other dogs and cats at the vet, get accurate health status (since it is a vets office afterall), find out age, snap some pics and list away!

Honestly, i think this dog came into our lives just so I would be in the situation of bringing her back after knowing her long enough to love her enough to want to go the extra mile to help her find a better home. So while I thought I was getting a 3rd dog I'm actually getting a rewarding job instead.

[gingerstar]

Wow, Tracy! I'm sorry she didn't work out for your family, but it does sound like fate was at work here. Hope you find the right home for her soon, and best wishes at finding homes for future pets! They are lucky to have you do that work for them - luckiest of all are the pets you will be helping!