# What is Soro? - Wisdom Panel guess



## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

The Wisdom Panel shipped today so I should be getting it soon. Breed guesses? 70 lbs
His was a pediatric neuter, so I am sure that affected his structure in some way...














































A little extended and pre-surgery, thus the shave spot









Naturally standing, just now.


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## Na-Tasha (Aug 13, 2014)

Okay, just to stay off the beaten path of Lab/Border Collie, my guess will be: Kelpie mix  Either Kelpie/Boxer or Kelpie/Pointer or Kelpie/Flat Coated Retriever!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

GSD x lab [too short]


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

Soro looks almost exactly like my neighbor's Black Lab/Newfoundland. She's about 60-70 pounds or something. Maybe a little bully breed of some sort in there?


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Going to go with labxGSDxboxer or bully. His head shape is kind of throwing me off. Doesn't really look totally lab or GSD.


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## TSTrainer (Aug 6, 2015)

Yeah I bet he has a boxer grandparent, and is predominantly lab/GSD.


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## BigLittle (May 28, 2014)

Golden retriever and boxer? 

Probably not it, but you never know...


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Lab x shepherd x boxer.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

I was thinking retriever or think it's call troller ?? type


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## Foxes&Hounds (Jun 7, 2014)

Some combo of collie x lab x rottie


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## Dogsignalfire (Nov 17, 2015)

Lab x GSD x rottie? He looks so tall!


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Interesting! First I've heard the "boxer" guess!


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Got the kit this morning and am sending it in today! Now two weeks of waiting?!


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

https://retrieverman.net/2009/04/10/the-last-pair-of-st-johns-water-dogs/

I saw this and thought of Soro "what do you think?"

https://retrieverman.net/tag/st-johns-dog/


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Hahaaa! Those do look like him in a way! I should mention, he came from Tennessee. So probably no super rare breeds in there.


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## MastiffGuy (Mar 23, 2015)

elrohwen said:


> GSD x lab [too short]


This is my guess also.


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## sydneynicole (Apr 2, 2015)

GSD x lab x boxer, or GSD x lab x rottie, or a collie breed x lab x boxer


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

Going for lab X border collie.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

I definitely see boxer (or something related) in the squareness of where his muzzle meets his forehead, and how front-heavy he seems to be, especially the thickness of his neck.
Boxer-thing (maybe Am Staff?) x lab x BC


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

The head was really throwing me off, but if there's boxer in there that would explain it. I also kind of want to say kelpie.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

First I'm hearing of kelpie too! Aren't they a pretty rare breed? I guess I can see it a bit in the fur texture and body type... But it never would have crossed my mind on its own.

Behaviorally, he's stoic yet goofy at the same time. Stoic, he is quite the alarm barker and will stand at the doorway and bark loud booming barks until we invite the person in or call him off. He is generally stiff and square whenever he is approached by other dogs. He is generally quiet and out of the way when nothing is happening. Even though he loves people, if it's not really about him he will greet then go do his own thing. Goofy, in every other way. Like we can be relaxing in the living room and I look over and he might be on his back chewing on an old scarf (tug toy) and swinging it around. His favorite 'game' is tug and he loves destroying soft toys. If I try to hold him back he will snarl and snap at me. Also a pretty intense resource guarder. Crazy food motivated. Can be pushy if you let him. A volunteer came into my office today and was talking to my coworker, completely ignoring Soro. Sor smelled the treats in his pocket and sat on the guy's feet. When the guy continued to ignore him he sat against him and flipped the man's hand with his head. That got the guy's attention and Sor got a treat. Sor refused to leave the guy alone as long as he was in the office.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Canyx said:


> Stoic, he is quite the alarm barker and will stand at the doorway and bark loud booming barks until we invite the person in or call him off. He is generally stiff and square whenever he is approached by other dogs. He is generally quiet and out of the way when nothing is happening. Even though he loves people, if it's not really about him he will greet then go do his own thing.


Hm. Maybe some LSG?


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Canyx said:


> First I'm hearing of kelpie too! Aren't they a pretty rare breed? I guess I can see it a bit in the fur texture and body type... But it never would have crossed my mind on its own.


They're super common here, see them all the time. I totally forgot that's probably not the case over there though


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

And it's in!


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Wow, that's a pretty sure guess!


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

I can actually see that. His head has a bit of a rottie shape.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Hah, now that I look at him again, I can totally see Rottie in his body


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Ha! I knew Golden mixes usually come out black but I would never have guessed. But I believe it. And Rott. His head has that funny stop a lot of Rotts have. Wow.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Are these tests getting more accurate? I swear I've seen a lot that make total sense lately.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Wow, I could totally buy golden x rottie! And it explains why his face was so hard to pin down.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

That's pretty cool !!!! you would think the Data base for dog DNA has not only grown since introduced from AKC but has been defined better. Again pretty cool for Soro... and a good test result that makes a lot of sense... :0


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

That's neat!


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Wow! This is so cool! I could totally see Rottie x Golden!

Makes me want to try it with Meeko hmmm


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Looking back at the pictures you posted, I can see him being that cross. Maybe they are getting more accurate. Would like to send in a sample from a few cross-bred dogs that you know what they are to see how accurate they really are. Have always said Susie was a Bernese cross as I saw her mother and the neighbors dog was a Lab x Border Collie. She is 12 this year so should decided pretty soon if I really want to know.


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## BigLittle (May 28, 2014)

That's interesting! It certainly explains the side of Soro that is very not-gundog. Rott makes sense now looking at him.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

I'm tickled by the results. I've been calling him my "rotten retriever" 

BigLittle I completely agree it explains he 'not-gundog' side. Though I would have bought Shepherd-mix to explain that as well.

Also explains why rotties sound so perfect on paper to me. I've been turning the idea over in my head as possible next-dog, even before the DNA test, but the size and longevity averages are real huge compromises I'd have to make.

My first thought was 'neat! I like the idea of that mix!' my second thought was 'darn, two breeds with low lifespan averages and high incidence of cancer'.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

kafkabeetle said:


> Are these tests getting more accurate? I swear I've seen a lot that make total sense lately.


They are getting more accurate; plus, the fewer breeds in the mix (and the more common those breeds are) the more accurate they tend to be.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

I literally always thought Soro was a shepherd for some reason, but a Rottie/Retriever totally makes sense. I'd buy it.


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## TSTrainer (Aug 6, 2015)

Incredible! I've found that they're getting more accurate (or at least believable) lately too. Also, I had a labxrottie growing up who looked a lot like Soro, except her face was VERY labish. Similar body shape though!


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

gingerkid said:


> They are getting more accurate; plus, the fewer breeds in the mix (and the more common those breeds are) the more accurate they tend to be.


Yeah, I've seen very few off the wall results in the past year or two - and the last one I heard was from a dog who was probably generations of mixes, and I don't doubt that there's a little of what they managed to get in the dog. 

Also Golden/Rott? Sounds perfect for you and definitely explains a lot about soro!


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Now where are those ethical golden/rott breeders....


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## Na-Tasha (Aug 13, 2014)

Wow, I was way off! haha! Closest my guess came was Flat Coated Retriever... should've known the Golden Retriever would make more sense. heh.


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

I went back and looked at the pictures you posted at the beginning of the thread. I can totally buy lab X Rottie.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

Huh...who knew!!

Genetics are crazy....a friend of mine has a golden x rottie and this is what he looks like:










And he really is a golden colored rottie! LOL


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

HAHAAA! 

MrsBoats, it can't get more obvious than that. If Soro looked like that I probably wouldn't even need to do the panel.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Bringing this back briefly to ask...

So I know these tests are never 100% accurate but if this was your dog, would you say with high confidence that your dog IS this breed? For housing purposes I will always call him a lab mix. But lately when people ask I've been calling him a rottie/golden mix. I'm just not sure how far I should go with this. Though this is the cleanest split I've ever seen with a wisdom panel.

(PS. Mrs. Boats, your photo is gone!??! I loved that goldenxrott dog you had up!!)


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Now I really want to do a Wisdom Panel on Chester. Eva, well, she's clearly pittie enough that no one sees anything much else. Chester though, it seems it depends on the angle you view him or what he is doing at any given time. Soro's results make me ponder on his possibilities again.

Wish there would be a a sale on the test. Hard to justify spending "fun money" when one's washing machine has decided to stop working but dang it, its so much more fun to spend on the dogs!

For housing purposes, I'd call him a retriever mix. Truthful and not complicated.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Wisdom panel isn't perfect, but that doesn't mean that every individual test is completely inaccurate either. With a 50/50 split, especially one that is pretty easy to see, even if you weren't going to guess it, I'd probably go with it. Calling him a retriever mix seems reasonable, if you don't want to let on that he's part rotti.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

I would probably stick with calling him a retriever mix, as you said, for rental/paperwork purposes. 

But I'm more than willing to tell people who ask that Kylie is a sheltie/beagle/chi. I usually say 'according to Wisdom Panel' if it's people who know that. Mostly it seems to prevent people making their own guesses in a way 'I dunno' didn't. Which is sometimes handy (not that i minded but you know. Everything gts old after years)


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## sydneynicole (Apr 2, 2015)

Shell said:


> Wish there would be a a sale on the test. Hard to justify spending "fun money" when one's washing machine has decided to stop working but dang it, its so much more fun to spend on the dogs!


I'm pretty sure they do a black friday sale, which isn't too far away at this point. Worth keeping an eye on the sight around the holidays at least. If I remember correctly my aunt got me two for Christmas because they were half off for black friday.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

sydneynicole said:


> I'm pretty sure they do a black friday sale, which isn't too far away at this point. Worth keeping an eye on the sight around the holidays at least. If I remember correctly my aunt got me two for Christmas because they were half off for black friday.


Yeah, and if you do the 2.0 basic test it's like 63.00 on ebay. Which is not nothing but isn't crazy.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

CptJack said:


> Yeah, and if you do the 2.0 basic test it's like 63.00 on ebay. Which is not nothing but isn't crazy.


Ugh, I wish. Here the cheapest one on eBay is $98 + $18 shipping. I keep wanting to do it but I can't justify $100+


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