# New puppy - help with breed identification



## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Hi all - I'm new and so glad I found a forum to learn about my new puppy! We got him at a shelter and he is a mixed breed. We are told he is part Australian Shepherd, but are trying to figure out what else he is. Any opinions? 

Here he is the first day we brought him home.









I have more pictures if that would help.

TIA!


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## Bear2010 (Aug 21, 2012)

Australian Shepherd and German Shepherd or Rottie. What a real cutie!


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Thanks. We were originally told he was also terrier, but have no idea what kind. Many people have suggested rottie, so I'm inclined to think that is correct. After reading some of the threads in other forums, I feel pretty lucky! Henry was fully house-trained after just a few days of bringing him home at 11 weeks (he is 17 weeks old now) and slept all night in his crate from the 3rd night on. 

We do have a few issues naturally, so I'll go hunt on some other forums to see if my questions have already been answered.


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## Spirit_of_Cotons (Jun 21, 2009)

Your pup is soo cute!! He looks Aussie/Bernese Mt. Dog and maybe Rottie mix to me.


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## Nike80germany (Sep 29, 2011)

I see the Aussi... but no rotti or Bernese MT Dog or GSD. it might would help, if you could tell us how old and tall he is now and also his weight!


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

That is one gorgeous puppy! I have no guess on his mix.


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## Salina (Sep 2, 2012)

aaaaawwwwwe, how cute is that. and those brown/white feet and that tail <3 i hope you keep posting pictures of him growing up


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Here's more recent pictures of him. He is 17 weeks old and weighs about 27 pounds. His paws are huge so everyone is saying he will be very big. Standing he is about 20 inches high.

































Oh and a few things about his personality. He's been very easy to train. He's friendly to anyone who comes in our house (although he barks when they first come in the door), but when we are outside walking or playing, he barks at every person and dog. He nips quite a bit and herds my youngest boy. We have him in obedience training and he's the youngest in the class and also the most rambunctious.


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## Monsteroyd (Sep 18, 2012)

Cute over-load. Wow. Blew my cute circuits.

I'm going to call him a Dapple Toed Fluffy. That's my breed name and I'm sticking to it.

]Monty[


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## Two Leashes (Jun 5, 2010)

OMG I want! I will trade a spazztic, energizer bunny Border Collie/Siberian Husky (possibly some kangaroo) mix for him! No? Or maybe you'd like a dog that loves to run in circles and has an unhealthy love affair with tennis balls who is a German Sheperd/Australian Cattle Dog? OK final offer, a Lab who is obsessed with diving for and barking at rocks. lol

I vote Australian Shepherd/Australian Cattle Dog.


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

He's looking more GSD now than as a little pup. I think cattle dog is a good guess too.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Aussie X ACD was my first guess, but he does look like he has some GSD in there.


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Oh, interesting, never thought of ACD.


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## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

HenrysMom said:


> Hi all - I'm new and so glad I found a forum to learn about my new puppy! We got him at a shelter and he is a mixed breed. We are told he is part Australian Shepherd, but are trying to figure out what else he is. Any opinions?
> 
> Here he is the first day we brought him home.
> 
> ...


Due to the extreme ticking, I would guess Aussie x Australian Cattle dog. He's a cutie!


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## savvy (Nov 6, 2012)

By his red merle coloring primarily on his legs and tail I would say he has a lot of Australian Cattle Dog, and his fluffy ears and head shape looks like German Shepherd.


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## LadyBugAnBuddy (Jul 13, 2012)

He is so handsome! Love his tail!<33 Going to be fun seeing picture's of this cutie pie growing.

~Erica~


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

The last pup I had was 20 pounds at 16 weeks. He is now 80 pounds at 1 and 1/2 years old. I believe that gorgeous puppy is going to be a big handsome guy when he is all grown up.


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## marsha=whitie (Dec 29, 2008)

savvy said:


> By his red merle coloring primarily on his legs and tail I would say he has a lot of Australian Cattle Dog, and his fluffy ears and head shape looks like German Shepherd.


Merle and ticking are different things... this pup definitely has ticking, not merle.

I definitely agree with the ACD, so maybe ACD/Aussie. I can't wait to see what he looks like when he is older!


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

GSDxASDxACD? I'm more inclined to believe there's more than two breeds in there. While I definitely agree ACD/Aussie.. I do see something else and right now my best guess is German Shepherd or something, but that might be easier to tell as he grows up.. right now its hard to say how big he's going to be.


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## ohrocy (Oct 28, 2010)

I definitely see ACD — that ticking is so striking, and he looks like he might have a similar brush tail...? I'm not sure what terminology to use. It just looks very ACD to me.


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## caykuu (Nov 12, 2012)

He's starting to look like Australian Shepherd/German Shepherd now that he's older. The GSD is really coming out!
Also possibly even some Bernese Mountain Dog in there over the Aussie.


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

I'm sure both his parents were mixed also, so he could have lots of breeds in him. His head is pretty fluffy and silky, but he's losing some of the fluff on his body. I agree it might be easier to tell what he is as he gets older. When he is laying down on his side, his ears go straight up and we've been calling that his "german shepherd mode."  He also has "bear rug mode" when he is stretched out, and "cow mode" when he is out grazing on the grass. His ears look just like a cow's. I'll have to post some pics of those 

I did not know about the ticking vs. merle - very interesting!

You all have been so very helpful!


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## ajw (Oct 15, 2012)

So, he's adorable. Seriously!

My Aussie was just to the vet today, she's 18 weeks and she weighs 29 lbs and her paws look like your guy's in terms of proportion. His body looks just like my girl's shape. If the mix is a tricolor with (whatever) then that explains the legs..my aussie has polka dot legs with white socks.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

The thing with mix breeds is sometimes you can have the same mix and they both look completely different. lol. I had a aussie, rottie pit mix we rescued when i was a kid, she just passed away last year at 14. Though she was red merled brindle look, she resembles him, in her head structure. Either way he is a cutie!!


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

A few more pics. I found a pic of a german shepherd with a black head and it looks just like him. Question - his ears are down, are GSD ears down when young and then go up as they grow?

He's about 18 weeks - I will weigh him at class Monday night, but I'm betting he is about 29-30 pounds too. And when we got him from the shelter, he had 2 siblings that were just plain brown - looked nothing like him.

Bear rug mode:









At attention (he heard a bird or something and you can see the grass he has ripped up in the upper corner):









Sleepy boy:


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## caykuu (Nov 12, 2012)

At 18 weeks, if his ears are still completely floppy like this, it's going to stay this way.  
If he is in fact mixed with Aussie, (which now it totally looks like he is, including more unknown breeds) then it's most likely the Aussie genes that made his ears flop LOL


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## Juramentado (Sep 24, 2012)

my reaction when i saw the pictures and read that he's 27lbs at 17weeks


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## caykuu (Nov 12, 2012)

Juramentado said:


> my reaction when i saw the pictures and read that he's 27lbs at 17weeks


LOL the gif! 
It's not uncommon for GSD's to weigh in the 30's and 40's at 4 months old.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Juramentado said:


> my reaction when i saw the pictures and read that he's 27lbs at 17weeks


LOLOLO
I'm highly amused by that.

I don't know anything about age-ear standing relations, but to me, they don't look like they're even going to try to stand.


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## Juramentado (Sep 24, 2012)

i'm relatively new to the dog world and i'm bad with guessing dog breeds
but honestly when i saw the pictures, my first thought about his mix was and still is..













goodluck on your caucasian ovcharka raising goals of 2013 OP

kidding aside, he's a really beautiful dog. maybe the best i've seen in the pictures forum. and even if he really has caucasian shepherd mix, that would just make him more awesome


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Juramentado said:


> my reaction when i saw the pictures and read that he's 27lbs at 17weeks


OK, that's hilarious. 

And that Caucasian dog? I've never even heard of that breed and it scared me to death! Sure hope my Henry isn't THAT scary!


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Ive heard of them, they are beautiful. But I definitely agree they are a little scary!!


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## Juramentado (Sep 24, 2012)

well i heard they were bred to be guard dogs, so i guess most people who have them train them to act like guard dogs, so a lot of pics you will see in the net will show a caucasian ovcharka in a scary mood.


but like all dogs, they can be sweet as well

these are 6month old caucasian ovcharkas. i saw this pic in a philippine dog forums. they're not mine and bert is not me either.









i think your dog has some resemblance. the muzzle and the ears. hmm.. but even at 30lbs in 18 weeks. he might be too small for a caucasian ovcharka mix.


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

Aww, they are so cute!


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## sclevenger (Nov 11, 2012)

It made me think though, I had a Norwegian elkhound/st bernard cross and she always reminded me of one of those, so possibly one of those breeds as well.


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## marsha=whitie (Dec 29, 2008)

The chances of that dog being a CO are slim to none. They are an INCREDIBLY rare breed, and there are only 2-3 breeders in the USA (and none of them are close to Arizona).


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Latest update. Henry is now 31 pounds at 20 weeks. I think he has slowed down a bit in his rate of growth. One thing people keep pointing out is that he has a lot of extra skin. You can pull it up about 4-5 inches and they say that means he'll be big. ?? He completed his 6 week puppy obedience training and did great. We've signed him up for another 6 weeks starting in January. He still freaks out when we take him into a pet store and pulls like crazy on his leash, but otherwise, he is usually calm most of the day at home. 

Here's some recent pics:



















Did I mention they called him King Henry at the shelter?


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## annadee (Aug 22, 2012)

Oh wow, he is gorgeous!! I absolutely love his markings. Sounds like he's going to be a big boy!!


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## Teds-slave (Nov 14, 2012)

I can see german shepherd in th second pic!


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

UPDATE: Henry is 6 months old today! He weighs 40 pounds and started intermediate obedience training on Monday. Mostly he's a very good dog and trains easily. But taking him to training and during the class, he is a spazz. It's actually embarrassing. We can't get him to calm down around other dogs even though he has already been through 6 weeks of puppy training. This second class even has the same dogs in it. I just hope it is something that additional training and growth fixes!

Here's the latest pic!


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## Ratness (Jan 5, 2013)

I am seeing ACDxGSD..... The facial marking and chest etc. remind me of a German Shepherd pup.


EDIT:

Now that I actually look at the rest of the pics, defidently ACD mix, we have a dog that is ACDx beagle (or another hound) and her body is exactly like Henery's! She is Blue ACD x some hound, so she looks a little different (Color) but still


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Ratness said:


> I am seeing ACDxGSD..... The facial marking and chest etc. remind me of a German Shepherd pup.
> 
> 
> EDIT:
> ...


Yes, we are thinking both of those and then something that makes his ears flop, so maybe also an Aussie.


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## frillint (Jul 12, 2009)

What a gorgeous puppy!! He certainly looks like German shepherd in there and probably ACD. Ears will probably stay down, but it's not uncommon for their ears to go all the way up then flop back and forth up and down for a few months.


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Henry is about 7 months old now and weighs about 47 pounds. His weight gaining has slowed down a bit. At the pet store last night someone thought he was a Rottie. He is starting to get those brown spots over his eyes. Some recent pics:

His "Leave it!"


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

The more I look at him, the more I see German/Australian Shepherds. 

Gosh, he's pretty.


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## SydTheSpaniel (Feb 12, 2011)

He is gorgeous! Looking at that first puppy picture and his most recent, he has really taken on some changes! I definitely see aussie/gsd, his broad muzzle is screaming gsd! So stunning.


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## HenrysMom (Nov 7, 2012)

Henry is now over a year old. He has topped out at about 60 pounds.


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## AvaBear (Mar 27, 2012)

I would say Rottie and Shepherd as well =)


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## GrinningDog (Mar 26, 2010)

Wow, he's a looker! I see German shepherd and Aussie pretty clearly, personally.


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

AvaBear said:


> I would say Rottie and Shepherd as well =)


 Neither rotties nor shepherds have the ticking though. Something else in there too to make this adorable pup.

I can't believe how fast dogs grow! He's so handsome.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Gorgeous!  I see Aussie/Rott mix myself.


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