# What Breed Is This Dog?



## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

My family found a dog wandering our neighborhood. We're currently putting signs up around town and ads up online trying to find its owner. I just would really like to know what y'all think the dog's breed is. I'd also like to know how old y'all think it may be, if you have a guess.









I'm getting more pictures off my phone. I'll edit with them added later.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Pitbull or pitbull mix. Quite a stunner! I'd guess he's fairly young, but it's hard to tell just from a picture.

DO NOT put a picture or description of the dog on the posters. Make anyone who calls describe him to you. Otherwise, you could end up with dog fighters or other bad people trying to take him. You should also take him to a vet and have him scanned for a microchip. He looks to be in pretty good shape, which makes me think someone is missing him.


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## Nikki84 (Aug 19, 2015)

It is true, you have to be very careful of those maniacs who do dog fights. 
I'm not sure exactly what breed my dog Jake is since he was just abandoned in front of my house, but the vet and everybody says he's got some pitt bull in him. 
One day when I was walking Jake he saw another dog and he started barking and straining against his leash. A man saw Jake do this and came over and asked if I'd want to part with him. At the time we didn't know if we'd keep Jake so I took the man's number down. 
When I called and asked if he had a family or other pets and stuff like that he was very reluctant to answer, and he wanted to pick the dog up, he wouldn't let me see his home. So that was a no for me right away, but I did a reverse number search and found his address. My husband drove past the house on his way home (we were suspicious) and saw several pittbull type dogs chained up in the yard. No shade, no water. We called the sheriff and they ended up arresting him and three other men for animal cruelty. They were running dog fights. The dog in your picture looks just like the type of dog that this evil bastard would have gotten all excited over, so be careful who you hand him over to.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

Don't worry. We are going to ask for pictures and vet records to prove that anyone that comes forward is really her owner. We are checking for a microchip on Monday if she is still with us.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

She doesn't really look pit bull to me. I mean, she did at first. I was walking my dog, she ran up to me and Abbey (my Chihuahua mix) and I panicked, thinking she could be dog aggressive, so I fled carrying my dog away lol. Then I came back out, without my dog, and she was the sweetest thing. <3 Anyways, at first I thought she was an AmStaff, but I don't really see it anymore. Her face is very long whereas Pit Bulls and AmStaffs have very square faces. I could be wrong, though.


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## TGKvr (Apr 29, 2015)

Well whatever she is, she's gorgeous! Love her coloring. I say definitely pit mix of some sort but the long face and the thicker tail, as well as the set of the haunches, says something else... she looks a little too gangly for a full pit I think. But it's really hard to tell. She's lovely though... I hope this story has a happy ending!


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

She's gonna get a happy ending no matter what because 1) we're gonna make sure anyone who tries to claim her is 100% her owner (and not a bad owner), 2) if her owner doesn't come, she's gonna be spoiled rotten by us, lol. She's currently being a giant lap dog in my dad's lap (who tends to be picky about what dogs are in his house). My dad loves her. lol.

My family is in love with her, so we'll make 100% sure she's happy where ever she is/goes. We're already dreading her owner coming because we love her so much. XD But as long as the owner is good to her, we'll be happy.


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## Nikki84 (Aug 19, 2015)

That's amazing of you guys! For you and your family's sake I almost hope that she's ownerless. She really is beautiful, just gorgeous, and it sounds like she's got a wonderful temperament and personality too. 
She was lucky that you found her.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

We can't keep her forever but we will make sure she goes someplace wonderful.


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

She does look like she has some pit blood in her. Today the pits have such a wide range of looks that while some can be short and stocky and others long and gangly. As far as the other mix it could be any sorts of loose dog in the neighborhood breed.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

I think my family has decided she has a lot of lab in her (plus bully type breeds, of course). She loves fetch lol. Sadly, she had fleas. O.O Fun times. Blech.

No one has come forward about her yet! =/ We've had her nearly 48 hours now and this is a cookie-cutter neighborhood that's very contained and not huge, so there are only so many places she could have come from.


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## Nikki84 (Aug 19, 2015)

If she had fleas I guess it's possible that she came from a home where they didn't take very good care of her (I'm not saying that all pets with fleas have bad owners, fleas happen to all of us, but we treat them) and maybe they actually abandoned her intentionally. If your neighborhood is a good one they might have chosen to drop her off there in the hope that a nice family would take her in. 
That's how I got my dog, Jake.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

That is a theory my family has, sadly. She is young, so it's also possible they got her as a puppy and... Well, she's very big and powerful and likes to jump on people. So they decide "Hey, this neighborhood is a nice place! Let's dump her here!" It wouldn't be the first time we've taken in an unwanted dog in our neighborhood. The first was, oddly, a Bichon.

She is very chubby in the tummy. I don't know if it's a puppy thing or if she was overfed, though. It's been nearly 20 years since I had a young large dog (I was 6 lol), so I don't know how large dog puppies are supposed to look.

We went to petsmart and got her a crate and collar/leash and we're taking her to the vet on monday to be scanned for a chip. If she isn't chipped and no one claims her, we're gonna start making long term plans. We may keep her if the owners don't come, but that may not be best for her. If we can't keep her, you can bet we'll find her the best stinkin' home to ever exist. She's super sweet and just wants love!


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

So at what point do you stop expecting to find the owner and start taking steps towards a more permanent solution? We will have had her 72 hours by tonight. Over the weekend, no less. I've posted two "found dog" ads on my neighborhood's found and lost dog Facebook pages. We have a poster on a lamp post that everyone entering our section of the neighborhood will see. We've driven every main path through the entirety of our neighborhood looking for lost dog signs. I'm keeping an eye on Craig's List for lost dog ads.

The only thing we haven't done yet is scan her for a microchip which we will do tomorrow. So assuming she isn't chipped, what next? My family adores her and we aren't completely discounting keeping her should the owner never surface, but assuming we can't keep her... We don't want to give her to the city shelter. It has enough bully type dogs to deal with and there is no guarantee she won't be put down after they hold her for the 72 hours her previous owner has to claim her. So when would it be appropriate for us to start searching for her a real home?

Last time we took in a stray dog whose owners didn't claim her, the aforementioned Bichon, her owner's neighbors called saying she knew who the dog belonged to, the owners were supposedly on their way to pick her up... they drove right past us in the front yard without stopping. So in that case, we knew 100% no one was coming for her. We kept her for a long time though (she fit well with out small poodles) before we gave her to family.

Blech, the unknown is killing me... "Does she have owners that care?" "Was she dumped?" "Is someone coming for her or not?" I can't stand it! I have an anxiety disorder, plus other issues, and this is really bothering me. lol.

Oh, also... Is there any way to safely test a dog for dog aggression? Since she may have pit bull in her, I've been telling my parents (she's being kept at my parents house since I don't have a usable yard) to keep their two poodles away from her. She hasn't shown any aggression towards them yet, aside from some food aggression over a pig ear this morning. We can't keep her if we can't ever trust her with any of our three dogs (my Chihuahua mix and their Toy Poodles).


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

First, definitely always check asap for a microchip. Also, I am not saying that you are making a judgment in this case, but as a general word of advice, please no one assume without other evidence that just because a dog has fleas or is very thin or has scars that the dog doesn't have a loving home. When i got Eva for example, if she had escaped from me that first week she would have probably still had some fleas and would be noticably thin. Other people I know have adopted dogs with lots of healed wounds and scars and they worry sometimes that if the dog is lost, a finder won't even try to return the dog based on looks.

Next, she does look pit bull type to me in the eyes and ears and general body type but notice I say "pit bull type" rather than "APBT" as I would guess she is a mixed breed or a kind of diluted backyard bred pit type if that makes sense.

Personally, I think posters/flyers should have a photo BUT should exclude something distinctive about the dog-- a unique marking, the color of a collar etc. I have noticed several posters in my area and recognized neighbor's dogs or the image of a dog posted to facebook as lost and reunited the finder and the lost-er so photos can really help a third party make the connection.

Testing for dog aggresssion-- the dog is what the dog is. Pit bull type or not, a large dog needs tobe supervised with very small dogs and for all new dogs, keeping food and edible treats way during group play is a good idea. If she has seen and been around them without issue except for food, that a sign that she isn't overly dog aggressive but the possibility of prey drive or food aggression remains. Leash walks near each other by not right up in each other's faces are good ways to kind of build up familiarity and by moving forward briskly on a walk, the dogs have something to focus on rather than just the other dog.

Personally, I'd be hestitant to let a large dog run loose in the yard with a Chi in terms of rough play regardless of aggression. My dog Chester is fine with small dogs in a house, walking on a leash and doesn't target them in play but his normal play style would be unsafe for a dog 1/20th of his size.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

We taking her to be scanned as soon as we can, which will be tomorrow afternoon.

We will never leave them unsupervised together. Ever. The problem is, the dog is a lap dog and so are their poodles. If they can't all be lap dogs at the same time, my parents aren't going to want to have to crate any of the dogs during family/lap dog time when everyone is sitting and relaxing. They won't really have play time together no matter what. The poodles are too delicate (+ old 15 and 9 years, respectively). My Chihuahua mix is tough (and young), but is still just a 1/4th the dog's size... Plus Abbey, my dog, hates this dog... but she hates any dog bigger than her when she's leashed (working on that). All that to say, they likely won't be loose in the yard together. It's mainly indoor interaction my parents are concerned about. If we keep the dog, she'll be my dad's dog mainly. I don't want a big dog, my mom loves her but has enough on her plate, so it falls to him to exercise, feed, and care for her. I told them I'll do what I can, like help with training, but she's too big for me. I have recently developed a phobia of large dogs and she is just going to get larger... so she won't be my dog, as much as I love her.

We've named her Skittles, but the way, lol. We're pretty sure she is part lab, at least. Definitely bully breed in her (like AmStaff or APBT), but she is very lab-like. We had labs way back when, before we only had small dogs.

I put a picture on one of the FaceBook posts, but the poster just says "Medium Brindle dog, fairly young" and my other facebook post says the same as the poster, basically. I'm still waiting to be accepted into other Facebook groups for my neighborhood. =/ One of my mom's theories is that the family was out of town for the weekend, so we may hear something tonight or tomorrow morning, when they get back.

(By the way, in case this was confusing: I'm renting a house across the street from my parents' house in the same neighborhood. The dog was found in front of my parents' house when my mom and I were walking Abbey. We couldn't put her in my yard because my landlords have failed to fix a fallen fence in the three months I've been here and the flimsy dog fences I have for Abbey wouldn't hold Skittles.)


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

No microchip. We actually got her chipped ourselves and if we end up finding her owner or rehoming her, we'll give them the information so they can change the info for her chip to them.

The vet said she's around four months old. She weighs 30 pounds. Today was the last say I had home for her owners seeing our poster or posts online... I may see if we can drive a neighboring neighborhood to see if there are any lost dog signs. She could have crossed the field between us and the other neighborhood I suppose. Overall, though, I've pretty much lost hope of her owners coming for her.

My parents keep going back and forth between whether or not they want to keep her. She's a puppy, which makes it hard because she is so puppy-like, but she's also a really good dog. One of the best dogs I've ever met. So it's a hard decision. I think we're going to see about taking her to a training class sometime this week, if they have a spot open.


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## Eenypup (Mar 21, 2014)

Four months? She's not very puppy-like in the face, so she fooled me! How big is she? 

I see a dog that others are likely to label "pit bull", but I doubt you'd find a purebred APBT anywhere near her recent ancestry. Looks a lot more lab-like to me? I'd just call her a random mutt, tbh. I often call my dog just a mix, and she's much more bully breed looking than this girl is. Too many people these days claiming their dog is a "pit bull" imo, but you could say lab-bully mix or something along those lines. Also looks like she might have a double coat? Hard to tell from pictures, obviously.

She's absolutely stunning, by the way!!


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

She weighed 30 pounds at the vet. Four months is what the person said after looking at her teeth. I'm not taking it as gospel, but I figured it was close-ish, so I'm going by that for now.  Any other opinions are very welcome, of course!

I'm glad to hear someone else sees the lab in her! I've had about three or four people say she looks like a lab mix and honestly, that's mostly what I see. Clearly she has some Bully breed in her, but her face screams lab to me. Her nose is too long and narrow to be anywhere close to pure "pit bull" or Staffordshire. I figure one parent was a bully breed or bully mix and the other was pure lab. Goes along with what I see on Craig's List, for sure. Shoot, she even looks like dogs I've seen on Craig's List... I might've even seen her at one point! Haha.

I got so angry at the vet's office because everyone was calling her a pit bull. >.< Not to mention, claiming they had pit bulls when they just had Staffy mixes. When I said her dog looked like an American Staffordshire, she said "but they have to be registered to be that" and I'm like... and American Pit Bull Terriers don't? I follow a lot of pit bull blogs (I may be a tad obsessed with APBTs).

I don't know much about coat types, but she definitely doesn't have as much coat as my dog, who is a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix allegedly (shelter dog). Doesn't have as little as I expect "pit bulls" to have, but I've never actually interacted with a bully breed of any type directly, so who knows?

We're labeling her a Bully/Lab mix for now, I think. I'd call her just a lab mix if it were up to me, but too many people argue that, saying she looks like a pit bull. =/ Figure I'll save my argument and just throw bully in there so people don't question it in the first place. Plus, I want potential adopters to be aware she likely has bully breed in her. My parents are still on the fence about keeping her, but for now I've written up something I'm going to post on FaceBook to see if any of our friends or family may be interested in adopting her. She's a stinkin' cool dog. So well behaved for such a young pup!

Everyone adores her, but she's just too much for all of us... If we didn't already have three much smaller dogs, we'd probably keep her. She's everything we could ever want in a dog... She's just too big for our current situation. We're planning on moving soon, and if we were closer or already moved then we might could keep her... but we just don't have the space/time/energy for her.  No official decision on keeping her or not, though. In theory, we'd love to. In practice... Ugh. Life is complicated.

We did put up more found dog signs and looked through the nearby neighborhood for lost dog signs, but it didn't look like they were allowed there (technically they aren't allowed here either  ), so that didn't go well. I've 99% given up any idea of her owners coming at this point. Pretty sure she was abandoned because she got too big... and she'll get even bigger! Her 30 pounds feels like a lot when she jumps on me. I'm used to 9 pound dogs max! haha. I'll post more pictures of her tomorrow. She's just so pretty. <3

By the way, I always admire Bennie in your signature when I see your posts. Such a cutie with a beautiful smile.  (Plus it always makes the song get stuck in my head XD)


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## Na-Tasha (Aug 13, 2014)

That is the type of dog I'd call "pit bull" but I use that as a generic term to cover bully/pit type dogs that have that "look", not because I think it's purebred APBT. At first I thought maybe pit/some kind of hound mix, but after reading the replies I'd agree with pit/Lab. 

A long time back, I found a dog running down a major road, it wasn't far from our local pound so I assumed he had been dumped. Even though I assumed he had been dumped, I didn't want to take the chance he had just escaped his yard and had someone looking for him. He had no collar/tags, so I took him to the vet to be scanned for a microchip, he had none. I put up fliers at the pound and Humane Society, and on community boards around town, and put up online notices on Craigslist and other lost/found dog sites. No one ever contacted me. I was unable to keep him so after a few weeks I started looking for a new home for him. Nobody wanted him. Which was good, because in the end, my brother and sister-in-law decided they wanted him and took him with them when they moved.  So now, years later, I still get updates about him. 

This is the dog I found, isn't he cute?


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## Eenypup (Mar 21, 2014)

FallDeere said:


> By the way, I always admire Bennie in your signature when I see your posts. Such a cutie with a beautiful smile.  (Plus it always makes the song get stuck in my head XD)


Aw thank you  Great song for a great dog, I think!

Yeah I mean just today some lady asked as she was walking past, "Aww is that a pit bull?!" I just nodded and said yup, she was being well behaved so no harm being done to the image. She is certainly no purebred APBT but usually people won't take no for an answer so I just agree that she's a pit bull, whatever that means to them. If asked I say we aren't sure she's from a shelter, but probably a pit mix. People see pit, they're going to stick to it lol.


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## Sunak (Jul 3, 2014)

Is anyone else getting a craving for chocolate mocha swirl ice cream?


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

I'm on my phone so I'll do a longer reply later, but my dad just sent this picture of Skittles so I had to post it. <3


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

I just wanted to comment and say that you and your parents are awesome for taking her in and taking care of her like this, even if you won't be keeping her long-term. It's heartwarming to see other people committing resources and finances to the well-being of a dog just because it's the right thing to do


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I revise my guess to bandogge. (I thought she was older and was at adult size.) It's a deliberate mix of mastiff and pit bull somewhat popular in the South, particularly for use as catch dogs in boar hunting. 

Did the vet say why her tummy is big? Is it just puppy belly, or was it parasites?


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

Thanks for the kind words, Hiraeth! We do what we can to help animals when we can.  My mom is a dog person and while I'm not a dog person per say, I love all animals. We can't always help, but when we can... we go all out, haha.

We didn't see a vet, we went to the vet's office to get her scanned. We didn't have an appointment so a vet couldn't look at her. We're going to get her shots done sometime this week, I think.

Also... She looks nothing like the bandogges I see here: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanbandoggemastiff.htm

I guess her pictures don't really do her justice because she looks like a lab with pit bull ears in real life.

Here are pictures of "Labrabulls" a pit/lab mix.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images22/LabrabullPitbullLabMixDogSheba.jpg
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images22/LabrabullPitbullLabMixDogSheba2.jpg
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/l/labrabull.htm


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

Amaryllis said:


> Did the vet say why her tummy is big? Is it just puppy belly, or was it parasites?


I was wondering this too. And hopefully she wasn't dumped because she is pregnant!


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

Can a four month old be pregnant? O.O


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## MastiffGuy (Mar 23, 2015)

FallDeere said:


> Can a four month old be pregnant? O.O


Very highly doubt prego if 4 months.

Also Highly doubt banddog. There generally Neo and or EM based, sometimes BM. Might be Presa or Dogo in there but I don't really see that either. my guess is lab x and would not really say it has to be a bully breed, going to say 57 Heinz and very cute.
Also 4 month and 30lbs could be fine in a lab mix. Many mastiff and mastiff mixes are that at 8 weeks. Also I've seen lab puppies at 8 weeks bigger than EM pups.

Best wishes with her.


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

Well, said that 4-months age was a guess. Are there any spay scars on her - probably not if she really is that young, but you never know?


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

My nephew had a dog that looked like her and it was Lab x Plott hound, that was where the brindle color came from. We kept teasing him and asking him how his Pitt was doing as that is what most people assumed it was.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

She doesn't have spay scars. She's looking less tubby now.


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## Remaru (Mar 16, 2014)

My guess is that the roudness is either from over feeding of low quality food or from parasites, a lot of puppies have worms and get that super round belly from them. I was actually going to guess Catahoula Lab but I could see Plott x Lab too.


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## FallDeere (Jul 26, 2015)

She definitely had worms. She got her shots yesterday and last night a dead worm came out in her poop, according to my mom. Ew, lol. Sad I didn't get to see it, though... I'm weird. 

It's been officially decided that 1) her owners aren't coming and 2) we can't keep her. My sister is medically fragile and has very thin bones, which isn't good when you have a large breed puppy jumping on everyone (who is getting bigger by the day!) and my sister also has a trach so dog fur isn't good to have flying around (that's the reason they have poodles) and Skittles sheds a LOT. Not to mention, my sister is very sensitive to sounds and Skittles barking is literally making her sick.  As much as we all love Skittles, we can't keep her.

However, we're taking her to meet a potential new owner today that we met while at the vet.  Fingers crossed it goes well! It sounds like a great fit. As long as they don't take her back to the vet we went to... that vet was a nightmare. =/ 

Man-handled poor Skittles to the point of Skittles wetting everywhere and screaming so the whole building could hear. Quite unnecessary as Skittles is a very easy going dog and didn't need such rough handling to get her shots done. Skittles did fine when the other vet office gave her the microchip because they were gentle with her, talking to her, and petting her while they did it. I don't even think she noticed that. Bleh, rant over. lol.

Wish us luck! Skittles deserves a nice family to love and I hope this couple will be it. <3


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