another (what is she?) thread....

I think that almost any breed can get black spots on their tongues. Its not uncommon, and it doesn't always mean Chow or Shar Pei.

I looked at the pics before I read about the puppy. I immediately seen chow and husky. I dont really see anything else, but maybe a little akita. Shibas are smaller dogs, if I'm not mistaken. Her lighter color and slender chest and head says husky to me. Her orangish color and dark tongue tell me chow.

Yes, any dog can have black spots on its tongue, but this dogs tongue looks completely black. The only two breeds that have that characteristic are chows and shar peis, and she is definitely not shar pei.

Another thing. About the compact coat. Chows come in smooth coats. They dont always have big poofy coats!

I used to have a SUSPECTED chow/husky mix. Maybe I can get a pic on here sometime.

i think your right about the weight. her vet called today after we had asked to speak to him after her last visit a few days back. we were out of town and had her boarded for a couple days. he said he thought she was going to be in the 75 pound range. he also said from the maturity of her teeth, he believed she was only 4 months old. so, she is 32 pounds and 4 months, i think she might be a big girl!!, lol. he did also say, she had qualities of a husky/chow, possible a shiba/chow, and very well could be an akita and chow mix. he said it was hard to tell at this point because of the chow mix. he said it would be much easier to tell when she was closer to 1 year old. i'm assuming because if she is in the 80 to 90 pound range, the akita might be more pronounced. he did say she was a dead ringer by the color of her coat and hair qualities of a shiba.

here is a photo i found of another shiba puppy. looks just like her. they could be sisters.

http://www.breederretriever.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/1329

another interesting fact i found out by reading all kinds of web pages today about the shiba is that i found on one of the breeder pages that a famous female shiba was named Suki. that was the name given to her by her other owners. we didn't care for the name and wanted a fresh start, so we named her Kimber. i thought that was interesting.

She's not the right size for one, but she looks a lot like many badly bred Shibas I've seen. You'll really only be able to guess by the time she's an adult though, and a lot of your guessing will be based on temperament and not necessarily looks.. if she acts like a Shiba it's safe to say she has some in her, and if she acts like a chow, you can guess she has Chow in her.. etc. She's a real cutie, though.

Whatever she is, she is gorgeous. The black tongue, excellent pigment and breadth of her muzzle make me say chow mix, but the rest of her does look more like a husky. But I would say she could be a mix of akita, jindo, shiba, samoyed, spitz, husky, malamute, etc. It's really hard to say. But those tiny cute ears and curled tail scream northern breed.

I think you are right to wonder about possible aggression problems. While I have trained a few non-aggressive chows and one nice Akita, the vast majority are inclined towards aggression. Huskies, on the other hand, are not very aggressive. The problem I have seen with akitas (and jindos) is that they are very sweet as youngsters and become aggressive as adults. It's hard to see coming and shocking and upsetting when it happens. I wish I could tell you how to predict it, but I don't know how. The fact that she is a female and most likely mixed is reassuring. But I would still be working on exercises to prevent resource guarding, dog aggression and people aggression now, just in case.

thank you for your advice. i have been trying to interact her with as many people as possible, just in case. she also plays most of the day with our other 3 large dogs outside in the yard. another funny thing i must share is, she is the loudest snorer i have ever heard. she snores like a person and its the funniest thing. this morning i had to get up earlier than normal and it was soo loud. cracked me up. i thought it was the wife at first, but it was Kimber.
take care everyone.

Black mouthed curs have black mouths, but I seriously doubt she has any in her.

i measured her this morning and from the ground up to the highest point in the center of her shoulder blades is 22 inches, and from her rear end to the same spot on her front shoulders is 23 inches. is that the correct way to measure dogs?