Besides the chow, what do you see?

[GoingNowhere]

This is about seven years late in coming, but I've just been pondering about Boo's breed mix and wanted to hear some input! I would love to do a DNA test at some point (accuracy aside, I think that it would be really interesting).

I am assuming that there is chow in her mix, but I suppose that even that is a guess.

So... what do you see?

Size comparison:

She's about 55 pounds when she is at a good weight. She is medium-low energy now at ten years old (was more like "medium" as a younger dog (though has always had a perfect off-switch in the house), very mannerly in the house and car, has a high prey drive outdoors (but very little toy drive). She isn't the quickest learner, but she remembers what she has learned quite well. She is more of a "family" dog than a one-person dog, but definitely prefers family to strangers. She has some reactivity/aggressive seeming behaviors to certain individuals coming into our house (but I tend to think that this is fear based, rather than territorial behavior).

I'm curious to hear some thoughts! Thanks

 

[MicksMom]

I do see Chow in her head & face. In the pictures of her standing, she reminds me of a heavy Belgian Shepherd (as opposed to a black, long coat GSD). So maybe Chow/Belgian Shepherd. Probably something else, as well. Of course, that would depend on how common BSDs are in your area or where she came from.

 

[Laurelin]

Chow x herding breed of some sort? I am not sure. Maybe GSD though I'm not sold on that either.

 

[DJEtzel]

I see some Terv?

 

[SpringerLover]

I would guess chow x groen. When I was on Planet Belgian more there were a few known 'chowder butts' aka chow x groen. They remind me a lot of Boo.

 

[pinkspore]

Chow/keeshond? Probably depends on how common keeshonds are in your area.

I was very pleased with Brisbane's Wisdom Panel test even though the first result came back really obviously inaccurate. I ended up sending them pictures of Briz and his mom and then an actual geneticist called me and geeked out about dog breeds before taking a look through all the possible projections and telling me which breeds came up in every result.

 

[GoingNowhere]

Thanks all! You know, chowxbelgian sheepdog is something that I've heard before but never really thought was a possibility (I don't know that I've seen more than one or two belgian sheepdogs in my life), but she sure does look like the crosses that I'm seeing when I googled. She came to the shelter with her sister, who I never got to see (or even see a picture of). But I distinctly remember one of the shelter staff telling us that Boo's sister looked a little more like a collie. I had always just assumed border collie type dog (i.e. maybe her sister was multi-colored or something). But now I wonder if maybe her sister had more of a snipy face thus making her look "more like a collie." I'll probably never know, but if it was the latter, that would make sense on the belgian sheepdog front.

As for the Wisdom panel - pinkspore, what did Brisbane's results come back as? Did the geneticist tell you how the process works?

I kind of want to do it, but I know that I'll be mad if it comes back saying that she's a bulldog or something!

 

[pinkspore]

Brisbane's original result came back with his mum as a heeled/bullmastiff cross and his dad as an a staff/bullmastiff/unknown. Briz weighs all of 40lbs and his mum was around 30 and a rather lovely working cowdog. The geneticist told me that the computer spits out the closest match, but that all their DNA samples for AKC breeds were from AKC registered dogs. Since his mum was a stockdog and not a show dog, her DNA wasn't a direct bullseye. The geneticist eliminated all projections that didn't have one parent as a purebred heeler, and both bullmastiff and amstaff came up as 1/4 each of his dad's DNA every time. The other breed that came up consistently was Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, very specifically, and not any other spaniel.

So Briz is 1/2 heeler, 1/8 amstaff, 1/8 bullmastiff, 1/8 cav, and 1/8 batshark.