Breed recognition fail

Red.Apricot

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#21
Elsie's breed is guessed wrongly pretty much every time someone asks, but I figure that comes with the territory. She's been a GSD, GSD mix, husky, husky mix, chow, chow mix, fox, wolf, coyote, collie, collie mix...

What baffles me are the people who either argue with me about what she is ("No, Belgian shepherd dogs are much bigger than that. She's a German shepherd.") or the people who accuse me of making it up. ("I've never heard of those... are they real?")
 

Sit Stay

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#22
Dance gets a lot of "red nosed pit bull" guesses. Yep. Long coat and all. And if it's not that, people tend to either think she's a designer breed or an Aussie.
This surprises me! Lately the vast majority of guesses we've gotten with Quinn have been people asking if she's a Toller or Toller cross. I was actually surprised at how many people on the street know what a Toller is here - I wonder if they're just more popular in Ontario or maybe just this area.
 

Laurelin

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#23
Elsie's breed is guessed wrongly pretty much every time someone asks, but I figure that comes with the territory. She's been a GSD, GSD mix, husky, husky mix, chow, chow mix, fox, wolf, coyote, collie, collie mix...

What baffles me are the people who either argue with me about what she is ("No, Belgian shepherd dogs are much bigger than that. She's a German shepherd.") or the people who accuse me of making it up. ("I've never heard of those... are they real?")
I've had a couple people insist that my dogs were chihuahua mixes. They ask what they are and I say papillon and they say 'Oh that's chihuahua and what mix?' I say, 'No, just a papillon. They're a purebred dog.' 'Oh I know, but what did they mix with chihuahua to make one?'

There was one really mean lady with a border collie that I was admiring that kept on insisting that my dogs looked like aliens and HAD to be part shih tzu.

My favorite guess is still chinchilla for them. :D
 

Toller_08

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#24
This surprises me! Lately the vast majority of guesses we've gotten with Quinn have been people asking if she's a Toller or Toller cross. I was actually surprised at how many people on the street know what a Toller is here - I wonder if they're just more popular in Ontario or maybe just this area.
BC and Ontario both have a lot of Tollers, so people probably recognize them more in those provinces. A lot of people here also know what she is and are excited to see one in person, but I still get more incorrect guesses than correct ones.
 

Lyzelle

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#25
Everyone always tells me that Zander is a Wolf Hybrid. I mean, it's just so obvious. Look at those gold eyes!!! Or an Akita. Or Shiba.

Yeah. I've never had someone guess Zander's breed correctly.
 

~Dixie's_Mom~

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#26
Someone asked me if Chloe was a "Husky puppy"- apparently any dog with blue eyes has to be a Husky!
:rofl1: hahahahaha!!

Thankfully people always assume Violet is a husky or a malamute. People who guess malamute always say "but she's so BIG for a husky" she's 41lbs and a bit above knee height! I don't think she's very big at all. She can sit in my lap Lol!

People always think Chloe is full Chihuahua. I don't understand. She looks more like a Doxie than a Chi to me.
 
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#27
I forgot about this one:
A
week or two after Didgie got here I was out with her and Traveler and this women was running by and stopped dead, backed up and looked at Didgie and said "Is that a....pig?"

And after that Didgie got renamed to Little Pig Nose
 

crazedACD

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#28
Skye's usually a pit or greyhound. Zoie no one has any guess. Romeo has been called a GSD mix..oh cattle dogs only come in blue!

I've gotten the wolf guesses about Casey, and someone asked if Boomer was a bear once? Yeah..because you see people walking around with bears...?
 

JessLough

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#29
Rosey gets called a "GSD... Wait no.. She can't be... She's too small!" so then they add BC cause 95% of dogs here are BC or BC mixes :p
 

SaraB

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#30
I don't expect anyone to know what a Koolie is, if they did I might just keel over. But I do expect people not to tell me what my breed is. And everyone around here seems to think they're an expert on 'houlas and therefore my dog since he is one :p
I get all sort of breed guesses for Zuma from chihuahua to border collie. Zinga on the other hand, very few people have guessed they normally just ask. I've gotten one or two catahoula's and a speckling of cattle dogs, except for when we met a guy from Australia who's brother has a koolie, he guessed it right away and I did just about keel over.
 
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#31
I get all sort of breed guesses for Zuma from chihuahua to border collie. Zinga on the other hand, very few people have guessed they normally just ask. I've gotten one or two catahoula's and a speckling of cattle dogs, except for when we met a guy from Australia who's brother has a koolie, he guessed it right away and I did just about keel over.
You didn't tell me someone guessed Koolie! That's awesome!

The closest anyone has come was smooth BC which was probably what I would guess if I saw someone with a dog that looked like Trav

But I have noticed a lot less people guessing breeds now that I have two that look a like. Now they just go "Is that her baby?" or ask what they are. Traveler though is becoming very insecure about his manliness
 

PWCorgi

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#32
At the agility trial we had like 3 people ask if Zing was a BC. One person ask if she was an ACD mix. One person who thought when we said Koolie that we meant Catahoula (this of course was also the person who said she could tell whether dogs were going to have good times based on how they were sitting at the start line, and was wrong just about every time :confused:).

There was one person who didn't even bother asking, just loved on her then when someone she knew came over said "Look at the Border Collie puppy!" Erm...k.

Majority of people both at the auto cross and the agility trial when we had Zing just asked though.


Frodo's most common guess is Yorkie. I do not understand this, AT ALL.
My favorite conversation:
Guy: Is that a Yorkie?
Me: No, he's a corgi.
Guy: Oh, so that's a Yorkie and a what?
Me: He's just a corgi, they're a purebred. From Wales.
Guy: ... oh. He looks like a Yorkie.
Me: Okay.
 

SaraB

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#33
Frodo's most common guess is Yorkie. I do not understand this, AT ALL.
My favorite conversation:
Guy: Is that a Yorkie?
Me: No, he's a corgi.
Guy: Oh, so that's a Yorkie and a what?
Me: He's just a corgi, they're a purebred. From Wales.
Guy: ... oh. He looks like a Yorkie.
Me: Okay.
Best conversation ever.
 

Romy

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#34
Best conversation ever.
Agreed! :D

I will never get over the two completely separate people who insisted Strider (the borzoi) is a pit bull because he's brindle. Then proceeded to chew me out for having a pit bull and a baby. It's crazy how hung up people get on color.

Behold! The flattest, pointiest, hairiest pit bull on earth!



Otherwise, people think he and Kaia are greyhounds, unshaved rescue greyhounds (because they shave them for racing! lol), greyhound/border collie mixes (which is a pretty good guess if you've never heard of a borzoi), and afghans and salukis.
 

Shai

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#35
Elsie's breed is guessed wrongly pretty much every time someone asks, but I figure that comes with the territory. She's been a GSD, GSD mix, husky, husky mix, chow, chow mix, fox, wolf, coyote, collie, collie mix...

What baffles me are the people who either argue with me about what she is ("No, Belgian shepherd dogs are much bigger than that. She's a German shepherd.") or the people who accuse me of making it up. ("I've never heard of those... are they real?")
Lol that's exactly how it is with Mira. I completely understand people not knowing what a Flat-Coated Retriever is. In addition to not be all that common, the name just throws people for a loop. Mira's well into her 2nd year now and my dad called her a Flat-Footed Black Lab recently lol.

But yeah it's the arguing thing that gets me. I understand people assuming she is a LabX (though it's always "Black Lab Cross" not just Lab lol) or Golden RetrieverX...we had a GRX when I was a kid who was a dead ringer for a FCR. It's when people argue with me that I just roll my eyes. When Mira was about 6 months old I took her to a local park and had a couple tell me she was a Black Lab Cross...at that time I still bothered to give the real info and said she was a Flat-Coated Retriever...

"So that's Black Lab mixed with what?"
"Uhhh nothing. Flat-Coated Retrievers are another breed."
"Right but they are Black Labs mixed with what?"|
"Another breed as in...their own breed. Not a mix."
*they exchange pitying looks*
"Oh is that what they told you? Yeah she's just a designer mix that's not a real breed..."
"No really Flat-Coats are---"
"It's okay we love mix breeds!"
"But she's...I have mixes...it's just that she's not...oh nevermind."

And that's when my caring about explaining what a FCR is died an agonizing death :p
 

~Jessie~

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#36
There are some breeds that I don't recognize, but I'd never tell someone that their dog is a breed when it isn't! Most of these people are just so persistant, like you're lying by correcting them! They think it's a Borzoi rather than a BC so it MUST be a Borzoi.

There was someone with a gorgeous Mal at our vet's office a while back, and Ian said "I love your Malinois" or something to that effect. The guy looked so happy that we knew what his breed was. I'm sure he gets GSD all of the time.

Oh yeah, Chloe's also been called a JRT while we were at the vet's office by another patient. I told them that she was a Chihuahua, and they really doubted me. They told me that Chihuahuas don't come in "her color." Well, JRTs don't come in merle so obviously they don't know their breeds anyway.
 

Toller_08

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#37
"So that's Black Lab mixed with what?"
"Uhhh nothing. Flat-Coated Retrievers are another breed."
"Right but they are Black Labs mixed with what?"|
"Another breed as in...their own breed. Not a mix."
*they exchange pitying looks*
"Oh is that what they told you? Yeah she's just a designer mix that's not a real breed..."
"No really Flat-Coats are---"
"It's okay we love mix breeds!"
"But she's...I have mixes...it's just that she's not...oh nevermind."

And that's when my caring about explaining what a FCR is died an agonizing death :p
Don't you just love conversations like that? I've had a couple very similar ones regarding Dance, haha. Except that those people always assume she's a Golden mixed with something and they too pity me for buying a dog that isn't a real breed.
 

Laurelin

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#38
I would probably guess that a dog was a bc or bc mix before guessing koolie. There was one very koolie looking dog at the last agility trial I was at and I so wanted to ask but never got the chance. They were from Texas so I thought it might be possible.

I also love the ones I get about my dogs' ears. How did you make their ears so big? (That's a direct quote) I also get asked relatively frequently (couple times a year) if they're cropped... I need to come up with some wild story to explain why they have huge ears.
 

Emily

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#39
LOL, I always get, "Corgi mixed with...?"

"Another corgi."

Or, my favorite, "What kind of dog is that?"

"She's a Cardigan Welsh Corgi."

"You know, in MY day we didn't have these dogs with the fancy the names. We had Labs, and German Shepherds, and Chihuahuas. And Beagles. Now they're getting crazy with these designer dogs."

"Oh, well actually this breed is hundreds, possibly thousands, of years old, but they only entered the states in the 30's." *big smile while my eye twitches*
 

Finkie_Mom

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#40
Person: "Awwww she is so cute! She looks like a little fox! What breed is she?"

Me: "Finnish Spitz."

Person: "Oh where are they from?"

Me: "...Finland."

Person: "Oh so it's a Spitz?"

Me: "Yes, a FINNISH Spitz."

Person: "I knew someone with a white one! I think it's called an Eskimo Spitz?"

*headdesk*
 

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