Pet Lovers

[RinaRina]

Which one did you use?  The $99 or the $139?

(Specifically for mixed breeds ... not a pedigree.)

[SeaMaiden]

P0@RinaRina  I used the mixed bread as Negrita was a rescue from Mexico. The rescue told me she was a lab mix....come to find out...NO LAB in her at all!   Mostly pit bull and Shepard...with about 9 other dog varieties in her too... a true MUTT😄.  

But she is so sweet....so gentle and non aggressive other than squirrels, cats, and rabbits😄

This picture was the one I saw  of Negrita on the rescue website "MexPup"

[Kachina624]

@SeaMaiden    Would you have adopted her if you'd known about her pit bull heritage?

I look at a lot of rescue and shelter sites and see many dogs listed as being certain breed but look suspiciously like pit bulls.  You just can't pass one off as an Australian shepherd or collie mix but they try.  Shelters use very imaginative breed identification.

[SeaMaiden]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@SeaMaiden    Would you have adopted her if you'd known about her pit bull heritage?

I look at a lot of rescue and shelter sites and see many dogs listed as being certain breed but look suspiciously like pit bulls.  You just can't pass one off as an Australian shepherd or collie mix but they try.  Shelters use very imaginative breed identification.

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@Kachina624  Interesting question....when I was first asking about adopting Nagrita, I specifically told them No Pitbulls....I frankly was scared to own one...and had a bad feeling about the breed from information gathered that was always negative. They said she was lab/Shepherd....and I thought lab was a good possibity.

When I did the DNA test...and saw she was about half pit, not lab.....it was ok because I knew she was just a sweet dog with no aggression or bad behaviors....

but you are right...if they told me she was half pit prior to adoption ...I never would have adopted her. Most Mexican rescues have pit in them...but it does not mean that they are like attack dogs.   I am glad I did not know at the time of adoption. Can not imagine life without my sweet girl🥰

[CamilleP]

@RinaRina, I was pretty sure my shelter dog was a purebred Manchester Terrier, so I used the $99 test, and sure enough, I was right.  The shelter called him a MinPin mix.  Nope!  How such a rare breed dog wound up on the streets of Eugene, Oregon, is anybody's guess, but at least he will spend his golden years in a safe home that understands him. 

[RinaRina]

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@CamilleP wrote:

@RinaRina, I was pretty sure my shelter dog was a purebred Manchester Terrier, so I used the $99 test, and sure enough, I was right.  The shelter called him a MinPin mix.  Nope!  How such a rare breed dog wound up on the streets of Eugene, Oregon, is anybody's guess, but at least he will spend his golden years in a safe home that understands him. 

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Wow!  I just looked at the pic of MTs.

I would've mistaken that dog for a Doberman.

Beautiful dog.

[Marp]

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@CamilleP wrote:

@RinaRina, I was pretty sure my shelter dog was a purebred Manchester Terrier, so I used the $99 test, and sure enough, I was right.  The shelter called him a MinPin mix.  Nope!  How such a rare breed dog wound up on the streets of Eugene, Oregon, is anybody's guess, but at least he will spend his golden years in a safe home that understands him. 

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@CamilleP,  I had the same experience with my Finnish Spitz.  She is the sweetest dog with apparent ly some show training but somehow ended up on the street and was taken in by county animal control.

[CamilleP]

@RinaRina   I often get asked if Max is a "Miniature Doberman", but no, since there is no such breed, he isn't.  He's an oversized Toy Manchester, since he has naturally erect ears, rather than cropped ears.  I think most breeders of Standard Manchesters are trying to breed away from ears that need to be cropped, but as long as judges reward cropped ears, it will be a long slog.  I've seen some Dobermans with natural ears shown on televised dog shows, hooray for those owners and breeders!  Thankfully, Manchesters of either variety are not docked, and both varieties are small enough dogs that "happy tail" doesn't plague them, I've never seen Max whack his tail on anything in the almost three years we've had him.  Honestly, Manchesters of either variety are a hidden gem of the terrier world, the breed's nickname is "The English Gentleman", and Max lives up to that nickname.  His only flaw is that he's either deaf or the most deliberately selectively deaf dog I've ever owned, I cannot let him off leash, ever, or he's gone, the Whippet outcross of the 1800's gives him even more prey drive and the urge to chase, plus speed!  The rest of the time he's a rather clingy Momma's Boy (understandable, since he was a stray), but out in Nature, he turns into a serious hunting machine, and since he's toothless, the perfect prey for a larger predator, so on leash he stays!

[CamilleP]

@Marp   It's the biggest downside of adopting a shelter dog, they can't tell us their history, their name, anything.  We can only guess, based on their behaviors, what their life was like before they wound up on the street.  I presume Max belonged to an elderly person or couple who had grandchildren, because he adores children, who can maul him and he'll stand there and take it with no protest.  A couple of summers ago a small boy started sticking his fingers in Max's ears, until the Dad stopped him, and Max stood like a rock, never even a lifted lip.  He's a charming little scamp who knows how to walk beside a stroller when his "brother", Charlie the Cairn, needs a ride because his arthritis is bothering him. 

I suspect that you feel like you hit a jackpot in finding your Finnish Spitz girl at the shelter, just like I feel about Max and Charlie.  However they wound up at the shelter, stray or owner surrender, someone else's discarded pet is my treasured companion.