Rescues and breed misidentification
This evening, we went over to the park around dusk. It's been very hot--- too hot to walk the dogs--- and we thought we'd get them some exercise after the sun went down.
Someone we've not met before showed up with a lovely English Pointer. My dad used to field-trial pointers when I was a little kid, and as soon as I saw her run over the hill I thought "I haven't seen an English Pointer in years." She came towards us, then turned and pointed her owner (or more likely the Chuck-it launcher in his hand) and then gave bounding across the field in that graceful canter shared by pointers and a handful of other breeds. She was classic white-bodied with spots and a darker head with a tiny blaze.
We got to talking when I complimented him on his lovely dog. He said he got her from rescue. He laughed and said "They told us she was a lab/bloodhound mix." I said "That's a pointer." And he said "She looks like a pointer. She points everything. Yes, she does seem to be a pointer."
A pointer is not especially rare and has a fairly unique look. This was a decent one; looked like she was from field trial stock rather than bench stock. We speculated that it might be hard for rescues to place pointers, but lab mixes go quickly. It's just lucky that this dog landed with someone who can handle her energy, drive, and high-strung nature; a pointer is about as far from a lab as you can get in temperament.
It got me thinking about rescues, and how they label dogs. I watch PetFinder diligently for Corgis, and with the exception of a small few mill dogs, virtually none of the dogs I see as "Corgi" or "Corgi mix" look like they have any Corgi in them at all.
I know rescues mean well. I know they are staffed with mostly volunteers. I'm puzzled that people who love dogs enough to work for little or nothing are so consistently awful at identifying breeds, though. It doesn't take a PhD to do so. I know in crosses you are guessing, but why label an obvious purebred as a cross? It seems Corgis are popular, so conversely if a dog is short and they don't know what to call it, I suppose they think tacking "Corgi" on the picture might move the dog faster.
I truly don't know. Maybe someone who has done non-breed rescue can enlighten me. In the meantime, I guess my message is to please use due diligence when getting a rescue dog. The staff mean well and are overburdened, but their breed labels are often terribly inaccurate. Make sure you meet the dog yourself and try to get a feel of its temperament and energy level, size and coat and all of that because the label on the posting may not match the dog at all.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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This is also a good reminder that if you ever lose a dog, don't just call the local shelters. Go down there and ask to see all the dogs yourself. I have personally known of more than one person who was looking for a dog that the shelter had but failed to recognize by its breed and description over the phone.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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We see this in the vet a lot. Especially with bully mixes. I can't tell you how many "labs" we have seen that have about as much lab in them as a chihuahua. In my area (and probably most areas) its easier to move a lab than it is a pit mix and so many times shelters begin reaching for anything they think they can get away with. We had an owner once who was astonished to find out her "lab" from the shelter was in fact pretty much all pit (based on looks). She knew very little about dogs and before adopting was anti-pit due to their reputation, but didn't know enough about them to even recoginze the dog she adopted was mostly pit!
When scanning petfinder and searching for corgis I'll get about 800 results, MAYBE 3 of these (if that) in all of California are actually corgis. I think around here they say corgi because corgis are close to impossible to find in shelters in California and as such when people see a dog labeled corgi they jump right on it.
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Someone I work with bought a puppy at a flea market (I know, I know) and they told her it was a lab/ bulldog mix. As it grew a bit it became obvious that it was all or mostly pitty.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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We met an obvious Corgi mix (or just a very poorly bred Corgi) up at school once. I was tickled to death to meet one, and when I said I was so happy to see a Corgi, the guy responded that he was a JRT. I asked him if he was sure, and then he said that's what the shelter said he was. Uhhh... no... but okay. You would really think they could get better breed IDs on these dogs! I understand intentionally mislabeling pit mixes, but mislabeling a Corgi mix when they're definitely moving right now thanks to our friend the Internet? That's just ignorance...
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Tank was originally in a shelter and pulled by Camp Companion. He was originally said to be a Corgi/Basset Hound mix. He was younger so he could have looked somewhat like what they said(when you look at his legs) BUT he had his DNA papers that say the main dog is Newfoundland,English Setter and more
...he is a true Heinz 57! I think sometimes they see a couple traits like the ears or long body and try to go from there.
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Dwarfism occurs spontaneously in a large number of breeds. Dwarfism preceded purebred dogs. Yet for some reason whenever they see any kind of dwarfed leg, they think "Corgi".
I saw one recently on a rescue site that they are calling a Corgi/ Petit Griffon Basset Vendeen cross. Considering how rare the PGBV is in this country it seems unlikely. To me it looked like a random terrier!
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I LOVE when they label dogs as PBGVs lol. I have only seen 2 of those in the 5 years I've worked at busy vets. However, I ran into a lady one time walking her dog that looked EXACTLY like a PBGV and asked her if that was what he was and she said she didn't know she got him from a rescue and he was just some type of terrier. Love it.
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Permalink Reply by Shippo, Gidget & Sheldon on
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I wouldn't put much faith in DNA testing because right now all it is is a crap shoot. There was a study done on the accuracy and I can't find the website but there were some known purebred dogs in this study that tested out to be a completely different breed altogether or a mixture of 5 or so different breeds. Also not all breeds are included like APBTs, you could have a pit mix but the pit won't show up in DNA. Or say a Tibetan Mastiff ends up in the shelter and DNA shows it to be a bunch of different breeds so it's adopted out as a mix instead of what it actually is. So really, right now DNA testing is about as good as the shelter's "guessing."
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Permalink Reply by Ludi on
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Damn, I'm jealous. I LOVE gun dogs, particularly Pointers, and would have loved to watch her "work", even during play. That's awesome!
As for mislabeling breeds in rescue/shelters, it happens all the time over here. The worst thing is that Bull Terriers, the ones with the egg heads, are called Pit Bulls here by the general public. It doesn't make sense because A) The APBT isn't recognized by the FCI, the governing body for dogs across the EU and B) The Bull Terrier looks so damn distinct from a Pit Bull. There's a guy at my park who has one and he reads about horror stories with Pit Bulls on the 'Net and I had to explain to him that they mean a dog completely different from his own BT. /facepalm
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Here too...my daughter is getting a Bull Terrier and her inlaws are going crazy with the thought...I am sure they are confusing the Bull Terrier with a Pit Bull but won't listen to anything:(
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She was lovely, but the rescue did her a serious disservice and got lucky. Most gun dogs are relatively happy-go-lucky given time to run a few times a week and use their nose. But Pointers are intense and competitive. They are to hunting what border collies are to herding. A tiny baby pointer pup will start pointing song birds and butterflies soon after they start to walk. The huge majority of homes would have ended up returning her to the rescue.
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Yeah, I had read up on them but ultimately they just weren't the dog for me. It's really awesome that despite being passed off as a Lab mix (pretty docile and easy going?), that she landed in the hands of a capable owner. I do question the eyesight of whomever labelled her as part Bloodhound, though... O_O
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