My friend that lost her golden a few months ago got a new puppy. The pictures aren't the greatest but it's all I have. I haven't met her yet. She is almost 4 months, actually born the day their golden died.
Definitely purebred! People seem to think if its not the black and tan classic GSD they see on TV, its not a GSD! She as real a GSD as the girl in my avatar.
I think she is pure bred to. The animal shelter says lab/GSD. The brothers were black/tan with floppy ears. I tried explaining floppy ears at that age is very possible. I'm afraid this puppy will be more(energy wise) then they expected. The same animal shelter us claiming this badly abused dog is GSD mix , which I don't believe...
Animal shelters and vets don't know any better and in the absence of papers, describe a purebred dog as a "mix." But such animals are purebred even if they lack the official AKC papers attesting to the provenance of their origin.
Shelters just guess most of the time and they LOVE to claim everything is a German Shepherd mix. That being said, i'm with everyone else with the Black GSD guess.
One of the reasons why many shelters (and even some rescues) will attach a "mix" label to dogs that look purebred is because they don't want to open themselves up to litigation if someone adopted a dog that had been labeled a purebred, then later found out it wasn't.
Was just going to say this. I know a few people that have rescued dogs and very upset the dogs were labeled as purebred but later found out they weren't or a white marking appeared or they didnt grow to a standard height or built of the breed. So, many rescues around here just started adding the word mix to the label.
Sit, stay that makes sense. The local shelter told me everything is listed as a mix unless an owner surrendered the dog & claimed it was pb. I'm not really sure that's more reliable but they'll go with pb if the previous owner says it is (& presumably appears to be)
I know here it's the same. The only PB's I've seen listed personally are those what were surrendered with paperwork that accompanies the dog upon adoption.
You know this makes me wonder...I got my male from the same shelter. He was older and listed as a GSD, so I wonder if they had paperwork from original owner(he was an owner surrender). They didn't offer me any paperwork so I wonder if they ever do. I might call them and ask, I would love to know where mine came from.
I understand what everyone here is saying, but depending on the dog in question it could be a really rude awakening for some people. It's really risky for shelters to do, because some of these dogs that they are saying are mixed to cover their butts are on breed restriction lists for housing, insurance ,etc. it opens these dogs up to being brought back to the shelter as soon as I seen this one I told her I think you got a pure bred GSD and went on to explain what most GSDs need and I don't think it sunk in. They are not very social people and they are older laid back people, I have stressed the socializing part. Not with all dogs but with their daughters dogs. I suggested the park and walks go get the pup used to stuff, etc. I am praying that this pup is on the calmer side. They were talking about how well she was doing the first five days, keep in mind she was just spayed too. I told the daughter, let me know what they think in a month
I can see how a shelter would think lab/GSD especially if they expect a GSD to be black/tan and have not seen many all black. It could be you will have to wait till it is older to see how it develops. I don't think shelters are very good at guessing what mixes dogs are.
I had a shelter dog I adopted at 3 months old, all white. They had it labeled as a Shepherd/Lab mix and as a puppy that is pretty much what it looked like. Later in life she looked like an all white lab. I did a DNA test (I know they are not the most reliable) and it came back as 50% Swiss White Shepherd and 50% Golden Pei which is a cross of a Golden retriever and a Shar Pei.
Do they have a better picture of the face? Something about its muzzle seems like it could be a mix, but looks like a high percentage of GSD to me at the very least.
Everyone thought my PB black GSD pup was a Lab mix
If it looks like a German Shepherd,
And it walks like a German Shepherd,
And it swims like a German Shepherd,
And it quacks like a German Shepherd,
It's a German Shepherd.
I have a black female GSD. Before her ears came up, 95% of the people who saw her thought she was a lab mix. Even when she's walking down the street with an obvious black and red GSD!
True story - one dog I pulled from a shelter had mix added onto his paperwork. They gave me his original intake form from when he was turned in - it was all the same handwriting and same pen. On the top where it said breed - GSD then 'mix' added on in a different pen and different writing.
Forget the pen and handwriting, how many people who have a shepherd mix would write GSD instead of shepherd or g shep or shephard?
The dogs owner had a bad experience with GSD's in the past . She is more accepting of the fact that she probably has a pure bred GSD. When her daughter tells people GSD/lab, I mumbled under my breath..lab my butt
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