# is my dog a German Shepherd or a mix



## matty1999 (Feb 7, 2017)

my dog's name is shadow I've been wanting a GSD since I was 5 and he was my dream come true.
but he was a surprise so I don't know if he's a purebred or not. I got him for Christmas 2016 and I wouldn't trade him for anything. the people who my sister got him from said he was 6 weeks old and a purebred. my sister said the parents look purebred and healthy and happy but he didn't come with papers and doesn't have a saddle.















those are pictures of him when he was much younger but I'm having trouble finding the pictures I have of him from recently but the main difference is his ears are standing up.


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## lonecat (Nov 2, 2016)

What does your sister mean that his parents look purebred? If his parents look regular black and tan, then I don't think this pup is theirs. Also if I were you, I would research online on all the risks of the pup being removed from litter before 8 weeks old, you may need to socialize him extremely well to avoid dog aggression later on among other stuff...Best of luck!


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

He is super cute and he might have GSD in him somewhere but he doesn't look purebred to me. But who cares anyway... he looks like a great little doggy.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

lonecat said:


> What does your sister mean that his parents look purebred? If his parents look regular black and tan, then I don't think this pup is theirs. Also if I were you, I would research online on all the risks of the pup being removed from litter before 8 weeks old, you may need to socialize him extremely well to avoid dog aggression later on among other stuff...Best of luck!


 Dogs have been homed at 6 weeks old for centuries without issues. By six weeks he is old enough to be weaned, so physically, there is no problem. Mentally, well, yes they can still learn from the dam and littermates. But some litters have only one puppy -- they survive. Some litters lose their dam, or have the dam separated -- they make it too. I think the problems people have with puppies homed between 6-8 weeks are mostly due to the cluelessness the current lot of new pet-owners are, and those same problems afflict dogs homed at 8 weeks and above, if the owners have problems. 

In any case the pup was homed at Christmas. 6 weeks later, there is no possibility of returning the pup to its litter for more socialization.

The pup can be sable if the sire or dam was, and a patterned sable looks a lot like a traditional black and tan. I have heard experts arguing whether a dog was a patterned sable or a black and tan. Or the pup can have no saddle. 

The pup certainly has a lot of the GSD personality and looks in the photos. 

Matty1999, Enjoy your puppy! He's cute as a button, and looks like a ton of fun. Train him, spend time with him, PLAY with him. Don't worry too much about WHAT he is, that don't matter at all. Appreciate WHO he is.


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## lonecat (Nov 2, 2016)

selzer said:


> Dogs have been homed at 6 weeks old for centuries without issues. By six weeks he is old enough to be weaned, so physically, there is no problem. Mentally, well, yes they can still learn from the dam and littermates. But some litters have only one puppy -- they survive. Some litters lose their dam, or have the dam separated -- they make it too. I think the problems people have with puppies homed between 6-8 weeks are mostly due to the cluelessness the current lot of new pet-owners are, and those same problems afflict dogs homed at 8 weeks and above, if the owners have problems.
> 
> In any case the pup was homed at Christmas. 6 weeks later, there is no possibility of returning the pup to its litter for more socialization.
> 
> ...


The thing is I don't think any good breeder will rehome a pup at 6 weeks. I agree the OP should enjoy his pup no matter what, but extra socialization is always good as the combination of irresponsible breeder (if he was indeed removed at 6 weeks without really good reasons) + early removal from litter + (if owner does not socialize, socialize, socialize) sounds like loads of future problems to me.

But anyway please enjoy your pup, he will turn from angel to devil in a few months lol, just kidding.


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## raven414a (Feb 2, 2017)

Here are a couple of pics (sorry for the sideways pic) of our Bailey that looks somewhat like Shadow. She is around 11 months now. We adopted her from the shelter a few months ago and they had her listed as a Black Mouth Cur mix. I never noticed the German Shepherd part because she had her ears down when we saw her at the shelter. It wasn't until we started going out with her and everyone said that she looks like she has German Shepherd in her. I'm still wondering exactly what she is though. Shadow is a cutie!


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## Suzy25 (Mar 3, 2016)

definitely has shepherd, probably at least a quarter or half of another breed. it will be much easier when he's older. get a side photo of him standing and good non-blurry photo of him in the front. Its hard to find the breed of puppies since so many breeds and crosses an look the same as puppies. when he's a year or so it will be easy for people on here as well as you, to be more sure about if he looks like a mix or not


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## Deb (Nov 20, 2010)

Lonecat is correct in that six weeks old is too young to have been sent home and often times can cause behavior problems. Do google it and educate yourself on them. That said, you have a very cute puppy and it looks to have a good bit of GSD in it from the photo from the ears up picture. Regardless of what he is, he is adorable!


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## Cschmidt88 (Nov 24, 2010)

Definitely GSD in there somewhere but not purebred, the pup is a "clear sable" from the pictures which is a gene not present in GSDs(Unless that is not his adult coat coming in the older pictures). It's a separate gene from the GSD agouti sable. It's the same "clear sable" as in Malinois to give you an idea. (Puppy does not look Mal, just using that as an example since everyone knows what a Mal looks like). As lonecat said, if both parents were supposed to be traditional black and tan, then there is a different dad. Even if he is sable coloring in GSD, two saddled parents can't produce that unless one is a patterned sable.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

lonecat said:


> The thing is I don't think any good breeder will rehome a pup at 6 weeks. I agree the OP should enjoy his pup no matter what, but extra socialization is always good as the combination of irresponsible breeder (if he was indeed removed at 6 weeks without really good reasons) + early removal from litter + (if owner does not socialize, socialize, socialize) sounds like loads of future problems to me.
> 
> But anyway please enjoy your pup, he will turn from angel to devil in a few months lol, just kidding.


I think you get issues when a pup is removed from dam and litter before six weeks. At six weeks the pup will be fine, if we do not create problems, by anticipating them and correcting for what we think might happen. As with your "socialize, socialize, socialize" statement -- that could indeed be the worst thing to do. And this pup is, what, 12 weeks now or older? The pup will be just fine if we don't go overboard. You need to know what kind of puppy you have, not all do better with massive socialization. A puppy that leaves the litter early is more likely to have bite inhibition problems, and possibly lack in canine communication -- these people are not complaining about their dog's biting, and canine communication is something that can be managed by not going to doggy day care, not doing dog parks, and taking the dog regularly to dog classes where the dog is worked in the presence of other, controlled dogs, but not expected to interact directly with them. Being raised with another family dog can help as well. Again, probably not a problem for a lot of people, and only a problem for some dogs, and also a problem with some dogs kept with their litter for 8 weeks or longer.

Yes, your better breeders will keep a pup until at least seven, generally 8 weeks of age or older. So now's a great time to interject some lack of confidence in the breeder, and in the quality of the puppy itself, and start looking at how many defects of character it has. It sounds like they are actually happy with their puppy. I'd leave it at that.


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## I~Luv~Maggie (Feb 20, 2017)

Not purebred He is very handsome though!!


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