# The importance of breed identification in shelters/pounds



## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

I see a lot of posting from rescues and shelters on my FB because of all the associated pages I have "liked" and I often will scroll through albums looking for dogs that I may be able to link to a rescue or whatever and I notice so many dogs listed as breeds or breed mixes that they clearly are not.

I've also noticed that right now it is popular to identify any dog with a blue eye or merle coloring as a Catahoula mix. 

I wonder how many dogs are not adopted and are destroyed simply because they are deemed to be mixed with a breed that is usually undesirable like pits, rottweilers, chows, akitas, etc, when it isnt the case?

I know sometimes its really hard to tell, but I've seen so many dogs labeled incorrectly, when it should really be obvious what they are- or at least what they aren't. My own Balen is an example of this as he was listed as a mix, and clearly he isnt. 

I'm curious as to what others opinion on this is.......has anyone else noticed this? Has anyone else seen a dog "not make it" because of it breed identification?

Msvette2u- I'd love your input on this one!


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

Our shelter and rescue center tries really hard to properly identify dogs who are brought in by AC or individuals as strays. I have pulled dogs from shelters though who were on the pts list because they were listed as a Pit Bull ,when they clearly weren't.One particular dog was listed as a Pit Bull on her cage card,and was actually a Husky/German Shepherd/Lab mix. According to staff,she was looked at and passed up on by 4 different families once they saw what her listed breed was.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Each shelter/rescue has their own "system" and often it's not clear, of course, what that is.
However, I know many shelters say "mix" because they cannot guarantee that dog is purebred, even if it appears purebred.

Remember you've got volunteers often doing this stuff, and not all of them are well-versed on dog breed ID.
In my ACO classes we got lessons in dog breed ID and (believe it or not) spelling on different breeds.

There's such a thing, also, of skewing the dog's breeds just a tad to make it seem more desirable, or at least get a look or two on the website. 

I do not agree with calling a "pit bull" another breed (boxer mix for instance) to place it since many areas are rife with BSL and to do so might cost the dog it's life.

I find rescues usually are more adept at IDing a dog's breed than pounds or shelters, as a _general_ rule of thumb. 
I do find however, that rescues over shelters often mismark a dog breed ID to make it seem less threatening as in the case of calling a pit bull a generic "terrier" or a "boxer mix", for instance. Pounds and shelters usually are more brutally honest about a breed if not accurate.


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## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

> I do not agree with calling a "pit bull" another breed (boxer mix for instance) to place it since many areas are rife with BSL and to do so might cost the dog it's life.


Ya I definitely do not agree with that either....


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

At the shelter where I volunteer, we simply do our best, as do the employees. I try not to guess about breeds I know absolutely nothing about, though.

I make a trip through the stray impound area once a week to inventory "my" GSDs, identify them, get them photographed and posted online. I only do it for the one breed (and the sometimes nearly-GSD mixes, if i think I can write a bio that will help them get noticed). I figure as long as I'm doing the breed I know reasonably well, the shelter employees don't have to guess. I wish we had more breed-specific volunteers, as it would make the lives of the shelter employees easier.

There's a pretty clear recurring pattern I have seen with regard to the purebred GSDs and Belgian Malinois dogs with shelter employees in _many _shelters: 

-a Belgian Malinois = "Shepherd Mix" (or sometimes "purebred GSD" or even, "Mini-GSD"). While at least in the right ball park, these mistakes are bad for the dogs because it keeps them from getting routed to Mal rescue groups. It also doesn't tell adopters that they are taking home a high-energy, high-drive dog (we had an adolescent purebred Mal who was mislabeled as something else who kept getting adopted and returned...I looked at the reasons for the returns, and it all had to do with low-energy families who didn't exercise or train him, who were upset that he was not content to be a couch potato. Had he been labeled as a Mal, the adoption staff would have known he needed a special home, which they eventually found for him...after multiple failed adoptions).

-A long-haired, plush-coated, and European-style thick-coated GSD = GSD mix (sometimes GSD/Chow mix; I've even seen a long-haired GSD called a GSD/Golden Retreiver mix). Many non-GSD people have no idea that GSD coats come in any style other than the stock coat, so they assume the variations can't be purebred.

-A Black GSD = GSD/lab mix (this one drives me flippin' nuts, as I have a soft-spot for the blacks, and it's hard enough for them to get adopted due to the "black dog syndrome" without being labeled as mixes).

-White German Shepherd = GSD mix (the assumption being that the white must come from some other northern breed)

-the sables sometimes even get weird labels (we had one that someone at the shelter thought might be a wolf hybrid---it was just an over-sized GSD!)


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## Magnolia (Jul 18, 2011)

When I was looking in the shelters for a GSD, I found just the opposite. Too many dogs were labeled GSDs or mixes that clearly were not. I'd go see them and they would be fully grown, 30lb dogs that had a speck of black around the nose. I never saw any that seemed even close. That's why I ended up going to a breeder for my stinker dog.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I would hope that any dog that is adoptable will be rescued. The blue eyed 'lab' Trance should be easily homed, and his foster will keep him until he finds his forever home. 
The only problem I see with shelters not knowing what the breed is, is having the dog adopted out and then the Catahoula breed traits aren't addressed. 
Sable, black and some white GSD's always seem to be mixes and long coats as well. If it isn't a black and tan, it isn't a GSD/or if it has a saddle it is?
But many shelters will say shepherd or shepard mix, which doesn't necessarily mean a GERMAN shepherd.
I fostered a GSD mix and found out thru research that he was dominantly a Kelpie. The rescue that pulled him didn't even know what a Kelpie was!!


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## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

> -the sables sometimes even get weird labels (we had one that someone at the shelter thought might be a wolf hybrid---it was just an over-sized GSD!)


Thats exactly what happened with Balen when the shelter courtesy posted him for the woman who found him. Since he wasnt B&T and 80 plus pounds, that made him a mix. 

I know shelter staff do the best they can but sometimes I think making the wrong identifications on breed/mix can cost a perfectly adoptable dog its life.


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

I have to say that one of my most enjoyable tasks while working with shelters was to play the "Guess The Breed Game". Not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty good at it!

As was pointed out, some shelters and rescues will call anything that comes through the doors without registration papers in hand a "Mix" simply because they could be opening up their organization to litigation for false advertising or misrepresenting a dog when they called it a purebred without proof. 

Many shelters, especially the small ones, are happy to have someone with solid breed knowledge/experience come in and ID breeds or predominant mixes for them. Shoot, make up a little chart with pictures and written descriptions of dogs with the various color patterns that GSDs come in and ask if the shelter will post it in their intake room. Do it for any breed you have knowledge of. It might make the dogs a little more adoptable.
Sheilah


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

As a malinois person, my personal annoyance of late is the malinois fad that seems to be spreading. Every tan dog with pointy ears is labeled as a Malinois or Malinois mix, when there isn't a single drop of Malinois blood in the dog. 

Case in point:
Shepherd - Tawney - Large - Adult - Female - Dog | Westmont | eBay Classifieds (Kijiji) | 23208598

And some that you're just like...HUH?
Belgian Shepherd Malinois - Jesse - Medium - Adult - Male - Dog | Barrington | eBay Classifieds (Kijiji) | 5085864


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## 4TheDawgies (Apr 2, 2011)

I've noticed a trend in pitbulls being labeled as boxer and lab mixes. Anything with pointy ears is a german shepherd mix. It drives me nuts personally because sometimes it's really obvious what the dog is, but the rescue says it's a different breed to help make the dog more adoptable. I think being in denial about the breed is stupid. 
To an extent it's working though. Some of my clients have no idea their dogs are pitbulls. When I point out to them the similarities some of them get a little scared, but more often than not they already love the dog and are willing to accept it no matter what it is. Would that have been the case while they were deciding to adopt?


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

A friend from high school, who I keep in touch with on facebook, adopted a puppy from the shelter that was deemed a lab/boxer mix. The puppy looked just like a GSD, and I said so. My dog-clueless friend said the shelter workers were "sure" he wasn't a shepherd but a lab mix. Now, at a year old, if the dog isn't purebred GSD I'll eat my hat. Black and red, classic coloring, mask, everything. Actually, a really, really nice example of a purebred GSD  I looked at the shelter's petfinder site and nearly everything was a "lab/boxer mix". The really unfortunate part is this couple is not even remotely equipped to deal with a GSD and are totally in over their heads.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

> To an extent it's working though. Some of my clients have no idea their dogs are pitbulls. When I point out to them the similarities some of them get a little scared, but more often than not they already love the dog and are willing to accept it no matter what it is. Would that have been the case while they were deciding to adopt?


Well the drawbacks to that are numerous...if renters, they may have rules to abide by which state pit bulls are not allowed there. If homeowners, their insurance may exclude pit bulls.
If either, they may live in an area where pit bulls are banned.
I maintain it's better to be up front and pass on a home reluctant to adopt one, rather than adopt it to a BSL area and have the dog wrenched from it's home, heartbroken owners and a dog now on death row.

It's even worse (IMO) to get a litter of pit mix puppies that could pass for lab x or boxer x as babies, but may display pit bull traits as an adult. Rescues will do that, and I think it's completely wrong.


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## SewSleepy (Sep 4, 2012)

Our pup was described as a GSD/Rott mix at 7 weeks old. She had what could be considered Rott coloring at that age, but is clearly a GSD. The litter was surrendered to the shelter so I suspect the mom was a GSD and dad was unknown. 

I wanted a full GSD, but this was as good as I was going to get with my husbands requirements (must be a young puppy). I've been very happy seeing how she has developed. Everyone (breeders, vet, rescues, trainers) seem to think she's full GSD from German lines based on her thickness. We're just waiting on her tail to see if it's really true 


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


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## Fast (Oct 13, 2004)

Rerun said:


> As a malinois person, my personal annoyance of late is the malinois fad that seems to be spreading. Every tan dog with pointy ears is labeled as a Malinois or Malinois mix, when there isn't a single drop of Malinois blood in the dog.
> 
> Case in point:
> Shepherd - Tawney - Large - Adult - Female - Dog | Westmont | eBay Classifieds (Kijiji) | 23208598
> ...


That female looks like a pit Malinois cross. My friend had an oops litter and they all look like that bitch.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

msvette2u said:


> Well the drawbacks to that are numerous...if renters, they may have rules to abide by which state pit bulls are not allowed there. If homeowners, their insurance may exclude pit bulls.
> If either, they may live in an area where pit bulls are banned.
> I maintain it's better to be up front and pass on a home reluctant to adopt one, rather than adopt it to a BSL area and have the dog wrenched from it's home, heartbroken owners and a dog now on death row.
> 
> It's even worse (IMO) to get a litter of pit mix puppies that could pass for lab x or boxer x as babies, but may display pit bull traits as an adult. Rescues will do that, and I think it's completely wrong.


I have to agree. Around here, it's getting VERY common to see breed bans that include verbage to the extent of "or any dog that appears to be a mix of XYZ." So everyone can call their dog a boxer/lab mix if they want, but if the apartment complex thinks it looks like a pit or pit mix, it'll still be banned.


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## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

Rerun said:


> I have to agree. Around here, it's getting VERY common to see breed bans that include verbage to the extent of "or any dog that appears to be a mix of XYZ." So everyone can call their dog a boxer/lab mix if they want, but if the apartment complex thinks it looks like a pit or pit mix, it'll still be banned.


We will be moving in the next few months, and thankfully, we have located some nice, GSD friendly homes and apartments, but I have seen a lot of the above in my search. Its sad really. 

I'm just throwing this out there, but arent there breed DNA kits that one could use? Are they very expensive or reliable? I know shelters couldnt use them on a regular basis, but if I were getting ready to be thrown out of my apartment for having a dog that only looked like xyz banned breed and I knew it wasnt, wouldnt one of these tests be useful?


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

There was a vet around here who lost his license because he intentionally lied on paperwork about a dog's breed if the owner needed something for a landlord or insurance company. So if the dog was really a Pit,he would put Lab/Pointer mix etc if the owners requested it.His reason for doing it was to keep dogs in their homes,especially if he had a history with the dog and knew it was well behaved.


After about 3 years of doing this,one of his vet techs turned him in . I understand his reasoning,but the way he went about it was totally wrong.


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## x0emiroxy0x (Nov 29, 2010)

My brother was going to adopt a pit/mastiff mix but told the shelter they were banned at his apartment. The dog was on the euth. list so the person at the shelter literally went straight to the computer and changed him to a shepherd/lab/boxer mix. My brother showed the paperwork to the landlord and they have the dog there still, four years later.

Now THAT makes me angry. The apartment could lose their insurance or ban dogs all together after this.

And while all of you hate BSL, I will not live at any apartment in San Marcos that allows pits or pit mixes because Rocky has been attacked by four in 2 years. This city is all low income adults or college students and everyone has dogs here to show off how aggressive they are, I swear. I don't hate pits or want them banned everywhere, but I choose to live in an enviroment without them and people lying about breeds make that impossible. (And I hope that my choice is respected and not bashed by the pit bull lovers out there.)


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I'm a Pit lover,no bashing here.




x0emiroxy0x said:


> (And I hope that my choice is respected and not bashed by the pit bull lovers out there.)


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## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

Ya I'm not a pitbull fan personally, and I would never own one, but I hate to see a good dog suffer unfair consequence because of what it is.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Gharrissc said:


> There was a vet around here who lost his license because he intentionally lied on paperwork about a dog's breed if the owner needed something for a landlord or insurance company. So if the dog was really a Pit,he would put Lab/Pointer mix etc if the owners requested it.His reason for doing it was to keep dogs in their homes,especially if he had a history with the dog and knew it was well behaved.
> 
> 
> After about 3 years of doing this,one of his vet techs turned him in . I understand his reasoning,but the way he went about it was totally wrong.


Oh geez, we had a vet in our area who did that, too. 
Good luck with it. I mean...I had to go to court over this and my premise was an ACO must recognize a breed beyond a shadow of a doubt because of BSL, and the vet had a vested interest in keeping their clients, so would easily "mislabel" a breed to keep that client.

Easily struck down in court and they upheld the determination that this dog was, in fact a pit bull. 
Dog was removed from the city but here's the thing (OT, sorry, but interesting nonetheless)...about 18mos. later, I had been laid off but was still on contract with the city, so they called me in because the guy had gone to check on the dogs and one was dead.

I get down there and it's the dog we'd gone to court over. I was so sad. I had really bonded with her in the time she was sitting waiting for the earlier court process and it appeared she died from Pyometra, because of how her vulva looked when I saw her.
She'd been picked up for doing something out in the county, I forget which now, killing a cat or something. 

Anyway-the owner was a pathetic person anyway, back when she had the dog in the city and then when she took it to the county, and now the dog is dead because of her carelessness 

And she'd tried to keep it in the city saying it was a "therapy" dog, which are not protected under the ADA status, as our attorney said "she could use any dog, any breed as a 'therapy' dog, she doesn't need this particular breed/dog". 

So yeah. 
Fudging on ANY paperwork, by ANYONE (shelter/pound/rescue/vet clinic) is really not smart, and I believe it's careless, and can lead to the destruction of the dog one way or another.


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## PatchonGSD (Jun 27, 2012)

NEED RESCUE NOW!! PLEASE CROSS-POST | Facebook

Boxer mix!? This is _exactly_ what I'm talking about....


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

I have gone to my local shelter a few times in the last week or so and every dog was listed as either a gsd or pitbull. So stupid! Most of them were clearly not! 

I wonder sometimes if they just list dogs as what ever the popular "trend" dogs are at that point in time. :headbang:


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