# Is my Dog a German Shepherd Mix??



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

Hi everyone, I recently adopted a dog and they told me he was a German Shepherd/Chow mix. He weighs 63 lbs. Since I am not super aware of the German Shepherd traits etc, I was hoping some of you had some input as to whether he truly is half German Shepherd as I have my doubts. He looks like a very spitz like breed to me as opposed to a Chow or a German Shepherd, but he does have black coloring. Here are some pictures. He also has a very high prey drive. Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated


----------



## Kaitadog (Jun 20, 2006)

He's so cute and happy! Reminds me of a Shiba Inu mix, with the curly tail and reddish coat.


----------



## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

He looks just like my friend's old Chow/GSD mix! I miss that dog!


----------



## GottaLoveHim (May 26, 2011)

He looks like a Shiba Inu mix to me too...


----------



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

GottaLoveHim said:


> He looks like a Shiba Inu mix to me too...


Yes he does seem to have shiba inu in him, he is 5 1/2 years old so fully grown, but a male shiba inu is small like 25 lbs, and he's 63lbs. Could he be shiba inu and shepherd?


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Definitely looks like a mix, he does resemble a Shiba in the face but I think that is the Chow in the mix. Handsome fellow.


----------



## GottaLoveHim (May 26, 2011)

> Yes he does seem to have shiba inu in him, he is 5 1/2 years old so fully grown, but a male shiba inu is small like 25 lbs, and he's 63lbs. Could he be shiba inu and shepherd?


Could be :shrug: oh and he's very cute, what his name?
And the little brown and white puppy is super cute!


----------



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

GottaLoveHim said:


> Could be :shrug: oh and he's very cute, what his name?
> And the little brown and white puppy is super cute!


His name is Khai, and the brown and white puppy is my brother's that he just adopted which is a border collie/pit mix. 

I guess I'll never know for sure what Khai is, I highly doubt he will let me swab his cheek for 15 seconds for one of those pet DNA tests


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My brother had a chow. Does the dog have bluish black on his tongue -- not necessarily for certain, but chows often do. My guess is Chow/Shepherd is likely.


----------



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

selzer said:


> My brother had a chow. Does the dog have bluish black on his tongue -- not necessarily for certain, but chows often do. My guess is Chow/Shepherd is likely.


He does have a bluish black tongue but not completely....I have been told thats also a characteristic of the spitz breeds, not just a chow. 

He doesn't mind going in the water, especially jumping into lakes to try and catch birds...


----------



## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Shibas are pretty rare, so it is more likely he has Chow in him than Shiba.


----------



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

Chicagocanine said:


> Shibas are pretty rare, so it is more likely he has Chow in him than Shiba.



What are the thoughts specifically related to if he has 1/2 shepherd in him?


----------



## DanielleOttoMom (May 11, 2010)

I say Chow/ Shepherd mix...... I don't think Shiba is in there.


----------



## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

doglover22 said:


> What are the thoughts specifically related to if he has 1/2 shepherd in him?


It's possible there is shepherd in him but I don't think he's a 50/50 mix. My guess would be husky/shepherd/chow. His first picture keeps making me think Akita. I'm not very good at breed mixes so please don't take my opinion for much.


----------



## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I am going to see if I can get my friend to send me a picture of her old Chow/GSD mix to show you. They knew for sure he was a Chow/GSD because it was their male GSD that they bred to a friends female Chow.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My brother's chow mix was an aggressive bugger, the GSD side can be as varied as GSDs are. One cannot just mix any shepherd with any other dog to get the best of both worlds. If one was serious about producing a dog with specific traits, he would have to start with a dog from a line of dogs with that specific trait. 

I do not know enough about chows, but lets just say that chows are bird retrieving dogs (because I know they are not). So if you want a loyal dog with excellent obedience, medium energy and the ability to retrieve, you could try a GSL/chow, if you want a dog who can excel at schutzhund and retrieve birds, WGWL/Chow, if you want a police dog for a cop who likes to duck hunt, Czech/chow, etc. Becuase shepherds are across the board in their instincts, abilities, energy levels, etc, you would really have to see the ancestor and its ancestors to have any idea what you should think about for the shepherd side of this pup.

I think for any shepherd mix and any chow mix, training and socialization with people and around dogs, is a must.


----------



## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Khai is a very handsome dude, I would guess chow/shep mix.


----------



## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

Could be a combination of several types of dogs, but I see Siberian Husky (body) maybe Akita (the face) and most likely several other breeds which may include both GSD and Chow. You should have a wisdom panel done if you have an extra $100 lying around


----------



## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

For everyone who thinks he is a shiba, the Akita is the shiba "big brother" so he most likely has Akita in him.


----------



## Sulamk (Jan 30, 2011)

He looks chow cross German shepherd to me! I have a chow cross husky she is very much the same shape as him with the blue tongue! She also looks like a shibu cross which I know she is not! Knew her parents!


----------



## tsteves (Jun 7, 2011)

I think you can see some chow and some gsd in there. He does look a little Shiba-ish but that just may well be the look you get when you mix chow and gsd. Who knows. He is a very beautiful dog though. Way to go on the rescue.


----------



## doglover22 (Jul 14, 2011)

Thanks for all the help guys! I think he is definitely a shepherd now mixed with some of the spitz breed, even though some of you do think he looks like he has chow in him. I google'd german shepherd chow and for some reason none of them look like him.

To me he looks like may have some jindo in him: (The hair is shorter but same tail, similar face and extremely similar body









Or


----------



## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

doglover22 said:


> To me he looks like may have some jindo in him: (The hair is shorter but same tail, similar face and extremely similar body
> 
> 
> Or


Jindos are even more rare than Shibas so it would be very unlikely that he is part Jindo.


----------



## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

Try googling breeders and shelters in the area. You often find clusters of breeds in an area. My sister didn't want to spend the $100 for a test. I googled around and found in shelters in the same city 2 other pups looking almost like hers at the same time and the same age. From their descriptions (one knew the mother for certain as the pup and mother were brought in) we were able to piece the info on the other two taken to shelters as "strays". We found the whole litter spread out through several local shelters, for example. On googling breeders, we found a huge cattle dog cluster in the city and were able to deduce from the mother, the looks and coloration, etc. that the dogs were actually GSD X cattle dog. Yes, the dog wants to grab your heels and has the weight behind it to knock you off your feet. Try poking around and looking for trends in the area.


----------



## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

suzzyq01 said:


> For everyone who thinks he is a shiba, the Akita is the shiba "big brother" so he most likely has Akita in him.


So I'm not crazy?


----------



## Chowgal (Dec 21, 2009)

I definitely see a chow/GSD mix there. Mixes can present themselves in a NUMBER of different ways. Just because what you searched on google doesn't look like him, doesn't mean that's not what he is. I have a chow/lab mix and a GSD/Aussie mix and neither of them look like what came back on google.

By the way, the only breeds that have "blue-black tongues" in their standards are the chow, shar pei, and Eurasier. My chow/lab mix boy has purple polka dots all over his tongue.


----------

