German Shepherd owners...*update*more pics

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I think I might be able to give you a clue as to what your "MinPin" mutt is... I've done quite a bit of looking, because...well...we apparently have her twin sister.
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29822_grace.jpg

Ours was a stray, too.. Those tiles aren't quite a foot across, and she weighs probably in the neighborhood of 25lb..

She literally showed up on our front porch one morning, crying at the door. Her feet were cracked and bleeding on account of walking from who knows where.. She'd obviously been nursing a litter, though there was no sign of the pups anywhere.. We feel pretty confident that someone bred her, let her have her pups and raise them, and then promptly drove her out to the sticks and left her for dead.

What intrigued me the most was that someone took the time to dock her tail, which indicated to me that she had a purpose at some point. It told me that she was a "breed" of dog, and probably not just a mutt..

After a couple of years of looking off and on, I ran across the "feist dog", which isnt so much a breed as simply a type or category of dog.. There's a lot of crossbreeding in feists, so they're all fairly unique....though there seem to be quite a few of them that look just like our Gracie -- and your mutt, too!

Check this out and tell me what you think.. Especially, look at this pic from the site...

Eery, huh?

You do have Prissy's twin sister. They look identical. You don't happen to live near Woodville, MS do you? Someone here is dumping these dogs. We first spotted Prissy two weeks before we could actually catch her. She was in our front pasture, near the road but every time we tried to approach her she would growl and bark and then run into the woods. When one of the hurricanes came through here, she got scared enough that she ran up onto our porch and we were able to catch her. She was very small and skinny and covered in huge ticks. The minute we brought her inside she became "our" dog. We bathed her and she ran and got in bed with us and has been a little cover diver ever since. The vet estimated her age at 5 months at the time which is how old Scarlett our GSD was. They have been best friends ever since. We originally thought she was a Min Pin because she only weighed 8 pounds. She probably weighs 25 now. Someone who owns Manchester Terriers saw her and thought she was a pure Manchester Terrier (check out their site). In any event, someone here is dumping these dogs. Just last week I saw a lady in town with a young dog on a leash and I could tell right away it had to be related to Prissy just by the way it acted. Coloring was different, but attitude was the same. I asked her where she got it (she's our meter lady) - she said she found it in the road near our home a few months ago. It was a tiny puppy and only the size of her hand. They named her Jemima. She has to be from the next litter after Prissy because Prissy is now a year old and their dog is just a few months old. Both dogs found in approx. same place.

Here she was when we first caught her.

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Can't people be so cruel?

Sorry, didn't mean to thread hijack. Back to our regularly scheduled program on the joys of German Shepherds.
 
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Nope...I'm in central KY. When you start looking at pictures of Feists, though, you see a lot of muscular little black and tan dogs.
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Grace, too, was pretty rough when we found her, but she was super sweet.. I think it took all of about 15min for her to jump up in our laps. We took her inside, fed her, and she found a corner in the mudroom and pretty much slept for two straight days.

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I looked into MinPins too, but Grace was just too big and beefy for that... I looked at Manchesters as well, but they're taller and "faster" looking.. Grace has bulk. I figured she must be some kind of mix between a MinPin and a Jack Russell or something....until I found Feist dogs!

Gracie -- and Prissy, too, it seems -- are dead ringers for dozens of Feist dogs I've seen images of on the web.. It's not like it was with Manchesters or MinPin crosses where you're like "yeah, that does looks *almost* like....." -- the Feists are spot on..

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I figure a lot of these dogs are 'backyard bred,' and probably get dumped when A) they have too many dogs, or B) they don't show enough instinct to work.. Our Grace doesn't have much prey drive and she's fairly snarky, which may be why she ended up being dumped.

I'd say a good deal of them also go MIA and get left in the field..

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Indeed! Sorry folks!

(...but...ruth....do some image searches for Feist dogs. I think you'll find some really convincing dead-on matches for Prissy...
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yes yes yes! fetch! thats the best way to wear those dogs out! Wombat has great technique in teaching them how to play.

the 'advanced' technique is to play with them on a hill - you half way up - and throw both up and down hill. pretty soon they'll get tired and go all the way down the hill and stand in the pond. well... hee hee hee thats what we do!

just remember not to play tug of war with them when they bring it to you.

Ruth - WOW your Rex is amazing!!! what a dog!!
:)
 
I had a wonderful GSD, a black and tan female that has the best personality you can ever ask for. Yes, do your research on the breed and I got her from Trotswood Kennels in Springfield, IL. That was many years ago, at least 20 years ago. Her father, was "Gator" and mother was Capezia and they were lovely show dogs themselves. I never had any intention of showing Heidi but she was strictly a pet because she didn't look feminine to the breeder. She was also OFA certified, it pays to get it from the breeder. I do remember my aunt had a Newfie that had hip surgery and costed her alot of money. My aunt went on to show Newfies later and did very well....BearTrax, I think.

I unfortunately had to give her back to her wonderful breeder when my college days took up most of the day and nights and Heidi was a bit much for my mother with her jumping six foot tall fences and sitting out on the backporch every time she gets out. she was good with chickens and horses too.

Antolian shepherds are a little better for livestock or guard dogs and they are more mellow.
 
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As my user name suggests, I have Collies - Smooth Collies to be exact (they are the exact same breed as the more common/popular Rough (long haired) Collie. They are basically Lassie with a crew cut).

Anyway, your Sammy could well be part collie. Most people don't realize that under all that fur, the collie is a slender dog. My Smooth Collies are often mistaken for greyhounds, especially when young and leggy like your Sammy. I don't recall if you said how old Sammy is but she looks like an older pup/young adult.

My parents used to raise show rough Collies and they poo pooed me when I love those smooth collies. I love the Storm Collies and Black Hawk.....they were imprinted on me! I can not stand the long hair of rough collies but love the temperment so Smooth Collies are the way to go being with kids too! I love my first love of Borzois but they are not too good with rowdy and roughhousing kids but Collies love it!
 
I ADORE GSD's but they do take training before they can be with livestock. I had one that killed my lamb. She didn't do it because she was bad but just because she didn't know better. The lamb got out of her pen one evening and that was all she wrote.
 

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