Puppy One, breed thoughts?

[Haviris2]

This is my little fluffy baby, isn't she adorable? It's going to be hard letting her go, dealing w/ a little swimmers leg, but she's going to be fine. So what does she look like (other then a mutt)? You wouldn't believe all the breed guesses I have heard as she's grown.

 

[Caat]

no idea on the bread but she's cute as a button!

 

[Haviris2]

She's cuter in person, because her personality is a BIG part of it!

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

I think, given her age, if we had some size reference to go with the pic it would be easier to make a guess. I can't tell how big or small she is.

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
I went back and found the post where she got the pups, and they were born roughly the first week of August, so 5-6 weeks old now.
At that age, pups are SOOOO hard to tell breeds! This fuzzy one looks a lot like a peke/chi/shihtzu cross I had. It also looks like my friends foster litter of BC/lab crosses, LOL! Too hard to tell at this age!

 

[Haviris2]

The breed guesses are just for fun, I'm sure I'll never know, I don't plan to keep them, and it would be awsome if someone I knew took them, but likely I won't get to see what they look like in a year. And Wednesday they will be 6 weeks (well presumably, I'm guessing them a day at most when I got them). I've had so many guesses by the people who have seen them. She makes me think australian shepherd. Sometimes her ears stand, sometimes they flop, her sister's seem to stay down though, her other sister that I don't have also has the up and down thing going. They weigh about 3lbs, I expect them to be small/medium, I always expected smallish, but for awhile all my coworkers were so sure they were going to be fairly big, haven't heard any recent opinions about that. I do know we had some newborn boxer puppies in (litter of 9), with a pretty small (for a boxer) mom, and they were quite abit bigger then these girls were at birth.

Honestly I just wanted to share pics.

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
Well, going on almost 30 yrs of dog shelter work, traiining, and breeding, here are my thoughts:
Yep, small, anywhere from 12-30 lbs. A very accurate way to get adult weight for breeds that size is to double their weight at 4 mos. Thos equation isnt accurate for large breeds, or for super tiny (under 5 lbs) breeds. But for those small to medium sized, it is almost precise.

The tail could be genetic or defect as you noted. If it is genetic, the breeds with a screw tail are bulldogs and bostons. The bob tailed breeds (like aussies) dont tend to throw croked tails, just short. I have seen quite a few chis or chi mixes that have a crooked tail as a defect, so they may be more prone to that defect.

The color and overall look of the first one could be any of the small smooth terriers (JRT, toy fox, rat, etc) or chi. Given the poularity of them all, I'd say it's a good bet at least one of those is in there.

The ears wont decide what they are doing till they stop teething. If they are popping up already, good chance they will be erect, but even those fall when they teeth (keeps GSD and Belgian sheepdog people on pins and needles, waiting to see if their show pup will have the correct ears, LOL!).

If you dont know what they are, i'd hesitate to label them anything when trying to place them. Simply because people will expect them to also act like what they are presumed to be. If they look JRT but they act like shelties, people who want a sheltie like dog may not want them and people who want a JRT may be dissapointed. I'd call them "small assorted mixes" and just place them based on personality!

Great job raising them, BTW!