Curious...what breed mix/age do you think this pup is?

I'm exactly the same as you, Emily. I fall in love with animals so easily. I'd have a million dogs if OH didn't talk some sense into me. The other day I was off to the vets to rescue a Dalmatian puppy that hadn't been looked after properly

You'll definitely find the right dog for you and all this will be worth it.

Everytime you post a photo of Brogan I go all smushy inside. I'm not surprised you loved him so much - a gorgeous boy inside and out!

 

A dog I know...a pit bull "type" cross labrador, had the same problem. I walk with him occasionally and the dog is gorgeous...sort of a thick set labrador with slightly smaller, pointy ears. The owner is a nervous wreck though and watching his dog like a hawk.

 

Haha, you're a bad influence!

Too small. Cross it off

 

We had to find out Daisy's heritage as we brought her back from San Francisco to London and it was going to be a problem if she was part pit - she wasn't, but honestly I had quite a few friends with pit cross rescues in CA and they were lovely. Just need the right training. Daisy was impossible to train properly, she was very single-minded, but was just wonderful, the most loyal dog in the world and is much missed. She was a lot taller than the one you are looking at by that age - like a small lab, so my guess is that gorgeous little one won't grow a lot taller, probably will just fill out a bit.

 

@Emily_BabbelHund I would have thought DNA could not be argued with against someone who just looks at the dog and decides what breeds it could be!

 

Maybe a little Labrador but she has a Staffie look. I don't see any Boxer though x

 

Only a DNA test would tell. She looks super-cute and lab/staffie, but try to listen to your head and think of the practicalities if there's not time for the test. You need the right companion for your travels.

 

I see so many Rotties in Wellington, the place is crawling with them, and one thing I've noticed is that they're massive dogs, both in height and body. They're absolutely much, much taller than Labs. You're much more knowledgeable in dogs than me, @Emily_BabbelHund and you've explained why you want to move away from Rotties, but is a Lab, even a large male, going to suit your needs? Or are NZ Rotties bigger than their US/Euro counterparts and so skewing my judgement? Come to think of it, our Rotties must be bigger, because there's no way they could fit in economy class! Lol sorry, ignore me

 

Good point. I actually really don't know how it works, so if I go down this road I need to find that out for sure. With Brogan, it wasn't an issue because he was clearly mostly Rottie.

 

Rotties ARE much bigger than Labs! The so-called German variety (which really just means "bred to the German standard") are not that much taller than Labs, but much heavier. My first Rottie was a pure bred and what was at the time (20 years ago) more common in the US - much taller (72cm at the withers) and heavier (57kg). Brogan was a rescue who was neutered at 8 weeks old, so only grew to 65cm/32kg. Or was a mix - who knows? The NZ Rotties you see may be more of the "American style" with longer legs and more weight. The German versions I've seen are shorter (more like Brogan) but a lot heavier... 60-70kg.

You'd actually be really surprised at how much dog will fit under an economy class airplane seat. The tricky bit is the training which gets the dog motivated to scoot all the way under the seat and then be calm enough to stay there the whole flight. Plus I am quite short and got used to only having space on the floor for one of my feet to be down at a time (other leg crossed over my knee the whole flight). All that considered, Brogan had plenty of room at 32kg. My guess is that I could go up to 40-45 kg with no problem. It would be harder if the dog was longer, though. That's what got Swissies off my short list...when I visited them in person, despite them not being SO much heavier than a Rottie, they were super long - like their entire bum area was the size of a second dog, LOL. Wonderful dogs, though.

For a Lab, you are right - it would need to be a large male plus I'd need to go back to my custom harness-maker and and ask her to wrangle a handle extension for me. That's one reason I got a bit excited about curly-coats when I met them this summer - they are so much taller. But the feedback I got here kind of convinced me that temperament-wise, Labs would still be a better choice. Plus to be honest, a slightly smaller dog than Brogan would actually be easier for me. I was constantly working to get those long legs of his out of harm's way from being stepped on in trains, restaurants, etc. Not that I would use that as a criteria for choice as it's my job to protect my dog, but hey - if that's a side benefit to a slightly smaller dog, why not?

Here's an OLD photo of my mother with Duncan - you can see how big he is compared to her (and give you an idea of how much larger Rotties are than Labs). I always thought it was a funny pic.

 

Great photo!

I found the same with Bruce - legs and tail hard to keep out of harms way on buses etc. I wonder how his owner will manage as s/he won't be able to see what's happening leg and tail wise.


...

 

Yes, this is something that is never far from mind when having a "list" dog. They can be absolutely the best behaved dog in the park, but if anything goes wrong amongst the other dogs, fingers get pointed at the Rotties/pits/GSDs first. I always felt my dogs' behaviour had to be pristine, and even then was very watchful and worried for anything that may put them in jeopardy. I loved having my boys, but it does get exhausting at times and the fear that someone will take your dog away due to some imagined slight never really goes away.

 

Yes, good point! At least I could see when Brogan's long legs were slipping into the train corridor and in harm's way. And he had no tail to deal with - that glorious tail of Bruce's will be a challenge!

What I did, and what a non-sighted person could do as well, was make sure that my own leg was to the outside of Brogan's legs. So for example in a train, I'd get him under my seat (as much as possible), then drape my own leg over his and plunk my foot down on the outside. Not sure if that makes sense. But that did three things: gave his own legs a "barrier", alerted me by feel if his legs slipped out and went past my foot, and made a larger visual for people (my big legs instead of a smaller dog paw). Also meant that I got stepped on instead of Brogan if someone didn't see us.

 

Not sure where she's from in Spain, but where I am (near Cadiz) there are quite a few pits/presas running around. It's a pretty "out there" scenario that she would be taken from me for that reason, but my brain does go to worse case scenario.

But after reading everyone's good advice and thoughts, I think @Boogie had the most sage wisdom for me - if I'm going to do another "list" dog, my heart is with Rotties and that's where I should go. I will think some more on whether to visit this little girl, but right now I'm feeling that visiting her will just add to my heartbreak and not get me closer to "my" dog. She will be a lovely pup for someone who doesn't need to worry about her growing taller or traveling with her through areas she may be put at unnecessary risk. I'll think about it some more, but that's what I'm thinking this morning.

 

Oooo.. you are so bad!

Good thing she's all the way over there in the UK, or I'd have yet ANOTHER difficult decision!

 

Yes, very good advice, thank you.

The reason I was interested in everyone's perceptions of what her breed was is that in a lot of places, this is how breed laws are applied. Nothing so scientific as DNA... just the "eyeball test". Maybe you could challenge any ruling with DNA results, that I'm not sure of. I have a friend here with a little (10kg) street dog rescue who gets yelled at on the street for having a "Kampfhund" (fighting dog) just because she is brindle. I mean, Brogan used to have that yelled at him as well... but at least he clearly was a Rottweiler and (I guess ) I could understand it better. It may be absolutely silly, but perceptions do affect pretty much everything.

Just for fun, here is my friend's "pit bull Kampfhund" with Brogan, playing viciously on the Danube dog beach. Terrifying.

 

Awww.... thank you. I'm glad to hear Brogan makes someone else go all smushy. I sure do miss the old goob.

And I agree with you. Honestly, this is why I can't live in Spain full time. I'd have 25 dogs. At least! I studiously avoided volunteering at the shelter this year because I knew I would come out with a new dog every time I went. I'm hoping to be stronger this year and at least do some volunteering of some sort. Fingers crossed the "25 dogs" thing doesn't come to pass!

 

My husband is pretty resigned to this happening. We bought a boarding kennels in Spain, as part of our finca. He knows that it will be filled in time with waifs and strays

 

She's a cutie! I don't personally see a ton of lab in her head, the ear-set is too high and her muzzle is too short/downward sloping. If she has Presa in there, I would expect she would be bigger as they are very large dogs, but stranger things... I can definitely see Staffy potentially being in the mix with the stockiness and way she's built. Have you seen any pictures where her paws are clearly shown? I've found a great indicator at identifying 'pit mixes' is by their paws, at least in the states. Pits/Staffies I've noticed have very distinctive paws, almost flat with extra-long toes?

Actually, having googled pictures of lab/boxer crosses (Boxadors, lol) she looks VERY much like them in the face.
http://www.dogbreedplus.com/dog_breeds/boxer_lab_mix.php

@Emily_BabbelHund - There most certainly ARE several doggy DNA tests on the market! The Wisdom Panel is fairly accurate and very popular, but there's also a better genetic blood test through Mars Veterinary. Here's a link to all that good stuff:
http://thebark.com/content/dna-testing

While these tests do give some indication concerning breed makeup, the companies state that the results are more of a 'novelty' than a proven thing and I doubt they'd hold up against certain laws. As for the question of whether or not she looks like a pit-type dog, I believe that she does unfortunately. I have nothing against pit-bulls or staffies and mostly every one I've encountered has been very sweet and playful, but breed discrimination DOES exist and for the average person brindle coloring + stockiness = pit-type. It may be different over there but I have seen people who have brindle colored dogs of various breeds (greyhounds included, lol) who get harassed for having a 'pit-bull'.

EVERYBODY here is pit-obsessed... Hell, people ask if my boy is a pit. I'm almost tempted to say, "Yes, he's the rarest of the rare, 120% black-nose golden pit-bull on stilts." I mean, honestly, lol. The fact of the matter is she COULD be mistaken quite easily for a pit-type dog and there are a lot of hateful, ignorant people running around.


Here's a profile of my golden pit-bull.


Yet another of my vicious pittie, enthusiastic over the chance to attack a dummy.


And the last image of my killer boy guarding a bone from his latest victim.

 

He's adorable, thank you for sharing the photos!

Yes, people are a bit strange about the pit thing. Most of it doesn't really bother me... you just get used to it. The legal side of things, however, I'm quite careful of so as to protect my dogs. That's the bit that gets tricky, considering that I live and pass through several countries per year with strict BSL.

Funny story, I used to have my Brogan (Rottweiler) and my rescue foster fail Mama Jodhi (pit cross). People would come up to me in dog parks and stand there petting Jodhi while giving Brogan the evil eyeball (mainly because she was calm and sweet and Brogan was a spaz as a puppy). I had multiple occasions where they'd then say something along the lines of, "Oh, she's such a sweetheart, but I'm scared of those bad pit bulls" while looking at baby Brogan spazing his way around like he had pogo sticks in his legs. Then I'd say, "ACTUALLY, that one isn't a pit bull, he's a Rottweiler. However, the one currently licking you hand is indeed a pit bull." The look on the faces was totally priceless.

Moral of the story: most people who are afraid of pit bulls don't have the slightest clue what a pit bull actually looks like!