A female puppy wandered up into our yard yesterday. She has decided to stay, which is fine by me but I would like to know how old she might be and what breed she is. We have an idea on the breed but we want some other opinions to feel sure. Thanks for your help.
I'm really sure the puppy looks like a pit bull. Beautiful puppy someone should upset it is gone!
She sure looks like my Dad's "Moose" He is boxer and pit bull. She may have some staffy in there too is my guess. Beautiful girl! She'll make a great dog!!
She looks like my boy Spots. He and his brother happened to have followed our other dog home from walkies one night. We were told by our vet he's Lab/Pit Bull mix. She still looks pretty young. I bet if you take her to the vet, they can determine how old she is, or take a good guess anyway. She's a lovely little doggie you have!
I would call the local veternarians in your area and also animal control to see if someone lost their pet. You could post flyers around town too (like at local supermarkets) I would also take to vet - you don't know if she had proper vac's., check-ups, etc. If it is a mix and she is part pit-bull (there are different standards) I would def. take to vet to and ask for advice. She is beautiful and she looks like she has some Boston Terrier in her also - I don't know.
I'm happy to say that Mae (that is what we named her) is doing much better - when she came to us she looked like she had been neglected and set out. After 5 days with us her ribs are no longer sticking out and she is no longer tick infested. She seems to be really happy and doesn't even seem to want to leave our yard for any reason. I have an appt. with the vet this weekend to get her 1st shots and tests. Hopefully they can tell us for sure how old she is and what breed. (I'm pretty sure she is pit bull)
Thank you for all your responses and you definitely have some cute dogs yourselves. Here is another, more clearer picture of what she looked like when she came to us. It's really sad for a puppy to be that skinny and mal-nourished.
She's a cutie! Every time someone says something nice about pit bulls on tv, they're usually female. Thought you'd like to know. Don't let the 'pit' part scare you.
She definitely looks like she's got a lot of pit in her for sure, but she doesn't look full blood by any means to me. I'm no expert but my sons have had pits and one of my daughters.
I dont have any ideal but shes beautiful.GOD bless you for taking her in your home
She sure is a cute puppy and I'm glad you are keeping her. She looks like a lab/boxer/pit mix. She looks so happy in her picture, she much like living with you. To be totally sure, ask your vet.
Good for you for giving Mae a home, she is a cutie. Please be sure to have her spayed.
Hey, Courtney!
I agree with the other posters. Mae is definitely Lab/Pit mix. This is our sweet Lucky and that is what he is. We found Lucky about a week after he'd been hit by a car. He ended up having to have a leg amputated, but you'd never know it by the way he acts! He has one of the best personalities of any dog I've ever had and very smart.
Hey, Courtney!
I agree with the other posters...Mae is definitely Lab/Pit mix. This is our sweet Lucky and that is what he is. We found Lucky about a week after he'd been hit by a car. He ended up having to have a leg amputated, but you'd never know it by the way he acts! He has one of the best personalities of any dog I've ever had and very smart.
I know that Mae will bring you all lots of happiness too!
She looks like my american staffordshire terrier (pit bull)
The black and white especially on the legs remind me of a Boston Terrier. Whatever she is, she's really cute. Good luck!
Your dog looks to have some pit in her, but she is not full. These dogs make good pets as long as they are raised right.
SHe definitely has some sort of terrier in her. But you never know? Our puppy looked a lot like that, with that stocky build, but as she matured (she's 14 months), she changed body shapes completely. That's how we figured out she was a pit bull - greyhound mix.
She looks pure pit to me. I don't want to rain on your parade but hopefully you know it is the law to try to look for the previous owners and are doing so. If you don't you are setting a bad example to your kids that it is okay to keep something you "find". Just imagine if you all lost your beloved pet and someone kept it just because it didn't want to leave their yard. I'm sure she might just be scared to leave a secure location after having wandered who knows how far. I have had 2 pit bull dogs stolen from my 6ft fenced padlocked yard and heaven knows where they ended up. It almost killed me at the time.
Also know this before you spend a lot of money and let your kids fall in love with the dog like my sister did and then her landlord, homeowner assoc. and renter's insurance people said NO pit bulls. This is because in our area and many places you now have to carry special insurance and have a certain size and height fenced yard to own pure or mixed pit bull dogs or other so called dangerous dogs (of course any dog can be dangerous even my 4lb Chi bit a 6ft 250lb Petsmart dog trainer who mistook her for my other sweeter dog.) If you don't get it and the dog bites someone they can sue you for your home and everything you own if the damages are severe enough which they can be in the case of a pit bull attack.
I love pitbulls (I used to own and breed nothing but pits) more than most people, but when this breed was originally created any dog that bit any human was supposed to be put down then and there. Nowadays every tom, dick and harry can be a back yard breeder and will breed them to be mostly specific colors, quantity and aggressive in that order. Unfortunately you can't know the breeding of that dog no matter how sweet she appears to be.
Appearances can be deceiving, a day or two of no food can make any active dog look skinny or "hungry" and a run through a field can infest them with ticks. It might have broken its collar off or slipped out of it and ran off for an adventure. My two Chihuahuas I own now get fleas and ticks all the time when I take them fishing with me and they are both so skinny they would look starved within 1 or 2 days of getting away from me. A slim dog is a long lived dog. Heavy dogs get cancer, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, cataracts, like heavy people so if you keep that dog please don't let her get heavier, she looks to be at the perfect weight already.
Once she gets all her shots and spayed please enroll her in an obedience class so she can get socialized to other people and dogs and try to keep up with taking her to dog parks so she won't get mean and to lessen the chance she will bite someone or another dog. Even female pits can and do kill other dogs and cats without provocation. I let it slip after training my 10lb Chi and now he is so mean to other dogs but thank God still loves people. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you the best advice I hope could help you even if you get upset with it. God bless you and your family and Mae of course if you do get to keep her.
This is her when I got her.
And now.
She looks exactly like my new puppy, which is a pit/lab mix. Very cute :)
This dog is definitely a pit bull and boxer mix. I have a 2 1/2 year old pit boxer mix and this dog shows the exact same features on her face and body. But dont let the pit part scare you. My dog is the sweetest, most loving dog with everyone. I have 3 children and he adores them. She looks to be about 4-6 mos. old.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My sister breeds pit bulls. She looks pit to me.
Looks like just a regular lab to me.
I agree...looks like she has some Pitt in her to me too.I just learned recently that you can have a DNA test done on your animal at the vets office and it will tell you exactly what it is.A friend of mine paid about 60 bucks for the test. Hers was lab/pitt by the way.Hope it helps.
She looks like a lab/pit mix. She's a cutie!
Does the dog have short stiff hair? It kind of looks like a Skipperkey. My grandson has one for a hearing work dog. His has the same looking face.
She looks exactly like my dog, Sable! And she is half pit and half lab.
Looks like part pit. How about giving us a side view snapshot?
Also - those tests you can do at a laboratory to determine the doggie heritage - I heard they only go as far back as the grandparents.
Boy, it is hard to get her to stand still :) Here is the best side view photo I could get. She weighs 38 lbs and is almost 2 years old. When her ears flop forward, she looks more lab than anything. But they go back or perk up when she's happy, then she looks more pit or terrier. Thanks for all the feedback so far, this is very interesting. I never knew you could get a DNA test for a dog! We love her all the same no matter what breed she is, she is a sweet heart. I'm just curious, that's all.
Hi
I worked for twenty years as a Veterinarian nurse, as we used to be called, and in many settings including running a shelter. This is a tough question, lab is a dominant gene, so breeds mixed with lab can be very subtle. Labs also seem to really get around. I have seen lab/basset, American Bull Terrier, and some kind of wiry long haired terrier mixed with lab. And the Boxador, like my boy Duke. His mom was a pure boxer, but boy is he golden lab. The idiots who bred him docked his tail till it looks like an old english. The only hint of boxer is a slight stockiness, shorter muzzle, very subtle hints.
She could be American Bull, and that would be my guess. But it really could be any dog that has a shorter, stocky very muscular build. And individual dogs have very widely different characteristics even if pure.
Since there can be up to three dads in a litter with multiple breedings, you can't even tell by siblings. The little long haired terrier mix was Dukes sister, and she looked nothing like him. Then there were obvious boxers also. Its really interesting to me. She looks adorable, enjoy her.
Angie
Hi again, forgot something. She could also be half Staffordshire Bull Terrier, she is small enough. Take care.
Angie
Linda - My dog's name is Sadie - only a couple of letters off!
Tina- Her coat is short, somewhat stiff, waterproof, and sheds a lot.
Angie - That was my first guess, lab and staffordshire. She has a lot of the characteristics.
I probably won't get the dna test done because it wouldn't make much difference, other than to satisfy my own curiosity. She is so great with my kids and we love her to pieces. She's really protective and a good guard dog too, which would explain the pit or staffordshire. I do have to be super careful when introducing her to new people and socialize her a lot. Thanks everyone for all of your feedback.
~ MJane
Definitely a type of Pit bull. A common pit breed in this country is American Staffordshire Terrier (or AmStaff.) Get the AKC (American Kennel Club) standards book from the reference section of the library, go to the terrier section, and look at the pictures and descriptions of the different pit bulls. You'll be able to decide which one your baby most resemble in looks *and* personality.
The temperament and personality of the dog are as important in determining breed type as looks.
Please don't be put off by the bad reputation some pit bulls have; that is because of their training and their owners. I know many pits who are sweet as lambs. One, belonging to my SIL and her family, has been dealing beautifully with the addition of three new human grandbabies in the house in a very few years, at a time when she thought she would be enjoying her golden years in a quiet empty nest --haha! Last week, the youngest started to toddle up the stairs, and dear sweet Ruby ran over and made a wedge on the staircase right above the child, so that she couldn't go any further, and then barked so that grandma could come and pluck up the tot. Good Dog!
It really does look like a pit bull to me. Staffordshire Terrier is a common one that I think she looks like!! She sure looks like a sweetheart!! Pits always get a bad rap, but I think they can make great companions when their human treats them with love and affection! This is very obviously the case with your cutie!
She looks exactly like my dog .He is Lab/Pit. How tall and what is her weight? My dog is 92 lbs. Same ears too!
Hi pepperjack,
She is only 38 lbs and will be 2 years old next month, so we're not expecting her to get too much bigger. That is why I'm guessing Staffordshire, since they are a smaller type of pit from what I understand. Because both labs and pits are large breeds, her size is what stumps me!
For those of you who have lab/pit mixes, do you find that they are good family dogs? I have had Sadie for almost a year now, and she is amazing with my kids. Very protective and a good guard dog. I have had people tell me that because she is part pit, even though she loves my kids now, she could just "snap" one day and attack one of my kids. Which I don't believe at all, she is so loving to them.
I do worry about her with strangers as she has snapped and growled at a couple of people she didn't know. She hasn't bit anyone yet, but we are very careful when introducing her to new people. And I am trying to socialize her as much as possible. I have seen a huge improvement from when we first got her from the pound.
I think the biggest problem is that when people see her, they think she looks like part pit bull, which she does, but they get scared, automatically assuming that she is aggressive. She picks up on their fear and growls at them. But when people walk up to her assuming she's lab and friendly, she'll lick them to death. She is very intuitive on picking up on people's feelings. When my kids have friends over, if they ever fall down and scrape a knee or anything makes them cry, she'll run over right away and make sure they are alright and lick them all over. It's really very cute. Well, whatever she is, she is a very intelligent and loving breed.
I have a dog that looks just like yours. Its a mix of lab and staffordshire terrier I think
i have a lab/pit mix. He is a year and half. My son brought him home at six weeks and said he was half lab half boxer. There is no way he has any boxer in him. I think they only told him this because they thought if it was pit he wouldn't take him. Anyway I could tell right away he had pit in him but it didn't matter. I fell in love with him right away and he is so smart, protective and gentle.
He loves playing with the kids and is very protective of them especially when they are swimming. If he is isn't playing with them he is standing guard. He is the best dog we have ever had. People keep telling me he is a bad breed and will turn on my children. I don't believe this he loves the kids and I don't believe he ever would. He is very gentle. He looks a lot like your dog but quite a bit bigger. I wouldn't trade him for the world, so if yours is anything like mine enjoy it cause they are a special treasure.
Hi Trish! Your dog does look a lot like mine. You know, just in the last few weeks I actually considered Sadie to be a lab/boxer mix, because when I came home, she was so excited to see me that when she jumped up to greet me, she "boxed me" bruising both my thighs in the process. She only does this with me, not the kids. But my son, who is 6, gets hugs and kisses from her, and she curls her paws up like a boxer when she hugs him. I googled this, and there is actually a name for them "boxadors". I found lots of dogs who looked like Sadie. But I've come to the conclusion that she could be lab with anything stocky and muscular...which could be a number of breeds. We love her and she is everything we could have wanted in a pet and more. Pit, staffordshire, boxer, whatever she may be I'd love her just the same!
Oh, and she has mellowed out a LOT since I last posted. She is friendly to everyone and no longer has any aggression. But she is still on guard and protective of the house and family. I contribute this change to getting a friend. We got a second dog, who is a lab/german shepherd mix. (this time we are sure, we met the parents!) She's going to be huge and is only 5 months old and has already passed Sadie in height and weight. But they play together so much that it has completely changed her, all this extra exercise. Here's a picture of her new buddy:
Winnie is seven months old and full of energy. She gets so excited and does the zoomies. Her tail is straight, not curly. I was told that she was a Pit Bull, but I don't believe she is a pure bred.
Maybe a Pit Bull mix and Basenji or a terrier?
Can anyone tell me what my pup might be mixed with? I have Pit Bull puppy I just got, a person told me it was a blue nose Pit Bull, but I know that isn't a breed so I'm assuming my pup is a Pit mix. Any opinions on what she might be crossed with?
By J.F
