Any ideas on what mix this dog is..?

[Guest Anonymous]

I adopted this dog from the SPCA when he was 12 weeks old. the prior owner claimed the puppies were a Bull Mastiff/Stafforshire Bull Terrier mix, however the SPCA thought she was lying so they would get adopted. They thought the puppies were American Pit Bull Terrier. watching him grow up, i'm thinking more Lab/American Pit Bull Terrier? He is super tall and weighs around 95 lbs

here he is after lots of play outside..


if it would help, i can post a few more pics.

[Guest Anonymous]

can you post some more pictures? it's hard to tell with her laying down,. she's beautiful though!

[imported_Kat]

He looks like a cross bred Great Dane! I hope you have a big house :wink:

[Guest Anonymous]

heres one more... will post another one as soon as my diggie gets some battery power :-?

[Guest Anonymous]

opps sorry about that lolol i have to havem y contacts in before reading. HE is handsome! and i agree Kat it looks liek there could be some Great DAne in there.. the best person to ask about that would be mei mei!!

[DogPaddle]

I think he's too big and leggy for a Am Staff/Lab and 95lb is really big too. Good possibility of Dane or even the Mastiff that the prev. owner suggested.

[Guest Anonymous]

thanks for all the feedback! never even thought of Great Dane in the mix. i do think the pit bull part is right on... he is people and dog friendly, too :)

i finally got him to sit and pose for a pic!

[AllAmericanPUP]

Great dane mix..who knows what else.
he's got the face of a dane

[DogPaddle]

Newest pic makes me think Dane/Lab.

[Guest Anonymous]

i was so sure there was some pit in there.. he has the pit smile when he pants :o

[Guest Anonymous]

kinda sounds to me like youwant the dog to have some pitt in it...

[BuddysMom]

What a beautiful guy, whatever he is, you sure got lucky, sounds like a sweetheart.

[Guest Mutts4Me]

DeafAussieLover napisał(a):

kinda sounds to me like youwant the dog to have some pitt in it...

Maybe, but maybe Echo can see things in his/her dog that we can't see. It's so hard to tell what a dog really looks like in pictures. I've seen pictures of the same dog (mutt) that make it look like entirely different breeds are prominent.

I mean, this summer while I was in Arkansas I posted a picture of a pit mix that came into the refuge and I got to babysit. I never asked whether it looked like a pit mix or not, because I was standing with it for a couple hours, and I live around many Pit Bulls of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and I was pretty darn sure that dog was a pit mix (as was a dog trainer who worked with me). But I posted his picture and got blasted for saying it was a pit mix? All I posted was a crappy picture of his face and ears, and a couple people felt the need to say that it had absolutely no Pit Bull in it. How can people presume to know that by one crappy picture? I didn't care whether it had pit in it or not (though I'm fairly certain it did), but I was just so taken aback that people would feel the need to be so rude about it. (This is not a comment on this thread, btw, just a thought)

I think Echo's dog looks like a Dane mix. I don't see pit in it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

(LOL, I have a chow mix, probably mostly chow and GSD, maybe other stuff. But I love Akitas, and once in a while I look at Sasha's face and see an Akita staring back at me. Then I blink ;) Of course, she may have Akita in her, but there aren't that many around here... but it's kinda neat to think she might be once in a while 8) )

[Guest Anonymous]

I dont think its a matter of "wanting" it to be a pit bull mix, its what the SPCA and the former owner believed it to be. ive read several books about them and i can atest he certainly has the personality. but regardless of what linage he's from... he's a sweetie and i love him :D

[DogPaddle]

There was an eight month old Lab/Dane cross, Sampson, at the Humane Society when I was looking for my second dog. Eight months old and his shoulder was probably around 30 inches maybe more. He thin as a rail, poor dear, but you could see a real solid bone structure and a fairly wide chest, not quite as tankish as a lab but still respectable. He was going to be a monster. He was a nice, sweet boy, tons of puppy energy but not to rambunctious considering he was in a shelter, he did jump up though. :o
I was sooooo tempted, even went so far as to price Sampson sized crates (found one 50 inches wide, 75 inches long and just of 60 inches tall or something like that) but in the end I decided that I just did not really have the space inside the house for Sampson to be comfortable. Looked somewhat like your boy in the face and legs but not remarkably like him so who knows, maybe he is Dane/Pit or Dane/Pit/Lab or Dane/Lab or something else altogether.

[Guest Anonymous]

You have a beautiful animal. I believe I know what it is. I had an animal virtually identical to yours. He died 8 years ago. I have looked heavily for what he was. By shear luck, a guy parked next to me in a pickup truck had two of them.

Your animal is a Neopolitan Mastiff crossed with a great dane. The signs to look for are:

Good weight: your dog will reach 130 lbs or so.
Long legs, although not quite as long as a Dane, still, elegant, beautiful long legs. Mastiffs are a "heavier" breed than Danes, reaching 160 to 200 pounds, so your dog may get heavier than my 130 pound dog did.

Deep chest, not real wide, but deep. Mastiffs are heavy, work/guard dogs, with wide chests, whereas Danes are a little narrower.

Lips - does your dog have the little "fingers" on the inside of her lips? That is from the Dane. The loose floppy lip thing is from the Mastiff side. Some Mastiffs, especially some I have seen in dog shows seem to be expecially bred to have enormous lips. I think that is stupid, and just for show.

Knowledge bone - the Neopolitan Mastiffs/Dane cross that this guy had definately had knowledge bones (a noticible bump on the back of the head between the ears), although again, not quite as much as a Dane, which has a really pronounced bump.

White cross on the chest - an absolute dead giveaway - you have a Neopolitan Mastiff as a sire or bitch. As far as I know, only labs also have the cross, and let me tell you, your animal is going to be a lot bigger than a lab. I can tell by the lying down shot. Your animal will reach a toe to muzzle length of more than 6 feet.

Toes - Danes have high, arched feet, but not much webbing between them. Mastiffs have a little more webbing. I can see from the foot shots that your dog's feet looked IDENTICAL to my dogs.

Legs, beautiful, elegant, tall. You have, in my opinion, the most beautiful dog I have seen since the death of my beloved animal.

Intelligence - you will be happy to know that you posess one of the smartest dogs in the world. My dog had a vocabulary in excess of 500 english words, and perhaps 250 unique dog sounds. Speak to her a lot. Not little weener dog words like "sit", "stay", and the like. Use complete sentences, like, "go and get on your bed, I'll be back in a few minutes". She will learn to understand. Dogs are not stupid. Within their "envelope" they are every bit as smart as humans.

Does your animal bay at the moon? Mine did. So beautiful it would make me cry to hear it.

My dog was so smart it would sneak into the local Albertsons at night and steal food, whole packs of ham, bacon, blocks of cheese. He would bring them home, unbroken, and drop them at my feet, smiling. It took me years to figure out where and how he did it.

Toenails: Mastiffs have hollow toenails, like fat surgical needles, designed to rip the guts out of their prey. My dog did not have hollow nails, although the Neopolitan Mastiffs I looked at in the truck did. Dane do not have hollow nails.

Lifespan - you have ten good years, maybe two more.

Food - don't destroy your animal by feeding it dog kibbles. Dogs eat meat and grass. My animal grazed every day. You feed your animal a cheap crappy diet of constant carbohydrates, and you get 7 years of health. Then surgery for the gross fatty tumours which will start showing up under the skin. The skin starts degenerating then, with nearly constant scratching. The animal will literally rub all of it's skin off. Don't let the vets sell you Ketaconazole at 5$ a pop for a "skin yeast infection".
Damaged skin is very susceptible to fleas.

Feed your dog what nature has spent the last 50000 years programming the animal to eat. Don't believe the stupid greedy humans, who try to sell you purina. Forget the pricy dog kibbles (ooh with lamb!!!!) that will rape your wallet. Feed your beloved what you eat. Meat, vegetables, lettuce. Let your girl graze in long sweet grass. Never ever ever apply flea dip to the skin. Methylcarbamates are nerve poisons similar to what the germans developed in WWII. If you want to see a lethargic, drooling, staggering dog, with vacant eyes, for two straight days, then pour Sargeants flea dip on it, and knock months off of your dogs life span. Bet no one ever told you that huh?

My congratulations to you - you have the princess of dogs, a very loving, hightly intelligent, faithfull, powerfull protector, who will guard you, your home, your children, with its very life. You don't realize how unique your animal is, but you will. You are very very lucky.

I would give anything to have another animal like the one I had.

Please write me, at Norzilla1@norzilla.com

Good luck,
Norzilla

[__crazy_canine__]

I could just be "wantig" the dog to have pit in him like what someone else said but I do see pit in the profile and ears, though the same could be found in other breeds I suppose.

Anyway I agree to it being a pit/dane mix. Obviously Great Dane, and something though! :D

Oh and I dont see Neo in there at all either... :-?

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you Mei-Mei.

I have heavily researched the Neo Mastiff on the web. There are literally dozens and dozens of images that look very very similar to the dog pictured here. It would be difficult indeed to not "see" the relation.
They are black, with white crosses on their chests, jowly, droopy eyes, broad chested, big paws, large animals, short, dense hair, tails that are thicker than a danes, large, floppy ears...

Remember, many Neo shots have cropped ears.

Here some sites that provide images of Neopolitan Mastiffs. This is a small fraction of the Neos I have looked at:

http://www.vanhoutenkennels.com/males.html Breeders of Neos
http://devinefarm.net/studs/lmman.htm
http://devinefarm.net/studs/uther.htm

An excellent site with many good face shots: http://www.neapolitan.com/
Many many links to Mastiffs: http://www.dog-area.com/resources/american-breeders-mastiff.html

Here are shots of bull mastiffs, similar face shots:
http://www.bulldogbreeds.com/bullmastiff/photos.html


I would respectfully suggest that you view the following site:
The American Society for the Preservation of the Neapolitan Mastiff
http://website.aspnm.org/
Explore their links, look at the heads, jowels, and muzzle of the dogs shown. Even casual inspection will reveal the relationships.

Search Google for Neopolitan Mastiffs, Mastiff Dane mix, Mastiff Dane cross, Mastiff breeders, dane pit cross, dane pit mix.

My suggestion is to send a picture of your animal to a Mastiff breeder, and to a Dane breeder, and ask them.

By contrast, NONE of the dane/pit images seen on the web look much like this animal. Pit bulls are too small a breed, even when crossed with a dane. The basic face shape is incorrect. The jowls arn't there, the knowledge bump is not there.

I'll bet this animal drools, another mastiff hallmark. Pits don't drool. My dog drooled.

I have researched the hollow nails. Some mastiffs DO have hollow nails. The guy in the truck next to me: his dogs DID
have hollow nails. My dog didn't, but my dog was not purebred.

There are NO pictures of Neos at the following site:
http://www.dogomania.com/breed/letter-M/

"I'm sure you mean to be helpful, but I read a lot of misinformation in your post. "

I am truely interested in discovering what my dog was. The information I presented was, to the best of my knowledge, accurate. Based upon my extensive research, and my own experiential data, I stand by my claim, a
Dane - Neo mix.

I would appreciate it if you could tell me what misinformation I presented? I'm not trying to be challanging.
Knowledge is good, ignorance is not.

Thank you,
Norzilla

[Guest Anonymous]

Yeah, you may be right. The jowls don't look droopy enough. Maybe a dane-lab mix. :-?

[imported_Cassie]

Norzilla, you are making each breed out to sound like they are a separate species within the Canine world :-?
You do realize that Neapolitan Mastiffs and all other purebreds come from mixed breeds or mongrels as their forefather's. I find it really silly to try to analyze a mutt or mongrel, perhaps its a purebred mongrel?? you do know that all of our current purebreds come from mongrel descendants or races of dogs. I have seen many purebred dogs have throwbacks from their mixed parentage. Take Newf's for example, I had a purebred Newf in at the kennel I work at which had a very slight build shorter coat, and no jowls. The dog did not drool at all. So, for me to say that all Newf's drool, or that all Newf's have a love for water is very inaccurate...I have 3 Newf's at home (purebred, champions in 3 countries) which will not go near the water. I have a nice swimming brook in my backyard and I live by the ocean. My Rottweiler loves to swim, but, not my Newf's. So, for me to say that you know you have a Newf if it loves the water would be highly inaccurate.
It's OK, to discuss what possible breeds may be in a mutt or mongrel. It's even helpful when you have a Vet appointment/grooming or boarding so the person will have a general idea of the size of the dog coming in or the coat they will have to groom. But, to sit here and actually tell someone what his or her dog has in it is a little off the wall. There is such a thing as a purebred mongrel, the only difference is a kennel club hasn

[imported_Matty]

Check out the black dane with the same type white spot on chest. Last picture down.
http://www.xcelco.on.ca/~fanina/gdanes04.htm

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone. I stand corrected. The beautiful pictures of that black Dane with the white on its chest, wow. I didn't know Black Danes cold have white on them like that.

Thanks Cassie. What you say about mutts and breeding is true, although anybody who has ever heard a hound dog baying at the moon will tell you, that golden bugle doesn't sound like anything else. Incidentally, my family is an old Dalmation family. We have had, oh, 18 or so in the last 4 decades. They barked, sure, as did our boxers, our german shepherds, and our dobies. None bayed. They would howl at the moon, but not the baying. You would call it a howl, but not that long drawn out golden warble that wafts over the hill on a warm summer eve.

Is it possible to get a consensus? Do we all agree that the animal in question has a good healthy dose of Dane in it? I don't hear anyone saying they believe there is Irish Setter of Pomeranian there.

The animal is a big animal. If it is half or more Dane (and it really really does look that way), then rather than say what it IS, can we say what it is NOT? It seems to me that there are not many other breeds which could produce what we see in the picture. Certainly not Dalmations.

The process of elimination is often mathematically more focused than the process of aggregation.

I see Dane, lots of Dane, and another big animal, although not quite as big as a Dane. A big animal, probably very dark, with short hair. An animal with jowls, and lips. An animal with sunken droopy eyes. An animal with a thicker tail. An animal without a real broad flat head. An animal with a fairly long muzzle.

I don't come up with a big list. There aren't many possibilities. I have already shot my mouth off, and have been respectfully spanked, so I'll do it again. I don't see shepard, dobie, rots, boxers, newfs, pit, terriers, schnauzer, chow, pug, malamut, husky, or dalmation.

As I said, I have looked for years. All I come up with is Dane plus (pick one or several of the following) Neo, English Setter, or Lab. The English Setter comes in about 6 variations, one of which has the correct head shape, although they are a tad small. Besides, an old lady in Alaska said that my dog was a Dane-English Setter mix. Maybe.

Of all the choices, those two Neo's in the truck next to me were so darn close to both my dog, and the dog in the picture, that I will still stand on what I said - the dog is most likely a Dane-Neo cross, although I will concede to anyone who actually knows more than me, which includes the majority of people on this post.

Thanks again to all,
Keep me on my leash,
Norzilla

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

Maybe it's a pit/lab/greatdane mix? I hada lab/pit mix and even though he had pit in him the only thing that was realy pit was the strength and the body and the head everything else was lab. Lots of people thiought he was pure lab.

[nadooshkinz]

aww! :angel: I agree.. great dane mix! and a beautiful one at that! just a question, can vets trace a dog's lineage using dna tests? :oops:

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

nadooshkinz napisał(a):

aww! :angel: I agree.. great dane mix! and a beautiful one at that! just a question, can vets trace a dog's lineage using dna tests? :oops:

yea or atleast the vet that my friend takes her britney spaneil to (my dogs go there 2) told her the her dog was pure britney cuz as a puppy she was all yellow