I kinda wonder who decides what breed a shelter dog is?

[Marthe48]

I'm friends on Facebook with a number of Ohio shelters and sometimes the description of the dog is way off

[LakeArenal]

1. I think the look at dna.

[Sanity Claws]

6. Wouldn't that cost a lot of money?

I doubt they use DNA testing because it costs money and animal shelters are underfunded. Whatever money they get in goes to food, vet bills, and other necessities.

[LakeArenal]

11. Well I have watched dog rescue shows on the tee vee.

They use DNA. My vet offered to our mutts but it wasn’t important to me so I never even asked.

[SharonClark]

2. Mostly they guess.

In animal shelters, dogs usually get assigned a breed or mix of breeds based on the way they look. But a new study, published August 23, 2018 in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, used genetic testing to determine what breeds these shelter dogs actually are.

Scientists from the Arizona State University (ASU) Department of Psychology genotyped 900 shelter dogs from two shelters in Arizona and California, and compared the genetic information to the breed labels the shelters had assigned to the dogs.

The genetic testing gave the researchers information about three generations of ancestors for each dog. On average, most dogs were comprised of three different breeds, with some dogs having up to five breed signatures identified at the great-grandparent level.
. . .

https://earthsky.org/earth/guess-shelter-dog-breed-genotype-study/

[Sanity Claws]

7. That's been my experience

I fostered dogs for a short period. I remember one was listed as part-greyhound and I inquired how it was determine he had greyhound in him. After all, he didn't look it to me at all. A person explained that the vet noticed his knees were those of a greyhound.

Nothing else looked like greyhound but he got labeled as a greyhound-mix because of his knees.

[Freddie]

3. Unfortunately I think ALL the shelter dogs around here are pits or pit mixes

That’s why my daughter spent $$$ for a mini cockapoo from a very reputable breeder (she went to their house, not Amish). My new granddog is absolutely adorable and has a wonderful sweet, friendly disposition. Looks like a little black mop.

[piddyprints]

4. Reminds me of an app.

I think there's one for dogs, but I have the one for cats. You give it a picture or scan your cat and it tells you what breed it is.

Well, my little Siamese mix came up as a Snowshoe on the first try, a Himalayan on the second, and part Siamese on the third. Sure, she has one completely white foot (Snowshoe). There's not a bit of long fur on her (Himalayan). But, yes, she is part Siamese.

Then I tried on a registered purebred, Abyssinian who came up as 99% Abyssinian. Um, what happened to the other 1%? He came from a long line of champions and grand champions, so it's doubtful that 1% of anything else snuck in.

The best one was the calico. Sure, she has longer fur, but her markings are completely calico. Wanna know what it said about her? Something along the lines of, "We're sorry, but it looks like you have a dog pretending to be a cat. Get our dog app to find out what kind of dog you have." I guarantee there is not one thing about her that's anything like a dog except that I've trained her to come and sit on command. And she's not a dog in the pejorative sense. She's quite beautiful, actually.


So it's my guess that shelters aren't much better than the app. Or maybe they use the app.

[Sanity Claws]

5. I laughed out loud about the calico.

[Marthe48]

10. lol I hope you can view the link!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/254242341441914467/

[Ocelot II]

13. Calico isn't a breed, though many breeds can have calico markings.

[piddyprints]

15. Well, yes,

But it’s also not a dog.

[Ocelot II]

17. There are "calico" dogs...

[piddyprints]

18. We know one.

I was using “calico” more as the description of our kitty. I had submitted a picture to the app, after all. The answer should have come back as domestic longhair mix or something like that. Maybe part Maine Coon or something. She is definitely not a dog, even though there are dogs with her color pattern. We call her our calico to distinguish her from our dilute torbie, which is a whole lot more descriptive than “domestic shorthair mix.”

[Ocelot II]

19. I really don't see how the breed of a dog or a cat can be determined reliably

by just looking at it, or a photo of it, unless it's a purebred. I know of a few rescue dogs who were identified as a particular breed as puppies and grew up to be something completely different (lab mix grew up to be an obvious great dane, for example). Got a DNA test for my cat, results were mostly something very different from what I was told she was.

[piddyprints]

20. I agree.

It was just a fun, silly app. It gives percentages of what it looks most like. My daughter sent it to me after she adopted some Maine Coon mix kittens. All for fun. I don’t really care what breeds they are. We’re just here to serve them, after all.

I just remembered that my vet told me that calico cats tend to have attitude. Mine sure does. For example, she’s the first of my many cats who simply will not let me clip her claws. She has other quirks, too.

Why did you get a DNA test for your cat? I’m intrigued.

[Ocelot II]

21. I got the DNA test because she's an unusual-looking cat and I was curious

about her lineage.

This is Pixie:



I adopted her from a friend on a farm. They said they thought she was part Siamese (she has blue eyes), part smoke Persian (she has semi-long fur) and who knows what else. The DNA results are as follows:

Maine Coon 17.64%
American Shorthair 17.19%
Siberian 5.00%
Turkish Angora 3.01%
Ragdoll 2.88%
Abyssinian 1.00%
Persian7.05%
Egyptian Mau 2.47%
Savannah 1.97%
Bengal 1.31%
Thai Siamese 1.31%
Polycat (uncategorized mixed) 18.10%

So apparently she got her long fur from Maine Coon, Siberian, Angora and Ragdoll, less from Persian, and she's only a tiny trace Siamese.

[piddyprints]

22. Holy cow!

That is one beautiful kitty! What an interesting mix!

I’d post a pic of my monster if I knew how anymore. Yes, the older kitties nicknamed her Monster when she came to live with us. She has calmed down, though, and now her baby sister Siamese mix is taking over that nickname. I told her karma’s a bitch.

[marie999]

8. Our vet couldn't even guess what at least half of the 20 or so dogs are that we have rescued

from the streets. Every single one of them had heartworm. We are fortunate that we can take care of all their medical needs. We are both in our 70s so I don't know how much longer we will be able to rescue dogs. We haven't had to rescue any cats because they just show up. Lately, we have chickens and turkeys that have just decided to come over from our neighbors and rabbits live under our shed. If one of our neighbors wants to sell their property will buy it for the land. We have enough family around to move into the house.

[Marthe48]

9. You are so kind!

Can heart worm be cured? Or just treated? Most of my pets have been strays that come to the house. Sometimes to others' homes. I have several kinds of wildlife in my yard, too.

[marie999]

12. There is a treatment for heartworm that cures the dog.

The cost starts at $500 for a small dog us to $1100 for a large dog. After that, they and all dogs should get a monthly treatment which almost always keeps them heartworm free. Cats are much more resilient and very rarely get heartworm. All my dogs and cats see the vet twice a year. The annual one is when they get blood work done. The 6 month one is just a checkup. Taking good care of your animals can add years to their lives. We had a german shepherd live to be 19 years old and healthy almost to the end.

[Marthe48]

14. Thanks for the information

I will keep it in mind. I don't have a dog, but heartworm is problem around here.

[jcgoldie]

16. They guess

They are frequently wrong in my experience. Two of our rescue dogs a big black one they said was a great dane… she spent all day chasing birds then with age got real fat.. obviously a black lab… then a medium size red long haired dog they said was border collie but we have goats and she dont herd nothing all she wants to ever do is swim in the lake and chase tennis balls… im guessing shes some sort of water spaniel.

[Marthe48]

23. lol

Glad to know my granddog was true to type. He got pretty chunky too. lol