Panda Shepherds?? Opinion on our family pet - Page 2

Qmighty, your dog is a cross.  That means that phenotypically it can express any of a range of characteristics from the parent breeds -- even extremes that aren't seen in the parent breeds.  You're not going to find an exact match because your dog is unique.  Without knowing what the parents were all you can do is guess based on likelihood.  There's something else to bear in mind here -- since your dog is a cross whoever allowed the breeding didn't care about the results.  That means that the dog is likely a result of common breeds in your area. The odds of something genuninely rare being mixed in are vanishingly slim, becasue people who keep rare breeds typically monitor breeding very careful to maintain their stock. 

I've seen plenty of border collies here who have white faces like your dog's. Here's a link showing some strong examples.  (Particularly look at Bovva, about half way down the page, and Rowena above him.  See the similarity?  What about further down near the bottom, Gael and Bordeaux.  You may not see the similarity, but I certainly do.) Bear in mind that Border collies are a working breed, and thus not bred for appearance.  There is a *lot* of variation.  Big, little, slim, heavier bone, prick ears, flop ears, bicolor, tricolor, a lot of white, or only a little, short coat or medium -- no one really cares as long as the dog can herd. Brown isn't uncommon in Border collies depending on the local color pool.  Around here they're mostly black, but brown and red shows up occasionally.  It's different if you go over about 200 km -- there people love their red collies, and there are more of them than black and white. The pinto bonnet colour also isn't remotely uncommon in dogs that have various Nordic breeds crossed into them.  In the malamute it's called an "extreme bonnet face" here. In Akitas it's just a pinto, and I can think of three dogs offhand that have the same markigns as yours (though they're grey, black, and brindle, respectively). 

Does what I'm saying make sense to you?  Love your dog for the handsome, unique individual he is, and don't worry about what's in him, because even if you found one that was the *exact* same cross from the same parents they wouldn't be the same.

First dog - definately collie mix - could be with GSD.  I see collie (Rough or Smooth Collie, not border collie) for sure in the face.  Second dog pictured - Husky mix - could be GSD in there (the ears are GSD and too big to come from husky directly) - but the face looks border collie to me.  Could be all 3 breeds in there.

Cute, colorful dogs.

molly

Jackal73 I can really see the resemblance with many of those dogs and mine now.  Not only are some of the colour patterns very similar (how did I not come across these!?), but I can see the border collie in his eyes, and the shape of his face & head now too.  There's even some with ears just as big as the ones on Shiloh.  Thank you for taking the time to look that up for me.  I love his unique appearance, but I never knew what to say to the daily questions I get about what breed he is.  Sometimes I tell people he's part Dingo, just for amusement.  Thank you again to everyone for taking the time to respond.

 You're welcome Qmighty.  He's definitely Border collie -- and for the little bit of Nordic breed in him I'd guess Siberian husky, though I could be wrong.  They also come in Piebald (the colour is a link to some more photos for you).  Ultimately if you say "Border collie cross" to people you won't be wrong! Good luck with your beautiful dog!

Qmighty - I love the physical look of your dog - especially the  long legs of your dog in the first photo.  The dogs looks like it could run like the wind.  I can visualize a helluva frisbee catcher, LOL!