I'm stumped. Rocky was a rescue dog I adopted through a group called Project Halo a decade ago. They told me he was found as a 7-week-old puppy abandoned by the side of a highway with a chain wrapped around his neck. They suspect he was abused.
After I adopted him this tiny puppy grew into an 80-pound ball of fur.
And I still can't figure out this mixed-breed dog. He's very agile and can leap about 4 feet, loves to hunt and eat small animals such as birds, squirrels, chipmunks and even one unfortunate cat. His sense of smell encourages him to dig. He uses a paw to slap people. He's protective with watchdog sensibilities. He really doesn't like people, but he's very nice otherwise. When he sees a small animal or smells something in the ground, it's like he goes into a bloodthirsty trance and I can't reach him in that condition. He's extremely quiet and never makes a sound unless he sees a stranger and then he growls and barks uncontrollably. Finally, if another animal has been in the back yard, he knows it, even if the animal is long gone.
Anyone have an idea of the types of dog breeds that might make up Rocky?
14 comments:
Collie?
Hugh Koontz tells me it's a dingo. But I think he's joking.
Looks like a border collie to me!
Just a wild guess. Bernese Mountain Dog crossed with Husky crossed with a collie crossed with a border collie?
I've heard border collie suggested before, and you're probably right. But I always thought they only weighed about 40 pounds at the most. So I wonder if he is a border collie mix, which gives him the agility, what gives him the size?
I just goggled some photos of dogs. It does look more like a collie than any other picture I saw, and definitely not a Dingo! Lol...
A good vet should know for sure!
The collie look is definitely there. I had a miniature collie growing up and the temperament is completely different with Rocky. But that could be because he was abused before he was rescued. I wonder how much temperament is a product of a dog's early environment vs. natural instinct?
Sounds like a mean dog. Maybe you did bad job raisin him.
There is one way to know for sure... there's a DNA test out there for roughly $70 that can tell. From what I hear, it's pretty cool. You can get it out of a pet supply magazine I subscribe to... I'll bring it in...
As for guessing, I'm going with Australian shepherd and collie. That would explain size, markings, face shape and ear configuration.
Rescue dogs can be a challenge.
If people get a dog, they should adopt unwanted dogs. There are too many strays out there that need good homes. In fairness, he adopted an unwanted dog.
I am sure there has been some research about how much an animal's temperament can be attributed to his early years vs his current time. I do know that in cats, if they were abused early on, they never forget it!
I have two dogs, one loves everybody, the other, Rocky, barks and growls at strangers. I raised them the exact same way at the same time. The only difference is that Rocky was apparently abused and abandoned by someone before he was rescued. While I was an inexperienced dog owner when I got these two dogs, I don't know what I could have done to make Rocky more trusting of people. He was wary of strangers from the day I got him. Efforts to socialize him didn't work. He was even aloof and wary of me for the first two years of his life until I earned his trust. On the plus side, this makes him a good watch dog. When I lived in Gastonia, someone pried open my door trying to break in, but they apparently chose not to enter the house after they got the door open. I've always thought this was due to Rocky.
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