Oopsie. I appear to have gotten my notes mixed up back in mid-June, and posted the wrong name and breed guess for this dog. It turns out the real Mancha is the guy on this page. And if you’re familiar with Catahoula leopard dogs, you will see the resemblance right away with this guy, but not so much with the one I mixed up with.
Sorry about that, pups. Hope nobody was scarred by the experience.
Two more pictures, after the break.
We found this guy happily basking in the sun in the middle of the Sunset district. If you know San Francisco, you'll know just how unusual that is.
The eyebrows make him look like maybe a Rottweiler mix. Funky.
If he were Catahoula/Rottie, though, his ears would be down. And anyway, I think they knew that the mom was a shepherd.
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I could be wrong, but I’d wager that this dog doesn’t actually have catahoula; the eyebrows and the spots (and many other attributes) look more characteristic of a blue heeler in my opinion.
It could well be. The eyebrows are, of course, a really common thing to see on any number of dog breeds, and pop up at weird times, since they’re a recessive. However, I do agree that some other parts of him do look a bit ACD-ish.
My puppy Oakley look just like this dog! Today someone told me he is a catahoula mix, but at the shelter they told me he is a blue heeler mix.
I guarantee you this is a Australian Cattle Dog aka Blue Heeler.
The color points (his eye brows) come from the Kelpie in the breed’s lineage.
The dog in these images is expressing a piebald gene, causing large ‘spots’ of solid color, as seen here in black. The piebald gene is not at all common in either the German Shepherd Dog or The Catahoula Leopard Dog.
Furthermore, this dog is expression the heavy ticking gene, making this black dog appear grey, also referred to as blue. This visual effect is how the Blue Heeler got its moniker. Ticking is expressed famously by German Short-haired Pointers, as this is the breed’s only acceptable color.
Catahoula Leopard Dogs have a similar, yet completely different coloring called ‘Merle.’
It’s certainly possible that he’s part ACD, but I guarantee you he’s not full ACD. His face is totally different, the muzzle is too heavy, the flews are too deep, and his ears are too floppy.
As for the breed ID, you can blame the owner for that. Unless I am very very certain, if the owner gives me a breed, I use it.
I have the same dog, she’s a female and has a fuzzier tail. We adopted her from a pet foundation that rescues dogs from Mexico. Never knew what she was really mixed with but excited to see another dog who looks like her!.
Yours could just be an Australian cattle dog mixed with something else, too. Maybe a border collie or Australian shepherd… both produce pretty fluffy tails.
I realize this is a 7 year old post but I am very curious about if a true test of the breeds of this dog was ever done because I have a rescue dog who looks literally identical. And perhaps some experts could give me some hints as to what she is. If you could please email me and I’d love to compare pictures of this dog and mine.
I’m afraid we don’t really know any more than is listed here. But to be honest, I’d tend to guess at Australian cattle dog and something else, possibly (total shot in the dark) a black German shepherd.
My dog looks exactly like this one and we just ordered testing for him. I would love to know if all of our dogs are the same!
Any pictures online? Please do leave a link or two if so!
https://www.facebook.com/jordan.shelby.585/posts/771264353080302
Looks like I don’t have permission to see that… maybe set it as public.
Maybe try the link now?
Works! And oh man you are so right, they are completely identical!
We should be getting his DNA testing back within the next couple of weeks and I will let you know exactly what it shows!
This is not a catahoula/rottie.
This is an ACD/Heeler mix.
I have a dog that looks just like this and the parents were a pure German Shorthair Pointer and Blue Heeler.
Yeah, I’m not quite as sold on the catahoula thing as I was back in 2010 when I first posted that. I think he looks a lot like a blue heeler mix.
I believe this dog is Catahoula crossed with blue healer, and I only see Catahoula in the shape of the dogs. Head coloring is pure healer.
I would totally believe that. I’ve gotten a lot better at guessing breeds since I posted this guy.