New puppy in our family!

[Loki-dokey]

Hello all! I've been lurking around here for some of my research before pup came to us, and now he's here! I'm so excited to be able to post and chat with other animal fams!

Loki has a sister-cat and they're still getting to know each other (there is still some barking and hissing - but it's waaaay less! yay!) as well as 3 human sibs. Loki is a rescued pup with a sad family beginning, and is estimated to be about 4 months old - his mama seemed to be a husky/collie cross, and his dad is unknown. If anyone has ideas about what his other breeds might be, I'm open to hearing ideas! His paws are biggish and is projected to be about 70 - 75lbs. His black fur is shiny and smooth with a ripple down his back, and his tail fur seems to twist along until it ends with a little fray (SO cute - do all tails do this?), he has a white patch on his chest and he seems to wear brown socks and brown blush on his cheeks.



Looking forward to more chatting!

[Loki Love]

Welcome!

Maybe your puppers has a bit of lab in him? He sure is cute

We have a Loki too (same colouring as yours too - well, nearly!) although my Lokster may be a tad larger than your puppy at the moment

[Lynne&Co.]

Seriously cute puppy! Congratulations to you for taking on a rescue. With him being only four months old you will have a fairly "blank slate" to work with in terms of training.

[Barkingdog]

He looks like he could be part Great Dane to me , and he is very handsome.

[Longblades]

You'll never know for sure though you'll be able to guess better when he is full grown. Behavioural traits can be a clue as well as appearance. But, speaking of appearance, the way you describe his tail sounds Lab. A well bred Lab has an otter tail, the hair will be wrapped around the tail and the little frayed part at the end is called their twizzle.

You know, if we had more pictures we could guess better. Hint.

[lindapalm]

When I was at the vets last week they told me that they now can send a sample in and let you know what breeds your dog is. I was very surprised that he offers such a thing.

[Longblades]

Originally Posted by lindapalm

When I was at the vets last week they told me that they now can send a sample in and let you know what breeds your dog is. I was very surprised that he offers such a thing.

You don't have to go through your Vet. DNA testing for breed has been around for a while now. It's not an exact science.

[Loki-dokey]

Haha Loki Love - yes - and I suspect your Loki will *remain* a tad bigger than my Loki. How big is your guy? I'm guessing more than 70-75lbs!

Thanks for your replies. He has a lab-y quality about him, and his toes are (imho) very webbed, but I have very little to go on. If your dogs will let you, can you post a pic of the in-between their toes? I'm curious as to whether my Loki's toes are as webbed as I think (again, maybe all dogs feet look like my guy's, I have next-to-no experience to draw on and when I googled Dogs Toes a whole bunch of things were burned into my retinas that now I cannot unsee )

I saw in another thread that there is DNA testing, but sometimes the results are skewed. Since my Loki has at least 2 gens of mix (I mean, I s'pose his dad could have been a purebreed, but I highly doubt it) I wonder how accurate it would be...

[Dog Dancer]

Your little Loki is adorable (like big Loki - :-) ) I see lab in there to be honest. Doesn't matter, he's cute and you're gonna love him and vice-versa. Good luck and have fun.

[Loki-dokey]

You're right - it doesn't really matter what his mixes are, I was just wondering about it so I might be able to better anticipate his size (eek! 75lbs!) and how to better cater to his particular breed's traits/behaviours.

Because he is my first dog (ever!) I can't tell if I'm expecting too much-too soon, or if he's super bright and then gets bored easily, or if he's not as bright and I'm pushing him too hard.

Maybe I'll take this question into the dog training section...

[Longblades]

No, your questions are good. Knowing the breed can help you to tailor training techniques to the breed traits. Some breeds are generally "soft" some are "stubborn" and some, like Border Collies, should come with warnings that the dog might be smarter than the owner, LOL. Really, you make one wrong click with your clicker training with a Border Collie and you might just have reinforced the wrong thing but the darn dog is so smart now he's learned the wrong thing.

But within breeds temperaments vary. My Lab is from show lines, supposedly a bit lower key than field bred Labs. But he is a high energy dog, sold to me with the warning that he would be a challenge and he has been. While my first Lab from show lines practically asked permission to breath and seemingly lived only to please me this boy is more of a "why should I? What's in it for me?" type dog.

No matter the breed we all still have to work with the dog we've got and some of their traits may not jive with the norm for the breed. We have to be observant and watch what the dog tells us. I hope you are in classes already? Obedience classes will help you, if this is your first dog you'll need help. And it's fun.

[Loki-dokey]

Thanks Longblades.

Yes, we're in training and it's been so helpful - and I hear what you're saying: even if I was sure he was husky, he may be one of those huskies who are chill and don't like to go for long runs (I mean, I'm sure there are some out there, right!) so it doesn't super matter what breeds he's got.

We're all just trying to roll along and figure each other out.

[hazelrunpack]

Goodness, he's adorable!!

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Loki-dokey

Thanks Longblades.

Yes, we're in training and it's been so helpful - and I hear what you're saying: even if I was sure he was husky, he may be one of those huskies who are chill and don't like to go for long runs (I mean, I'm sure there are some out there, right!) so it doesn't super matter what breeds he's got.

We're all just trying to roll along and figure each other out.

Can you take a photo of your dog standing up so we can get better idea what he looks like?

[Loki-dokey]

Thanks Barkingdog - I'm working on it!

He's always sniffing the floor when I'm trying to take his pic, or he moves his head or starts to walk away. I have many lovely rear-end pics!

Any tips to get a steady, standing profile shot?

[Winston]

Someone holding a treat in front of him while you snap away the pic!

[Longblades]

Originally Posted by Loki-dokey

Thanks Barkingdog - I'm working on it!

He's always sniffing the floor when I'm trying to take his pic, or he moves his head or starts to walk away. I have many lovely rear-end pics!

Any tips to get a steady, standing profile shot?

If you move on in obedience or rally and lots of other things you will need your dog to STAY in a certain position. I started from SIT and was taught to sweep my hand palm to his face, say STAND, rotate to stand directly in front, wait a second, rotate back to heel, release. Work up on the time you stand in front to around ten seconds. Next step back one step, reduce the time, lather, rinse, repeat. Every time you up one step reduce the time a bit. Work up by two steps back, then three, then the length of the leash, which you are still holding, next drop the leash, remember reduce the time a bit. Next a step back from the end of the leash lying on the floor. And so on.

If you read through all that be reassured it's much easier to learn when your obedience teacher is showing you in class.

A standing STAY is hard for a lot of dogs. First you teach the stand, then the stay, which he already understands from the above. It will be new to him when in a different position so back up on the times again but the second time around usually goes faster. Oh, we did a down stay before a stand stay.

For some reason the dog I have now picked up STAND really, really quickly so I'm not sure I can tell you. All I did was stop walking, told him STAND before he could do anything, quickly released and then moved up in time. A foot with toes pointing up under his belly helped if he started to sag into a sit (which I hadn't asked for but that is one drawback of some obedience, they are supposed to sit automatically when you stop walking whereas in Rally they are not).

Really, it's much easier in class and I am not an instructor.

[Loki-dokey]

This is the best i could do this day.

Even though the second one is blurry, I hope you can see the shape of his head, and in the first, the shape of his body.

He's often thought to be part lab, and although his mama was quite black and white with a pointier face, I'm not seeing any of her shaggy-ness (yet?). His leg colour and socks really remind me of a rottie, but they don't look as thick and robust as what I traditionally consider rottie-like.

Hope these pics help!
Thanks for looking and thinking of us!

[Dog Dancer]

He's super adorable. He looks tall.