Dutch Shepherd Forum

Well, my name is Will, and I adopted a "Shepherd Mix" named Alpha when he was 9 weeks old. Although we knew he was Shepherd (thinking Dutch) we decided to get him a DNA test to be sure, and I'm glad I have a good sense of humor, because if not- I would be pretty mad right now.

Apparently Alpha, my 12 week old, 25 LB rescued Shepherd Mixis part Corgi and part Maltese... LOL

I understand that Mars does not have Dutch Shepherd in their data-base and that could be why the results are so crazy. Unless I really do have a Shepherd Mix with NO SHEPHERD in his DNA

What do you guys think? Has anyone had results like this?

Here is a screenshot of the results:
And here are some pics of Alpha ranging from when I adopted him (mange, malnourished, food aggressive, etc) to the sweet pup he is now.

Accidentally clicked Submit instead of Preview!

More Pictures!

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww25 ... v7x1sf.jpg

I think the results are much more accurate than whomever told you Alpha was a Shepherd X. I see absolutely no shepherd what so ever in him and certainly no Dutch. At the end of the day you rescued him so don't give a flying F what he is. Have fun with him, train him up and give him a good life. It gets kinda repetitive of people coming here asking" What do you think". If you want a Dutch get one from a reputable breeder or a Dutch Rescue!

MultiPurposeK9 wrote:I think the results are much more accurate than whomever told you Alpha was a Shepherd X. I see absolutely no shepherd what so ever in him and certainly no Dutch. At the end of the day you rescued him so don't give a flying F what he is. Have fun with him, train him up and give him a good life. It gets kinda repetitive of people coming here asking" What do you think". If you want a Dutch get one from a reputable breeder or a Dutch Rescue!

Although these pictures aren't too flattering (especially now that his ears went back up) everyone who has seen him including 4 vets and the rescue we got him from. Day shepherd.

Also, I adopted him, saved his life and that's all that matters. I don't really care what he is but I did want to get a basis as to know which direction I want to go with training and ability. Idk about you, but I don't see corgi/ Maltese in a tall, lean, puppy but you never know!

I'll try to post some more pictures soon.

hes still beautiful whatever he is i hope you have alot of fun with him! the fact no shepherd/ large erect eared breed shows up at all with those ears is odd even if the dna test itself is extremely unreliable. the coat reminds me of a black malinois in there somewhere, with some lab or something? its a real mystery.

"It gets kinda repetitive of people coming here asking" What do you think". If you want a Dutch get one from a reputable breeder or a Dutch Rescue!"
roger theres nothing wrong with people asking if their dog has any DS in them and certainly nothing wrong with being curious about a rescues origins.
by that logic youd be quite confused as to why the "photographs" section has alot of photos and the "rescue" has alot of queries about rescue, the is a section on this forum titled "is my canine a dutch shepherd" for exactly the same reason. theres nothing wrong with anyone asking and no one should feel put out for doing so.
the majority of posts of this nature on the forum are people who have gotten a random dog from a shelter not even knowing what a DS is and then later on got curious, not someone who purposely looks for a dutch.
aside from that its unlikely every DS will end up in a DS rescue if its abandoned, considering how few there are compared to the number of local high kill shelters.
on another note your new DS pup is also extremely cute!

I must say, William, that you have the best looking Maltese I've EVER seen. He's seriously cute. From the photo on the red couch, he looks like a big, lovable goof whose favorite things include a good run, a good cuddle, and a good nap (but maybe with a good bedtime story first).

How's training going?

cordeliandemon wrote:hes still beautiful whatever he is i hope you have alot of fun with him! the fact no shepherd/ large erect eared breed shows up at all with those ears is odd even if the dna test itself is extremely unreliable. the coat reminds me of a black malinois in there somewhere, with some lab or something? its a real mystery.

"It gets kinda repetitive of people coming here asking" What do you think". If you want a Dutch get one from a reputable breeder or a Dutch Rescue!"
roger theres nothing wrong with people asking if their dog has any DS in them and certainly nothing wrong with being curious about a rescues origins.
by that logic youd be quite confused as to why the "photographs" section has alot of photos and the "rescue" has alot of queries about rescue, the is a section on this forum titled "is my canine a dutch shepherd" for exactly the same reason. theres nothing wrong with anyone asking and no one should feel put out for doing so.
the majority of posts of this nature on the forum are people who have gotten a random dog from a shelter not even knowing what a DS is and then later on got curious, not someone who purposely looks for a dutch.
aside from that its unlikely every DS will end up in a DS rescue if its abandoned, considering how few there are compared to the number of local high kill shelters.
on another note your new DS pup is also extremely cute!

Thanks for that!

I''ve read over that comment a few times and honestly, that enrages me. Yes, If I wanted a Dutch Shepherd that is correct, but as you can see I rescued him. He was malnourished, had mange, and nobody wanted him because he was "food aggressive" (aka starving), and in my opinion, I would much rather save a Mutt's life, than pay a breeder. The only reason I am asking people's opinions on his origin, is because my training regime for a DS would be much different from the one of a lab. It's not about loving his less or more, it's about giving him the life that his breed would prefer.

Now, in the future, a DS or Malanois is definitely in my plans, and if I want a pure bred, I will go to a reputable breeder.

Raven wrote:I must say, William, that you have the best looking Maltese I've EVER seen. He's seriously cute. From the photo on the red couch, he looks like a big, lovable goof whose favorite things include a good run, a good cuddle, and a good nap (but maybe with a good bedtime story first).

How's training going?

You pretty much hit the nail right on the head

He's very very smart. Sit, stay, down, high five, paw, come, etc were a breeze!

We are now working on "focus" and once he gets a little bigger I'm going to start agility training with him.

That is, unless he is a corgi maltese and he is now full size at 12 weeks old and will always be as clumsy as he is now

I must say he is a very handsome pup. I think it's great that people want to know what type of pup they have. I know if I adopted a pup I would be curious as well.

I love the pic of him staring at the stuffed animals, like he sizing them up and trying to decide which one to grab.

Yeah, I'm taking bets on how long that wall-o-toys stays up.

williamlevantovsky wrote:clumsy as he is now

THAT'S the word I was looking to include. Yep. Clumsy.

Puppies are hard to ID anyways as growing keeps features shifting and changing. I would say enjoy him, have a blast, and train him how he wants/needs to be trained and that's all that matters. For now I would be okay saying there some some sort of shepherd in there, whether as part of a Heinz 57 mix, a shepherd mix, or something completely different... Time will tell. Agility will be a blast! You could probably build a few PVC things and take tarps and buckets and such and use them as a playground/environmental exercises. Also start working on rear end awareness which is never too early to start on! He's so freaking adorable I cannot stand it!

EDIT: I was going to add the reason why DNA panels are so unpredictable is sometimes the handling/shipping of the sample gets deteriorated via heat, bad collecting practice, or sometimes if the dog has eaten/drank from a shared bowl those mess up the analysis. Basically the DNA is separated then analyzed and fragments are matched up to a databank - however, from what I gather, the markers and positions aren't very accurate, and if the databank isn't very accurate, you get basically a computer with a few different possible answers that runs analysis on which is the best, which may not be the best. Plus genetically speaking there isn't a whole LOT of difference between a mal and a maltese and a lab and corgi.... just a few genes expressed differently or not expressed or mutated... they all have the same basic structure...

I just can't get over how fucking cute he is with those ears and that face!

And LOL at the wisdom panel results, but I'm not surprised at all. haha.

We clearly welcome people asking if their dogs might be DSD or mixed DSD since we have a whole board just for that!

I love the pics, thank you for sharing him with us!

UPDATE:

I emailed my concern to Mars, and was pleasantly surprised at the response I got. My concern was sent to the Vet/ Scientist and his DNA was reanalyzed "using an expanded panel of 1,877 markers on one of our research algorithms (as compared to the 321 markers used in our commercial testing). "

Turns out the "This algorithm confirmed the presence of the Chow and Labrador as originally reported, though on review, they are more accurately reported at the great-grandparent level. The Keeshond and Maltese appear to be attempts to represent the Ancient ancestral group, making them likely false positives for some additional ancestry from this group. Similarly, the Corgi appears to have been a false positive for the herding family; the German Shepherd is showing to be a better match from this group"

Alpha turned out to be about 45% German Shepherd, 20% Lab, 20% bully (pit, Amstaff) and the rest was too mixed to tell.

This result makes much more sense as I do see all of these breeds.

I have to say, although I am taking the results with a grain of salt, I am pretty happy and can't wait to see how he turns out.

-Will

He is adorable! I totally see a Shepherd/Lab mix (and for the record, that was before I read all the way through to the end). Thank you for rescuing!

I see no maltese or corgi in that dog. At three months and 25 pounds according to puppychart.com he'll weigh 63 pounds as an adult if he is a Dutch Shepherd- which would put him on the small side. Only time will tell.