Can you help me to identify my dog's breed?

[Lougle]

Long and short of it is that we bought a 'Staffy'. We did try to go to a rescue initially, but all the rescues in a reasonable distance only had dogs suitable for over 8s/over 10s.

When he was very small, a fried said 'long nose for a staffy'. But, we'd seen both Mum & Dad (we thought) at the house when we went to look at him.

I'll be honest - as soon as I walked in to the house I knew that this was not a proper 'breeder'. They were far more interested in their £200 than even telling me what food he should eat. In fact, gut feeling, he probably hadn't been fed proper dog food because I asked the question about diet 5 seperate times. Also, their dosing schedule for worming was way out. I digress.

He is a beautiful dog. He is eager to please (although cast iron stubborn if his mind is set on it), loves nothing more than to cuddle up and sleep beside us. Great with the children, as much as a bouncy puppy can be, etc. I have no complaints, except that toilet training is proving difficult.

Patch is 22 weeks old now, and the difference between his appearance, build, etc., and what I was expecting for a pure Staff is wide.

He is much taller than I'd expect, he's already 12kg, he is much more long and narrow than I thought he'd be, and his head is quite fine featured - no pronounced cheek bones, no huge 'staffy smile' but a narrower jaw.

I've uploaded photos of the beautiful Patch, and wondered if any of you could hazard a guess?

Key points:

Loves food
Loves being brushed
Loves belly rubs
Loves having toys thrown
Starting to 'retrieve' a bit, but often will just go to the toy then walk away.
HATES WITH A PASSION water. Won't willing step outside if there is a drop of rain in the sky. I had to be rescued in the shower because he was so determined to get away that he pulled me over.
Often stands with one paw raised if he's seen something in the distance, or heard something.
Tail is bent under body if upset/reluctant to do something. Straight out at times, pointing in the air if excited.
Incredibly agile and fast.

Thanks ;D

You see why I am suspecting that the two pure Staffys I saw on the day I got Patch weren't both his parents?

With no proof that the dog 2 dogs you saw are the actual parents, it's almost impossible to say. However, I agree that there looks like there could be a hefty dose of JRT going on there. Daddy may not have been the dog you were shown. Daddy may have been a Staffy x JRT. That wouldn't necessarily result in a smaller dog as crossbreeds often actually end up taller (leggier) than either of parent breeds

Certainly the colour, markings and ear set (especially in the younger puppy pics) are far more typically JRT than Staff. Given that they didn't show much concern for how the pup was reared, fed etc then it's not a major stretch to think that 'Mum' may not have been terribly closely supervised and could have been mated by anything and everything during her season and Daddy could be any number of local dogs. Pups in the same litter can have different fathers if the bitch has been mated by multiple dogs during her fertile period so the dog you saw could have been Daddy to some but not all of the pups. Or none of them.

I WOULD stay JRT Staffie for sure!

I agree, AEM. Just a note...all those pictures are from this week. In fact, all but one are from today.

I'm simply intrigued, that's all. I thought I wanted a Staffy, and to be fair, I haven't ever owned one, so I don't know what it would be like, but I do know that the dog I've got is the best thing since sliced bread

In fact, it's worked out quite well, because I'd always had large breed dogs as a child (mainly GSDs) but couldn't have one because we were living in a small house. So I thought that a Staffy was a good compromise - a solid dog like a large breed, but smaller than a large breed.

We were then given the opportunity to move to a larger house, which is more than ample sized for a sligtly larger dog that we may have got.

You can send a DNA sample and find out exactly if you are that interested and have money to spare!

Aaah...thought he looked younger in the 3rd pic down. Must just be a deceptive camera angle making him look smaller.

We were in the same position a few years back. We were told our donkey crossbreed was Lab X by the people who wanted rid of him. he was 5 months old and did indeed look very Lab-like. And then he grew. And grew. And grew...into something that looked very much more like a Rottweiler X. Which he indeed turned out to be (we found out where he came from and had it confirmed). No issue to us as I love Rotts and would take one over a Lab any day. I didn't care what he was to be honest...he just needed a home. But I think his previous owners thought declaring his Rottie genes would put us off.

id say JRT with staffie...

though the spots on him....hmmm...spose staffies can have head spots.

Patch is so gorgeous! I only know about JRTs, but he looks like a Parsons JRT Staffie cross...

Being a Parsons would account for the height. Although it would only make him a bit taller than a Staffie, I think. Our first JRT was much shorter.

JRTs are fab but have to have plenty of stuff to play with in order to entertain themselves. Our lovely girl loves things to chew and play with, throwing games, etc. Give him plenty of stuff to chew and roll round, throw in the air etc. We have a fabric fox she loves, and she loves yoghurt pots - one of her favourite things is an empty fizzy pop bottle, she runs round with the neck in her mouth and then wrestles with it and "kills" it. She also throws her ball to herself and pushes stuff through the baby gate so we can throw it back to her.

I will put a pic of ours on my profile for comparison...

Good luck with gorgeous lovely Patch!

He's very cute, whatever he is .

I think his markings are JRT all the way. Parson Jack Russells can be quite tall. PJRT X Staffie is my guess.

I agree - Staffie JRT X.

Pure JRT heads are not so broad and their noses are narrower/longer. He also looks to have quite a strong "wide" jaw (or is he just a smiler??).

He is fab - whatever!!!!

He l

Oh yes, he is gorgeous - there's no denying that

Just had to comment, my Dylan loved empty pop bottles and yogurt pots too!

So much so that this has been passed down, to my mum's Standard Poodle (he was a pup when Dylan was PTS) and then on to my Pip, my lovely xlab. She would quite happily sacrifice her own breath for an empty pop bottle or yogurt pot!!

Dylan love orange skins too - he would peel the pith from the skin. I remember he would be in my face if I was eating an orange, so funny!

Had forgotten about this thread, got a bit glum about other stuff, and then saw it again.

10 years after Dilly-dogs was PTS and he still manages to bring a smile to my face :')

Patch loves having stuff thrown for him. DH bought him a soft squeaky duck, which he adores, but he 'loved' it so much that the duck was facing decapitation.

I lovingly decided that a risky operation was worth a try to save a beloved family member so did a full chest repair and neck reattachment. It was only as I handed Patch his ducky that I saw he only had one foot

Unfortunately, ducky is a dead ducky now. The squeak was too intriguing for Patch and he had to get it out, which he did with great skill. Of course, the squeak still squeaked once it was out, which confused him, so he attacked that to try and get to the 'real squeak'. It doesn't squeak any more

I am going to go aginst the crowd and say he looks just like a 5mo Stafford should imo. Lots of dogs have 'crazy ears' when young and may not settle into the correct shape until a year old. All his behaviour traits sound like typical Stafford too, mine was a brilliant retriever, lots of Staffords excel at flyball, the terrier in them means they love to chase and catch stuff, it just need harnessing so they bring it back

Most boy Staffords do not reach full bulk and muscle until somewhere between two and four and never, if they are neutered too young, most go through some very odd rangy stages between four and eighteen months. His weight and size sounds just right for his age, check out the standard for what to expect at maturity, if you are at all interested the red and white dog at the bottom of the page is Acrestaff Six Jacks, who was my dogs dad.

He looks a lot like my Stafford as a baby who was also red and white, there were puppies in his litter with very similar markings to yours, red is a more unusual Stafford colour, but perfectly acceptable.

I was quite heavily involved in the breed at one time and used to help at ringcraft, my dog was bred from parents who did very well at Crufts. I wish I had photos I could show you but I don't have a scanner and all his early pics are just prints (pre digital age).

That's interesting GoblersKnob. Thank you. I am intrigued. He just seems so tall already. The link didn't work, although I managed to track it down, but I couldn't find the picture of Acrestaff Six Jacks - I'd love to see it.

Hmmm, doesn't work does it, have no idea why.

Try putting this www.staffords.co.uk/sbtbc/standard.htm into google, then clicking on the first link, think that will work. Pics are at the bottom.

Another vote for JRTxStaffie here. That is what we have got and your lovely photos are very similar to the daft creature who is currently trying to persude me to share my bacon sarnie! My dog also has very long legs, much longer than we expected having seen her JRT mum and Staff dad. She also has enormous ears (think donkey!) and we have no idea which side of the family she inherited them from. She runs like a greyhound and took several months to understand the point of fetch but will now retreive a tennis ball/football/kong/etc etc for hours on end. She also likes to sleep under the duvet, curled up round my feet - she sneaks under while we are asleep:)

That is a handsome dog, gk.

I still can't see Patch coming out like any of those, though. He's already so tall.

He looks a bit like a staffie x JRT. Jack Russels aren't always short. But then, I've met some fairly long legged Staffies too.

He's lovely though

Agree with others that he looks like he has lots of jack russell in him as well as some staffie.

He is a lovely looking dog.

at jaffie.

He looks like a lovely dog. Doesn't really matter what he is, as long as you are all happy.

Gobler's comments seem v interesting though. Perhaps he is a staffie that just hasn't bulked out yet -- and a lovely rangey one rather than the overly stocky kind you often see.

Either way, he is lovely. And if he does have JRT or PRT in him, that will be a bonus. I have a PRT and they are brilliant dogs.

I'm already so proud of him . I stole some ideas from The Doghouse for training. We've just moved house and next door has 3 dogs. The JRT is particularly keen to assert himself Patch ignores to a point, then joins in for a bark, but next door's is a bit hammer and tongs.

Bless his heart. A clap of my hands and a stern 'with me' and he scuttles back to the house

My Staffie loves burrowing under the bedclothes! I'm another one who thinks maybe Staffie /JR - there is certainly some Staffie in there.

What a lovely looking pooch! I agree with staffie/JR cross but probably Parsons Jack Russell as they are the long legged type (as others have said). He looks a great character

NOT A JR hes a red cattle dog x staffy