Take a look at this dog....?

[Suki Wingy]

ok, so I know this will confuse a lot of PTers, just seeing this picture, what breed/mix would you think this dog is?

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sometimes people are blinede by the "spots" which are actually tick marks

[cmayer31]

It's hard to judge his side but I'll say Dane/Lab?

[borzoimom]

How big is the dog? Could be white shepherd/ amer.staff...

[Suki Wingy]

50 lbs, 20 inches at the withers (or so)

[borzoimom]

50 lbs, 20 inches at the withers (or so)

20 inches is short for a shepherd .. even a dalmation- but not for a staffy.. I am looking mostly at the outline of the jaw is why staffy type keeps coming up. Hmmmm... Maybe lab/staffy.. but white??.. hmmm..

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

He reminds me so much of my sisters dog, Chester, who is a Blue Heeler mix.

[animal_rescue]

I definitely don't see any dal!

There's something in there, something that looks waaaay familiar, I just can't put my finger on it.

[dreamparkingspace]

It almost looks like it might have a little shar pei in the face in my opinion, so I suppose my guess is dalmatian/shar pei mix, but that's a really tough one. I could be way off. I have a lab/shar pei mix (peibrador) and other than the color your dog resembles its face and body somewhat.

Here's a pic of a dalmatian/shar pei mix (sharmatian) -- http://www.dirty-dog.com/petey.JPG.

[BC_MoM]

Quite honestly, those DNA tests are bogus. Someone with a purebred BC sent off some DNA once and it came back as a CHIHUAHUA. They are a waste of money, IMO.

What about a Staffy/Blue Heeler? Or some type of bully breed/Heeler.

[keeppitsalive]

i would say border collie dalmation mix ialso have a dog and im not sure what he is how much does dna testing cost?

[Suki Wingy]

Usually around $150.

[shepgirl]

White shepherd with blue tick hound? Or somebody tried to create one of those panda shepherds and missed the boat....

[SemaviLady]

This mystery dog is extreme white spotted. So it immediately rules all solid breeds as one of the parents.

He also seems to have flying nun ears, which genetically suggests a mixing of parents with different ear sets. Eg., an up-earred parent, rose ears and one with flop ears or mixed breed parents - resulting in indeterminate ears carriage of the adult.

On ticking...
Ticking is genetically dominant but the manner in which spots are distributed is controlled genetically in a sort of 'plus' vs 'minus' way.

Belton colored (like English Setters) and intensely speckled German Short Hairs are ticked. Because these breeds are pintos you can see the speckles in white areas. Since the trait is dominant, only one parent needs carry it. Collies and Springer spaniels have ticks too, but breeders tend to select for white ruffs around the neck so the appearance is cleaner in most lines. But crossing with another breed can cause offspring to have different ticking traits. (Solid dogs can be ticked too, but since they have no white markings, the ticking is hidden)

The color black is dominant over brown or chocolate. So one parent could have been a chocolate breed that carries belton spotting - so don't rule out a parent that has traits similar to a GSP.

Since the mystery dog is short coated, which is dominant, then either parent could have been long coated.

When doing breed ID based on color and morphology of the dog, it is useful to understand color genetics in the dog. So this analysis rules out several breeds and introduces possible parents that haven't been mentioned yet.

Many mixed breeds are mixes of other mixes, and the genetic QTLs for behavior can be very unpredictable in mixed breeds. So just because one parent is a herding breed and other is a hunting breed, the puppy may have behaviors that clash in a confused way, or have no specialized traits from either parent.