New Playmate For My Pup!

[Coconana]

Hey guys! I got the best present ever from my fiancé last Saturday... We gave our gifts early (though his has yet to arrive in the mail), and packed up our 6 year old Border Collie female (named Skeezix) to go find her a four-legged friend at a local dog rescue. We'd been talking about getting another dog ever since we moved into our new house, and I'm proud to say that we found a wonderful companion that everybody loves!

Meet Maverick, our 1 year old Shepherd/Husky mix male. Skeez walked right up to him at the center, sniffed him once, and was cool from then on out --even when he accidentally sat on her during their first stroll, haha. We brought him home on Saturday, December 19th.

Below the two photos is a video of them playing together in the kitchen. Mav is surprisingly gentle with those big paws! He's a relaxed and laid-back guy, and we've had absolutely no issues with him so far.. He certainly does steal your heart with that big sweet face of his though.

This guy's very sweet (oftentimes more well behaved than my high strung BC! ), and his favorite pastime seems to be kicking back and taking naps. They did tell us he had some separation anxiety (as well as that high-pitched Husky bark), which I don't blame him much for, given that he's been bounced around to several homes in his year of life. People who lived in apartments kept adopting him for some reason... He is not an apartment guy by any means.

Thankfully, my fiancé is an accredited dog trainer, so we're actively working through his anxiety together. It's not as bad as they made it out to be, though he does like to yip and yaw whenever he gets very excited.

Skeezix gets along famously with him, which is honestly a dream come true for me. She's been the 'only child' for the near 7 years that I've owned here, and she's a bit.. well, socially awkward with other dogs. My one requirement for getting another dog was that Skeezix had to approve. Maverick handles her playful roughhousing like a charm, and she helps to keep him on track with training.

Both of them are very food driven, which is both a bit of a blessing and a curse. We watch them whenever they're eating (at opposite ends of the kitchen/dining room), as I know that Skeezix would likely try to push him off of his bowl if we didn't tell her to leave it, and I'm not sure how he'd react. He's pretty calm and relaxed about sharing toys, but I really wouldn't want his buttons to be pushed in that department. Both of them deserve to eat in relative peace.

All in all, Maverick is a handsome guy, and he's quickly growing on me with his lovely personality. I'm so glad that he's fitting into our family well, and I'm excited to share many long years with him!

Thanks for taking a peek guys! I just had to share our Banana Boat

 

[The Snark]

That's one darned ugly invert. Oh wait...
I suspect you've got some Sammy in it's ancestry. Samoyed-Husky crosses are very common. Love those radar dish ears. Now you should work on your names a tad. Don't want them to develop complexes. Professional help is expensive!

 

[EDED]

good looking dog

my rescues took almost two years to develop strong trust with me.

I think maverick will take less than that thanks to you , dog trainer fiancee and Skeeeezix haha

 

[Ellenantula]

I liked your post but forgot to say congratulations on handsome new addition! I miss having a dog so much!

 

[cold blood]

They certainly seem to enjoy one another's company....I love watching dogs play.

 

[pitbulllady]

That's NOT a "Shepherd x Husky mix", lol! Shelters seldom accurately ID dogs, and most dogs of this breed that wind up in shelters or rescues automatically get "Shepherd x Husky" or "Shepherd x Lab" labels put on them. Congratulations, you've got yourself a Carolina Dog, aka "American Dingo", one of the oldest and most primitive breeds on the planet, direct descendants of the dogs brought across the Bering Land Bridge by the first Americans, confirmed by extensive DNA analysis(NOT the kind you buy to find what breeds are in your dog)! Many Carolina Dogs are shipped from shelters down South to rescues up North. That odd, high-pitched bark you mentioned is a Carolina Dog characteristic, along with a lot of other idiosyncrasies. All of these primitive dogs-the Australian Dingo, Thai Dingo(ask Snark about those), Carolina Dogs, Akita Inus, Jindo Kae, etc., are basically variations on a theme, as Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin so eloquently put it. Note that his coat texture and length is nothing like either a Siberian Husky or a German Shepherd. One of my first Carolina Dogs, a wild-caught male named "Duff", whose photo appears in Bruce Fogle's Encyclopedia of the Dog, was nearly identical to your dog. The original ARBA and UKC breed standards were based on him. My current Carolina Dog, a 4 1/2 month-old male, also wild-caught, is a darker shade of ginger, though.

 

[The Snark]

OP, IMHO for what it is worth, temperament and how the animal acts speaks more volumes that all the breeding papers and guesses in the world. You can also roughly judge the lineage in the ancient wolf-dingo-on out ladder by certain traits and habits. Like Huskies sometimes sing ala Akita - dingo.

PBL, where does Samoyed fit on that ladder?

 

[pitbulllady]

OP, IMHO for what it is worth, temperament and how the animal acts speaks more volumes that all the breeding papers and guesses in the world. You can also roughly judge the lineage in the ancient wolf-dingo-on out ladder by certain traits and habits. Like Huskies sometimes sing ala Akita - dingo.

PBL, where does Samoyed fit on that ladder?

According to the canine genomic study, the Samoyed is not as ancient as breeders have long claimed, at least, the modern version of the breed isn't, and it's quite different from the original dogs from Siberia. The Samoyed has had a lot of herding breeds integrated into its gene pool over the years, which would make sense, given that it was primarily a herding breed. It falls right between the Lhasa Apso and Pekingese, surprisingly, in terms of its placement on the domestic dog family tree. Right at the very bottom, among the AKC breeds, are the Shiba Inu, Akita Inu and Chow Chow, the closest you can get to the Dingo in terms of AKC breeds. The Carolina Dog is right there with them, even though it's not accepted by AKC(thank goodness).

 

[The Snark]

Thanks PBL.
I just looked at that first pic on this thread with a blearly half awakeness going. Glancing unfocused at that pic it screamed dingo. Just the overall shape and alertness. It's funny how the ancient ancestors still make their presence known.
I'm still trying to figure out where why how the much thicker muzzle-nose came into things.

I'm going to have chuckles for weeks now recalling an ex girlfriend who extolled the perfect conformation of her pedigree samoyeds. If I only knew then... "Yeah yeah. Nice bastard pekes you got there."

 

[pitbulllady]

Here's my buddy, "Hector", now 4 1/2 months old, shortly after I got him. He was born into a wild pack in east TX. Yes, Texas. The name, "Carolina Dog", was given to these dogs by the first biologist to study them in-depth and recognize that they weren't run-of-the-mill feral mutts, Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratories and UGA, and since the dogs he was studying, and later domesticated, were in South Carolina, that's what he called them. They are found throughout the country usually in close association with current or recent Native American settlements. Many excellent specimens have been found on Navajo reservations as well as with the Miccosukee people down in Florida. Carefully-buried skeletal dog remains whose DNA matches modern Carolina Dogs have been found in known Clovis settlements. Hector is extremely intelligent, but also has that strong independent and stubborn streak that all dogs in this family express.

 

[cold blood]

That's NOT a "Shepherd x Husky mix", lol! Shelters seldom accurately ID dogs, and most dogs of this breed that wind up in shelters or rescues automatically get "Shepherd x Husky" or "Shepherd x Lab" labels put on them. Congratulations, you've got yourself a Carolina Dog, aka "American Dingo", one of the oldest and most primitive breeds on the planet, direct descendants of the dogs brought across the Bering Land Bridge by the first Americans, confirmed by extensive DNA analysis(NOT the kind you buy to find what breeds are in your dog)! Many Carolina Dogs are shipped from shelters down South to rescues up North. That odd, high-pitched bark you mentioned is a Carolina Dog characteristic, along with a lot of other idiosyncrasies. All of these primitive dogs-the Australian Dingo, Thai Dingo(ask Snark about those), Carolina Dogs, Akita Inus, Jindo Kae, etc., are basically variations on a theme, as Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin so eloquently put it. Note that his coat texture and length is nothing like either a Siberian Husky or a German Shepherd. One of my first Carolina Dogs, a wild-caught male named "Duff", whose photo appears in Bruce Fogle's Encyclopedia of the Dog, was nearly identical to your dog. The original ARBA and UKC breed standards were based on him. My current Carolina Dog, a 4 1/2 month-old male, also wild-caught, is a darker shade of ginger, though.

I thought similarly, but didn't really think the breed mattered to the op so I didn't mention it, although I did think about it.

There are several dogs I see a lot where the owners have no clue what they have, thinking they are mixed breeds when in fact they aren't, its just what a shelter guessed....breeds like the black mouthed cur, the plott hound, Catahoula leopard dog and walkers (coonhound) immediately come to mind.

So what's the size variance of the Carolinas? Yours seems MUCH smaller than the op unless its just perspective....I actually thought the ops dog looks like a shepard yellow lab mix, but you could well be dead on as I'm not nearly as well versed in the Carolina dogs.

 

[pitbulllady]

I thought similarly, but didn't really think the breed mattered to the op so I didn't mention it, although I did think about it.

There are several dogs I see a lot where the owners have no clue what they have, thinking they are mixed breeds when in fact they aren't, its just what a shelter guessed....breeds like the black mouthed cur, the plott hound, Catahoula leopard dog and walkers (coonhound) immediately come to mind.

So what's the size variance of the Carolinas? Yours seems MUCH smaller than the op unless its just perspective....I actually thought the ops dog looks like a shepard yellow lab mix, but you could well be dead on as I'm not nearly as well versed in the Carolina dogs.

My puppy was just a little over 3 months old when those photos were taken, while the OP's dog is an adult, so yeah, mine is a lot smaller right now, lol. Size variance is about the same as that of a Siberian Husky, 30-50 pounds typical for females and 40-65 for males.

 

[The Snark]

Completely off and hijacking the subject. Anyone ever seen a true husky Tibetan mastiff cross? I saw a couple the other day. Extremely fussy diligent breeder guy. Looks exactly Husky down to the ruff, standing nearly 3 feet at the shoulder. WHOA! What the heck is that??

 

[Coconana]

Oh man!! Well, first of all, a giant thank you to everyone that took interest in and commented on this post! Reading through everything's been insightful and heartwarming

Breed matters little to nill for us, although it's written down in his files from his original breeder that one of his parents was of heavy German Shepherd influence, which I'm guessing is why they labeled him a Shepherd mix. Maverick is a solid 85Ibs (perhaps still growing), and my Border Collie is only about 35Ibs in comparison (Eastern OR area, bred to be smaller sizes for the agility required to work on cattle). The bark is incredibly high pitched when he's barking from anxiousness, and the vocal patterns he produces sound exactly like Huskies that I've worked with, though I've honestly got little to no clue what he is aside from (at least a diluted) part Shepherd. His fur's texture reminds me of my elk hide, which is.. really even more confusing, haha! That head is bigger than mine, and it truly is as thick as it looks, though his tail curves only very slightly upwards when he's excited. When its at rest, it's straight and hangs either semi-erect, or down.

I'd be interested to know what exactly he is, if only for the sake of learning which breeds he gets which characteristics from. Most of the time he's a rug with legs that likes to pass out at the nearest available patch of free space, and he's pretty solid when it comes to seeing new people and places, though it takes a lot of determination and patience to get him out of an anxious funk when you close the bathroom door and he thinks you've disappeared into the toilet forever.

In any case, we're happy to have him! He's still not near as bad as the rescue made him out to be

 

[The Snark]

1 year, 85 lbs. Could easily top 100 with muscle development. Yo PBL, sounds like it's got heavy equipment in it's ancestry. Venture another guess?