Remember that a DNA test can only test for matches among samples they already have.

From the examples I've heard, the results can be pretty outrageous.

He does have that primitive look about him, and the over the top body language you were comparing to in those videos reminds me a lot of Yote too, he throws his head around and prances like a pony, and his is much more vocal and over the top then my more domesticated dogs, or say a lab.

I was going to say, he looks like bolt.

But someone beat me to it.

 Quote: Jenni Williams

Remember that a DNA test can only test for matches among samples they already have.

From the examples I've heard, the results can be pretty outrageous.

They can be yes, they can also be pretty close depending on the company. The one that uses the akc dna profile data tends to do a better job than others I've seen. Perfect, no, it's not an exact science any more than the whatcha think game.

Just remember there isn't really breed exclusive behavior. Clearly just because a dog vocalizes a lot doesn't make them ancient, many siberian huskies exist with vocabularies of noise that they'll use often; it doesn't make them husky, ancient, or anything other than a dog with a normal dog vocal range.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

 Quote: Jenni Williams

Remember that a DNA test can only test for matches among samples they already have.

From the examples I've heard, the results can be pretty outrageous.

They can be yes, they can also be pretty close depending on the company. The one that uses the akc dna profile data tends to do a better job than others I've seen. Perfect, no, it's not an exact science any more than the whatcha think game.

Just remember there isn't really breed exclusive behavior. Clearly just because a dog vocalizes a lot doesn't make them ancient, many siberian huskies exist with vocabularies of noise that they'll use often; it doesn't make them husky, ancient, or anything other than a dog with a normal dog vocal range.

Indeed.

I'm more looking at how closely he fits the overall breed temperament and profile than any one specific thing, though.

If we're naming a breed he looks like a small Canaan dog to me, however not sure how popular they are in the USA, but the behaviour of a Canaan is similar to that of the Jindo. Lovely looking dog either way.

I think his head looks quite dingo-ish...unlike the Jindo which seems more fox like....a canaan dog would give the rest of the build though. His expressions and brow shape are quite close to my guy who's a good chunk heeler and some shepherd on his mum's side with a touch of who knows what (dad apparently looked like a huge monster coyote, killed cows on his own, and attempted to kill the farmer who finally ended up shooting him many times over the course of 10 years...not sure how much of that is actually true)

Those ears are incredible though....

he's gorgeous though...only puppies abandoned in this area are those hideous "OMG who the heck would breed this thing" cockashitpoorkiepugs with birth defects that means they can't be sold for 1000s of dollars and need medical care....

Thanks. He's quite the handsome guy and his ears crack me up several times a day.

Jamie, our dogs do look alike. He's a cute guy and I see he's got the bat ears, too.

A little more into how we got him. A few days after we decided to keep him, my wife was taking him for a walk. Our neighbor said, "that's a nice looking dog" and then told her that it used to be his. His story was "some Mexican guy at WalMart asked me if I wanted a puppy, so I took him". I should add that our neighbor is also Mexican. He threw the pup in his yard with his adult GSD bitch and he apparently hid under the house all day before finally escaping under the gate and to our front porch...like this was where he was meant to be. Our neighbor ended by saying, "but he actually likes to you guys and you take care of him so you can keep him".

Oddly, temperament-wise he's pretty much the dog my wife and I wanted. All little on the nutty side and a whole lotta dog but, but very sweet with us and very protective...especially of me. That's why we'd like to find out what he is. We both also talked about how it would be nice to have a dog that was at least a year old when Rasta passed so we'd already have a watch dog replacement in place. Ask the universe and you shall receive. Also, be careful what you ask for, hahaha.

Moving along, I've been doing a small amount of reading about the Canaan Dog. Quite interesting. He's almost certainly a mix but, he fits it well. He does have a fairly dingo head, which is why my wife has been fairly convinced that he's a Carolina Dog (American Dingo) or mix of one. I forgot if I said this earlier but, she sent some pictures of him to a Carolina Dog breeder and she said "he looks as pure as my ten generation dogs". But that doesn't seem likely where we live, but you never know because there is a USAFB pretty close. At any rate, we speculate because we'd like to know if we can get another dog like him in the future or if he's just some weird mix of whatever.

Now, off to do more reading about the Canaan Dog.

I'll throw out some other thoughts here

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The typical Jindo seems to stop growing at five months (which Duke did) topping out at about 20" and 45lbs.

Many medium breed dogs pretty well to their adult size by this age. Not fully grown, but close enough so you can have a good idea of their adult size.

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One of the main things that caught my eye is the temperament. It describes, almost exactly, the dog I've described in my topic in Dogs That Are Too Aggressive to Humans. He hates intruders, even intruding cats, and will shy away from the touch of a stranger. But, he'll willingly investigate something he's unsure about without doing the forward/backup thing most unsure dogs and cats do.

This description fits my oldest Border Collie pretty well. Wary of people she doesn't know and does a great cujo impersonation, but not freaked at all by those weird things that many dogs can be freaked by.

 Quote:

They're also supposed to be really good at climbing and my wife has always told me that she has him climb different things on their walks and that he's like a cat. Everything we've read says that they can easily climb a six foot fence.

Once again, my three BCs will try and climb anything I ask them to, thankfully they've never done the climb a chainlink fence thing, but I know of several folks whose bored, smart dogs that give it a go without a second thought.

 Quote:

Our neighbor said, "that's a nice looking dog" and then told her that it used to be his. His story was "some Mexican guy at WalMart asked me if I wanted a puppy, so I took him". I should add that our neighbor is also Mexican.

The looks to me are very similar as your typical street or village dog in less developed countries. They're wary of humans, but submissive (if they weren't they'd be done away with in short order) Very agile with well developed "street sense". It makes sense that he would be a Mexican village dog with that background. No particular cross or breed.

Anyways, just some other thoughts for the sake of discussion. He really is a sharp looking dog whatever his genetic makeup

Hey there, Mara,

My wife and I actually considered the BC and McNab as early choices for his mix. His temperament doesn't really fit. Judging by that and his features, we're now pretty certain that he's a pariah type mix and the Jindo has the closest temperament, feature, and activity profiles to be the dominant mix.

When he shows aggression it's territorial and he means business. His expression shows anger and his posture confidence. He's also really only submissive and soft with me and mostly so with my wife, though he shows her a lot of outright disrespect. He seems to have the innate need to dominate his environment and the independence to think for himself.

I feel the need to say that he doesn't have to be any particular breed. Maybe he is just a street mutt that happens to look kinda cool. We're fine with that and it won't change anything about our relationships with him, we'd just like to know if we can get another dog similar to him in the future...possibly one that was bred and raised properly from day one. As far as a home guardian goes, he's as good a deterrent as any rottie I've seen even at less than half the size. As a pet, he's sweet, affectionate, playful, and loyal.

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read my ramblings.