# Are they pits?



## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

I foster dogs through a rescue organization, and this litter was brought to me listed as Retrievers...lol. I don't have much experience with pits, but I thought these might be pitbulls or a mix. Just wondering if anyone here can tell by photo? Just don't want pits adopted out to the wrong people, as pitbulls require more extensive screening. 
https://picasaweb.google.com/106731899629415915528/DropBox?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMy51pDU5seVvQE&feat=directlink


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

Oh, and just to clarify...the dog in the second picture is unrelated to the puppies.


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## SMiGGs (Jul 6, 2011)

they are too furry/fuzzy to be pits. The body structure looks more of a lab/husky,chow mix.

You know how i know they have husky/chow? Look at the picture where there eating, look at the pup on the far left, his tail is curled up and the fact that theyre furry.

To prove they have no pitbull in them, 'Most' apbt/bullys/amstaffs are born with blue eyes.

I would lean more to lab/chow mix because they dont have a bottled snout.


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

Yeah..I was thinking that some of them were too furry as well. Thank you for looking and responding!


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## Celestial88 (Mar 14, 2011)

No way of really telling when they're that young. I've seen dogs returned in adulthood at the shelter and I would've never guessed they were that puppy from a year ago.


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## rodrigo (Jun 28, 2011)

im gonna go with feline species possibly...hard to tell without papers


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

rodrigo said:


> im gonna go with feline species possibly...hard to tell without papers


You may be right. I hear an odd meow from them sometimes...maybe Persian/Siamese mix?

Shelter dogs don't normally come with 'papers'.


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## RomansDad (Jan 17, 2012)

marinda said:


> You may be right. I hear an odd meow from them sometimes...maybe Persian/Siamese mix?
> 
> Shelter dogs don't normally come with 'papers'.


Point being, unless they have papers you have no way of knowing what you have. So, since they are shelter dogs without papers, you won't ever know what they're mixed with. They are cute looking though


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## Old_Blood (Jan 10, 2008)

SMiGGs said:


> they are too furry/fuzzy to be pits. The body structure looks more of a lab/husky,chow mix.
> 
> You know how i know they have husky/chow? Look at the picture where there eating, look at the pup on the far left, his tail is curled up and the fact that theyre furry.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure of that. They could really be a number of possibilities.

Many breeds have curled tails, not to mention many furry.

Most Spitz have curled tails as do several other breeds. It's really not a way to know they have chow/husky because its not proof.

Brindle in Chow is very rare and its the same with the Lab. I'm sure the frequency of brindle allele is higher than actual brindle Labs because of it being masked. Never heard of it within husky? It seems improbable that they are lab/chow/husky. It's hard to tell much about pups.

Maybe they are Pit mixes, maybe not. Maybe they are Lab/Akita mixes, maybe not. Could be 3 or 4 breeds. It's really hard to guess much when the breed(s) of the dam are not listed and no pic is provided.

Mixes are great mysteries. We can take guesses but who can really say. Mixes can look more like one parent, be a blend of both or at times have "odd" traits of neither parent.


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

yeah, they don't look like a pit mix to me, but you never can tell. too fluffy and the ears look different to me, more Husky or GSD than pit bull, but that's just my opinion. I would say not to call them Pit Mixes at all since they are discriminated against if they are.

My question though is why are pit bull adopters required to have a more advanced screening? I would hope all dogs get the same respect of a good home screening no matter the breed. Can you shed some light on why some places feel the need to not screen everyone the same? I would think shelters would want responsible owners for every breed, not just pit bull type dogs. I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts and feelings are about it. I know its not your policy, just curious as to the reasoning behind it.


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

https://picasaweb.google.com/106731899629415915528/Hope?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCI2-ma3Xg7fjcQ&feat=directlink

Here's the Mother of the pups...maybe that helps a little? She doesn't look like she should because she was almost dead when she was rescued. She's all bones right now. I think maybe that's part of what is making the 'guessing game' more difficult. She seems to have unshakable determination and strength for her condition, and an unusually nice temperment, maybe that's why I thought 'pit'. 
The pups tail isn't usually curled up, I think my camera angle was to blame.
I know that they're mixed, I was just wondering if anyone had any insights...and I appreciate the responses so far!


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)

ames said:


> My question though is why are pit bull adopters required to have a more advanced screening? I would hope all dogs get the same respect of a good home screening no matter the breed. Can you shed some light on why some places feel the need to not screen everyone the same? I would think shelters would want responsible owners for every breed, not just pit bull type dogs. I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts and feelings are about it. I know its not your policy, just curious as to the reasoning behind it.


I can only assume that it's the high occurrence of pit bull fighting in South Carolina. Or, maybe special regulations for the area of the rescue agency. I know that the potential adopters of all of the dogs are screened. I don't know what the advanced screening is for, I just know what I was told. I wish I could answer your question, but I'm relatively new to fostering and I've never owned a pit. I know that many of the kennels and rescues are dealing with a lot of stolen pits, and it seems that they're being used as bait dogs. Maybe it's an extra criminal background check...

I agree with you though...I would hope that all are screened well. I've only had one dog adopted from my fostering and it was my Veterinarian, so I haven't had to worry much about that...yet.


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## mypitgia (Jun 28, 2010)

i dunno about the chow i have a chow lab mix the one dog laying on his back defiantly resembles him tho... if their tounges are marbled then i would say def have chow in them but to me its hard to tell... could be a number of different dogs....highly doubt pit but could be wrong


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## SMiGGs (Jul 6, 2011)

for all we know it can have pitbull 4 generations back, thats why maybe the brindle showed up. They are mixed we will never know, but we can get a general impression.

It has some type of chow/gsd/lab/pit mix.

The good thing about Mutts, is that they are total out crosses, and generally usually healthier than purebreds.


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

thanks for answering I was totally curious. I would ask a whole bunch of questions but I didn't know if it was another form of breed discrimination lol . I was unable to view your picture of the mama though. Could you try to post the link again or maybe upload it to photobucket and post the IMG code in here?


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## marinda (Feb 4, 2012)




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## EckoMac (Aug 25, 2010)

Looks almost Patterdale-ish. Not so much on the Pit though. Reminds me a bit of my old dog Misty, she's a mix too. We guessed Grey Hound X Lab for her, but she's taller I think.


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

wow she sure does have a sweat face and a happy grin. Yeah, he snout is too long IMO but so hard to tell. you will get a million answers I am sure lol


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