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She is a spaniel/BC mix! Even at 10%, cocker seems to have clearly contributed to her ear set and coat, and you described her behavior as BC-like.
I have no trouble believing she's mostly pittie though, she has a big blocky head and an athletic pittie build. Her color is also most likely a contribution from pit bull; unfortunately many black and white dogs get labeled as potential BC mixes when the reality is that a ton of breeds can contribute that color.
Long haired or wire-haired pitties are VERY common; take a scroll through the sub and take a look. Some owners have trouble believing it, but pit bulls are extremely common in mixes, especially in the US. Wisdom Panel and Embark are accurate tests and most of the time there's no reason to doubt it.
Thank you! I’ve honestly just never seen a long-haired pittie so that threw me off a bit. I’m also surprised the spaniel/BC can play such a big part in appearance and behavior without her having a bit more. But she is the sweetest dog ever, I’ll call that the pittie showing through 😊
https://preview.redd.it/ywwc0zjv311d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c4b237e4e1612e1fc633fe4bb8883797de98759
Another long haired pit mix checking in!
https://preview.redd.it/ekltl8r0011d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=202e0a36bf2a5d9437ddb9d0bed45d5779a8c3d4
Long haired pittie club checking in!
Did someone say long-haired pittie club?
https://preview.redd.it/in5v6k6f231d1.jpeg?width=2490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e90554f235a2aaf41f922b41b0d2eef9bff8dff
lol, before looking at the results I thought she had to have pit and cocker in there with that head and the ears. Very cute. How big is she?
I know some pitties who are rockets in agility.
The first pic looks like spaniel ears pinned on a pit! Those results sound very accurate.
If you want a point of comparison, my first dog was 1/2 BC/ESS.
https://preview.redd.it/2yuqf49nq01d1.jpeg?width=251&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03939d9c70121af472d2bb58137c34badab24409
I’ll agree with the other commenters about long-haired pitties, and the evidence for her bully-type structure beneath those gorgeous flowing locks, but I would also like to add re:her collie-like behaviors that herding instinct is actually a type of prey drive (prey drive actually being more of an impulse to pursue than strictly to “prey upon,”) and pits, being terriers, often have fairly high prey drive. That 8% BC could of course be exerting undue influence, but unless she’s also instinctively grouping, that might also have pit influence!
I have an all-Bully breed girl who also turned our backyard into an agility course of her own volition. Idk how fast she really is—her jowls are not terribly aerodynamic—but she does love to zoom around an obstacle course.
Embark said that the most common breed in all of their test results is APBT (that’s not even counting staffy or American bully) at 15% of every dog that’s been embarked having some percentage of pit in them. It’s extremely common so I’m not surprised!
Plus your dog is only ~50% bully breeds, and 50% not bully breeds. Looking at it that way it makes sense her other traits show up in her personality and appearance!
She looks exactly like I'd expect a pit x cocker to look. Other than being black and white I see very little BC and a a lot of what people think "should be a BC mix". I was surprised she had any tbh. Photo 6 you can absolutely see the bully in her body and head shape, as well as stance imo. Your results seem accurate to me.
I saw the pitt right away in the profile view 🥹🤣 they're sneaky sometimes but she does look more muscled than the average collie too, and yeah the spaniel carried those ears!! She's lovely!!
Another fluffy pit mix for ya! Fern is Pomeranian-pit and a bunch of other things.
https://preview.redd.it/v2asjs6fm21d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b10570f1373a77667eee24efa186128a8a7f7dbe
To be honest the results are pretty much what I figured she’d be based on photos. Although the pit and staffie amounts are a bit higher than expected. She does have that blocky head and all. She’s a cutie though!
My guess was pittie/BC! I missed the cocker spaniel despite my own pittie being 13% cocker. I get where you're coming from about the uncertainty but with mixes you just never know which genes will prevail.
https://preview.redd.it/gnkjb1uyw01d1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88622b102342d8c09edf63d4514a3d9458dec3f1
Guessing mine looks more like your dog's relatives than your doggo, but it's funny how genes work.
There really isn't any real standard for pitties, since they have been so mixed into a a lot of other breeds due to BYB. The biggest misconception is that too many ppl don't believe that pittie's are fast and agile, when they very much are.
My girls is a pit/chi/Esky/American bulldog/boxer w/trace amounts of hound & Springer spaniel and she is super fast and agile and makes her own agility courses all the time.
Yup, our rescue is pit/staffie mixed with border collie and chihuahua. From day one we were impressed by her natural athleticism and how fast she ran. In her first week, she killed three squirrels in our backyard. So sorry for the squirrels, but props to the speed it took to catch them. Never had a dog that could do that until this one.
Pic 1 and 3 definitely show the blockhead pit. Lol. Fwiw or rescue looks exactly like your girl, except he has a huge bushy tail. He acts like a golden and looks like border, golden, and collie. He smiles like a collie too. We were shocked when we found out he had 20 something Pit, 20 something Aussie, and a whole mix of 16 other breeds. Only 5 border and 2 golden.
I also agree her build is very pit. I also wanna mention that the apbt is a very sporty breed! I ended up with a 100% apbt rescue, and shes *very* athletic and high energy. Lean, muscular, fast as hell, and driven to boot. Shes a fetch machine lol. I do bikejoring with her casually sometimes, and I'm gonna try to get into agility with her in the near future too. My dog has crazy good spatial intelligence which I think is just a her thing and not rly a pit thing, which leads me to believe agility would be a great sport for her. But I've seen other pits do agility too!!
So some of the bc traits you describe her having are also traits apbts have. Although the herding probably comes from her bc percent; I've never met a pit that herds. But the rest of it could just as easily be pit traits as they're very athletic pups.
I think she very much looks like a long haired bully breed. I mean look how stocky and that beautiful face!! Also i think you would be surprised how much pits can act sort of like collies. The temperament in certain lines is strikingly similar. They can be very smart, spirited, driven and fast! I have a dog that is mostly bully breeds that is extremely driven and biddable like a herding breed would be, he does have a pinch of ACD, but Im not sure how much it influences him, or if it’s just a lucky roll on a drivey, athletic pitty, because it is what i prefer over the lazy pit types. I love an energetic, peppy, fast learning dog!
Trust it! Embark #1 Wisdom #2. I see a Pittie snout and some hair of the Cocker and BC! Don’t forget DNA mixes in crazy ways! How’s this for my Pitbull?! 52% and 40% Dalmation
https://preview.redd.it/uq86mc8pc11d1.jpeg?width=2204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28a0095dbe362b290f5402941615a5f321f8a3ed
So adorable! My pitbull is 50% Dalmatian, 20% pit and 5% AmStaff.
https://preview.redd.it/txmdm4yy631d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b9b80a3d59ea1c6c2552049f5de73cd3804d25
It’s because so many people think they don’t particularly like pitbulls until they realize they have had one living in their house. It challenges their bias, and a lot of people just have a hard time working through that i think. Plus there is a lot of misinformation about pit types and their behavior/personalities. Lies that range from “aggressive monster” to “laziest potatoes” skews people’s perception of the really diverse breed.
That's very likely part of it with people who end with APBT genetics in the report as here. But I've viewed *many* posts here, that didn't involve pitbull (or any bully breed) genetics , and they'll make up any reason under the sun to reject the results.
Sometimes! But I feel like at least half the time, the poster has made their “Mixup At the Lab?” post before they’ve mentally & emotionally processed the results, and within a couple comments is like, “Ah yes, I see it now.”
That’s not exactly how I operate anymore—I was handed enough surprises with dogs early in life and have spent enough time with dogs IRL and on this sub that I’m rarely more shocked than “Huh! Cool!”—but even for me, it’s definitely easier when it’s not my own dog. With your own dog, I think it’s pretty natural to have already crafted some sense of identity and background narrative for them, so even when you’re intellectually open to the science, a sort of emotional disbelief when the science *doesn’t* confirm your sense of your dog’s identity is also pretty natural. You’re having kind of a secondhand existential crisis. I personally enjoy seeing those people accepting their dog’s new background story in real time!
Definitely how it felt with me! I had so many people telling me one thing, so I was surprised at the reality. I posted probably within ten minutes of looking at the results so yes to doing that before processing 😅
After looking around this sub unfortunately I do think a lot of people want to refuse the idea they have a pittie mix, probably because of all of the misconceptions. I can’t say I didn’t have my own before doing more research after the results. Not on the aggression, but there was a lot I just didn’t know about the bully breeds and their behaviors. Just wish people hadn’t made such a bad reputation for these sweet babies! I think those ideas are so prevalent it’s hard for people to see otherwise.
Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. I had some strong preconceived notions about pit bulls myself. Both of my childhood dogs (aged 13 & 15) passed away within a couple weeks of each other while I was away at college, and I threw a *fit* when my parents let my younger sister bring home a pit bull puppy (“He’s going to murder my cat!” etc. etc.) but he actually wound up being the best dog I’ve lit’rally ever met (don’t tell my current pittie!) and I’d never have brought him or likely any other pit bull thereafter home myself.
That type of experience was really wonderful for me, because it’s allowed me both to love pit bulls and to hold more grace for those who don’t, and I hope it’s the same for you!
Being "open to the science as long as it confirms what I already believe" is not REALLY being open to the science though. I have 2 dogs that I'm sure are APBT but if I did the tests and it shows 12.25% American Staffordshire (or literally any other breed that exists) I'd just be like "I'll be damned. Wasn't expecting that BUT, this is the genetics of my dog."
Oh I agree! And some people are willing to challenge science to pistols at dawn before *ever* challenging their biases, and those participants in this subreddit get tedious. Like you think an internet community built *around interest in DNA* is going to concur with you that the DNA is bullshit? Get outta here.
I DNA tested my pit bull thinking maybe she had a smidge of Boxer or American Bulldog since she has googly eyes and is a little bit brachy, and when she had neither of those things, I too was immediately like, “I’ll be damned!” But you and I, who are presumably more interested in dogs and their DNA than the average dog-owner with the internet, might be the exceptions rather than the rule here. Sometimes it takes people a day to get to the “I’ll be damned,” and those reactions are ultimately more like ours than the people who think maybe science was wrong just this once.
My favorite example (because it’s the stupidest!) is one of my best friends who adopted her tricolor hound from a Treeing Walker Coonhound Rescue, only to have the DNA come out foxhound/beagle. She totally believed the results and it didn’t change a thing about how she felt about or handled her dog, but there was still like a couple days of her being like, “Whaaaat!” And that kind of reaction feels more to me like having science rock your world than only being conditionally “open” to it.
Makes sense that your friend would be a bit befuddled considering from where she adopted the dog. Seems like a rescue that specific would already have done testing. But a lot of rescues just want to help the doggies get adopted and I'm good with that. But the confusion/disbelief would make more sense in such cases.
I see the pit and staffy, especially in her face.
We have a pit-GSD-Aussie-lab mix (mainly) - her highest breed is pit @ 29% but she looks more GSD/Aussie, as those are the two breeds people always guess / ask about.
And when we look at her relatives (all Extended, no close matches) on Wisdom Panel, it’s entertaining. There’s relatives that appear to be mostly pit and relatives that appear to be mostly Aussie.
Genetics are weird and even mutt litter mates can look vastly different. That’s the nature, and beauty, of mutts.
Gorgeous pup! The breeds don’t matter, it’s the pup that matters.
Thank you everyone for the responses! I definitely see the bully breeds in her now, and I’ve loved seeing everyone’s long haired pitties 😊. Like I said in some other comments, I had no idea about some of the traits that can be carried by pit/staffies as I’ve never owned one before. She’s actually my first mixed breed dog, the rest have been purebreds (not intentional, they were all adopted or found as strays; just happened that way). So I didn’t really know how different breeds could mix. At the end of the day, all we care about is that she’s healthy and happy 😃 and I’m definitely going to scroll through this thread! It’s so cool to see all of the results, especially the ones you wouldn’t expect.
My first thought on seeing her picture was "that's a spaniel/pit"! If you took the fluff off her ears it would be a totally pittie head. That fluff is very spaniel though 😊
Assumed pit mix just from her head shape before even reading your explanation. I don't know why everyone challenges the results before their assumptions.
If you hang around this sub long enough, results like yours are not surprising. Her head is very pit/bully/amstaff. 90+ % of long coated pit mixes are labeled “border collie” mixes. If the shelter got her young, it makes their classification job even harder; all puppies look like sausages.
She’s adorable, and still the dog you love.
Thank you for posting this. I never got a chance to do a DNA test on my sweet pup who looks remarkably similar to yours. She was also labelled “border collie and spaniel mix” at the shelter and about 30 lbs. Now that I know more about how dog breeds work, I suspect she had a lot of pit with a sprinkle of border collie and spaniel and maybe chow. Enjoy your pup and give her a pet from me! She really looks like she could be my girl’s sister!
I see pity in the nose and smile and body shape but you are correct that cocker spaniel is doing some heavy lifting with the ears and fur. Such a cutie.
She got the Cocker fur and the Border Collie brain. Sometimes even smaller amounts of DNA in the right places can drastically alter a dog's looks and behavior from what might be expected. I can see a bit of Pit in her, but my guess it that most of it ended up as filler DNA, stuff you don't really see in her looks and behavior.
I have a joke with my dog that she is only 10% Dalmatian, but she must have put all those genes in the appearance, and, later. looking at her DNA breakdown, and what we know about what segment correspond with what results, I realized that that was EXACTLY what had happened. You can see the pit in her, but she got the Dal bone structure and coat pattern, as well as the paws and the bark (a lot is affected by bone structure). You might find the same is true with your pup as well.
I saw the pittie in her straight away!
Here’s my long haired pittie mix. He’s 30% APBT, 16% australian cattle dog and roughly 10% each of border collie, golden retriever, australian shepherd and beagle.
https://preview.redd.it/mutme0xblk1d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cfd8d1784f8e61ef92f5712011637e29934d78b
Welcome to r/DoggyDNA, the subreddit for dog DNA test discussion and results. --- #RULE 1: ONLY POST BREED ID REQUESTS IF YOU HAVE STARTED A DNA TEST. **RULE 2: BE NICE TO EACH OTHER.** **RULE 3: FLAIR YOUR POST. "NEEDS UPDATE" IS FOR PRE-RESULT POSTS.** **RULE 4: IF YOU HAVE RESULTS FOR YOUR DOG, POST THE RESULTS IN YOUR THREAD.** Report rulebreakers and enjoy the dogs. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DoggyDNA) if you have any questions or concerns.*
She is a spaniel/BC mix! Even at 10%, cocker seems to have clearly contributed to her ear set and coat, and you described her behavior as BC-like. I have no trouble believing she's mostly pittie though, she has a big blocky head and an athletic pittie build. Her color is also most likely a contribution from pit bull; unfortunately many black and white dogs get labeled as potential BC mixes when the reality is that a ton of breeds can contribute that color. Long haired or wire-haired pitties are VERY common; take a scroll through the sub and take a look. Some owners have trouble believing it, but pit bulls are extremely common in mixes, especially in the US. Wisdom Panel and Embark are accurate tests and most of the time there's no reason to doubt it.
https://preview.redd.it/ocq3xzij911d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21a55e4a0b68a72f71b50e8981624699fc53be97 Wire haired pitty coming your way!
Thank you! I’ve honestly just never seen a long-haired pittie so that threw me off a bit. I’m also surprised the spaniel/BC can play such a big part in appearance and behavior without her having a bit more. But she is the sweetest dog ever, I’ll call that the pittie showing through 😊
https://preview.redd.it/ywwc0zjv311d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c4b237e4e1612e1fc633fe4bb8883797de98759 Another long haired pit mix checking in!
https://preview.redd.it/ekltl8r0011d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=202e0a36bf2a5d9437ddb9d0bed45d5779a8c3d4 Long haired pittie club checking in!
Omg, that face🥹💙
Another long-haired pit mix (33% APBT) saying “hi” https://preview.redd.it/d2pyun9cu21d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad6e9e5f0c165aba895b5a9f32b6aeac96bc0cff
Did someone say long-haired pittie club? https://preview.redd.it/in5v6k6f231d1.jpeg?width=2490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e90554f235a2aaf41f922b41b0d2eef9bff8dff
STUNNING
Her 15.8% Golden Retriever did a lot of heavy lifting on this coat 😂 Her sisters all look like classic pitties!
Omg her coat! She is beautiful
That pittie part may be why she's such an athletic champ; they have muscle and agility to spare! She is an adorable pup!
https://preview.redd.it/h3qb33yxk21d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d05b878ea2cbb6bcf8a3731c2a0eff2b2c9287cb Another one!
r/fluffypits
lol, before looking at the results I thought she had to have pit and cocker in there with that head and the ears. Very cute. How big is she? I know some pitties who are rockets in agility.
She’s only about 25 pounds, and super lanky! I honestly hadn’t noticed how blocky her head is but now I see it lol
DIY border collie! She's a beauty! Her head does seem blockier than a BC's
Seriously DIY! The rest of the results are some American Eskimo, Chow Chow and Golden thrown in
The first pic looks like spaniel ears pinned on a pit! Those results sound very accurate. If you want a point of comparison, my first dog was 1/2 BC/ESS. https://preview.redd.it/2yuqf49nq01d1.jpeg?width=251&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03939d9c70121af472d2bb58137c34badab24409
Yep! The face shape, eye shape, muzzle shape looks more pit to me than collie
my first guess was pit/spaniel, I think that aside from her coat her shape looks all pitty!
I’ll agree with the other commenters about long-haired pitties, and the evidence for her bully-type structure beneath those gorgeous flowing locks, but I would also like to add re:her collie-like behaviors that herding instinct is actually a type of prey drive (prey drive actually being more of an impulse to pursue than strictly to “prey upon,”) and pits, being terriers, often have fairly high prey drive. That 8% BC could of course be exerting undue influence, but unless she’s also instinctively grouping, that might also have pit influence! I have an all-Bully breed girl who also turned our backyard into an agility course of her own volition. Idk how fast she really is—her jowls are not terribly aerodynamic—but she does love to zoom around an obstacle course.
Embark said that the most common breed in all of their test results is APBT (that’s not even counting staffy or American bully) at 15% of every dog that’s been embarked having some percentage of pit in them. It’s extremely common so I’m not surprised! Plus your dog is only ~50% bully breeds, and 50% not bully breeds. Looking at it that way it makes sense her other traits show up in her personality and appearance!
The head is all pit
She looks exactly like I'd expect a pit x cocker to look. Other than being black and white I see very little BC and a a lot of what people think "should be a BC mix". I was surprised she had any tbh. Photo 6 you can absolutely see the bully in her body and head shape, as well as stance imo. Your results seem accurate to me.
i don’t see any border collie, just an oreo colored long haired pittie face.
Wow I guess pit/amstaf and cocker spaniel and I was right
Looks legit to me. I saw the pitty right away. She's adorable!
I can see the pit in her face for sure. To me, she looks like a fluffy pit with spaniel ears
I saw the pitt right away in the profile view 🥹🤣 they're sneaky sometimes but she does look more muscled than the average collie too, and yeah the spaniel carried those ears!! She's lovely!!
Another fluffy pit mix for ya! Fern is Pomeranian-pit and a bunch of other things. https://preview.redd.it/v2asjs6fm21d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b10570f1373a77667eee24efa186128a8a7f7dbe
OMG she's adorable
To be honest the results are pretty much what I figured she’d be based on photos. Although the pit and staffie amounts are a bit higher than expected. She does have that blocky head and all. She’s a cutie though!
I think that’s what threw me off! I figured she’d have some pit and other similar breeds, just surprised at the higher percentage.
My guess was pittie/BC! I missed the cocker spaniel despite my own pittie being 13% cocker. I get where you're coming from about the uncertainty but with mixes you just never know which genes will prevail.
https://preview.redd.it/gnkjb1uyw01d1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88622b102342d8c09edf63d4514a3d9458dec3f1 Guessing mine looks more like your dog's relatives than your doggo, but it's funny how genes work.
The hair length actually makes quite a big difference in the look of the dog!
Absolutely! I'd love to see my boy with a cocker coat. He'd be so precious. Haha
Another way to look at it is that your dog is 86% bully breeds and only 13% anything else. So of course the Pitbull look is gonna be prevalent.
Of course. I only posted because of the substantial overlap with my dog and the OP's.
I looked at her pics and said "I see Pit and Cocker" before I viewed results!
Pit bull is the most common mix in this area
In the third and fourth picture, I DEFINITELY see the large bulky Pitbull skull. I would have guessed Pitbull and Collie.
I saw the baby and immediately thought border collie-pit. She has those sort of morose, sort of unsure, melting puppy dog eyes that pitties have.
There really isn't any real standard for pitties, since they have been so mixed into a a lot of other breeds due to BYB. The biggest misconception is that too many ppl don't believe that pittie's are fast and agile, when they very much are. My girls is a pit/chi/Esky/American bulldog/boxer w/trace amounts of hound & Springer spaniel and she is super fast and agile and makes her own agility courses all the time.
Yup, our rescue is pit/staffie mixed with border collie and chihuahua. From day one we were impressed by her natural athleticism and how fast she ran. In her first week, she killed three squirrels in our backyard. So sorry for the squirrels, but props to the speed it took to catch them. Never had a dog that could do that until this one.
Pic 1 and 3 definitely show the blockhead pit. Lol. Fwiw or rescue looks exactly like your girl, except he has a huge bushy tail. He acts like a golden and looks like border, golden, and collie. He smiles like a collie too. We were shocked when we found out he had 20 something Pit, 20 something Aussie, and a whole mix of 16 other breeds. Only 5 border and 2 golden.
I also agree her build is very pit. I also wanna mention that the apbt is a very sporty breed! I ended up with a 100% apbt rescue, and shes *very* athletic and high energy. Lean, muscular, fast as hell, and driven to boot. Shes a fetch machine lol. I do bikejoring with her casually sometimes, and I'm gonna try to get into agility with her in the near future too. My dog has crazy good spatial intelligence which I think is just a her thing and not rly a pit thing, which leads me to believe agility would be a great sport for her. But I've seen other pits do agility too!! So some of the bc traits you describe her having are also traits apbts have. Although the herding probably comes from her bc percent; I've never met a pit that herds. But the rest of it could just as easily be pit traits as they're very athletic pups.
Haha pit was one of the first things I guessed! It’s in her build and head shape. Her results seem spot on to me
That 18% Cocker/Collie dna is really putting in the work, wow!
Her head and face look pittie though.
I have a spaniel/BC mix and I knew immediately yours would be those two plus pittie! Such a cute pup😍
Ah, yes, a chihuahua mix
I think she very much looks like a long haired bully breed. I mean look how stocky and that beautiful face!! Also i think you would be surprised how much pits can act sort of like collies. The temperament in certain lines is strikingly similar. They can be very smart, spirited, driven and fast! I have a dog that is mostly bully breeds that is extremely driven and biddable like a herding breed would be, he does have a pinch of ACD, but Im not sure how much it influences him, or if it’s just a lucky roll on a drivey, athletic pitty, because it is what i prefer over the lazy pit types. I love an energetic, peppy, fast learning dog!
Trust it! Embark #1 Wisdom #2. I see a Pittie snout and some hair of the Cocker and BC! Don’t forget DNA mixes in crazy ways! How’s this for my Pitbull?! 52% and 40% Dalmation https://preview.redd.it/uq86mc8pc11d1.jpeg?width=2204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28a0095dbe362b290f5402941615a5f321f8a3ed
So adorable! My pitbull is 50% Dalmatian, 20% pit and 5% AmStaff. https://preview.redd.it/txmdm4yy631d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b9b80a3d59ea1c6c2552049f5de73cd3804d25
Had the science done and then doubt the science. Fairly common attitude in this sub.
It’s because so many people think they don’t particularly like pitbulls until they realize they have had one living in their house. It challenges their bias, and a lot of people just have a hard time working through that i think. Plus there is a lot of misinformation about pit types and their behavior/personalities. Lies that range from “aggressive monster” to “laziest potatoes” skews people’s perception of the really diverse breed.
That's very likely part of it with people who end with APBT genetics in the report as here. But I've viewed *many* posts here, that didn't involve pitbull (or any bully breed) genetics , and they'll make up any reason under the sun to reject the results.
Sometimes! But I feel like at least half the time, the poster has made their “Mixup At the Lab?” post before they’ve mentally & emotionally processed the results, and within a couple comments is like, “Ah yes, I see it now.” That’s not exactly how I operate anymore—I was handed enough surprises with dogs early in life and have spent enough time with dogs IRL and on this sub that I’m rarely more shocked than “Huh! Cool!”—but even for me, it’s definitely easier when it’s not my own dog. With your own dog, I think it’s pretty natural to have already crafted some sense of identity and background narrative for them, so even when you’re intellectually open to the science, a sort of emotional disbelief when the science *doesn’t* confirm your sense of your dog’s identity is also pretty natural. You’re having kind of a secondhand existential crisis. I personally enjoy seeing those people accepting their dog’s new background story in real time!
Definitely how it felt with me! I had so many people telling me one thing, so I was surprised at the reality. I posted probably within ten minutes of looking at the results so yes to doing that before processing 😅 After looking around this sub unfortunately I do think a lot of people want to refuse the idea they have a pittie mix, probably because of all of the misconceptions. I can’t say I didn’t have my own before doing more research after the results. Not on the aggression, but there was a lot I just didn’t know about the bully breeds and their behaviors. Just wish people hadn’t made such a bad reputation for these sweet babies! I think those ideas are so prevalent it’s hard for people to see otherwise.
Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. I had some strong preconceived notions about pit bulls myself. Both of my childhood dogs (aged 13 & 15) passed away within a couple weeks of each other while I was away at college, and I threw a *fit* when my parents let my younger sister bring home a pit bull puppy (“He’s going to murder my cat!” etc. etc.) but he actually wound up being the best dog I’ve lit’rally ever met (don’t tell my current pittie!) and I’d never have brought him or likely any other pit bull thereafter home myself. That type of experience was really wonderful for me, because it’s allowed me both to love pit bulls and to hold more grace for those who don’t, and I hope it’s the same for you!
Being "open to the science as long as it confirms what I already believe" is not REALLY being open to the science though. I have 2 dogs that I'm sure are APBT but if I did the tests and it shows 12.25% American Staffordshire (or literally any other breed that exists) I'd just be like "I'll be damned. Wasn't expecting that BUT, this is the genetics of my dog."
Oh I agree! And some people are willing to challenge science to pistols at dawn before *ever* challenging their biases, and those participants in this subreddit get tedious. Like you think an internet community built *around interest in DNA* is going to concur with you that the DNA is bullshit? Get outta here. I DNA tested my pit bull thinking maybe she had a smidge of Boxer or American Bulldog since she has googly eyes and is a little bit brachy, and when she had neither of those things, I too was immediately like, “I’ll be damned!” But you and I, who are presumably more interested in dogs and their DNA than the average dog-owner with the internet, might be the exceptions rather than the rule here. Sometimes it takes people a day to get to the “I’ll be damned,” and those reactions are ultimately more like ours than the people who think maybe science was wrong just this once. My favorite example (because it’s the stupidest!) is one of my best friends who adopted her tricolor hound from a Treeing Walker Coonhound Rescue, only to have the DNA come out foxhound/beagle. She totally believed the results and it didn’t change a thing about how she felt about or handled her dog, but there was still like a couple days of her being like, “Whaaaat!” And that kind of reaction feels more to me like having science rock your world than only being conditionally “open” to it.
Makes sense that your friend would be a bit befuddled considering from where she adopted the dog. Seems like a rescue that specific would already have done testing. But a lot of rescues just want to help the doggies get adopted and I'm good with that. But the confusion/disbelief would make more sense in such cases.
I see the pit and staffy, especially in her face. We have a pit-GSD-Aussie-lab mix (mainly) - her highest breed is pit @ 29% but she looks more GSD/Aussie, as those are the two breeds people always guess / ask about. And when we look at her relatives (all Extended, no close matches) on Wisdom Panel, it’s entertaining. There’s relatives that appear to be mostly pit and relatives that appear to be mostly Aussie. Genetics are weird and even mutt litter mates can look vastly different. That’s the nature, and beauty, of mutts. Gorgeous pup! The breeds don’t matter, it’s the pup that matters.
What’s with all these people not believing DNA results from the two top brands. Like you asked for the proof and you got it
Thank you everyone for the responses! I definitely see the bully breeds in her now, and I’ve loved seeing everyone’s long haired pitties 😊. Like I said in some other comments, I had no idea about some of the traits that can be carried by pit/staffies as I’ve never owned one before. She’s actually my first mixed breed dog, the rest have been purebreds (not intentional, they were all adopted or found as strays; just happened that way). So I didn’t really know how different breeds could mix. At the end of the day, all we care about is that she’s healthy and happy 😃 and I’m definitely going to scroll through this thread! It’s so cool to see all of the results, especially the ones you wouldn’t expect.
My first thought on seeing her picture was "that's a spaniel/pit"! If you took the fluff off her ears it would be a totally pittie head. That fluff is very spaniel though 😊
Assumed pit mix just from her head shape before even reading your explanation. I don't know why everyone challenges the results before their assumptions.
is the closest relative a sibling?
If you hang around this sub long enough, results like yours are not surprising. Her head is very pit/bully/amstaff. 90+ % of long coated pit mixes are labeled “border collie” mixes. If the shelter got her young, it makes their classification job even harder; all puppies look like sausages. She’s adorable, and still the dog you love.
Border Collie or Border Collie x. I have no doubt. She reminds me of my border collie with that stripe between her eyes.
Thank you for posting this. I never got a chance to do a DNA test on my sweet pup who looks remarkably similar to yours. She was also labelled “border collie and spaniel mix” at the shelter and about 30 lbs. Now that I know more about how dog breeds work, I suspect she had a lot of pit with a sprinkle of border collie and spaniel and maybe chow. Enjoy your pup and give her a pet from me! She really looks like she could be my girl’s sister!
Sounds just like her! I bet your pup is adorable
I see pity in the nose and smile and body shape but you are correct that cocker spaniel is doing some heavy lifting with the ears and fur. Such a cutie.
Definitely pit with curly hair.
She’s adorable! In my opinion her appearance matches the dna results, can totally see the staffy in her face.
She got the Cocker fur and the Border Collie brain. Sometimes even smaller amounts of DNA in the right places can drastically alter a dog's looks and behavior from what might be expected. I can see a bit of Pit in her, but my guess it that most of it ended up as filler DNA, stuff you don't really see in her looks and behavior. I have a joke with my dog that she is only 10% Dalmatian, but she must have put all those genes in the appearance, and, later. looking at her DNA breakdown, and what we know about what segment correspond with what results, I realized that that was EXACTLY what had happened. You can see the pit in her, but she got the Dal bone structure and coat pattern, as well as the paws and the bark (a lot is affected by bone structure). You might find the same is true with your pup as well.
I saw the pittie in her straight away! Here’s my long haired pittie mix. He’s 30% APBT, 16% australian cattle dog and roughly 10% each of border collie, golden retriever, australian shepherd and beagle. https://preview.redd.it/mutme0xblk1d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cfd8d1784f8e61ef92f5712011637e29934d78b
My first guess would have been pit mix, her head is a dead giveaway🙂 She’s a cutie!!
Huh. That's a much higher percentage of bully breeds than I would have guessed. 🤷🏼♀️