Saturday, October 10, 2009

Shepherds 101

Some year, I'm going to get a dog that I won't have to constantly correct non-dog people about the breed. Near as I can figure, it'll probably have to be a Lab. Everyone recognizes a Lab.

My first sheltie, Jess was a sable and white and everyone said, "Oh, a miniature collie!" When I was showing Jamie, it was, "Oh, a long haired German shepherd!" And now they look at Phoenix and say, "What a beautiful German shepherd." 

So here's a crash course in shepherds. On the left, Jamie, a Belgian Tervuren (Belgian shepherd); in the middle, a rose between two thorns, Chance, a long haired German Shepherd Dog; on the right, Phoenix, a Belgian malinois (Belgian shepherd).

To put things in perspective, Jamie is 25.5 inches at the withers. Phoenix is just under 24 inches. Chance is 27 inches. She is one big, pretty girl!

Thanks, Pam, for letting Chance model for me after we trained this morning. We probably could have taken a nicer picture outside but it was SNOWING!

*****

P.S. Lynn, Taz is the Tervuren poet laureate! His poem was great! I am a Robert Frost fan and enjoyed it immensely.

4 comments:

  1. Hum....they all look the same to me!!! LOL That one on the right is a bit questionable. It looks like he's about to pounce on the camera women!!! G

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  2. So... what kind of dogs are those in the photo???? :-)

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  3. Non dog people who come to agility trials with me always ask if Belgians are GSDs. And people chronically ask if my red Merle BC is an Aussie. They also used to ask if my smooth coat had been shaved. Sigh.

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  4. A Dalmatian would probably meet the public recognition criteria. I would warn against a Cardigan Corgi. If someone knows what a Pembroke looks like, then they're a corgi mix. Otherwise it's a Daschund cross, or a Basset cross, or simply "what kind of dog is that?"

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