# "Mutts"



## Rob's GRs

Who here has ever owned a dog that one may refer to as a Mutt? I am not talking about a dog that may have been "designer bred" but rather dogs of mixed breeding? If you ever owned one feel free to tell us, or show us, a little about them.


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## Kerplunk105

Tegan is a Weim/Lab. In the past we had a Husky mix and a GSP/Brittany mix.


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## mylissyk

My little bob tailed Katie, so sweet. I miss her, we lost her to lung cancer. She and Robbie had so much fun together, and I got the biggest laugh out of Katie and Lilah ganging up on him when they would wrestle. Katie could jump up in the air and catch birds, and she was the resident possum killer, when she would catch one she was so proud of herself. We have no idea what breeds she might have been, I guessed cattle dog, corgi mix.


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## Dreammom

Our Wolfie was most likely a Coydog...her mother was pure bred Sibe, but she was kept chained outside, and we have a lot of coyotes here. Wolfies prey drive was fierce as was her need to wander...she was quite the escape artist. Very aloof, but a great family dog. Get a load of those ears, she could fly with those things!


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## Willow52

We've had a Huskey-X and a Lab-X


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## cory

This is a picture of our Teddy. He is a Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix.


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## Dexell1827

We have three "mutts" in the family:

Angel, a 10.5 year old German Shepherd/lab/hound mix, who was found wandering around a friend's apartment complex at about 6 weeks of age:










Samson, seven-year-old German Shepherd/Doberman mix that almost ran out in front of my sister's car when he was only 5 weeks old:









And the newest addition, Ollie, an Australian Shepherd/lab mix who was originally a foster for our local shelter, but fit in so well we had to keep him. Here he is last week (at 16 weeks old) with our two Goldens, Dexter & Ella:


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## C's Mom

Can I get a big "He#* Ya!" for the mutts of the world? I love a good Mutt/Mix/Heinz 57.

First came Max, a Rotti/Shep mix who was fearless, high energy, cleared the sidewalks but was really a sweet, cuddly dog and now I've got Mr. C, a Golden/Collie mix.
(I must also point out my Shih Tzu Ashley in the pic with Max - she was pure bred and fantastic girl)


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## vcm5

My Riley is a "mutt" but I think he is just the cutest thing in the world. Whoever threw this guy away was making a big mistake - he is the best dog I have ever been around.


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## Capehank

*Hank my wonder dog!!!!*

Hank was returned to the local spca when a young family adopted him at the tender age of 5 months. A student of mine told me that the family could not handle Hank and a new born. I was asked it I wanted him. I went to see him, the lady of the house said he does not like women. Hmmmm, I sat on the floor and called him, he ran over, climbed on my lap, and I said, how much do you want for him? She said nothing, I just want him gone. OK, so Hank has been with me since he was 9 months old. He is now 12 years old. He absolutely loves his mom, that is me of course. Hank is a terrier mix. I think he is mixed with the world.


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## Ninde'Gold

Both my dogs are purebred but I would never object to having a mutt


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## kwhit

Lucy is my first mutt and first small dog. She's very unique in both her looks and her personality and I can't imagine my family without her :smooch::


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## Ivyacres

We've had a few. The last was Holly, our silly orange dog. She's the reason we got a golden.


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## Oaklys Dad

I grew up with wonderful mutts and even a coupla three golden mutts.Nothing wrong with a Hienz 57 dog in my book.


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## Bentley's Mom

The only dog I ever owner before Bentley was a rescue mutt. Terrier-Airedale (sp?) mix.


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## Capehank

The great thing about mutts is that their gene pool is very large and tend to be healthier. IMHO


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## booklady

I've had dalmatian/aussie mix (smartest dog I've ever known), a choco lab mix, a cattledog mix - and now I have my rottie/shepherd mix.

I will always have goldens; but I'll always have a shelter mix too.


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## Jersey's Mom

Ozzie is my Heinz 57-style Bitsa (you know... bitsa this, bitsa that.... lol). He and his brother were found in a Walmart parking lot at just over 3 months old... 3 weeks later I stumbled across his photo on Petfinder and fell in love. He is hyper-observant and super smart (in a crazy-like-a-fox kind of way), a great compliment to Jersey and just overall adorable! 

Julie, Jersey and Oz


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## nellie'smom

My Tasha who was a husky x german shepherd. I got her when I was in 2nd grade. A great dog, friendly but very independent and not the cuddly type. She lived to be 17 years old  









And of course Miss Nelly! Nellie is black lab x golden retriever, and she's just awesome! Very smart, but goofy, loving, and humorous. She can be a little protective at times but a great family dog and extremely loyal. I couldn't imagine my life without her. She's my heart dog. 









I think I would have any type of dog, mutt, purebred that needed a home


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## doglvr00

I always have two dogs and at least one of them must be a rescue. I rescued Sophie from a high kill shelter near me. She is a sweetheart.


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## bowdense

We have a rescue pup form Kentucky. As far as we can tell, she is a Norweigian Elkhound mix, but who knows? She was found as a stray in a trailer park at 10 months old. She was taken to a shelter and was going to be PTS, Thankfully, one of the local rescues saved her. She is now four years old and a wonderful part of our family.


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## Yarra girl

We had a beautiful ? (guess) Border Collie and Labrador mix named Pepper who we chose when she was 5 months old.
I used to call her our 'black golden retriever' ..... never having had a GR before. Very hard to find another girl like her, and our GR Tessa who we got when she was 3 yo was chosen because of her similar temperament.
I would have cloned Pepper though  and now I know you can get genetic testing I would have been tempted

 Having a good life at 14

 A younger Pepper, a little like a
flat-coated retriever


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## GinnyinPA

All of our family dogs while I was growing up were mutts - first was an Akita mix, then a German Shepherd mix, then a border collie mix, then an Australian shepherd/English spaniel?? mix. One came from the Humane Society, one came from a box at a record store, the last was found out by the highway as a tiny puppy. All were great dogs. With the two we got as puppies, there was the fun of having absolutely no idea what they would look like as adults. We really loved them though.


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## mag&bays mom

I love seeing all these mutts. They really are great dogs.

Here is my mutt Bailey. He was a pound puppy and he is the BEST dog ever. We love him to bits!!!


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## mag&bays mom

Capehank said:


> The great thing about mutts is that their gene pool is very large and tend to be healthier. IMHO


I agree. My boy has pretty much had zero health problems aside from Parvo when we got him three+ years ago.

My GR Maggie, on the other hand, is a whole different story. It seems like we are always visiting the vets with random issues with her :doh:


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## C's Mom

I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's great doggies. Bumping for more.


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## Megora

> I have never owned a "Mutt", and probably never will.


My family had a terrier mix briefly before I was born, but since it did not work out, I would say that doesn't count for much. I clicked the third option, but then I was thinking about this last night and even this morning... I guess I'm somewhere between the second and third option. 

Basically, I don't really care about purebreds as far as cats and tend to think that your run of the mill barn cat is going to be a 100% healthier and live much longer than purebred cats. Because we are on our second muttsky kitty and he (fingers crossed) has only been to the vet once in the five years we've had him. And that was for kennel cough. Our previous cat was similarly extremely healthy and was almost 20 when we put him to sleep. It seems like people with "purebred" cats are constantly dealing with kidney or other problems... 

But when it comes to dogs, I have to honestly say that I really love owning purebreds. It's not intended to be a snob thing or dissing mixed breeds. I guess I love owning a dog who was bred for a specific purpose, and I love seeing that dog come alive when it comes to that purpose. With my golden that would be sending him into a retrieve or watching him swimming. 

And it's not just goldens that I love. The AKC Breed book in my closet is completely worn out from me going through it as a child and learning all of the breeds... and I even circled all of the breeds that I want to have at some point. And the various places I train at, I get to see these different breeds in action and get to see how wonderful they are.  

I've met mixed breeds that I admire and I even came close to bringing home a sweetheart (he was a spaniel pointer mix puppy). So I wouldn't say I would not bring home a mixed breed ever. If I see a dog who speaks to me or who I absolutely fall in love with, I don't care what breed he is. 

But honestly speaking... I know my next dog is going to be a golden puppy. Because I love the breed. Which means that I won't be getting another dog for the next ten+ years - because I prefer to only keep two dogs at a time and of course I expect my Jacks to live a long full life. And at that time, I would gather I would be either bringing home another golden or investing in one of my dream breeds (english pointer, english labrador retriever, beagle, kuvasz, white gsd, etc) from a breeder. Or adopting from a purebred rescue.


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## Ranger

Well, everyone knows my mutt...Ranger!

Here are a few other special "mutts" I've been blessed to know:

There is my brother's dog Blue, who we think is a lab/great dane X. He's 28 inches at the shoulder at 2 years of age. He is go-go-go all the time and is a big suck. He loves his family and has the biggest will to please ever. If someone even looks at him, he's wagging his tail!

The most special dog we ever had was Jake...my dad's heart dog. Jake was our first rescue dog and he opened the door to the wonderful world of rescue dogs that we hadn't known about. He was dumped in the country when he was around 2, and spent at least 3 weeks living off his wiles. He almost got shot by my riding instructor's husband because they thought he was the stray dog that had been harassing their horses but luckily they realized it was a different dog right in the nick of time. They took him to the humane society where he stayed for a week and then was going to be put down if no one adopted him. My riding instructor told me about him and i went home and cried and cried to my dad. My dad begrudgingly went to look at "this dumb mutt" before work and then came home all subdued. Said the dog was "really nice" and in the back of his kennel when all the other dogs were barking at the front of theirs. Next day my dad went to look at him again and this time the little border collie wouldn't even look at the front of the door. He'd completely shut down. Dad called to him, and the little border collie looked up, recognized dad and walked towards him and wagged his tail. And that was it. Dad walked out of the humane society with that little border collie, who we named Jake in honour of our first golden retriever who had gotten out and tragically been hit by a car when he young. Dad's Jake was the sweetest dog who never thought he WAS a dog. He thought he was person and only liked to do people things. Dad took him everywhere and Jake was no stranger to MCDonald's french fries, DQ soft vanilla ice cream or Tim Bits. We had that amazing, gentle soul for 14 years before he passed away in Jan 2010. He helped Ranger settle into being a good family dog and learn what was expected of being a good dog. Most importantly, he was comfort to Ranger when Ranger's life did a 180 degree turn. Ranger needed comfort and would go lie down next to Jake whenever he was around, much to Jake's dismay. It was such a sad day when we lost our beloved Jake and my dad still can't talk about him without tearing up.


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## Rob's GRs

I am one of the ones that posted that I never had one (I have only have had Goldens) but I would certainly not object to having a Mutt.


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## Lisa_and_Willow.

I refer to Lucky as a jack russell but her ears always made me wonder! Her mother was a short-legged JRT but none of her pups looked like her and when grown, Lucky was much bigger and had longer legs than her mum.


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## Adriennelane

I am loved by my golden retriever / lab mix mutt, Dory. She is the sweetest soul alive, and I wouldn't change anything about her, except her habit of barking at Lucy when Lucy has a toy she wants.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom

The first is of our sweet Apache as a pup and our son Bobby ( who's now 30!). Apache was half springer and half black lab and a complete sweetheart. She lived to be almost 15, and we still miss her.

The second is of Sydney, an aussie mix our older son found on Christmas Eve 1996. It was estimated she was around a year old then. She's now completely deaf, but is a timex dog... she just keeps on ticking.
















Oh and now Syd's other ear is tipped since she had her second hematoma surgery last summer.


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## ELI&BAILEY'S MOM

We have Riley, I think she has GSD and some kind of Terrier in her. Our girl is very unique. :


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## Claire's Friend

Well, I guess Miss Erin would be considered a "mutt" since she was 1/4 Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. But I would take another just like her in a heartbeat. We have a baby WPG in our puppy class. His owners were most impressed with me that I knew what he was...until I explained about Erin.:


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## Dallas Gold

Penny & Maggie's Mom said:


> The first is of our sweet Apache as a pup and our son Bobby ( who's now 30!). Apache was half springer and half black lab and a complete sweetheart. She lived to be almost 15, and we still miss her.
> 
> The second is of Sydney, an aussie mix our older son found on Christmas Eve 1996. It was estimated she was around a year old then. She's now completely deaf, but is a timex dog... she just keeps on ticking.
> View attachment 99713
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> View attachment 99714
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> Oh and now Syd's other ear is tipped since she had her second hematoma surgery last summer.


Betty, I can see Bobby's resemblance to you! Wow!!


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## Debles

We always had mutts growing up. The first purebred dog I had was my GSD Woita at age 18. Then I got Shammy my first golden in 1973 and the rest is history. Only goldens since then. : )


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom

ELI&BAILEY'S MOM said:


> We have Riley, I think she has GSD and some kind of Terrier in her. Our girl is very unique. :


Wow, Riley and Sydney look very much alike ( see the post above yours). How big is Riley? Syd is about 35-40 lbs.


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## sdain31y

Our previous dog, Annie wasn't a purebred, but we always referred to her as a "love child". She had no health issues from the time she wandered up at about 2 or 3 yrs old until right before she died at over 14 of kidney failure. We still miss our sweet Annie Girl.


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## ELI&BAILEY'S MOM

Penny & Maggie's Mom said:


> Wow, Riley and Sydney look very much alike ( see the post above yours). How big is Riley? Syd is about 35-40 lbs.


They do look alike! Riley is 80lbs, she is going to be a big girl when she's finished growing. She just turned one last month. I must say we have good taste in dogs!


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## MittaBear

My Jasper is a mutt! I love him to pieces. If it weren't for me volunteering at the shelter, we would have never added him to our family. He came into the shelter with a broken leg since he had just gotten hit by a car. I kept telling my mom and sister how sweet he was so they both came in to visit one day. Luckily for me, my sister is a pain and begged and begged my parents to bring him home. My parents finally agreed but said he would be my dog and I would take care of him. My parents actually didn't like him too much at first...but sure enough it didn't take long for them to fall in love. Now, he's my mom's baby and there's no way she would have allowed me to take him when I got married. So he's still my dog, but lives with my parents. But it's ok since I still see him (and my parent's other dog) a couple times a week.


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## spruce

years ago we had a genuine mutt (a little bit of lab maybe) that was dumped off locally...DH heard about this diseased dog that was a danger to all local dogs/humans...the "disease" was he had white on his paws (mistaken for mange) & he was the absolute loyalist dog. 1st time he went for a ride & realized he got to come home was heartbreaking..he thought car trips were one way rides.

(our wonderful little maybe-a-goldie is either a mutt or poorbred)


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## AkCrimson

All of the family dogs that I remember have been purebreds, except for Nerka. She was a very unique dog of my grandfathers. 

She was Wolf-Husky. She was very much a one person dog, that person of course being my grandpa. She would sometimes let my Dad approach her. I can only remember petting her once in my lifetime. She was not very friendly, she was shy. 

But you should have seen her dote on my Grandfather. She loved that man. Sometimes she would disappear for a day or even several days. She often came back with rabbits or such things for him. A couple times she came back with part of a Moose...There is no way a single dog could take a Moose. We knew she had a Wolf Pack she was part of. I never heard her bark, not once. She would growl and grumble, and howl now and then. 

That being said, I am not in any way opposed to mutts. After our GR pup, we may get another once we get back to the states in 2 years, and it will be a shelter dog for sure.


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## paula bedard

I grew up with mutts and purebreds, though the purebreds were not from breeders but someone who had two of this or that and we got a puppy. The first dog I remember was Lady who was a Cocker; guess how she got that name?  She became very mean as she got older, tried to bite me, just missed getting my face, so my Mom reluctantly had her put to sleep so she wouldn't bite anyone else.  

We had a mutt named Princess after Lady went to the Bridge. Princess was super friendly and looked like a hairy footstool. She'd park herself next to you and expected you to pet her. She'd put her nose under your hand and nudge you to stroke her head. If you didn't she'd keep nudging your hand, if you moved she'd follow you. She lived to be an old, old girl. 

Next, we got a male Collie named Lad...guess where that name came from?  He was gorgeous and Dad LOVED him. My father swears that he and Lad walked enough miles together to have circled the globe a few times. Lad passed at age 11 from kidney disease. He also had tumors on his body that opened and bled. Probably mast cell tumors from what I've since learned. After Lad, I got a mix puppy named Tippy. She developed mange at 5 and had to be sent to the Bridge. No meds for her condition at that time. After Tippy we got another Collie, a female we named Holly. Dad bred her to a neighbor's male Collie and had 1 litter that we shared with friends and family. We kept a female puppy, her name was Ivy. During Holly and Ivy's time, a mixed cocker/poodle pup came to live with us. We named her Tiffany. H, I, & T moved with us to Kent Island, MD where they lived out their days on the Chesapeake Bay. These were the last dogs my parents owned. Today, they have a kitty that my Ike found wandering around our house, abandoned by my neighbors.

As a married lady, I've only had Goldens...and after being loved by a Golden, I'll always have a Golden in my life. I wouldn't mind having a mix, my son and daughter each have a rescued mix...and I love them both. BUT, there is no love as strong and endearing as Golden Love.

The top pic is Lad with my mother
Bottom pic is Tiffany-our 'oodle mix' and Holly


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## Augustus McCrae's Mom

Charlie Brown came from a rescue, and they told us he was a Chocolate Lab/Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix. 

Ace was a love child as someone else said (I love that!). His mom was definitely a Black Lab (we met her), but I have no idea what the dad was. I've had a couple of vets say they thought maybe he had some Shepherd in him, and one said maybe Great Dane because his legs are so long, but I don't know about that.

Charlie and Ace have never had any health issues, but Gus has definitely had his share. I'm not sure if that's because he's purebred or poorly bred. We love them all though (even while cleaning the nasty gunk out of Gus's ear)!


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## Sterling Archer

Butter is a Golden, husky, shepherd mix. He looked a lot like a husky as a little puppy. It was neat to watch him grow and see him appearance change. To me...his face looks like a shepherd . Most people easily recognize the golden in him though. He has a lot of energy and is a happy critter.


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## Charliethree

This is my 'mutt' Charlie. He came to me as a foster dog in late 2009, rescued from a shelter where his time had run out. He has grown from being shy and evasive to a loving, confident, and devoted friend. His tail is still ratty, some of the scars on his legs will never grow fur, but he is beautiful inside and out! Best buddy ever! 








Mid Nov 2009








Mid Nov 2010


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## MittaBear

I know this thread is about a month old but I have a question. I noticed that everyone who responded to this thread either said they've owned a mutt...or they haven't but they would consider it. It looks like there are 4 people who said they would never even consider owning a mutt. May I ask why? Is it looked down upon or something?


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## Megora

MittaBear said:


> I know this thread is about a month old but I have a question. I noticed that everyone who responded to this thread either said they've owned a mutt...or they haven't but they would consider it. It looks like there are 4 people who said they would never even consider owning a mutt. May I ask why? Is it looked down upon or something?


Actually the wording was "probably never will". 

I almost clicked that option because to be perfectly honest - I love purebreds. I love having a known history behind my dog. I love being able to identify exactly what is normal or not normal as far as behavior. And I have a list of purebred breeds that I want to own at some point in my life. And I will always have a golden. 

And I'm not one of those dopey anti-purebred people who feel that mixed breeds are the "perfect breed" because they supposedly have all of the GOOD points of the dogs in their background and because they have supposedly evolved into a healthier dog. 

But I chose the other option because I would bring home any dog that "spoke" to me. And I love all dogs no matter what. And I came very close to adopting a mutt last year. Except the rescue didn't like my fenceless home or my intact dog. Had they said yes, I would be the very happy owner of a muttsky. :

^^^^ That was how my brain worked when I answered.

I imagined that other people answered that way too because they are the ones who always say they will never own any other breed besides golden retrievers. Nothing against other breeds.


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## Golden123

I've never had a mutt, I would consider it. But I would never purchase a mixed bred dog, it would have to come from a shelter/rescue.


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## Hali's Mom

I adopted a little yellow puppy out of the puppy corral at our local shelter. She was said to be a husky/shepard mix. Grew up to be the spittin image of a yellow lab and lived to the age of 17. My Mollie is supposed to be a golden/german shepard mix but I am pretty sure she is mostly Anatolian. If she were taller I would say 100%.
Hali was 100% golden retriever and cancer got her at 9.


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## 2dogsandagrrl

This is my mutt Boober. She was a stray that was adopted from the Humane Society in the Yukon back in 2002. She's an awesome dog.


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## Florabora22

Never had one, but would have no problems owning one!

Boober is cute.


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## lgnutah

Growing up we had a dog that came from a friend's "surprise" breeding (1960s). She looked mostly German Shepherd but had softer ears and wasn't as protective. Just a wonderful dog. Then we never spayed her (it was the 60;s remember) and she had puppies, not sure who the dad was....


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## Jige

I dont have any pictures on the computer of the mutts that have shared my life but I have enjoyed owning some great dogs in my lifetime. Onyx was a peke/poo dashund cross he was 26yrs old when he passed away. Montag the first dog that was ALL mine was a border collie/dobie cross. He was great so smart and th elove of my life he dies at 16yrs of age. DaVinci one of the last dogs I owned was a Novia Scotia Duck Toller cross. My poor boy had an auto immune disease and I had to have him pts at 4yrs of age.


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