Lancashire? Questions

I adopted this little guy from a rescue. His mom and litter were found abandoned (per the rescue). They guessed they were chihuahua mix. He actually has large ears, shorter and stockier legs and a long body. I kept thinking he must be part Corgi then came across the Lancashire breed. The pics of the liver and tan look like my dog. Does anyone agree he might be? I’m going to get a dna test too so that I can be mindful of unique health issues.

He could be. He could have manchester in him. It's possible the lancashire came from interbreeding corgis and manchesters so it would be difficult to tell without dna testing.

And remember that many rescue dogs (most here in the states) will have 3 or more breeds in their mix. And not all the breeds will present themselves physically (ie, appearance, personality or behavior).

He is cute.

Hello Eileen - I cannot see any Chihuahua in him but can see Heeler - his large ears throw me a bit though. If you do do a DNA test it will be interesting to know just what mix is in him.

Certainly very similar, but the ears are very large - maybe a Chi/Heeler mix. A dna test will be needed to satisfy your curiousity.

Thank you for the reply! I’m going to pursue the dna test. It would be interesting for sure. Of course, I love him no matter what he is!

Very large ears indeed! I can’t wait to get a dna test done.

I kept thinking if he’s a chihuahua he’s really big!

Whatever he is, he's adorable x

Big as in size or weight - or both? He is just so very cute and I love his ears! His front legs and paws look like my Tikva [not the girl in my avatar] who is half Dachshund, and when I looked up Heelers in Google Images I saw that they have similar shaped front legs and those outward pointing large paws.

Please give him a cuddle and ear twiddle from me!

He’s 16 lbs at 10 months so maybe stocky is a better description. I thought of part dachshund too. He’s so smart. He learned to sit, shake, dance and high five at 3 months in just a few lessons. He goes in his kennel with just a tap on the kennel. I’m gonna try to teach him agility next. With all the wins, I haven’t quite figured out how to get him to lay down yet!

That is about ½ lb less than Tikva [she is a Dachshund/Minpin cross] is now - she is just over 6 years old now, rock solid muscle and bone. Stocky but no fat on her at all. At 10 months she weighed ~14¼ lb and she looked rather thin until she was maybe about 4 years old. I keep looking at that first picture of your pup but apart from his feet I cannot really see Doxie in him.

This shows Tikva's feet - you can see from just above her right paw how it turns out slightly - which was what I noticed about your pup - and as I said, Heelers have front legs and feet like that. I can see Heeler in your pup, just as I see a lot of Doxie in Tikva - but she is only half - mother a Standard Dachshund, father a randy little Minpin, so I know exactly what cross she is.



Your little pup - he is just so cute!!

She’s very pretty. His paws do look like hers. Right now he’s listed as overweight by the vet. They’re under the impression he’s a chihuahua though (no fault of theirs as that’s the info I was given and gave them in turn). That’s part of why I’m trying to figure out what he is. He may still be a little chunky but we walk around 2miles every day and play a lot. In the end the dna should help me figure out the standards and possible health issues to watch for.

Most vets determine "overweight" by the dog itself not by the breed. The breed mostly figures in as to the structure - boxy, deep chest, long and slender, etc.

So they just accepted the information you gave them, ie he is a Chihuahua, because that what what you had been told, without querying the fact that even though there might be Chi in his background, he really does not look like a full Chihuaha.

That is right. Just looking at Tikva and feeling her all over, you would never believe she weighs as much as she does - in her case it is muscle and bone that makes her the weight she is. Vets should go by the overall look and feel of the dog, not just "such and such a breed at that age should weigh..."

yes, they just wrote down what I told them the rescue said he was. Not their fault. That’s why I ordered a dna kit. I just think it would be great to know for sure. He’s stocky and you can only see his ribs in certain light so he’s not skinny. You can see his muscles however. I understand they want to see the ribs…

You do not need to "see" ribs. As long as you can "feel" a dog's ribs and spine without having to press on them they are not too fat, and I mean fat as against being overweight. But if you have to press hard to feel them, then the dog is too fat.

Tikva is a stocky little dog, but just laying a hand against her, her ribs and spine are easily felt. And she has a waist when looking down, and a tuck when looking at her from the side. She was definitely quite skinny when younger but has filled out to be a perfect shape.

Incidentally, she has been with me since she was just 3 weeks old and had to be bottle fed, but since she was weaned she has been raw fed, not fed on dog food.

Thank you for that info! Here’s what he looks like from the side and above. The above isn’t really clear. He wags his whole body when he gets excited!

That is standard with vets. Unless you question it, they will accept what yiu tell them, unless it is completely off the mark. And sometimes even a purebred dog can look not so much like the breed. I had a boxer breeder ask if my childhood boxer was actually a boxer...

My Bat-dog had no waist. But she was not fat. She just had a short squat square body. She had 7 breeds in her background, so things came together a little wonky.

It is impossible to tell from the picture taken above, but from the side your pup looks like he has a definite tuck - you can see the way his body shape goes up from his ribs towards his hip [not counting his boy bits!] He is possibly a bit chunky round his neck and shoulders but that could be from the angle the photograph was taken. I do not think that he is definitely overweight though, and he still has some puppy chunkiness which he will probably grown out of when he is fully grown.

I think he is just adorable!

I really can’t wait to see what he really is. He’ll probably always be short and squat but it makes him so cute!