The reveal – Biska’s breed mystery solved (sort of, maybe)

A recent post left us guessing what kind of puppy we have. The rescue group told us she was a poodle, but Biska doesn’t look anything like a poodle. She looks like a golden retriever or a Labrador retriever.

For example, here’s Murphy, Laura’s coworker’s 17-week-old “English Cream Golden Retriever”.

And here’s Biska in approximately the same pose at approximately the same age:

Right? Everybody who sees her says retriever. I said yellow lab (Labrador retriever). Most of my friends said golden retriever. Yellow labs have slightly shorter coats than goldens, but they are similar dogs.

So we got her DNA tested. Now, as a caveate, these tests may not be particularly accurate (although they’re much better nowadays than years past). These results aren’t guaranteed but…

Pit Bull! OMG. PIT BULL?!? It’s true I had guessed…“Most mutts around here contain at least some pit bull and some chihuahua.” But still, I really thought she was part retriever. The rescue group told me that both Biska’s mom, and Biska’s mom’s sister, arrived at the same time, both pregnant. That sounded to me like a puppy mill raid, so I figured they were attempting to breed golden doodles. I figured I had a designer dog (albeit potentially poorly bred).

But if the dad is a pit bull, it wasn’t a puppy mill. It was just someone with a couple of miniature poodles who failed to spay them, and failed to keep them away from what could have been a 60 pound pit bull.

She doesn’t look anything like a pit bull! Pits have really wide heads and faces, and are stocky with broad shoulders. Biska is long and thin, with a narrow face, narrow shoulders and long, long legs. She can squeeze through the thinnest gap like a cat. She does NOT resemble a pit bull. She looks less like a pit bull than she does a poodle!

Maybe pit bull mixed with gazelle.

Who knows, maybe she really is a pit-poodle-shepherd-kitchen-sink mix. I googled it and sure enough, there’s a name for a poodle-pit mix. It’s called a Pit Boodle. A German shepherd mixed with a poodle is called a Shepadoodle, so if we include her potential 10% German shepherd, that would make her “Biscochito the Pit Boodle Shepadoodle Supermutt.” Say that three times fast, lol.

Here’s the question. We travel a lot. When we declare our dog to the airbnb owners, what do we say she is? If we tell them that she’s a poodle mix, and then they see her, they’re going to look at us like, “Quit trying to scam us, that’s no poodle.” But I can’t say she’s a pit mix because nobody allows pits. Even places that claim to be large-dog friendly have fine print (or unwritten rules) saying no pit bulls. I know this because I had a pit bull once. He was the most calm and gentle dog I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately he died at a young age of a heart defect.

Pit bulls have a bad reputation because they were originally bred to be fighting dogs, and even though it’s now illegal, many are still trained to fight. So a disproportionate number of serious dog bites are from pit bulls. But they’re not biters if properly trained, and in fact, most dogs bite out of anxiety, and larger dogs tend to be calmer and less anxious than smaller ones.

Nonetheless, many landlords, apartment complexes, airbnb’s and hotels ban pit bulls even when they accept other kinds of large dogs. Also some homeowners insurance policies view pit bulls as liabilities and charge higher rates. So I probably shouldn’t even be posting this!

Biska is a bit “mouthy” as a puppy, but most dogs are, especially golden retrievers (and some poodles). According to the internet, “The Golden retriever is hands down the number one breed when it comes to being mouthy. For many breeds out there, nipping, biting, and licking often ceases after the puppy stage. However, for a Golden retriever, the behavior is highly likely to go on into adulthood. Part of the reason for this is that this breed was bred to “retrieve” small game without hurting or killing them. Doing this taught him to explore his world with his mouth. Thankfully, proper training can alleviate the behavior once and for all.” Well, we’re working on it!

Poodles were also bred to retrieve small game; specifically they are water retrievers – bred in Europe to retrieve waterfowl shot down over wetlands. So if that internet article is true, the same idea would apply to poodles too. Of the three previous poodles we’ve owned, Kai was always very mouthy and spent the majority of his time chewing on chew toys. Rosie wasn’t mouthy at all, and Kira is – only in the sense that she is a true retrieving dog. All she cares about in life is playing fetch!

Anyway, Biska doesn’t look anything like a pit bull. Or a poodle. So what label should I attach to this beautiful supermutt, to help people make sense of who she is? I think what I’ll say is she’s a medium-sized mixed breed who looks like a small golden retriever. Because that’s 100% true. And it’s a more meaningful description than a Pit Boodle!

Next question – how big will she get? Don’t know! They always say to look at the size of the puppy’s feet to predict their adult size, but I thought her feet were relatively small when we first got her. Her feet have since grown a lot! So maybe that’s a myth.

I’m not sure if she’ll stay thin or if that’s just a teenager stage and she’ll fill out. She eats an enormous amount of food. No, I’m not tracking how much she’s eating. She’s so thin, I just fill her bowl every time I notice it’s empty.

At first I guessed she would be 20-25 pounds because her mom’s only 11 pounds. John guessed 25-30 pounds. Good thing there’s nothing but my reputation riding on that bet, because we’re now both guessing at least 30 pounds. She’s already 15 pounds at 4 months old!

Me and my faux poodle:

And uh, yeah, as you might have guessed, that’s not Tucson or Albuquerque. That picture was taken somewhere in or near Boise, Idaho. More on that soon!

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