Instances Of Rescue Pups Labeled As Certain Breed Turning Out To Be Different Breeds Altogether

Adopting a rescue pup is like a box of chocolates, you never reallllly know what you're going to get. The folks at the rescue have their own guesses, you the new pup owner have your own suspicions, and your nosy neighbor from across the street has a different opinion entirely. We do agree that it is important when getting a pup to know their breed for a number of reasons. 

The first and most important reason (in our humble opinion), size. It's super helpful to know how large your dog may potentially be, in order to decide if your home space is adequate for a small/large dog. Well, seems as though the days of knowing how big our dogs may become are behind us, and that is definitely something to consider when going through the adoption process! Let's see what happened to these Reddit users when confronted with relevant situations!

Author image for kalila courban kalila courban
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  • 01
    Font - A rescue dog is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get [Fluff] My husband and I are still in college and living in an apartment, but after talking about it for months we decided we wanted a puppy. A shelter near us had brought in a pregnant momma dog, so they had mix puppies and we were able to adopt a little black pup with bright blue eyes!
    via FutureOctober
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  • 02
    Font - They told us that momma dog was a coonhound mix and about 35 Ibs. Cool, that size dog will fit great in our apartment, we did some research on the breed they told us and it sounded great. We have an awesome dog community in our apartment complex and so we take him to the apartment backyard every day to run and play with the other pups, on top of taking him on walks and potty breaks.
    via FutureOctober

    We love that this couple was so prepared for this very exciting journey! The journey being adopting and raising a rescue pup. It's definitely important to try and predict the size of your new addition so that like OP, you are able to determine if your home is a good potential environment. 

  • 03
    Font - A few months later, puppy is now 4 months old and already 41 Ibs. We started to wonder if he had some Great Dane in him, because his paws are enormous and he's got massive floppy ears and a short coat. We decided to do a doggy dna test, here are the results: 48% Tan and Black Coonhound 25% Siberian Husky 12% Alaskan Malamute
    via FutureOctober

    At the same time it's important to make peace with the fact that this prediction could be off, and to be prepared for anything! 

  • 04
    Font - So now we are super attached to this sweet cuddly lap dog that is supposed to grow to be almost 70 Ibs, definitely big dog status. Looks like we might be upgrading to a house from an apartment sooner than we thought...
    via FutureOctober

    Too cute! It's hard not to fall in love while raising a puppy. Much like raising children, you become attached and determined to create the best environment for your child! Kudos to this couple for establishing such a strong bond with their pup.

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  • 05
    Font - mcac • 3d My dog was labeled a Newfie mix, which I didn't really believe when I met him but I still liked him and adopted him. I kind of started to suspect he had some great pyrenees mixed in after he settled in based on his behavior, they're one of my favorite breeds but I avoided them because I live in an apartment and they are protective and tend to bark a lot. So I did the Embark test and not only was I right about the pyrenees but nearly every breed in his mix was one I had tried to
    via mcac

    Whoops! 0% Newfie. That's okay though, he's still perfect and managed to get all the good traits from all the breeds this user sought to avoid!

  • 06
    Human body - modernmanshustl • 4d But they're all delicious. Wait not like a box of chocolates at all. Also don't feed your rescue dog chocolate
    via modernmanshustl
  • 07
    Font - pupsnfood · 4d We are basically the opposite, my dog is much smaller than expected. My dogs litter was a local surrender so we knew his mom was a Newfie/ Aussie and dad was lab/ Great Dane. Mom weighed about 105 and dad was 130 so we were fully prepared for 100+ Ib dog. At 20 months, my boy is 75 lb and last time we talked, the only one smaller in his litter was the one girl and she was about 65lb and the rest of the boys were 85+. In the end it worked out and love his size and I'm very h
    via pupsnfood
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  • 08
    Font - Concerned-23 · 4d We have a 65 lb lab in an apartment and have never had an issue. Definitely upgrade to a house if you can (for sake of owning vs. renting), but you can have a large dog in an apartment. It just needs lots of walks G Reply 1 23 3 heckinwut · 4d Toby: mutt (GPxAPBTxRottweilerxStaffyxGSD) Same! Very do-able, puppy age is probably the hardest because potty training and needing to go out frequently. But we've got a 65lb mutt and manage fine (although he was only 19lb when we
    via Concerned-23
  • 09
    Font - niskablue · 4d Yup! I was told my puppy's mom is a ridgeback/lab mix, and that dad was unknown. Well, my puppy has no ridgeback at all and less than 10% lab. I know rescues can't reasonably dna test all their dogs, so it's always going to be a risk that they're wrong. Fortunately, we weren't looking for a specific breed so we're still happy! G Reply 金29 Firm-Weather-4672· 4d I love when the rescue guesses and it's some Obscure breed that it probably isn't. We had one at our rescue that wa
    via niskablue
  • 10
    Font - niskablue • 4d Right? I had never even heard of a ridgeback before haha. The only thing I can think is maybe they confused a darker strip on mom's back for the ridge that ridgebacks have. Firm-Weather-4672 · 4d I don't think ridgebacks are all that common to have as a Mixed breed either hahaha. We're getting a foster this weekend and she's listed as a coonhound mix. Not exactly sure what she actually is + showmeyourbirds · 4d Coonhounds do mix a lot more than you might think. They're esca
    via niskablue
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  • 11
    Font - geosynchronousorbit · 3d Yeah rescues definitely just guess when it comes to breeds. I adopted a mama dog listed as a lab/pit mix, but when they put her puppies up for adoption the puppies were listed as golden retriever/German shepherd mixes. Hopefully those adopters are not too surprised when their puppies grow up!
    via geosynchronousorbit

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