It's a problem all over the place.Truth is without DNA testing it's all a guess.

I've heard mention at the shelter about traits that are indigenous to certain breeds (e.g. muzzle shape, chest breadth, webbed feet, etc.). I think that dogs possessing some particular trait(s) might be considered as being a _____-mix because of that trait(s).

I suspect the pit mistakes could be intentional and done to up the dog's chances of adoption. It actually is not a bad idea to list the mixes as their other breed since insurance companies have gotten so cautious about insuring homes of people who own certain breeds.

I too suspect you are correct about this, but this to me indicates a sneaky and underhanded practice. If someone unknowingly adopts a "lab mix" and it is actually more pit bull than lab, isn't that a disservice to the family NOT to mention it? And doesn't it suggest insurance fraud if the homeowners policy states that certain breeds are exempted?

I am one of those people that hopes that every pet owner is educated on care (including nutrition, training, vet care, etc) and made aware of any potential pitfalls BEFORE they bring the animal home. Not to do so may result in unhappy people and an animal that gets bounced around from home to home until they end up back at a shelter, a bad situation for all involved. It just makes me angry that shelters would knowingly misrepresent a dog that has the potential to end up in that situation.

Maybe I am just having a bad day. For a few weeks I have been looking on petfinder and calling shelters trying to find a good candidate to become a member of our famiy and I have been disappointed by the description of the dog not being even close to what the dog really is. I am about to give up on the whole idea and go to a reputable breeder to get a puppy that I have confidence is what is truly represented.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts....

Alexa

Alexa,
I just had a wonderful experience with a rescue. Email me and I'll tell you all about it.

Don't give up!

There's a pup out there for you!

Silly

I didn't mean to sound as though I was advocating being deceptive about a dog's breed through the entire adoption process. I just think not playing up the pit part right on Petfinder so the dog has a better chance of being seen and considered might not be a bad idea.

You might try craigslist for a dog. I see lots of people in our area trying to rehome dogs that way.

My experience with petfinder was not so great. Half the listings had misinformation or poor quality photo, but worse half the time the dogs listed were already adopted. We looked for our rescue pup for 3 months online and driving to shelters/rescues each weekend. Our pup was originally listed as a "spaniel/lab mix" then corrected and listed as a Border Collie, which he most certainly is.

Petfinder helped us find rescues to visit, but not specific dogs. Once we had a short list of places, we called and told them what we were looking for and we kept coming back to check in. Selecting a dog is a bit like buying a car, don't adopt the first one you see. The more you see, the more you know. The better the chances of finding that connection vs just taking home a pretty face.

As for the misinformation, it comes largly from un-informed volunteers, who love animals but don't necessarily know much about them. I'm a web designer and have offer my time and services to jazz up rescue sites and come in to take photos and help list animals. At one rescue in particular I had a woman yell at me twice - I quit at that point.

She had big problem with how I listed two dogs: one a 'chow mix' that I listed as Shepherd mix, as he had the classic black blanket, coat and shepherd head. She told me people think shepherd's bite! Ha! And the second an Australian Shepherd that they wanted to list as a husky with no tail. The woman said it was clearly a Huskey as it had blue eyes and besides: it is a better story. I grew up with huskies and am herding dog lover/owner. This dog was an Aussie.

What's the saying: good intentions pave the road to hell? Sometimes indeed.

Gripes aside with rescue/listings/etc... there are a lot of wonderful dogs out there, you may be surprised when you actually go to a shelter meet them in person. :)

Petfinder is not the one calling a dog a certain breed; each individual rescue calls the breed etc. Some rescues are better than others about getting the breed and size correct. I was astounded that I got Tatyana on petfinder with an accurate description- I was looking for a young Siberian Husky, and there she was, and properly given the correct (and very rare) coloring- red agouti! Turns out that Tatyana was being fostered by a Husky breeder who was very familiar with the breed and recognized immediately her coloring. While I was searching I found many dogs listed as Huskies that were most likely Chows or GSDs. But persistence paid off.

I adopted my two dogs from petfinder and did not have any problems. One was from a private owner who listed on petfinder because he had to move and the other was from a breed rescue. I found that in both cases the dogs were correctly represented on petfinder.

I also asked like a billion questions to make sure the dog was right for us. I always recommend pet finder to friends. I also checked the local animal shelter often and found that petfinder was easier to work with.

I did check the listings everyday, knowing that younger dogs are adopted more quickly. When I found a dog that I thought would be good for us I moved quickly and contacted the adoption group. They also knew I was looking for a dog and had "pre-approved" me per se.

The adoption group called my references and vets and knew that I was serious and would provide a good home for the dog.

As far as listing pit-bulls as a whatever-mix I think that it is best for people to not know it is a pit bull if the dominate characteristics are of another dog breed. Say they thought a dog they saw which was a pit-bull mix was perfect for them and come to find out that they can't adopt the dog because of their insurance company? The dog could be 25% pit bull or maybe it just sorta has a pit bull characteristic and really it isn't one. Then that poor dog may never be adopted just because it has the "stigma" of being called a pit-bull mix.

It is sad that they have to be less than truthful about this but if the person that adopted the dog doesn't have anything on paper that says "pit-bull" mix then I think that they have no chance that their insurance company will drop them.

One of my co-workers parents adopts pit-bulls and mixes from homeowners that have to surrender their dogs because of insurance carriers dropping them because of their new "dangerous dogs" policy. They have never had any problems with their adopted dogs. It is sad that the owners had to give away their pets that they love when the dogs have never done anything wrong.

-renee

I'm trying to adopt a dog from Petfinders and because of covid- there are doing visual home check has anyone ever had a visual home check my house is clean except bedrooms do I have to go through them and clean all bedrooms to the dog isn't going to be in them