Breed Discrimination Chart

Disability access note : Because this information is in table format, it could be difficult for visually impaired persons using a text reader. Instead of this page, I suggest you use the equivalent page How to Identify Bouvs at the Pound which presents the same information in paragraph form, though it does not cover the less common or less easily confused breeds. Also, screen readers tend to mis-pronounce breed names, especially "Bouvier" ("boo vee ae", as in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy) and other non-English words.

Breed Identification & Discrimination Chart

by Pam Green, © 2001, 2013

When a rescue person is called to the pound or shelter to identify or bail out a dog that might be of that person's adopted breed, there is always the question of whether or not the dog is actually that breed or some other. Dogs that land in the pound are usually very neglected in their grooming and they may not be typically conformed specimens of their breed and they may not have been subjected to the ear and/or tail alterations specified by the standard for the breed. In short it is rare that they look like the photos in the breed books or on the wall charts one sees at shelters and vets' offices. And for some breeds there are certain others that look extremely similar even when the resemblance to the textbook specimen is perfect. For my breed, the Bouvier, there are several other very similar looking breeds plus more that could be confused with a really "off type" Bouv.

The photographs on shelter websites or sent to you by e-mail, while very helpful and a great step in the right direction, often show the dog badly posed so some features are not visible (eg front or 3/4 front views with tail not visible) or behind chain link or in poor lighting , and too often these photos do not give an indication of size. (To any shelter photographer who reads this article, please try to take your photos in side view and with a yardstick in the photo, preferably vertical next to or behind the dog.) Without size, there are some small breeds that, especially when ungroomed, could be mistaken for a Bouvier. I am not discussing these small breeds in this article. So a photo may allow you to see that the dog is definately not a Bouv, but it won't allow you to be sure that it is indeed a Bouv. As you will see below, in some cases even an "up close and personal" examination may not allow you to be absolutely 100% certain, though in most cases it will give you 95% certainty which is plenty good enough to decide to bail the dog out and save its life.

By the way , it's hard to take good photos of dark colored dogs. Photographers tell me that it helps to increase exposure somewhat above that which the camera would set automatically. (Or fix the photo with a "Levels" adjustment in Photoshop.) You want to have good lighting on the dog's eyes (and for shaggy faced dogs, comb the hair away from the eyes so the eyes show) and some light on the nose. Pose dog in side view with a contrasting background (light background for dark dog). Have something in the photo that allows judgement to be made of the dog'sapproximate size, such as human leg for large dog or foot or hand for small one. Outdoor photos usually look a lot better than one's taken through the shelter cage wire.

I present here a chart in which the "standard" or usual appearances are in plain type and the common alternatives are enclosed in parentheses. Potentially or definitively distinguishing features are boldfaced..

Please remember that any breed which is supposed to be cropped eared may easily be left uncropped, ie natural eared ; but breeds that are supposed to be natural eared will probably never apear cropped. (It is still possible that a natural earred breed might appear with one ear mutilated or perhaps surgically trimmed after an injury. If the unfortunate dog has been in a drug dealer's posession, it is possible that ears have been hacked short with a pocket knife to make the dog look fierce ) Likewise for tails : docked breeds may appear natural tailed, but natrual tailed breeds should not appear docked , though an individual might appear with a tail that has been amputated due to an injury, but amputation will usually leave a tali longer than the customary short dock. Occasionally dogs will be docked longer than the standard stipulates, usually because the vet was not instructed properly as to the standard; likewise ear crops may not conform to the shape and size dictated by the standard.

(Note to those in breeds (eg German Shepherd) with natural ears : breeds whose ears are supposed to stand erect may often require a lot of human help to do so and thus individuals may have semi-erect or dropped ears; breeds (eg Collie, Shetland Sheepdog) whose ears are supposed to tip over into semi-erect may need human help to do so and thus individuals may display erect ears. Likewise in natural tailed breeds, individuals' tails may show more or less curvature or kinking than is usual for the breed or may be carreid differently from what is usual and carriage may vary with emotional state.)

For sizes , in all breeds there will be those individuals markedly larger or smaller than the range comonly accepted as correct. Immature individuals, individuals that have been starved during their youth, and those who have various health defects may be stunted to a size substantially below the norm.

Body type may vary within the breed, with individuals being more chunky or more slender than the standard specifies. dogs overweight or underweight may appear to have modified body type. Immature dogs may be less filled out than mature ones. Dogs deprived of adequate excercise may lack muscular development.

For colors , those colors that are mentioned by the standard as forbidden or discouraged probably do occur from time to time.

Coat profusion, length, and texture can vary a lot. The coat of any long-haired ungroomed dog may be matted and filthy, and skin infection or other disease may cause coat to fall out. Matting can cause the coat to look more or less "corded" = ropelike, similar to the human "Rasta" hairstyle. Any long haired dog may be clipped, and if recently clipped may appear short haired. Often the body type of a clipped dog of a breed normally heavily coated will look dramatically different from that of the same dog with a normal coat. (Eg, think of the difference between Rough Collie and Smooth Collie !)

I have grouped and color coded breeds according to amount of risk that there could be misidentification of that breed as a Bouvier or vice versa. Generally it is more likely that a less common breed will be identified as a more common one than vice versa. Bouviers are most likely to be confused with Giant Schnauzer and Black Russian Terrier ; even experienced people in those breeds can have great difficulty and can make mistakes.

The chart below may require you to scroll horizontally. I know many users just hate to have to do that (I sure hate to), but there is no other way to organize this information adequately. Once again, if you are on a text only browser or screen reader, you will probably prefer to use the alternative page How to Identify Bouvs at the Pound , although that article does not include some of the less likely to be confused breeds that are included on this chart.

• How to Identify Bouvs at the Pound , text article on how to distinguish Bouvier vs other breeds with which it might be confused.
• http://www.abrl.org/files/guess_the_breed_game.pdf, a photo quiz to see if you can identify Bouv vs other breeds. Notice that almost all these photos could be Bouvs ; there was only one I was (fairly) sure was not a Bouv.
• photo page of breeds which could be confused with Bouv (work in progress). But the ABRL guess the breed page , link given above, does this very well.
• see also links to photos of Bouviers on BOUVIER and WORKING DOGS
• "The Bouv Pretender" (song about a dog that Rescue declares "not really a Bouv")