the mystery of Curly -Stabyhoun?

[KJ]

I saw a pic of a dog in a magazine called Eating Well that looks very much like Curly. The shelter called Curly a Border Collie X. I played detective and finally got an answer to the breed of the dog in the photo. A STABYHOUN. A rare breed in the states, popular in the Netherlands.

First I panicked, wondering, what will the BC Board people do to us? Will we kicked off as imposters? I love this board, where will we go?

 

So I google the breed, not finding a lot but enough to say, WOW he's a Stabyhoun. The ear set, the coat quality and the temperament descriptions are so accurate amoung other things. The descriptions are similar to BC's without the..herding. I emailed Curly's pics to a guy who has a breed website, but he replied with a NO.

 

So back to Curly being a BC X!!

 

Here's a Stabyhoun:

 

 

Now here is Curlito:

 

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Stayhoun group:

 

Curly:

 

 

If you have a minute, check out these pics.

http://www.geocities.com/stabyhoun_dogs/

 

kim

[KJ]

I just poked through the Peoples Gallery (so fun and cute!!!1) and saw many dogs that look Curlyish. I am just so curious what you guys think Curly could be.

 

thanks!

[KJ]

HI

I am just bumping this to the top in one more effort to get some opinions.

Responding to my own posts....hmmmmmm.

Thank You!

[SoloRiver]

There's a resemblance, but the breed is so very rare in the U.S. that the odds he's actually a Stabyhoun are pretty much zero.

 

It's more accurate to say that this is a rare breed that looks exactly like a Border Collie/retriever mix!

[KJ]

If I push his ears up from the back and make them tall, he's all BC. If I put clogs on him, undoubtedly, Stabyhoun.

 

It sounds like I care...I don't actually, but my curiosity got me.

[MrSnappy]

Your dog looks like a nice border collie mix to me. It's really unlikely that you have a rare breed in your posession from a shelter situation. I think people look too hard to find breeds in their mixes. I recently experienced this with a foster home who swore up, down and sideways that her foster dog was a purebred English Setter (border collie X spaniel, actually) and even went so far as to tell this to the dog's applicant.

 

Honestly, your dog looks like a LOT of mixed border collies we get in rescue and even a couple of purebreds look like that. I think you're stretching to make a rare breed out of him.

 

Love your dog? Then that's what matters

 

RDM

[Jen C]

The face of the Stabyhoun looks exactly like my Wesley (I am having picture posting trouble, or I would post some to show you)... But, where these dogs have a lot of white on their bodies, Wes has only one white patch on hist chest. I think Curly looks like Wesley, who we think is a lab/bc. But, who knows, he could be anything

[KJ]

Cannot let 2 comments go by:

 

I think people look too hard to find breeds in their mixes.

I think you're stretching to make a rare breed out of him.

RDM thank you for doing rescue work.

 

We brought Curly home from a rescue 4 years ago. Prior to that, we had a lab/ret x. I don't care about breed and am not looking for one, it became a curiosity, a 'what if'. IN FACT I will save my usual rant about breeding. While I appreciate the qualities sought after in various pure breeds, that is not my mission as a dog owner. I came to this board, b/c Curly required that I find out how best to handle him and how meet his needs. It was a great find for sure.

[Kat's Dogs]

I think that I can see why the guy said "no" but they are very similar. Most likely the breed came out of some of the breeds in Curly.

 

I think Curly is BC, if not %100 then pretty close to it. I "think" that I might be seeing some Lab in his face though, a bit boxier then some BCs and more like a black lab.

 

Whatever Curly is, we all love him just the same!

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I think people look too hard to find breeds in their mixes

I totally agree. But I can understand why. There's a lot of reasons one would want to pick apart what goes into a random bred dog. I love the genetics and cultural detective work that goes into these puzzles.

 

The vast majority of mixes are "Mix, Son of Mutt." I saw a female and her pups on the side of the road (arrghhh) on my way to a job recently. She looked like a sort of terrier pit labby thing and the pups were an assortment of chow, collie, shepherdy looking things. And there was one that anyone would have said was at least half Border collie or maybe Aussie.

 

To answer the specific question, the ears on those dogs are set just slightly higher then drop to a lower funnel type set. Curly's are placed lower but raise higher and are substantially shorter. His muzzle sweeps straight down to his nose from his stop, where the muzzle of the hounds is angled higher and comes from a more pronounced eyebrow ridge and skull. The chest and shoulder on the "Staby" is boxier, where Curly has the more heart-shaped look we expect from a Border collie. The dewlaps on the hounds are consistently defined, where Curly's stop short at being just a teeny bit boxier than a typical collie's.

 

One or two of these things being "off" might pass in a breed defined by looks (as all FCI breeds are to some extent). However, since it's already a stretch to think he might be this breed, he'd have to be more than an approximate match to make anyone in the breed excited.

 

This is speaking from experience as someone who owns a really weird crossbreed. She turned out to be enough like a Finnish spitz that I ended up looking for the reason that someone would cross a Finnish spitz, and a Border collie, and a something, deliberately. The something turned out to be a feist and it appears to be a mix squirrel hunters around here do. I suspect the Border collie got in the mix accidentally but the Finkie and fiest crosses have quite a following, it seems. I even had someone ask me if they could breed their fiest to Maggie once. Sheesh.

 

It really is fun to play "guess the mix" but many times you really do have to shrug and say, well, there's a lot of "breeds" in there. He's black and white and close enough to a Border collie for me and my friends!

 

For a dog whose job is to be a companion, his breeding matters not one bit. It's just marvelous to see people who give dogs like him a home and recognize that it doesn't take a fancy pedigree to offer canine friendship.

[KJ]

Thanks for the specific comparison. I had to google what dewlap was and I guess I understand 'lower funnel type set'. I've had people say What a beautiful Springer! and also just recently, What a beautiful English Shepherd! Funny isn't it? Almost like when people try to see something specific, something they understand in abstract art.

 

Shep is the dog we rescued from idiot neighbors (happens to be and Aussie). When I was trying to find a home for him, I called the breeder b/c folks on this board said most will take their dogs back if they are being treated poorly. She said they only want one dog so they couldn't help. She said, 'They only did it for fun'. I flipped out on the woman and made her cry. Ya don't create a life, for FUN, when there's so many others AND IF you do, you better be prepared to be responsible for that life. AHHHHHh!!!!!!!

 

What dogs have tho, are those eyes. Any color, shape or form that just say, I am so willing and I am pure---heart and soul that is...

[karrie]

Rebecca ~"The vast majority of mixes are "Mix, Son of Mutt"

 

I like those. We always called those Heinz 57.

[Rhborder]

We lovingly call them Heinz 57's as well!!LOL