My New Foster, the Coyote

edited November 2012 in Other Breeds
I very rarely have any NK-related things to contribute, but I wanted to show you guys my new foster dog. He came to me because he's a HUGE handful and I never thought I'd enjoy this kind of dog, but he's super cool and such a character.

Unfortunately, he thinks all animals outside of people are probably for eating. We're working on that.

Who wants to try the guessing game?
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And his crazy crate picture.
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Comments

  • edited November 2012
    CUTE!!! Best of luck on curving the prey drive!
  • He's handsome! Nice coat for winter. :o)
  • He's super cute! No idea what breed though, I am horrible at these games....
  • edited November 2012
    Thanks! He's a very handsome boy with a nice, coarse and crisp coat. Every time I get a foster, I always have this feeling of "well, this one will be the one to stay for SURE"... and they never do, of course. Tracer has apparently been in foster care for quite a while and the rescue group I go through was running out of options for him, so I'm glad to have him. He's hilarious.

    He's a super high-energy dog and has been stuck in boarding for a while. That plus his "inability" to be with other dogs kind of set him up to be a whole bag of crazy. It's only been a couple days since I've had him and he's already stopped going after my dogs - he'll try to "hunt" and bully London (my Mal) and gets a little over excitable with Russell when they're playing, but I have high hopes for him. It'll take a while, but he'll be just fine. He only snaps after he goes past his threshold for excitement (which is, admittedly, very low and we're adjusting that). I let him and my boys interact for short periods of play and intervene when I see things getting too tense.

    I know it shouldn't be funny, but watching this ~30 pound dog think he can take on my Malamute is a little ridiculous.


    The rescue said he was a Corgi x Collie, but I don't think either of those dogs have an agouti coat and he doesn't have the drive to herd as much to stalk and catch (which could be intense herding, but I've never seen a herding dog shake the crap out of something it's nipping at). I suspect he may be some kind of spitz or northern breed mixed with a terrier or herder (so... maybe - probably - corgi) who just happens to be sort of short and long. He came all the way from So. Cal. - I don't really know what breeds are common out there. Any insight?


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    What he is doesn't matter much, but I always think it's fun to speculate.
  • edited November 2012
    Oh wow, he's smaller than I thought!

    Swedish Vallhund?
  • @Zinja - oh, wow, I hadn't really seen those dogs before! I'd heard of them, but didn't realize what a wide range they came in. Some of the working examples of the breed w/sickle/curled tails and the "red yellow" color look a lot like him. His ears are a lot more rounded than the Vallhund. I wonder if Vallhund x Corgi is a possibility.
  • Need more pictures of his face please. =)
  • edited November 2012
    @curlytails - that was a lot easier said than done! I have a couple - he looks very shepherd-y in them. You can't see his facial markings as well. I'll have to get some in better light when I can. His ears do this "corgi flop" - as we call it at work - where when he trots, the tips flop over. It adds to his charm (and makes him deceptively adorable). Excuse the mess that is my basement entertainment room (where we have him set up for now). I promise I'm not a slob. OTL

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  • Vallhunds really aren't that common. There are very few Vallhund breeders in CA. (I researched them, when I was considering a Vallhund as a companion for Sukoshi.)

    Maybe Corgi and Shiba.
  • I think corgi is a safe bet! Hey, there's a possibility he could be ALL corgi, just very off-standard. When people have asked, I've told them he's a corgi cross, anyway.
  • I'm thinking more Corgi than Vallhund as well. Face also looks like some kind of scaled down farm shepherd. And sure, maybe Shiba? I'd have to think a little longer about what else...

    And no, Vallhunds don't seem to be too common, but I've met two in the Bay Area now. So I pretty much leave room for the possibility of ANYTHING with these games, especially since we might never really know. ;)
  • Incidentally, if you know anyone who's interested in a Corgi, I've got one for adoption. ;3
  • We've seen Shikoku x WSL puppies, certainly it's not impossible to find a Vallhund cross? ;)

    My guess would be some kind of Corgi mix. The colours are right for a Corgi (he looks like a sable), but the legs are way too long.
  • maybe corgi/sheltie
  • edited November 2012
    Definitely Corgi/x just look at that long body/short leg ratio and the enormous wide ears! He's a pretty cute little dude, I've seen some very thick haired Corgis just like that, he's definitely mixed with something though, great tail on him. Sounds like a spunky little ball of energy! I love dogs like that, high energy but not neurotic lol
  • Looks like a cardigan welsh corgi mix.
  • I've met a Corgi/Shetland sheepdog cross (where the parents were known in the mix) that looked exactly like that dog. And I LOVE the way the black and white dog (I think it was Russell?) looks. I love those lean, sporty looking guys.
  • @Araks - yep! That's Russell. He's looking a little ragged right now because we're having issues with his meds/IBD/food/something. He is a very lean dog naturally, but right now you can see a few too many ribs and hip action. :(
  • he def has a corgi face and ears and some welsh corgis have the shiba "sesame" coloring with the mask which it looks like he has.
  • Corgi (or corgi x)
  • Yeah corgi, but is that coat and the tipping on the tail corgi? I have a friend who has a corgi pup who is about Leo's age (like 8 mos) and she is a handful. Turns out to be a bit dog aggressive than I thought they were and bullies the other dogs terribly, apparently.

    I don't know much about them though.
  • Pembrokes in the UK commonly have tails, so say my friends, and they're often either "brush" shaped or curled. But yes... Corgis tend to be a little iffy for us at work. Whenever we get a new Corgi that comes in, it's become a breakroom thing to wager on how good it'll do - we'll get the two opposite ends of the spectrum: totally sweet and well-socialized or a... very obviously bad fit for a doggie daycamp (reactive, aggressive, poor impulse control).

    Every night he stays at my house, he gets WORLDS better, it's incredible. I know he's just getting used to the routine here and my dogs (specifically, not "all dogs" or "all cats"), but... during the first night, he'd react to EVERYTHING and try to pick fights with London. Now, he knows we wake up, we go out, we have breakfast--etc--and he doesn't really try to mess with my dogs until we're in one of the "downtime" periods, so he spends a bit of time isolated when I can't watch him.
  • We have a LOT of Corgi's around this area and I absolutely agree and see the corgi in his face, ears length of body and markings on his legs! Def. with something mixed in though... he's very cute - I wonder if doing some training in regards to herding - maybe even directed into agility (amazing that with their short legs corg's do great in that area!! makes me lol to watch them!!) that he might find a focus for his drive?

    I've known some herding dogs that were unable to exercise their herding instinct so they took it out on everyone around them... One (worst case scenario) is so controlling over "movement" that she does it to all dogs who she *thinks* are getting out of control.... she's a hard one to be around. Mirra H-ates having her around with a passion!

    How great that he's settling in and finding reassurance from you in your consistency!! Good job @Crispy!
  • It's been 5 days that he's been at my house now and he's been doing the same. I thought too - @CarabooA - to get him into a sport of some kind, even if it's a home made thing. He needs somewhere to focus his drive while we're doing training. Corgis are hardy, tenacious little cattle dogs and I think the internet's adorable gifs of floppy-eared corgi puppies makes people forget that. He went at London today, who seems really fed up with this dog's boologi. I need to find another foster situation for him (or better, forever home), but the rescue doesn't have any foster homes that don't already have dogs.

    I'm also seriously wondering if I should ask if we can get his thyroid or something tested. His hair - however crisp and coarse - is very thin and seems slow to grow. He's also quite itchy (raw/bald in some places). I thought it might be from having too much energy and self-grooming to the point of irritation or maybe an allergic reaction to the food his last foster/boarding situation had him eating... but it hasn't been getting any better. His last situation also noted to me, when I picked him up, that he was losing weight recently (which I also attributed to stress), but he seems a lot more mellowed out now and he's still got these problems (though I have noticed a decrease in how frequent his grooming sessions are and how raw his skin is).

    I guess the bottom line is--is it too early to worry about bigger health issues going on that could make him act this way/feel poopy? I'm, specifically, a little worried about hyperthyroid - I know dogs are commonly hypothyroid if they have thyroid problems... but this dog hasn't really had any of these health checks done.

    Should I keep him on his schedule and LID (he's on salmon and sweet potato Natural Balance - I give it to London for his allergies too) and do a wait-and-see? I'm not really certain how long it takes for a system to adjust.
  • When it comes to food, I was always told to give it a full 30 days to determine it effect.
  • Yeah, they do say 30 days, though a lot of people see improvement sooner if it is an allergy. I'd go with the thyroid testing too....sometimes they only show one symptom, even with just low normal.

    I didn't realize that corgis get their tails cut? I guess I've not been around many. I think I've met like three ever.

  • Yeah, Corgi's are way too cute for their own good, lol! Very misleading for people who think they are getting a small "short" legged dog that won't do much. They're a big surprise in a very small bundle!!
  • edited November 2012
    @shibamistress @sjp051993 - thank you for the info! I'll just do a wait and see and watch his progression.


    Pembroke Welsh Corgis have the bobtail gene, but not all examples of the breed have a natural bobtail. I guess the trend after the anti-docking laws happened in the UK was toward the dogs with the natural bobtail gene, but recently, my friends say they've seen more dogs -with- tails and they usually have sickle or curled tails when they've got them.

    a lot like this guy, who looks a whole lot like Tracer, only with a saddle: (huh)
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  • Docking the tail was a huge thing to do so that it didn't get ripped off/stepped on when they were working cows :os That would hurt....
    Now that people don't work them quite as much the tails are more left alone except for in parts of the country where they still do work - like around here most of them work, so all the tails are docked that I've seen in our area.
  • Other option would be having blood drawn and sending it out for allergy testing. I had a mutt with severe allergies. I finally had the blood test done. Turns out of like the 40 some things they tested for, she was allergic to something like 32 of them. Several we're common items in foods that you would never think of. While it was costly at the time (10 years ago) it was worth it tone able to eliminate everything that was making her miserable.
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