This dog is a golden retriever/shar-pei cross.
The golden retriever in the cross had to have been a brown-skinned yellow or carried the gene for brown skin pigment. The golden had to have had a wavy-coat, which is dominant over the straight coat. On a shar-pei, which is a modified spitz of the chow-chow type, the coat stands up away from the body. Mixing that kind of coat with the wavy-coat of a particularly wavy golden produces a somewhat rustic (“wind-blown”) appearance.
The shar-pei in the cross was likely a brush-coated dog, which have thicker fur than the horse-coated dogs. This dog has much thicker fur than I would expect from a golden crossed with a very short-haired dog. Shar-pei also come in a long-haired, “bear-coated” variety, which points more clearly to their close relationship with the chow-chow. Shar-pei breeders generally select away from this coat, and it is relative rare within the population. It is possible to produce a true long-haired cross with a shar-pei and golden retriever breeding– but not very likely.
As for the color of the shar-pei, there are several colors in the shar-pei that are genetically brown-skinned yellows, including the legendary 5-point red shar-pei. These 5-point reds are red on the anus, nose, tongue, paws, and the skin around the eyes. In shar-pei, black tongues are the rule and are in keeping with the AKC standard. However, the Chinese regarded 5-point reds as good luck. A 5-point red would definitely count as a brown-skinned yellow, but in shar-pei, yellow to red e/e’s are called “red dilutes.”
Shar-pei and golden retrievers have very little in common. Shar-pei are known for their somewhat unique conformation, which is relatively prepotent when crossed with another breed. That fact alone explains one reason why shar-pei could easily be outcrossed to increase genetic diversity and probably were when they almost went extinct in the 1970’s.
Is this a free service you are offering? If so, may I offer Celeste and you can tell me what the hell she is?
Sure. Go ahead.
Do you need just any old picture of her?
Any old picture, just so long as I can see her tail carriage and get an idea of her relative size.
Will this work?
She carries her tail curved up when she’s outside. She’s 21″ at the shoulder. Her weight vacillates between 38-40 lbs. All legs. She has one blue eye and one 1/2 blue, 1/2 brown eye.
THese are her relaxed ears.
And her relative size to Mina, who is about 17″ at the shoulder and 30-32 lbs
Too many photos, I know. :)
I think if I tried a blood DNA test, it would ‘splode.
And she’s a Mexican stray dog, right?
Yes, she is.
I’ll just warn you that the last very mxed dog I tried to identify wound up being mostly Doberman, according to the DNA test (which are faulty). The dog looked like an English shepherd crossed with a retriever of some sort.
Was that the white dog with the brown spot?
No. It was Nala.
I love my Goldie….she is a Golden – Shar Pei they tell me and looks just like the dog in this picture.
Hi Retrieverman….been following your blog for quite some time. As owner of many rescued goldens over the past 20 years, I’ve found it fascinating. With that said, I have what is believed to be a golden/shar-pei mix. No DNA run….like someone else said, the test would probably explode trying to figure out what the heck he is. May I pass on his photo to you as well?