Pandagonians, I need your collective wisdom. Here is a photograph of a dog:
And the question for you is: Photoshop? Or real dog? What’s your take on this burning question?
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Real…Just funky legs. Luckily, the dog has no knowledge of his silly-looking-ness.
Oh, I’ve met a similar-looking dog in real life, a Dauschund and Labrador mix. Nature can let amazing things happen.
Yellow Lab + Achondroplastic breed like Dachsund or Corgi. Doesn’t look fake at all.
Dude, I have a wiener dog in my lap. That’s a yellow lab’s head ‘shopped onto a corgi.
As the former owner of a combination dauschund/german shepherd mix, I can attest to the fact that some dogs are just…really silly looking. But I have no idea whether this one is real or not.
that’s not a corgi. they have longer hair and different facial structure. pembrokes have no tail, and cardigans have even longer hair. but i’ve seen lab beagle mixes that look similar.
The fur on a dog’s legs usually isn’t darker than the fur on the back and flanks, so I’m saying it’s photoshopped.
It’s definitely real. Looks like a lab/dachshund mix, but it could be a lab with achondroplasia, too.
Real. My sister-in-law had a wonderful dog ‘Bear’ who was a Basset/German Sheperd cross that had perfect GSD markings on ths large basset body. Looked remarkably like the dog above.
That’s a dachshund (standard probably) mix with a lab. It happens sometimes.
The dachshund is a dog that is just not meant to be crossed with any other breed, as the result ALWAYS comes out looking messed up.
Always.
I too have a weiner dog on my lap, and they have that same funky build.
I’m just reminded of how odd it is that people think purposely breeding handicapped animals is okay.
I agree with Stephanie, dogs selectively bred for specific work purposes, sort of ok. Dogs bred simply to provide pleasure, whilst often suffering from nasty genetic defects, not okay.
Torturing dogs in a dog fighting pit is bad? but torturing dogs into amusing shapes over decades and centuries is fine?
And a properly-bred Daschund is far from handicapped: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Og56nxVz1s
Keyword: properly.
but torturing dogs into amusing shapes over decades and centuries is fine?
Actually, until running a puppy mill became so enormously profitable in the past couple of decades, even the most “overbred” dogs were still completely functional. Dogs with “amusing” shapes like dachshunds were bred for specific purposes (in that case, so they could hunt burrowing animals like rats and rabbits).
It’s only in the past couple of decades that we’ve gotten true disasters through breeding like bulldogs with nasal passages too short for them to breathe properly or golden retrievers with major hip dysplasia issues. Even then, I’d argue that a big part of the problem is that dogs became status symbols instead of the working animals they had been for centuries before that so that they way they looked became more important than the way they functioned.
But I have to agree with the other posters—if this is a real picture, it’s most likely that it’s a mutt, not something bred to look like that.
Looks a lot like my dachshund-retriever(?) mix. I say real…
Looks like a dachshund/corgi or dachshund/retriever mix to me, and I’m leaning heavily towards the latter, since the Dorgis tend to be somewhat more aesthetically pleasing.
“I would seriously doubt that people -purposely- bred that dog. If they did, they were idiots.”
Yeah, my sister’s got a Jack Russell-pointer mix. He doesn’t look funny, but it’s definitely a facepalm moment when you see a dog torn between pointing at something and racing around in circles like a maniac. High-functioning, he isn’t. He’d have been a far happier dog if his dad had been a Teddy Roosevelt terrier.
yeah, my daschund/german shepherd mix was a pound dog - clearly not intentional (and the quizzical reactions we got about the logistics of how it happened were always amusing). He had the head and markings of a GS, on a long body with stubby legs. and oversized ears and tail. Really quite cute, and he lived to be about 18 years old. Best Dog Ever.
I’m guessing lab/dachshund as well. If it were half basset it would probably have bigger paws.
Mnemnosyne is right - the achondroplastic shape may look amusing to us, but if you’ve ever chased a basset hound through dense brush you know it definitely serves a purpose. You come out scratched and covered with burrs, and your dog happily follows the trail of whatever he was tracking and beats you to the other side. No, seriously, I ruined a sweatshirt that way once.
And personally I think the dog is adorable.
The dog is real, except for the photoshopped legs with blue jeans extending from his back.
My brother-in-law has a similar German Shepherd/something (probably bassett) mix that we call The Stump Dog (but he answers to “Roscoe”). He looks like a full-grown GS while lying down, but then he gets up it looks like he’s missing the bottom half of his legs. The Stump Dog name comes from speculation about which parent had to stand on a stump to get the job done.
I don’t know, I’ve seen dogs with three legs, two legs, so why not funky legs. But I did zoom this thing about 500% and there’s something off about it. The pixels are more jagged and precise along one edge of the dog’s paw, and the nails look like they’ve been cut and selected out. Could be wrong. I’m an amateur. But something’s off about the pic
I’m also going for real. It reminds me of my sister’s dearly departed dog, which was advertised as a blond lab. Then as his body grew, his legs didn’t. Then one ear popped up, and the other joined it. He had a corgi’s ears and legs and a lab’s body.
And you all know that mixed breed dogs are healthier than pure breds, right?
It’s real. A friend of mine has a dog that looks just like that. They call him Frankendog because he’s part this and part that. His name is Francis, really. My friend says he has a tough time eating a dog bone because his head is so long and his front paws are so short, he can’t hold it!
Real.
Like several others here, I couldn’t figure out why you thought it might be fake, apart from the blurry muzzle, which looks to me like the dog moved. It’s far from the weirdest-looking dog I’ve ever seen—if you cross one of the dwarf breeds with something else, you get something like that. A college friend’s neighbor had a dachshund/Rottweiler cross we called “the Dockweiler,” and a co-worker had a black lab/dachshund cross we liked to say was a “sawed-off lab.” This example looks quite a bit like the latter—I’d agree it’s probably a yellow lab/dachshund cross.
As others have said, none of this means that the photo itself is unaltered, but dogs that look like that exist—if it was just, say, a picture of a yalla lab that was resized funny, it would look very different.
My dog has a similar body shape except that her tail is long and plumey and looks pasted on. So yeah, probably real.
I had neighbors that had a pitbull - Lhasa Apso mix. Ugliest, most weirdly proportioned dog I’ve ever seen. Nasty temperament, too. Ever since I saw that thing, I’ll believe almost any combination of dog is possible.
I don’t know about this particular photo, but I also have met a labrador/dachshund(?) mix in real life. The question mark is there, because while the dog’s top half was straight lab, the actual parents weren’t known and the legs might have been doxie or corgi. He was found dumped on the side of the road as a puppy. When I first met that dog, he was apparently a perfectly normal lab lying down in long grass with the owners’ other dogs. It wasn’t until they said ‘Watch this’ and called him, that he started bounding towards us, without standing up first, and we realised that the legs weren’t exactly in proportion with the top.
“And you all know that mixed breed dogs are healthier than purebreds, right?”
Breed two sickly dogs, and you get sickly pups, it doesn’t matter if they’re mixes or ‘pure’. Genetic diversity (two unrelated parents) means a lower chance of getting a recessive disease, yes, but a responsible breeder does not go around randomly mating dogs. And frankly, the skeletal structure of a lab and doxie are so different, that I would actually worry that the offspring of such a match would have a HIGHER chance of structural problems/arthritis. An oversized skull on a body shape that wasn’t meant to have such a top-heavy head stressing the joints, for example.
Real. And I was actually quite confused as to why you were asking - I thought I’d missed something.
I don’t have direct experience of this mix, but my mother-in-law has a Jack Russell/collie mix - she really does look like a collie that has been chopped off at the knees. Lovely dog.
My first thought wasn’t “Which two types of dogs are in this one?” but “The front limbs are shorter”. This happens with people, too. Oddly-proportioned animals and people have always been with us, but it’s always assumed that the animals are intentional but such accusations never are made about the people unless they were part of Caligula’s retinue or something.
It looks like a dog that could occur in real life, but in this case didn’t the back and the legs don’t match in the angle the photo was taken from. Also, where are the front feet supposed to be? A few inches off the floor? On what? Why is the muzzle blurry but nothing else?
Photoshop, but I can’t imagine WHY?!
Or else real bad camera with lens distortions going on, I guess.
Having seen a Black Lab/Dachshund cross at the Humane Society I’ll say he could be real, but the funny tiling job on the floor, as well as the exact shape of the right legs makes me a bit suspicious.
He also needs his nails trimmed.
And you all know that mixed breed dogs are healthier than pure breds, right?
The figure is that 20% of purebred dogs will have some sort of genetic ailment due to the close breeding.
That the pure-bred Yorkies we’ve bred in the past haven’t had something of the sort was really a dodged bullet for the wife and I.
We had bought a breeding pair from 2 breeders who lived 70 miles from each other, and it turned out the dogs were related, ones’ great-grandparents having been the grands of their mate.
Samantha, I would say that this is an amateur photographer at work, as they got down low but not low enough to give him a better perspective, and there wasn’t enough light, and if the muzzle moved and there was a low shutter speed to account for the field of depth displayed in the picture.
I’ve seen a Australian shepard-dach mix, it was rather round and ungainly looking, but it was agile enough to kill chickens, which brought it to the shelter that my girlfriend at the time found it at.
As for proportions, it would be possible if the genetics involved are like our on in regard to our own limbs: My father, who is 6ft 2 in, has hands in proportion to a man of his weight and height, mine, which are barely smaller, can do a tenth on the piano.(that’s 2 more notes than an octave, folks).
OTOH, his shoe size is a 7, when it should be a 10 or 11 proportionally, he inherited his mothers’ tiny feet, which means he couldn’t be on his feet more than 2 hours at a stretch. When I was a teenage and started wearing size 9, Mom would say that my shoes looked like boats because the only shoes she’d been used to seeing were my fathers and my younger brothers before then.
Some of our neighbors across the way had a Rott-wiener doggy mix named Pooter. And yes he looked exactly as funny as that sounds.
I once saw an article in a British newspaper about a Dachshund/Rottweiler cross - the farmer who owned both dogs said, “I suppose Rusty must have nipped round to the shed and got the ladder” or words to that effect. The puppy was called Daisy the Dottweiler.
FWIW, the picture looks real to me.
But until we get the Elite Wingnut Kerning Squad on the case, we won’t know for sure…
I’m with Hector B. and think the tile looks…odd. But that is a credible dog.
I’ve seen hilarious mixes of dog breeds: a friend has a rat terrier-chihuahua/Great Dane: funny looking mid sized critter with a pointy nose and floppy ears. The parents barely look like the same species.
Don’t know if this particular photo is real or not, but it definitely could be. I have a similarly proportioned dog (we suspect he’s a shepherd/Corgi mix) sleeping on my feet at this exact moment. He also has the outward-pointing front feet that some Corgis have, making him look like he’s knock-kneed. It doesn’t seem to affect him any as far as being able to run and play.
I assume its real just because why would anyone go through the effort to photoshop it
But im probably wrong
We were actually this close to adopting a Dottweiler at the pound after my dog was hit by a truck. We decided we didn’t want another dog, but sometimes I kick myself, realizing I could have had a Dachsund Rottweiller mix in my life. All the cool kids would have loved me.:(
Probably real: what would be the reason to photoshop when there are dogs that look like that out there?
Dachshund/lab mix, or maybe a basset/lab mix. I’ve seen quite a few basset mixes that look alot like that dog—mixes that looked like that came through the rescue I used to volunteer for maybe once or twice a year.
Friend in high school had a basset/lab mix that looked almost exactly like that picture (Argus had longer legs).
My sister has a pound dog of pretty much unguessable origin. It’s front legs are much longer than its back legs, half of it’s coat is curly, the other half is long hair. Very friendly - a real sweetheart - but the funniest looking dog ever.
The dog looks real, but it might be photoshopped into the picture itself. The hind leg in the foreground has a weird, dark line of pixels running along it under high magnification - it makes it look a bit off. There’s a similar unusually dark line along the dog’s neck (top of the neck, that is.
But i’m no expert.
Dogs with “amusing” shapes like dachshunds were bred for specific purposes (in that case, so they could hunt burrowing animals like rats and rabbits).
badgers. Dachs is german for “badger.” If you know just how ornery badgers are, you know that dachshunds are not genetic wimps.
Incidentally, Poodles are hunting dogs. the poofy curly hair is waterproof.
It looks like a Photoshop chimera to me. The fur on the head doesn’t quite match the fur on the body. The head hair is yellower. Moreover, there’s a suspicious “seam” along the neck that separates the yellowish and reddish zones.
Looks real to me. I have a friend who has two bassets and a basset/lab mix. They call her a labrasset. I suggested bassador, but they say that makes it sound like she should have diplomatic immunity. I see no reason that she shouldn’t.
I think the “seam” at the shoulder is just the line of the shoulder muscle, and the color differences are just variations in the coat - although the head is lighter than the body, the ears are the same color. I’m thinking bassador, lab/dachshund, maybe lab/corgi. Whatever it is, someone needs to build their fence taller or keep their dog inside when she’s in heat.
Lindsay, i’d use those same arguments to say it’s not ‘shopped. Nobody’d fail that badly.
It’s real. Dachshund genetics appear to be pretty pliable.
This here dog is perfectly believable to me; I too have a German Shepherd/corgi-or-dachshund mix here at my feet. Coloring and top half are GSD, bottom half is truncated. Her brother is twice (or maybe thrice) her size because his legs are so much longer; their bodies are otherwise pretty much identical. We call her the spare-parts dog.
As to the weird tiling: it looks like it might be stained concrete with tile-marks cut in.
I suppose the dog could be Photoshopped, but it would be a pretty silly endeavor, like ‘Shopping a white cat with two different-colored eyes.
Looks like your website is under attack from supernatural forces…
http://isgodimaginary.com/forum/index.php/topic,40909.0.html
you really need to add comment moderation to your blasphemy…
Atheist:
have you for but a moment considered that you have adopted a position against 98% of the human race, both past and present?
do you think you are RIGHT and they are all WRONG?
WRONG
now listen to this arrogant puffed up son of a bitch….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilWM7jIEN_k
little scientist geek who would try to usurp God Himself!!!
It looks like a dog that could occur in real life, but in this case didn’t the back and the legs don’t match in the angle the photo was taken from. Also, where are the front feet supposed to be? A few inches off the floor? On what? Why is the muzzle blurry but nothing else?
Comment #44: Samantha Vimes on 01/01 at 08:07 AM
I think the front and back legs look like they’re misaligned because the back feet are about six, eight inches apart, while the front feet are close to each other, almost touching. The feet form a triangle.
This could be more serious than it appears in the photo. Check out this pit bull with short legs; the front ones are bowed in.
The muzzle is blurry because the dog was raising or lowering it. There’s progressively less blur as you reach the axis of tilt, the juncture between the dog’s head and neck.
It looks like a Photoshop chimera to me. The fur on the head doesn’t quite match the fur on the body. The head hair is yellower. Moreover, there’s a suspicious “seam” along the neck that separates the yellowish and reddish zones.
Comment #60: Lindsay Beyerstein on 01/01 at 10:03 PM
The head and body are slightly different colors because the head is closer to the light source in the kitchen.
Amanda, I’m curious as to the source of the photo and why you posted it. Are you wondering if it’s possible for a dog to look like this, or wondering if this particular photo is faked? As others have said, this photo shows something that’s very possible.
Apparently all short-legged dogs share the same genetic mutation. All you’d need is for the dog to inherit it.
All cases of stunted legs in domestic dogs are the result of a single genetic event that took place early on in their evolution. Some time ago, a gene called FGF4 (short for fibroblast growth factor 4), which plays an important role in bone growth, was copied and reinserted into a new site in the dog genome. It’s this extra errant copy - a retrogene - that has retarded the growth of so many domestic breeds.
Some cats have the same issue. Google “munchkin cat” if you want to see.
Labrador ears, coloring (the reddish cape of guard hairs is not unusual in yellows), and otter tail. Can’t believe no one has mentioned the tail. Doxie body length and muzzle. Mutant legs. No reason to believe the dog is fake.
This is definitely a real dog—mixture—no photoshopping here
“I suppose the dog could be Photoshopped, but it would be a pretty silly endeavor, like ‘Shopping a white cat with two different-colored eyes.”
Yeah, it’s a lot of effort when a GIS for “dachshund mix” would give you a ready-made example. You could photoshop the cat eye-color, or you could do a cheezburger search for “stoplight cat.”
Can I just say I really miss my darling Winston, who is surely going to come back to us one day, the way the Great Dogs always do. And I hope that when he does it’s in the form of a pit bull again, since Winston was the greatest pit bull ever and even though it has been nearly a year, I still miss him more than I can describe.
#25 Mnemosyne
Puppy mill and “backyard” breeders are certainly responsible for a lot of unhealthy dogs but when it comes to some serious genetic issues and the questions of “why can’t my pug breathe?” the blame travels straight back to the “responsible” people. Organizations like the Kennel Club, the AKC and CKC, who refuse to have even basic health tests on competing dogs, fail to discourage radical inbreeding practices, and impose ridiculous breed standards that accentuate damaging characteristics such as the pug flat face and the radical slope of the german shepherd’s roach back.
I would encourage everyone to view to “Pedigree Dogs Exposed”, it is almost terrifying.
OK, OK, it’s now been 46½ hours since we’ve had a new post on Pandagon! Amanda, Auguste, Pam, Jesse, what’s going on here? Where’s the fresh content we <strike>haven’t</strike> paid for?
Exactly, Dana. Could it be that Amanda wisely gave the kids something to play with when she needed quiet? Look how busy it kept us. But, hangover recovery time has been sufficient, so….
@#75
tHEN IT’S A GOOD JOB, BECAUSE THEY EVEN GOT THE SHADOW RIGHT - NOTICE LIGHT FROM WINDOW IN FAR BACKGROUND (DISREGARD CAPS STUCK KEY.)
Don’t know the answer to your question, but I do wonder why you asked. Is there some reason you genuinely want to know whether the photo is real or not? Or is this a social experiment where you trying to look for various reactions? Are you trying to figure out whether unqualified people will claim expertise and confidently proclaim wrong answers with absolute certainty? Cause this is the internet, and that seems to be one of those “is water wet?” experiments…
Puppy mill and “backyard” breeders are certainly responsible for a lot of unhealthy dogs but when it comes to some serious genetic issues and the questions of “why can’t my pug breathe?” the blame travels straight back to the “responsible” people.
Again, that was my point: once it became more important to breed dogs for their looks than for their function, dysfunction started to creep in. I wasn’t giving the AKC a pass, at all, given that they’re the ones who emphasize form over function.
I was defending the dachshund against people who think it was bred to look that way to be amusing to us when, as both karpad and I pointed out, it was bred for a very specific hunting function and was a perfectly fine dog until people decided that it was more important for it to have a certain “look” than to be the working dog it was designed to be.
Of course, it also depends on whether or not you find breeding animals to have certain characteristics to be inherently evil or not. I don’t think so as long as the animal is not harmed and remains functional, but YMMV. I also don’t think it’s inherently evil for us to eat other animals though of course I have a whole lot of problems with the particular way we do it now (ie factory farming).
Obviously this cat has been Photoshopped. Did you ever in your life see a real cat that looks anything like this?
I keep waiting for Amanda to weigh in with the correct answer.
What?! You don’t know either, Amanda? I think New York is making you meaner.
I am going for real. Looks to me like a Corgi and Dauschund mix.