Hello!

I am Cate and I came upon this site seeking a possible answer to my question: is my 9 1/2 month old puppy part Husky?

Below is Banjo, we adopted him as a puppy and his lineage that we knew of was German Shepherd and Rottweiler. His father was absolutely a German Shepherd and his mother we knew was at least Rottweiler. I could tell she wasn't 100% Rottweiler, especially because of a white patch on her chest and her blue eyes, but her owners weren't sure about her bloodline.

When Banjo was a puppy-puppy, he looked like a Rottweiler pup. There was no doubt in my mind. As he got older, his fur started changing and I thought "Oh, the Shepherd must be pulling through", but there were some parts that looked strange. My father visited, recently, though, and pointed out that he seemed to have some Husky or possibly Malamute features. I grew up with a Rottweiler and my parents have a German Shepherd, and some of his features don't seem to match either breed (color patterns on face and chest, fur texture on hind end, etc.).

So I was hoping to get some input from people familiar with Huskies or even Malamutes to give me some insight.









Sorry these are all pictures of him sitting. That's usually the best time I can get a decent picture of him, lol. I can try to get a picture of him standing up so you can see his posture and post it later, though.

I understand this question could possibly be impossible to answer since there's so much of a mixture and it's hard to predict mixed breeds, but any input is appreciated. Thanks!

Hello Cate owned by Banjo, *I* don't see a whole lot of anything except GSD there, maybe a little Rotty in the heavier muzzle - but whatever he is, he's definitely one handsome brute! The facial markings (his "mask") doesn't look Husky to me and I've got an Alaskan Husky who's got (I think) a good bit of GSD in him so I'm sorta comparing apples to apples (or maybe pears?).

Anyone ever say that he's gonna be a *BIG* dog when he grows into those ears!!

I can't really comment on your question but her sure is a handsome boy! I love the pic of him sleeping on the couch, such a sweet boy.

And yes, those are an impressive set of ears!

I concur he is a very handsome boy. I am bewildered with that white spot. It is in no way a common trait with a gsd or with a rottie. His neck hair is off too, in that it is not common to those 2 breeds, unless the gsd was a long hair, it ruffles like a mane, and neither breed tends to have that. I did find this article that may be of interest. Also, a pic with him standing would help, also pics of his mom and dad would help too, since he has brown eyes....the article does explain that a white patch on chest can be seen in some rotties, I'm glad you asked, because I just learned something today!!

http://vdrrottweilerbreeders.com/rottweiler_with_white_chest.html

Btw, I love these types of threads, I love digging up info, and I have a penchant for medium-large breed dogs. Incidentally, with the mane around his neck, possible longer haired gsd. Blue eyes can be a genetic fault, or possibility of husky, aussie, or catahoula(any of these breeds have blue eyes, which I think is recessive vs genetic fault, someone fix that if I said it wrong). From what I have read, all dogs started off with brown eyes. How the husky ended up with blue eyes, I'm not sure, again believe a recessive trait and not a fault. I do know certain lines of husky were bred to produce the blue eyes, so it is more common to see. I have not read much on the aussie or catahoula and how they produce the blue eyes, what I do understand is that it is more common in merle coat breeds. Breed standard for gsd or rottie specifically say dark eyes.

Since your dogs traits, as Al said is clearly gsd, I agree, except for the white patch(rottie) and wider muzzle(rottie), I'm guessing he is a dominate gene gsd mixed with rottie, less dominate gene. I just don't see husky either. Again, would love to see pics. I did read some on gsd's and less common rotties having blue eyes, but again it wasn't a recessive trait. The more common blue eyes, were with albino rotties.

I hope I made some kind of sense. I really love your unique looking guy, and his name.

He's such a cutie! What's his temperament like? Any traits that are distinctively NOT gsd or rottie?

Thanks for your input, everyone! And thank you for your comments about my handsome boy.

Yes, his German Shepherd genes definitely pull through the most. I know he's got another breed in him because I could tell the mother wasn't 100% Rottweiler. I wish I had pictures of the parents, but I didn't get any at the time. I do return with more pictures of Banjo, though.











As for his personality, he is definitely sweet and loving. Such a momma's boy. He can be a bit hard headed and stubborn, though. He likes to push the boundaries (could be due to his age). Banjo is a bit dominant and likes to give our other dog, Dozer, a hard time sometimes. He likes to have all of the toys, bones, and food. Banjo howls when he's crated and he knows someone's there. Very vocal, barks a lot. Loves to run around in the backyard no matter how snowy or cold it is. He's very pawsy - meaning he likes to use his paws a lot. Like if he wants your attention, he'll paw at you or he likes to use his paws when playing with Dozer and often smacks him in the face. He also has this strange thing about trying to gnaw on Dozer's head? Banjo doesn't bite like he's trying to hurt Dozer, he just lightly chews for some reason. He loves to greet everyone when they walk through the door whether he's met them before or not. Banjo's learned to not jump on me, but has yet to realize that applies to everyone else too. I'm not familiar enough with those breeds to define which traits belong to which.


Dozer is a Rottweiler-Lab mix. We adopted him from a shelter and he's basically the best dog I've ever had. 2 1/2 years old now. Here's a picture of my other baby boy (Dozer).



And because I love sharing pictures, here's my parent's German Shepherd, Saxon:

Wow...I see the question, now. His "pants", his tail and his body profile do make one wonder of some bit of husky lineage...

Amy, I was going to mention that last night with the pic of him laying on the couch, his pants did look different from the other two breeds. So I am going with that too, with his stand up pics, his tail is not gsd or rottie, his pants and again his neck, as well as what Amy says his structure doesn't scream gsd or rottie. MY girl, I have always presumed, she is mostly husky and some gsd, her structure and ears are more gsd than husky.

As far as personality traits, he doesn't really have gsd or rottie personality, it says husky (friendly, the pawing), although young gsd's will use their paws and play rough, they do tend to outgrow that. Miya has one personality trait that is gsd vs husky, in that here at the house when it is just the two of us, she is very protective. Out in public she has never met a stranger.

Like Jen said, and my husband and I had a similar conversation the other night, study the personality traits more of each of the three breeds. I do know rottie's and gsd's are protective, where huskies tend not to be, for example. It is a very interesting mix, with the three. btw the other 2 dogs in your life are equally handsome. I grew up with a husky and in my teenage years a gsd. I wanted the husky over gsd, simply because of the exercise requirements, and the goofiness that I find in huskies, I wanted a challenge.  Adult gsd's tend to be so business like, lol, and more of a one person owner, they love their family, but tend to be much more mindful of their handler, of course this imho.

Exactly, those things and especially the rings on his chest really threw me off. When the rings showed up, I thought it was his fur changing, but it stayed and if anything, became more pronounced. And when my dad suggested the possibility of some Husky lineage, I looked up pictures and saw that those rings were pretty common among the Husky.

And, thanks, MiyasMomma!

I love all three breeds. I obviously have a thing for Rotties, lol! But I love German Shepherds and Huskies too (among many other breeds). So it would be pretty awesome to have a dog that's all three.

No problem. Like I said earlier, I find this type of thread interesting, because of my girl. I don't mention often, because of the negative stigma, but Miya was sold as a husky/wolf dog. She clearly didn't resemble any type of physical or personality of wolf at all. So I started studying, and looking and reminiscing on the other 2 dogs in my life, and how she resembled them both. I also studied a lot on wolf dogs. Miya's tail is the odd ball factor for her, when she is playing it is all husky(just not quite as fluffy, but curls), when she is alerting me, it is straight like a gsd. I also believe it is important to know and understand the different breeds, with mixes. Once you know what they are, it is far easier to train.

I would love to see pics as he grows, and I also hope you become a constant member here. There is so much useful info, especially as he ages, and if indeed he is part husky, knowing and understanding characteristics of the husky will be valuable to you. Since huskies are more demanding in the training aspect vs rottie and gsd.

I also found the article that I gave you quite interesting, when I think of a rottie I don't envision a white patch on their chest, then I read that and knew some do. I love the constant education I get from this forum, and from threads like these. Enjoy your guy!!