We have adopted a beautiful dog...help

[Aniyah]

Hi,

I am new here. We are dog loving family. We have acquired a young male dog that matches a Bouvier or Briard's breed standard. I am looking for some possible help identifying what our dear Baruch (Hebrew for blessing) might be. He is black with a small white patch on his chest. He has long, semi curly hair. He has an extra rear dew claw on each of his rear feet. His tail and ears are not docked....so his tail is long and curved..his ears are somewhat like a labs..maybe a bit larger and of course fuzzy. He has a beard. He loves water. No matter what he is...we LOVE him. I really would like to do agility with him..not sure where to get started. Any help at all would be great.

Baruch's mom,
Cathy aka Aniyah

[Sue]

Hi Cathy, it sounds like you have found a lovely dog to add to your family. Bouviers and Briards can be somewhat similar looking but there are some very real differences between them. Bouviers are not supposed to have a curly coat, but I have seen some that actually had ringlets. A Bouvier coat should be harsh (though again, there are Bouviers who have soft coats too) and there should be a dense undercoat. The Briard coat is harsh too, but "falls naturally in long, slightly wavy locks."

To my, the primary difference is in the silhouette. Briards are much more upright than Bouviers and carry their heads high, while Bouvs tend to carry their heads more forward and lower. The toplines are different too. You might want to read the standards for each breed on the AKC website. Another plan would be to photograph your dog both from the front and the side and post the pictures here for comments from the folks.

Most Bouviers in the US are docked when they are just a couple days old and have a stubby little nubby tail. Briards are not docked. That said, occasionally there are Bouviers puppies born to inexperienced breeders and not docked. Once there was even a more experienced Bouvier breeder who chose not to dock two puppies in the litter (at the request of a good friend who wanted a puppy with a tail). You can find pictures of Jules and her natural tail in the General Information folder. A natural Bouvier tail is normally carried up and over the dog's back though, while the Briard carries his tail hanging down.

Both Bouviers and Briards can have rear dewclaws. It's not unusual to find one rear dewclaw on each Bouvier hind leg, but Briards are *required" to have two rear dewclaws in their standard. I have never seen a Bouvier with two. This may be one way to figure out if your Baruch is a Briard if he has two.

Hope this helps.....

Cheers,
Sue

[Aniyah]

His coat is just mildly curly and on the softer side although there is some course also in his hair. He tail is carried more up than down. Head is up more than out. He has the extra dew claws on each back paw. He is a great dog no matter what he is! He adopted a older lady here in the country of Tennessee. He was skin and bones. I can't imagine someone dropping him off...he is such a jewel! We saw him at her place of business...4 years ago we had a Giant Schn. who suddenly died..she was the best! My daughter saw Baruch and said it was just like Raphah...so I called....to see where she got this dog...long story was she had him for 2 months and loved him but he was too much for her. She was afraid in his excitement he would knock her down. We have had him now for 3 weeks. He loves our children and other dogs! He has never messed in the house. He loves water...he has his own kiddie pool! He is a joy! We are truly blessed (Baruch) to have him!

How do I load pictures on her? I could do that and see what you all think!

Thanks for your imput!
Blessings,
Cathy

[Mike]

Hi Cathy, and welcome to the forum.

To post pictures you can either link to pictures that are on your web site, if you have them on one or you can upload them directly.

To upload, you would start a new message or reply to this one. Down below the text box is the option to Attach Files. Click on Manage Attachments. Another window will open up with some information on the options, size of image and file size. Having it in jpeg (.jpg) format gives you the biggest size.

In the Upload window you click on Browse and find the image on your computer and then click Upload to do the upload to here. That's all there is to it. If you have trouble with size or image type, just ask.

Mike

[Aniyah]

That will be on my to do list today...thank you all so much!
Blessings,
Cathy