What Do You Think My German Shepherd Mix Is

by Kevin K
(Fresno, CA)

He weighs 46 pounds.

He has bad joints (leads me to believe he's a small dog as well).

He has long hair in the style of a flathair retriever - about 3 inches.

He has the coloring of a German Shepherd.

He has very long tail hair, about 10.5 inches in length and blonde.

His nose is slightly shorter than a German Shepherd, sort of like a collie.

Very loving and compassionate but protective of what he believes belongs to him - like toys and dog food.

He is very, very intelligent.

His ears are floppy, not upright.

His tail is about 10 to 12 inches long.

He has very soft hair, not coarse like I usually think when I see German Shepherds.

He has the German shepherd face.

His back is black and his chest is blonde with a white spot in the center of his chest.

Finally he was in a liter of 12 puppies all of which had the same coloring and size but very different hair styles. Some grew up short hair, others grew up long hair while others grew up to have coarse hair and my dog has soft hair.

Any suggestions as to what he may be?