What kind of dog is Stella?

It’s always fun to think about what breeds make up my two lovable mutts. Right now I’m convinced that Stella has a lot of pit bull terrier in her. This scares and excites me both. There’s always a lot of bad stories about pit bulls run amok, but maybe a pit bull would make a good guard dog. Hopefully Stella only has the good pit bull traits in her. As for her guard dog success, we are still evaluating.


The Iams website has a really good breed selector. There are tons of breeds listed with traits and a picture of the pure-bred dog. Here’s a side by side comparison of the pure bred pit bull (first picture) and Stella. Stella is the dog on the right. (Heineken’s on the left). It’s hard to find a good comparison picture. This weekend I took a couple pictures of Stella specifically for a comparison picture, but the little booger moves so much the pictures didn’t turn out. We have to work with the best we have. First note of comparison: the ears. I think Stella’s ears are very similar to the pit bull’s. Next, the short sloping foreheads are similar (a little difficult to see in Stella's picture). Third, the shorter snout is also comparable. Finally, the broad chest of the pit bull is similar to Stella’s (again not visual from the picture).

Pure pit bull terrier courtesy of the iams website.

Now taking some points from the description on the website about pit bulls:
30 to 55 pounds (female); Stella weighs in at 41 pounds at 9 months.


Fairly friendly with strangers. If you consider jumping and nipping friendly, then Stella is it.

Easy to train – Stella is definitely trainable, I’m not sure it’s easy though.

Dominance: High – Although I could be mistaken, I’m pretty sure Heineken is dominant over Stella.

Very dog-aggressive – Stella plays aggressively with Heineken, not too sure how she is around strange dogs.

Not much barking – Stella only barks when Heineken has a toy that she wants, or if she sees/hears another dog.

Short coat – Stella definitely has a short coat.

Vigorous daily exercise needed – I think Stella will make an excellent jogging buddy when she gets her endurance up.

Fairly active indoors – This is an understatement for Stella.

So based on these, I’d say Stella has strong pit bull traits to her. Any guesses on what other breeds she might be??