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Awright, Starting to Doubt (Pic Heavy)

Winterspring

Well-Known Member
I've seen pictures of Filas all over this site. Now I'm starting to wonder if everyone has show quality Filas or if I got a mutt. He seems to display many of the classic Fila temperament signs (does NOT like strangers, but will tolerate SOME strangers out of the house, and there's no telling who he'll like or who he won't, seriously protective, chose one person) and his eyesight is pretty cruddy. His sense of smell and hearing are amazing, though. But other than some typically Mastiff-y features, I'm starting to wonder if good ol' Taurus is an actual Fila at all. Here are some pictures, various views, including one of his butt that shows that sharply tapering tail, and was wondering if the Filaphiles could tell me if I have a real Fila or a mix. Or just a poorly bred one. (By "poorly bred", I mean just didn't come out like other Filas with faults that would totally disqualify him from shows. Not counting the ones who would eliminate him for his weird coloring. He's not black. He's dark brown. But our camera is odd.)

DSC00212.jpgDSC00210.jpgDSC00208.jpgDSC00203.jpgDSC00207.jpg

I have more, but this should give you a decent idea. I hope. Does he really look like a Fila to you? I have my doubts after seeing Filas like Flower and Kona.
 

dogman#1

Well-Known Member
Hey Winter,

There is nothing classic in yellow eyes for Filas, I have never seen of a brown fila and one that was posted about a year ago was blasted as being a mutt even by the non CAFIB crowd. IMHO not a Fila but you will probably get some on here that say he is.
 

tojvan

Well-Known Member
Hey Winter,

There is nothing classic in yellow eyes for Filas, I have never seen of a brown fila and one that was posted about a year ago was blasted as being a mutt even by the non CAFIB crowd. IMHO not a Fila but you will probably get some on here that say he is.
There's more than just yellow eyes in the pictures, he's a mix.
 

tojvan

Well-Known Member
When he comes to greet you does his tail move like a pendulum low to the ground. He is a year old ?
 

Winterspring

Well-Known Member
I'd heard differently about the yellow eyes (brown all the way to yellow), and I read on a couple of sites (I can give citations if need be) that any solid color is acceptable. (Except for CAFIB standards, which deny any black.) I mean, I know he isn't a candidate for breeding purposes by any stretch. Hence his impending birthday neutering next year.
 

Winterspring

Well-Known Member
He does, tojvan. And he has the camel pace. When alert, his tail goes up, and he has the generous skin they talk about. Also, the way the feet are shaped and his topline matches exactly what's described.

And yes, a year old.
 

Mooshi's Mummy

Well-Known Member
I don't know much about the Fila, Im still learning but from the pics I have seen he just doesn't look all that Fila to me. maybe a cross? I gotta say though I love those pictures and their descriptions.
 

Winterspring

Well-Known Member
Awwww, thanks. :) I will be sure to tell Monsieur Le Derp that he is a very handsome boy. (Especially since I just groomed him. Now he's even shinier.)
 

Sadies Mom

Well-Known Member
The first pic of his head looks like a lab and so does the fourth pic (although more mixed), From the side he looks nothing like a lab (more "houndy"). I have no clue so I am no help. But he sure is a handsome dude, no matter what he is:p
 

lizzy.bu

Well-Known Member
love the added captions to your photos lol

I would think he has to be a mix. Maybe he does have some fila in there though the pics show he does have a couple of similar qualities
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
By no means a Fila expert, but some angles look very Fila-ish to me and some don't (lab maybe?). How much does he weigh? Do you know when his birthday is or just that he's over 1?
 

fila4me

Well-Known Member
he is very handsome and can see the Fila in him,a mix ?pure? but, I have also been told my Flower is a mongrel also!!!hahahaha!!!her breeder thought that was hilarious. I am having no luck finding the pics of my friends black Fila,she looks very much like your boy.I had the sister and they looked very different.
 

m0rg4n

Well-Known Member
My fila mix gets called out as a lab all the time, (though I don't think she has any fila traits, really), some of those side shots look classic mastiff-sausage-in-a-bun though, which makes me not doubt the fila side at all.
 

Winterspring

Well-Known Member
His personality is all Fila. He sticks by my side and gets in between me and anything that's upsetting me or that he perceives as a threat. (Why Food Lady's work pants fall under the "threat" category is beyond me.) He even got between me and Daddy one day while we had a tiff, and it looked like if I yelped or got obviously frightened, ol' Taurus was gonna rip Daddy a new one. And by "new one" I mean a "new nostril". He is VERY smart, and stubborn as hell. He likes some people, like the vet (???) and detests others, like one of my best friends (???). He can't see worth shit, though he does do better than my old, blind kitty, who is smarter than he is and uses echolocation to navigate. (No bullshit. Not only is she smarter than HE is...I think she's smarter than I am.) The chick that sold him to me told me she got him from a breeder in another part of the city (I checked...there is, in fact, a Fila breeder in that area.) He was born May 27, 2012.

So, yeah. Taurus is a Gemini. Oh, well. So is his Daddy. He's currently 111 pounds.

Also, upon further inspection, and from what I remember about when we first got him, he IS black, but we spent a lot of time in the sun at first (for his benefit...I detest the sunlight and would have rather remained pale, but...*sigh*) so I think he bleached out a bit, like black horses tend to do when they're left in the sun for long periods. And he has a big reddish "dapple" on his left side, on his tummy. Yup...just checked him...there are a few brindle-y spots on him, but they're really faint and even. The other parts are just...black. I was trippin', there. It's as if he couldn't decide whether to be black or dark brindle when he was born, and so the color just freaked out before he was out and decided, "AAAACK! BOTH! SORT OF!" It's mainly around his ruff. The tail behavior is accurate, and he scents the air and everything around him like a champ. You can't fart in this house without him hearing it, and that's with an ear infection. (Had it when we got him. Pilling him is amazingly difficult, because he figured out those Pill Pocket things fairly quickly, then he figured out the cheese, and luckily, that was towards the end of the bottle so bread works.

Oo...and off topic, but what day in March was Tina born, Denna? I wanna see if we have the same birthday!