Friend of mine is looking for a young rescue and has fallen for a pup that the resuce thinks is a bulldog x staff. Firstly is it possible to know a dogs background if u don't know parents. to me the dog looks like a boxer x.  My friend is slightly concerned As has only stereotypical knowledge of staffs and is concerned.  Any advice would be helpful . The family concerned 15 and 21 and mumwho works from home and have had a dog before dal x rottie

To be honest depending on where the pup comes from it is highly likely to be a Staffie cross, as that seems to be the predominant type in the dogs homes over the last 10 - 15 years.

A friend got a supposed lab cross pup (it was tan coloured) from the dogs home which grew into a large Staffy type with a pronounced dominant attitude and aversion to other canines as she matured. 

She was well socialised with other dogs, including staying with my pack at 10 months old and a year later (where she was a pain trying to dominate them all, though luckily my lot at the time preferred to ignore her baiting attempts).  She is almost Labrador size though.

There is no way of knowing what the pup is, my concern with any sort of rescue bull breed x pup is that you don't know what it will grow up to look like, and it could end up contravening the dangerous dogs act - i.e. look like a pitbull type  and require to be registered, neutered, insured (which for a pit would be extortionate) and muzzled.

I guess an older pup of 6 months + would give you a better idea of what it would look like, what height and weight etc, but you still won't ever know what breeds went into it's makeup.

There is a DNA test for dogs that is supposed to tell you what breeds they are, but it's not very accurate and has thrown up some bizarre results when owners actually know what their dog is :-)

Thank u that's really helpful pup is only 3 mths also has facial deformity apparently not expected to cause problems accordoing to vet except possiblle extractions . Don't know much about background but as rescue is near croydon and we certainly have a goodly number of staff types sadly often badly bred. They have really taken to pup and he to them on visit its just.  The possibilty of breed issues as it is an unknown quantity

I have 2 crossbreeds that are Golden Retriever x Malinois (I had both parents so know that for certain). For all their lives it has been a game of ours to get people to guess what breeds are in them. :) We last did it last week with the vet. Not ONE person in over 9 years has ever guessed the Golden Retriever part. So no, it's really impossible and even if you guess, you may be way out. I've had people (judges at Companion shows in fact) TELLING me my dogs are definitely Greyhound crosses! Those that know us (so know our breed) usually guess the Malinois part but not the Golden. The vet's guess was Malinois x GSD.

These two dogs are Brindle. Five of their littermates were black, and with the black ones, people always guess Labrador cross. So you have a first cross between two breeds and none of the pups ended up with either parent's colour for a start.

my concern with any sort of rescue bull breed x pup is that you don't know what it will grow up to look like, and it could end up contravening the dangerous dogs act

This is a problem with a staffie x any bullbreed - recent thread had a link to a site where some did not look of type but those with the more pronounced staffie head did - so yes, there is always a risk but I would not wish to put someone off rescuing a youngster although there is a better chance of knowing what you are getting if you rescue something a bit older.

The Kennel Club has joined partnership with a company to identify the breeds behind x-breeds via DNA.
From the London Dog forum:

"the Kennel Club announced its partnership with Wisdom Panel Insights a company offering owners the chance to find out exactly what breeds are behind their crossbred dogs. This has proved successful in America and it is hoped that if crossbreed dogs are DNA tested it will help owners establish if there might be health issues that they will need to be aware. A wise move as many of the breeds being crossed to create the 'designer dogs' are not health tested before the mating takes place if at all. Crossing for example a poodle and a Labrador to create a labradoodle could leave an owner coping with a pup who develops Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) as both breeds suffer from this eye disease. Another use it might be put to eventually could perhaps help dogs held in DDA cases where the breeds behind the seized dog could be identified to help with their release if the DNA proved the dog merely looked like a banned breed, but was not in fact of a banned breed."