A family who believed they had adopted a dachshund puppy from the pound were left stunned as their dog continued to grow well beyond the size they expected.
The moment was shared in a video posted by the Instagram account @dogsofdancr, where the owners reflected on how different their pet turned out from what they initially thought they were bringing home.
In a post that has now been viewed more than 40,000 times, the owner shared how they believed that Mochi the rescue dog was actually a dachshund. But puppies can change dramatically as they grow, and in Mochi’s case, it quickly became clear she was not the dachshund her new owners were expecting.
In the caption, the owners explained that they went to the pound specifically looking for a small dog.
They said the puppy they chose “just sat there sweet and quiet” and looked like a “weenie dog,” leading them to believe she was a dachshund.
The post on Instagram read: “We thought she was a weenie dog. We had decided to go to the pound to look for dogs. We knew we needed a small one and she just sat there sweet and quiet and she looked just like a weenie dog puppy.”
The video contrasts sharply with more recent pictures of Mochi, now fully grown, showing a noticeably larger dog than the family originally anticipated.
“Little did we know we got this gorgeous grown up baby girl dog,” the owner wrote.
When it comes to adopting dogs, breed is often uncertain. One genetic study found that only about 5 percent of dogs in U.S. shelters are purebred, meaning the overwhelming majority are mixed-breed dogs whose adult size, appearance, and traits can be difficult to predict as puppies.
The study published in PLOS ONE genetically tested more than 900 shelter dogs in Arizona and California. They found that Shelter staff correctly identified at least one breed in a dog’s genetic background about 67.7 percent of the time.
When asked to identify multiple breeds, accuracy dropped to just 10.4 percent, highlighting how genetically complex shelter dogs often are.
Researchers concluded that because breed identification is so unreliable, adopters are better served by focusing on a dog’s behavior rather than appearance or assumed breed traits. The study explicitly noted that visual breed labels can often create false expectations about how a dog will look or behave as an adult.
This experience is not uncommon for people rescuing pets. Earlier this year another dog owner shared how they believed they had adopted a Labrador mix, but when they had a dog DNA test done found that their pooch was really 50 percent Alaskan malamute, 32 percent German shepherd, 13.1 percent supermutt and 4.9 percent mastiff.
“Supermutt” is a term used in dog DNA testing to describe a mix of numerous breeds whose DNA segments are too small or distant to be identified individually.
Last year another dog owner also believed they had adopted a Labrador, only for him to grow up to be much bigger. A DNA test later revealed that the pup was in fact 58 percent German shepherd, 18 percent retriever and 10 percent chow—with not a trace of Labrador.
Newsweek reached out to @dogsofdancr via Instagram for comment.
