Old English Sheepdog Lookalike Finder: 121 in the Pool

To find your Old English Sheepdog's lookalike, upload one clear photo to PetMatch and the model compares your dog's face against the 121 Old English Sheepdogs already in the pool, returning the real dog whose face sits closest to yours. The shaggy fall is what people notice first, but the match leans on the head underneath: a capacious square skull, a well-defined stop, eyes under arched ridges, and ears carried flat to the side.

A square head under the fall

The American Kennel Club standard, approved February 10, 1990 and effective March 28, 1990, asks for a most intelligent expression. The skull is capacious and rather squarely formed. The parts over the eyes, the supra-orbital ridges, are well arched, and the whole skull is well covered with hair. The stop is well defined. The jaw is fairly long, strong, square, and truncated. A long, narrow head or a snipy muzzle is a deformity. The nose is always black, large, and capacious. The bite is level or tight scissors. The eyes are brown, blue, or one of each. If brown, very dark is preferred. If blue, a pearl, china, or wall-eye is considered typical. An amber or yellow eye is most objectionable. The ears are medium sized and carried flat to the side of the head.

The Kennel Club standard, last updated August 1, 2025, measures the muzzle at approximately half the total head length. The eyes are set well apart, dark or wall, and two blue eyes are acceptable. Light eyes are undesirable. The ears are small and carried flat. The bite is scissors, and a pincer is tolerated.

A shaggy fall over the skull

The AKC coat is profuse and of a good hard texture, not straight but shaggy and free from curl. Quality and texture count above mere profuseness. Softness or flatness is a fault. The undercoat is a waterproof pile when grooming or season has not removed it. The ears are coated moderately. The whole skull is well covered with hair, and that hair is the fall over the eyes. The hams carry a thick, long jacket in excess of any other part.

The Kennel Club standard asks for the same harsh, shaggy coat, with the hindquarters more heavily coated than the rest of the body. The natural outline should not be changed by scissoring or clipping. Hair dropped over the eyes can make the same skull score as a different face.

Gray, grizzle, blue, or blue merle

The AKC standard allows any shade of gray, grizzle, blue, or blue merle, with or without white markings, or in reverse. Any shade of brown or fawn is distinctly objectionable. The Kennel Club standard names grey, grizzle, or blue. Body and hindquarters are solid, with or without white socks. Head, neck, forequarters, and underbelly are white with or without markings. Any other color or combination is unacceptable, so blue merle is an AKC color and outside the Kennel Club list. Mottling across a white head still separates two dogs that share the square skull.

Amble, pace, and the bobtail

At a trot the AKC gait is free and powerful, with good reach and drive. At slower speeds the dog may amble or pace. The Kennel Club standard says walking shows a bear-like roll from the rear, and that the gait has a typical roll when ambling or walking. The AKC tail is docked close to the body when the dog is not naturally bobtailed. The Kennel Club standard records a breed previously customarily docked, or a natural bobtail, with an undocked tail well feathered in abundant, hard-textured coat.

Old English Sheepdog or Bearded Collie?

The shaggy herding dog set beside an Old English Sheepdog is the Bearded Collie. The Bearded Collie is a separate breed from these 121. The AKC Bearded Collie standard, approved August 9, 1978, calls for a broad, flat skull and a moderate stop. The eyes are large and set widely apart. Eyebrows arch to the sides to frame the eyes. The bridge of the nose is sparsely covered, and the coat lengthens from the cheeks into the beard. An Old English skull is rather square, the stop is well defined, and the whole skull is covered, so the fall can close over the eyes.

Beardie ears hang level with the eyes under long hair. An Old English ear lies flat to the side and is only moderately coated. The Beardie tail reaches at least the hocks. Beardies are born black, blue, brown, or fawn. Brown and fawn are correct on a Beardie and distinctly objectionable on an Old English Sheepdog.

When the twin is a mix

A mixed-breed dog that kept the square skull, the well-defined stop, the flat ears, and a hard shaggy fall over both eyes can place ahead of the Old English Sheepdogs.

A photo that shows the eyes

Shoot head-on at eye level in open shade, mouth closed, so both eyes, the stop, the black nose, and both ears stay in the frame. Part the fall just enough that each eye is visible. The eyes can be brown, blue, or one of each, and hair over one eye hides that split. Open shade keeps a white head, and a gray or blue merle coat, from washing out. The same setup is in best photos for pet twins.