Furry Is Worried That Fursona Idea Might Be Considered Plagiarism

Dear Papabear,

I have a fursona, which is a German shepherd and macaw hybrid. He is a German shepherd with the markings and colors of a macaw. I thought my fursona was good to go, but then I saw other fursonas which were macaw hybrids too. I'm worried that I'll be accused of stealing their fursona's design's. I have a huge connection to this sona as he is nearly four years old and near and dear to me, but I don't want to be wrongfully accused and have to just throw him away because of possible bullying/harassment because of this. Is there anyway I can prepare myself if such accusations do occur? 

Thank you for reading!

Anonymous (age 14)

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Dear Furiend,

Hmm, you know, I would have thought that a German shepherd/macaw mix would be fairly unique, too. I guess it just shows there are not many unique ideas under the sun. But I wouldn't worry about it. The species or species hybrid is just one part of your fursona. If furries went around accusing each other of plagiarism just because someone chose the same species, then we would all be in trouble. I mean, for example, I'm a grizzly bear, right? I'm certainly not the only furry with a grizzly fursona. Same goes for dogs, horses, cats, elephants, rats, deer, and on and on. In the hybrid realm, we have some popular mixes, such as angel dragons, minotaurs, gryphons, bearbulls (or bullbears LOL), folfs, tigons/ligers, wolfdogs, and so on.

The species is not the only thing about your fursona that is unique. But if you want to get into the nitty gritty, a dog/macaw hybrid can have many combinations of dog breeds and macaw species. There are 19 species of macaw and nearly 350 breeds of dogs, so that gives you thousands of possible combinations, all unique. Even if you stick to just shepherds, you still have 19 varieties of macaw to choose from. You can also be more particular about the shepherd. Within the shepherd species, there are the following varieties: American and Canadian Show Lines, West German Show Lines, West German Working Lines, East German Working Lines, and Czech Working Lines.

In addition to species, there are many variations you can have for your fursona, including these:
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• Body build (e.g., i.e., athletic, chubby, average, macro, micro).
• Occupation (e.g. detective, wizard, scientist, warrior)
• Personality (friendly, aggressive, shy, funny, stupid, smart, sociable, party animal....)
• Clothing (nude, Medieval, Renaissance, tribal warrior, beach bum, armored knight, modern military, punk rocker, gangbanger etc.)

You can also play around a lot with details, such as eye color, size of feet, hands, mouth, length of fur or feathers, and so on.

You can see, I hope, that while there may be a number of other German shepherd/macaw hybrids out there, the variations on the theme are nearly endless. Play around with these and I'm sure you can find a unique fursona that is suited to your preferences and does not imitate what is already out there.

Stay Furry!
Papabear