Doggie DNA Test: Results Are In!
This post comes from Dogster member and friend Randi Sachs. She’s the guardian of one of our favorite dogs, Ripley. Ripley, come visit Dogster HQ again soon!
A few weeks ago we were at the vet for a routine visit, and I decided to take the plunge on this new doggie DNA test that can identify up to 134 breeds in a mixed-breed’s ancestry after analyzing a blood sample.
What it boils down to is that Ripley is considered to be a multi-generational “Outbred” dog. They could find barely any trace of any pedigreed breeds in her blood work, which means that she is the result of many generations of mutts breeding with each other.
The breed they found with highest confidence (although it was still only a trace of evidence) was German Shepherd! Otherwise, they found low-confidence traces of Golden Retriever, Chow Chow, Chinese Shar-Pei and Sealyham Terrier.
End result, Ripley is truly one of a kind… and she is not a Lab mix at all! She’s a super-mutt who possibly gets her intelligence and focus from her German Shepherd ancestry way back when.
Has your dog had a DNA test? What were the results?
My dog is purebred Black Lab, which I hate to even say because it just DOESN’T matter! Mutts are awesome. The first dog I knew (our family dog) Brutus was a complete Mutt. No idea what he was besides awesome, furry and he barked at the doorbell.
Our dog came to us because some breeder in Indiana couldn’t “get rid” of 13 pure bred chocolate and black lab pups because the mid-west is so over-saturated. An organization that relocates labs to New England brought him to us. We weren’t allowed to have his papers until we could show he’d been fixed. YAY! And even then, I don’t want the papers on principal alone.
I love the DNA test idea for mutts to reveal what kinds of mixes are just awesome family dogs, or whatever else dogs are great at.
Ripley is insanely cute. Almost as cute as my Sawdust: http://mdesignboutique.blogspot.com/2008/05/r-is-for-random-my-beautiful-dog.html
So pawsome Ripley …. AROooooooo!!! I also had the Mars Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis done last August.
Okay, so I look like a Min Pin and Manchester Terrier cross, BUT after the DNA test. . . . . there was a “little” surprise in my ancestry!
Most prominent was the Min Pin, and yes, approximately 1/4 Manchester Terrier. The surprise was (drum-roll please) – - – I am about 1/4 Deutsch Drahthaar (a.k.a. German Wirehaired Pointer)!!!
And all this time my pals at the dog park joked about me being a big dog in a small dogs body – BOL.
Tail wags, Fritz “the MinMan Pointer”
It makes sense that Ripley has some German Shepherd in her because she is the best dog soccer goalie in the world and the German soccer team is in the final of Euro 2008.
Come play Ripley!
How odd.. Ripley does look lab! But still some awsome combonations, and a very beautiful dog regardless
I would have loved to know what my previous dog, Bandit was. I was told alaskan/siberian x siberian/wolf. But I’m on the fence about that one
I’ve thought about doing DNA testing with Dixie, ever since I first heard of sucha thing. She’s supposed to be boxer x husky mix. She could fool us too
That was a cool story!!! It’s good to know that you love your dog no matter what it is!!! Mutts are some of the most and intellingent dogs!!! I’ve got a boxer mixed and a shepherd mixed. I also might do an DNA test on my babies as well!!! I didn’ t know that you could do those types of tests on dogs like that, untill I read this story!!! Thanks for the info and stroy so much!!!
Love Glenda, Sasha, Rocksey, Bo-Bo Murray
How exciting to find out what pedigree your dog belongs to. It’s like making the perfect dish, one dash Lab, one pinch of German Shepard and a dollop of Chow Chow and wala, the perfect dog!
Growing up, I had a German Shepard and Collie mix. KC, was the most amazing dog and I still miss him today. He was brave, gentle and attentive, a true companion dog.
For six years now, I’ve owned Murphy, a purebred Rottweiler and he’s a loving, lively and a joy having and being around-not to mention photogenic!
Whether a dog is purbred or mutt, it’s the characteristics that make them unique and if a DNA test can uncover it’s breed make-up, you’ll be a more knowledgable owner with greater insight to your dog’s behavior.
Hi – I also am a huge fan of mutts. I thought you readers might enjoy an Item I wrote for my Reuters blog today. Maybe we can get a movement going.
http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/2008/07/07/please-look-at-me-senator/
regards,
Bob Basler
Wow. A lot of people buy into the lie of dog DNA tests.
Look, a biologist can’t tell the difference between a wolf, a dog, and a coyote by looking at DNA, and there are big differences between those species. How, then, can anybody be able to tell the difference between different breeds by DNA? If the big differences aren’t big in DNA, how can the small differences even be found at this day and age?
I’m surprised you weren’t told your dog was a wolf. DNA tests do that every now and then, because unless the sample is labelled as coming from a dog, it may be ‘positive’ for being a wolf, and vice versa.
I agree with Katie. I used the “Insight” DNA test. My adopted shelter dog looks almost like pure Papillon, but with short legs. His test came back that he is primarily Shih Tsu with a bit of Shetland Sheepdog. Either they got the DNA mixed up, or the test is an $80 scam!