Those of you who have chosen to adopt a mixed breed from a dog rescue or shelter, know that when you adopt a mixed breed puppy, it's sort of like a mystery. There really is no telling how big or what color your dog will be when full grown. Now, one can assume or guess what the puppy will grow into, but there is no way to confirm due to the obvious fact that it's a mixed breed.
As a fellow owner of a mixed breed rescue, I had a ton of different assumptions about what my puppy would become. Because the rescue I got Harley from had zero record of what breed his mother or father is, I was totally in the dark. I came up with a thousand breed combinations that I thought Harley could be, but I knew that unless I got his DNA tested, I would never know for sure.
For Christmas, I was gifted the Embark Dog DNA Test Kit. I was finally able to see what exactly my sweet boy was! I opened the box, followed the directions to a T, swabbed his mouth and sent it off for testing. Now, about a month after sending off Harley's DNA, I finally have his results.
Embark Dog DNA Test Kit
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The Embark DNA test gave me information not only about his specific breed, but also his health, traits and relatives. Here's what they showed...
Breed
Harley has 8+ breeds in his DNA. Which basically means that there is no other dog like him in the entire world and I am totally okay with that. Harley is unique for sure. There are some breeds I was shocked to see and others I wasn't. The breeds I wasn't so shocked to see was Dachshund, Coonhound, and Chow Chow. Harley has a super long body with short little legs so seeing that he had Dachshund was no surprise. In fact, I probably would've been shocked if he didn't have Dachshund in him. I knew Harley had some kind of hound in him and although I thought it was going to be the Black and Tan Coonhound due to his color and markings and not the Tree Walking Coonhound, it's still some kind of Coonhound none the less. I was also not shocked to see Chow Chow in his results because he has black spots on his tongue which is typically a common trait amongst the Chow Chow breed. Now, the rest of the results pretty much shocked me. I was not expecting to see Chihuahua in his results at all, but I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover, can you?
Another cool thing about the Breed portion of this DNA kit is that it gives you a detailed summary of each breed your dog contains. This helps you see where each breed comes into play because although Harley doesn't necessarily look like a Chihuahua or Miniature Schnauzer, his personality characteristics may have come from those breeds. It's a cool way to see which breeds gave your dog it's looks, personality, weight, body features, etc.
Health
Thankfully, Harley's Health results came back perfect. He did not test positive for any of the genetic diseases that Embark screens for (over 150) nor does he have any of the mutations known to cause any health conditions. He was marked not at risk as well as not a carrier for any genetic diseases or mutations. Harley also tested clear for 17 genetic conditions that are common in his breed mix. Knowing these things about his health is super reassuring and gives me confidence that he will live a long, healthy life.
Traits
This section of the DNA results were super precise. It showed the exact gene Harley has that makes up all of his traits, including his coat color, body size, body/coat features, and performance. It's interesting to think about how genetics literally make up every single part of not only humans, but dogs too. Seeing Harley's exact trait genes was a really interesting part of the kit because it's something that we can't see with just our eyes.
Relatives
This section was one of the coolest of the results in my opinion. Embark uses something called their "Doggy DNA Relative Finder" in order to connect owners with other Embark tested dogs that are related to their pup based on the percentage of DNA they share. Harley had 30 relatives found through his results! That's insane! This part of the test shows you what percentage of DNA your dog shares with another as well as what their relationship with one another would be.
Overall, I think that this experience was really awesome and if you own a mixed breed dog you should definitely get your pup DNA tested. Although the kits can be fairly pricey, I think the benefits of the results far outweigh the price. Besides the fact that it's just cool in general to see your pup's lineage, if your dog does have any genetic health issues, you might not know until it's too late. However, if you get your dog tested, you can see what your dog is at risk for and take preventative measures to keep your pup happy and healthy for as long as possible. So go get your pup tested, I really don't think you'll be disappointed... I know I sure wasn't!
