Friends know I've been dying to do dog DNA testing since I adopted Brugge. To start, I'm a nerd (I know, BIG surprise, the person who blogs about her dogs is a nerd), and like most nerds, I love science. Genetics have always fascinated me. In elementary school I dressed up like a Mad Geneticist for our "dress like what you want to be when you grow up" assignment. In case you were wondering, I wore a borrowed lab coat and a furry monster glove.
Anyway, I purchase a lot of our pet products from Amazon.com. Their prices and selection are hard to beat, and while I try to shop local as much as possible, sometimes Amazon just is the way to go. As such, every once in a while I get an email about deals. One fateful day, an email landed in my inbox stating that they were having a day of pet-related Gold Box deals. One of those deals was the
Wisdom Panel Insights dog DNA test. I had spoken to our wonderful vet, and while she echoed what the internet and several friends had already told me (that DNA breed tests aren't always super accurate), she had stated Wisdom Panel was the brand to use. The deal was too good to pass up, so I pulled the trigger and purchased one. Then Steven got me one as a gift. It's good to have a spouse who supports your hobbies... and neuroses. (
Side note: I've found deals on Wisdom Panel Insights tests all over the internet from time to time. Or if you're impatient you can just purchase them straight from their website.)
The tests were simple enough to use. Each kit contains two swabs, a pre-paid envelope, and a sample information sheet. I made sure Brugge hadn't been to the dog park for a couple days prior to testing to avoid the risk of contamination from other dogs. Ozzie was still on restrictions. I used their online test registration, which was super quick and easy, and I really appreciated that you don't have to create an account and log-in credentials. They also have a "test tracker" where you can check in for results. Simply put in your last name and sample ID number and you're set! We made sure to do the tests in the middle of the day (well after breakfast) after giving them water and crating them for a couple hours so they couldn't get their mouths on anything. A using the swabs was easier than we expected, and after 5 minutes of drying time we packed them up and put them in the mailbox. Then we waited.
Ozzie's came back first. The advertised turn around time is two to three weeks, but Ozzie's results were ready in 6 days! Brugge's took a little longer, but still only 12 days. Now, without further ado... the results!
Ozzie:
I think his results were so speedy because his mix was much less complicated than Brugge's. Ozzie seems to be a White Swiss Shepherd and Labrador Retriever Mix. White Swiss Shepherds are a variation of German Shepherd; in fact, the breeds are so closely linked that one of the "breed profile" pages they included in Ozzie's results was that of the German Shepherd. The white genes were considered a fault and an effort was made to remove them from the German Shepherd breed pool. Other breeders liked the look, and developed their own breed from the "flawed" white genes. I wonder, though, if in Ozzie's case the test declared he was a White Swiss Shepherd because he comes from a line of German Shepherd that carries the white traits. I was somewhat surprised by the results, but I can definitely see the Lab in his behavior and love of water. He looks like a melanistic black and tan shepherd with chocolate standing in for the black, and his hind legs have some of the characteristic dip of a shepherd. When I did some more digging, I found there is a recessive "Liver" color trait in German Shepherds. I'm wondering if this gene could have combined with a chocolate gene from the lab side, activating the liver genes. Liver shepherds also have brown noses instead of black, as is the case with Ozzie. You can learn more about liver coloration in German Shepherds
here.
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| What do you think? Do you see the White Swiss Shepherd and Lab? |
Brugge:
Brugge's results caused a fair amount of head-scratching. I, along with my veterinarian, had always assumed her to be a Doberman mix, probably with lab and a little more who-knows-what. Her results were so surprising that I had a lengthy correspondence with Customer Care at Mars Veterinary, the parent company of Wisdom Panel. I was really impressed by the thoroughness of their explanation, as well as the quick responses I received. Without further adieu...
As you can see, there is a very conspicuous absence. Her results showed no amount of Doberman whatsoever. After I contacted the company initially, they asked for more information and a picture. "Oh boy," I thought, "Now they're just going to really start making things up to appease me." I was happy to find that wasn't the case. Here is the picture I sent them, along with their final response about Brugge's results.
"The sample received from Brugge was of good quality and generated a good genetic signature. Her results do not indicate that she has had a recent Doberman Pinscher ancestor. She clearly had a Golden Retriever grandparent with a great grandparent Labrador Retriever and trace Cardigan Welsh Corgi. The other ancestors are too mixed too call. Please see the attached graph which plots Brugge's genetic signature against all the Doberman Pinschers in our database as well as the signature from a representative of all the breeds we test for. You will see that her genetic signature groups within the All Breeds Outgroup as opposed to being pulled towards the Doberman Pinschers as we would expect if she had any evidence of them in her genetic makeup. Hypothyroidism is the most commonly diagnosed endocrine disease in dogs and we do tend to see it in Golden Retrievers more often than other breeds. In regards to the low T4 and low TSH levels, this may have been early in the disease process such that the feedback loop hadn't bumped the TSH levels up yet or just a slightly unusual presentation due to individual variation.
When we look at Brugge, we are able to see evidence of the breeds called. She exhibits a short coat which is a dominant trait so she only needed to inherit a single copy of the short coat gene to exhibit this. Both the Labrador and Corgi are short coated though the mixed ancestor may also have passed it down as well. She is a chocolate and tan dog - this is a recessive coat pattern so she did need to inherit a copy of it from both sides of her family tree. The Corgi does carry this pattern as do the Labrador and Golden Retriever, though it is less common. Please see the attached photo of a chocolate and tan purebred Labrador puppy bred from a champion sire. Genetically, Brugge is unable to make any black because she has inherited two copies of the chocolate gene instead. The color in dogs begins near the spinal cord and spreads from there. In cases where they do not develop enough color cells, white peeks through. This white spotting tends to be expressed in the lower portions of the body first so it is not surprising that she has a bit of white on her chest and toes, as these areas are the furthest from the spinal cord and tend to be white first. However, she does have drop (floppy) ears which are a dominant trait - both the Golden and Labrador have drop ears. They do appear to have a slightly base erect ear set such that there is more cartilage near the base than the tip; this commonly occurs when there has been a prick eared ancestor such as the Corgi that has contributed some influence. Brugge did not inherit a copy of FGF4 which is the gene responsible for the shorter leg in the Corgi. Therefore, Brugge does not exhibit chondrodysplasia. Finally, head shape and ear shape and size are determined by a number of genes working together toward an average state in about approximate proportions to the breeds called though the mixed ancestor would also factor into the equation. In light of the breeds identified, it is not surprising that she has an intermediate muzzle and an average width cranium."
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| Brugge vs. Doberman. She's the blue dot. Doberman traits are in green. Apparently never the two shall meet! |
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| The photo Wisdom Panel sent me of a purebred Chocolate and Tan Lab. What a cutie! |
The interesting thing is that her body has always looked a little long proportionally, and when she scratches she makes what I call her "duck face," which now that I think of it looks extremely close to the face of a corgi! I highly doubt the accuracy of the trace breeds detected, especially since
Glen of Imaal terriers are one of the rarest breeds in America, and I doubt there are many running loose in North Carolina, impregnating strays. It seems that the science team concedes the fact that the trace breeds are dubious, and that actually lends more credibility to their position in my eyes. So, call it hindsight bias, or naivety, but I'm actually fairly satisfied with the explanations given. Considering my main motivation for the using the tests was curiosity and the opportunity to gain some knowledge while having fun, I'd say they were well worth it, and I really enjoyed my experience.
And there you have it, folks! The genetic histories of my mutts. What do you think?
UPDATE: Read about the explanation of Ozzie's traits I received from Mars Veterinary about Ozzie in my other post
here!
Please note: I haven't been compensated in any way by Mars Veterinary or Wisdom Panel. This post is merely a story of my own experience with this product.
