Back in January we adopted the cutest mixed breed puppy we’ve ever seen from Key to Lion’s Heart Rescue. Monty is friendly, happy, not a barker, smart, stubborn, loves people and other dogs but is terrified of the cat, food motivated, praise motivated, will not fetch a ball to save his life, and has to be touching someone at all times. We were so curious: What is he? What inherent traits will he have? And most importantly: Why does he eat so much? How big will he get?!
We were sent the Wisdom Panel Health Canine Breed + Disease Detection kit for the purposes of sharing our Wisdom Panel experience via my blog. The branding says it’s “the world’s leading DNA test for dogs” and includes “screenings for 150+ genetic health conditions as well as the most breeds of any canine DNA test on the market.” There are many DNA tests on the market these days for dogs and each has their own list of pros and cons. After doing extensive research we decided on Wisdom Panel. They are trusted by veterinarians (ours included) and their database of breed signatures is the largest in the world with more than 15,000 samples. Plus, they’ve been at this for 2 decades, so I value their expertise.
See that little scar on his left ear? That’s how our cat welcomed him home. 😾
This kit:
- Screens for 150+ genetic conditions
- Detects 250+ breeds, with a family tree going back three generations
- Predicts weight profile
- Provides a genetic trait analysis
The Wisdom Panel kit includes two bristly swabs to swab inside your dog’s mouth to collect DNA – I’m not going to lie to you, this was not Monty’s favorite part. I activated my kit online as soon as I received it, lest I’ll definitely forget. Both wands went back into the plastic bag they came in and then I packaged it up in the box you see (on the other side is it’s printed with their address and prepaid postage.) I love how neat and ready to go the kit was. Easy peasy!
The website says to allow 2-3 weeks for results from the time the lab receives your sample. They received ours on February 19th. We were able to watch its progress through an online portal, from “sample received” to “sample being processed” to “data being analyzed” and finally, “report ready” with a description in each of what is happening during that stage.
Pro tip: obsessively refreshing the status page does not make the results come faster.
Our results were ready on March 2nd, less than 2 weeks after Wisdom Panel received his DNA!
I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100%…NOTHING. I’m 100% of absolutely nothing. 😂
What did you see when you first saw Monty? Hint: at 16 weeks he weighed 24lbs.
Here are Monty’s official results. Just for fun, I’m going to leave one breed out. What do you think it is?
Does anyone else see the peace sign?
Now seeing his results, does that change how you see him? What do you think the missing breed is?
If you guessed American Staffordshire Terrier, you’re right!
About those unspecified breed groups. Today’s technology only goes back 3 generations and relies on purebreeds. Beyond this, we can only identify down to the genetic “group” level (sporting, toy, guard, etc.) We know the breeds that make up each group. One of Monty’s great-grandparents is a mix of breeds from beyond the third generation, and so, they were not able to identify a specific pure breed for them.
We also received a breakdown of physical trait markers he likely possess (all were right!) For example, his ear type (base-erect, that flop over), he has long legs, and a short coat. I found his coat color genotype particularly interesting: “Monty probably has a dark-colored, saddle-shaped pattern on their back, which is common in breeds like the German Shepherd and Beagle. They’ll likely also have a dark facial ‘mask’. Did you know some dogs with this trait are born ‘black-and-tan’ but that the dark hairs fade until only the saddle pattern remains?” So how big he gets along with what he looks like as an adult, could solve some of the mystery of the unspecified breeds.
Wisdom Panel also predicted his ideal mature weight is 44-76 pounds. So that explains where all his kibble is going 🙂
And after losing both of our senior German Shepherds last year, his health assessment brought us a lot of peace of mind. He is not at-risk for anything; he’s a carrier for Degenerative Myelopathy (meaning he only has one of the disease-causing mutations, when 2 are needed); and he was cleared for 158 other conditions!
We really appreciate the information we got from our Wisdom Panel experience. Have you DNA tested your dog?? Please share your results!
