DNA Dog Results!

I splurged on a thing and bought 2 doggy DNA tests on black Friday. I chose the company, EmbarkVet, because they have the most breeds available and they also guestimate a “Wolfiness” score (more on that later).

First: Lila - We have been debating and guessing what dog breeds make up our dog, Lila, since we adopted her as a puppy over 8 years ago. We were so sure she was a little Australian Shepherd, maybe some Great Pyrenees. We did the doggy DNA test and her results came back...

She is a lot of things - the most prominent breed at 23% is Chow Chow!! She also is a little Chihuahua, Australian Cattle dog, and Siberian Husky and other breeds too!

Second: Laredo - Scotty was Laredo’s owner since April 2019, and he was convinced Laredo was a wolf. Or at least half wolf. We’ve talked with several people and prior to adopting Laredo, we were confident he was NOT a wolf, but the peace of mind would only come from a DNA test.

Laredo is a BIG dog, 110 pounds. He looks like a Shepherd, but most Shepherds weigh-in well under 100 pounds. His DNA test came in and his breed results explain his size! He is 70% Shepherd and 25% Alaskan Malamute!! The remaining part is the catch-all for unknown, called SuperMutt.

Interestingly, Laredo’s “Wofiness” score is 8%, which is much higher than Lila’s score of 0.3%. That is a pretty unscientific score, and we are pleased to have our guess about his breed confirmed.

Laredo

Meet Laredo, a 100+ pound friendly, gentle & cautiously curious boy. He was born in 2014(ish), and he is most likely a German shepherd & Alaskan malamute mix.

He was adopted by our friend Scotty in 2018 from a local rescue, which had pulled him from an animal shelter as a "stray" in Ocala, FL. Before Scotty died he told his daughter that she and I would need to "fight it out" for who keeps Laredo. There was definitely no fighting, only gracious discussion. His daughter took Scotty's other dog (Gypsy / Whiskey) back to Denver and we get to keep Laredo! We are fortunate Laredo lived on our property with Scott for the past few months, so he was already meeting all the animals and kids. Now we just need to get used to seeing this gigantic guy in our house.