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rhonda floyd
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Very interesting thread and great explanation Jesse! I just emailed Wisdom Panel results to you for Brooke Elise. Brooke is a 4 pound Shih Tzu who came from a puppymill or puppy farm. One of the rescue members volunteered at the facility in hopes of bringing any unwanted dogs into the rescue so that they could be placed in loving homes. She was there for several years and knew that there were only Maltese and Shih Tzus in residence at the facility. She was able to procure Brooke, a Shih Tzu who was used to breed tiny “imperial Shih Tzus” and maltese x shih tzu mixes. The previous year she had been able to procure Brooke’s mother and in fact was present when Brooke was still a nursing pup. Anyway, when Brooke’s DNA came back it stated that she was half Shih Tzu and half miniature poodle. I communicated via email with the Wisdom Panel staff and after much back and forth, they said that they do not have a profile on a “bred down” Shih Tzu. They said that the profiles on poodles are all different for standard, miniature and toy poodles. But since they don’t have profiles on bred down Shih Tzus they don’t really know for sure what the DNA profile is. Had they said that Brooke was half toy poodle, I would have thought they were right and the breeder was lying and the rescue volunteer just never saw or knew of a poodle. But no way would a 4 pound Tzu have a miniature poodle bred to her 5 pound mother. The profile shows her in the range for breed standard Shih Tzu while other areas showed her to be outside the standard.
We love her and it doesn’t matter. But I wouldn’t have wasted money had I known that they have no profile for her because she is tiny.