Got Zoe's Results Last Night

[amanda ferris]

Thank you, Darwin’s Ark, for analyzing Zoe’s DNA and letting me know the results were ready. 🙂

Back in late 2016, I purchased an Embark Vet DNA test for Zoe and January 2017, I got her results back, which you can see here: Zoe’s Embark Results and it turns out, she’s “100% American Village Dog” with a trace breed analysis showing German Shepherd, Beagle, Collie and Siberian Husky.

What I thought was pretty cool was even though Darwin’s Ark said she was 63% unknown (I’d assume because of the village dog???), the other breeds matched up with Embark’s trace breed analysis: Zoe’s Darwin’s Ark results

Cool, very cool!

[brittney logan]

Thank you for your participation! Zoe and all of the dogs enrolled in this research are helping us to better understand our furry best friends, genetically and behaviorally.

We will not stop at ancestry/breed calling data, the research continues! 🙂

[Jennifer]

I wonder with “American Village Dogs” to what extent it will ever be possible to confidently say whether trace matches with existing breeds truly might represent a purebred ancestor of that breed at some point further back in the line, or whether they might represent a shared ancestor with that breed much, much further back. Embark’s description of the “American Village Dog” does mention that “these dogs are almost completely descended from European dogs imported during the Colonial Era.” It looks like Darwin’s Ark also found trace amounts of several other breeds not detected by Embark in Zoe–some European, some Amerasian, some mixes of both.

There was a study published last year examining genetic relationships between 161 breeds: Parker et al. 2017. One of the surprises from that study was that the GSD, in particular, showed significant genetic relationships with many distinctly American breeds, including breeds like the Xolo and Peruvian Hairless which hadn’t previously been supposed to have any such ancestry. The researchers weren’t sure whether this finding reflected unrecorded outcrossings to actual registered purebred GSDs in more recent times, or colonial-era interbreeding between truly indigenous American dogs and imported Southern European cousins of the German landrace herding dogs which were later selectively developed into the GSD.

[amanda ferris]

Jennifer, that would be interesting to find out re: American Village Dogs. I’m part of a Potcake FB group and it’s really fascinating to see the results of the DNA tests they use. One poster took a newer Embark test and the dog was basically totally mixed, with a bit of American Village Dog in the “supermutt” category and others, like my girl, were full village dog.

I’d love to find out one day if Zoe, in her village dog-ness, simply shares an ancestor with the breeds listed or if she is, indeed a mix with those breeds. I lean towards the latter personally, but either way it would be neat to find out once and for all.

[kristen johnson 2]

I’ve never heard of American Village dog…….either way she’s beautiful!!

[allison miller]

Jennifer,
That’s very interesting. I received one of my dog’s results and awaiting the other. I hope they address my second dog because her Wisdom panel results were only definitive for half of her ancestry. She came from a Navajo reservation and it would be fun to see if this study can identify that missing 50%. She’s an incredibly interesting dog and rarely a day passes without someone asking what she is.

[Author]

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