[brittney logan]

Hi Anna,

We understand you confusion. I am happy to help explain how the research works, and why there are still owners awaiting results.

Throughout the years, our research has been solely grant funded, and with those funds, we were able to sequence 2,000 of our Darwin’s Dog DNA samples that were generously provided by owners. Many of the samples had completed all of the behavioral surveys. This survey data was crucial to finding correlations between behavior and genetics and was a result of our recent publication.

Our goal is to sequenced ALL of the dogs enrolled with us, the more dogs with samples and behavioral data, the more there is to uncover and learn about our best friends. We wish we could sequence all of the samples we have on hand, but funding is certainly a limiting factor, and we are doing all that we can to keep applying.

We have not forgotten about the dogs that have not yet been sequenced, they are a huge priority of ours as it is valuable data just wait to been unearthed, and it is owners eagerly awaiting to better understand their dog.

Since funding can take time, we provided the option for owners to donate to have their dogs sample sequenced right away and avoid the wait. This of course is optional and participants are more than welcome to remain of the Free Participation Waitlist until we have additional funding to support them.

I hope this helps to explain why this research takes time. We certainly wish we could do it all at once, but are doing the best we can with what we currently have.

Thank you very much for enrolling your dog with us, we greatly appreciate your contributions to science!

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi Amy,

Great question! The ribbons represent which projects your dog is enrolled in.

For example, the purple ribbon means the dog is enrolled in the Working Dog Project and Pink means enrolled in the Cancer Project. We also have a black ribbon which means the dog has passed.

Thank you for enrolling you dog with us! 🙂

[brittney logan]

Hi Jennifer,

We have not intentions or plans to ever use the DNA for cloning.

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Thank you so much Gretchen!

We greatly appreciate your support with this research, and we are so excited to share with all!

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi David,

Thank you for enrolling your dog with us.

We apologize for the long wait, and understand your frustrations.

This research is still ongoing and we continue to work with the data to discover more about our four-legged best friends.

I can assure you that your dogs sample remains safe and stable. Your dog is participating for free, meaning we can support the sequencing process when additional funding is obtained. We continue to apply for more grants, and your dog’s data is helping us to do so.

If you do not want to wait, we provide the option for owners to support their dog’s sample to be sequenced (since the sample is with us, it would only be $99).

We thank you very much for your patience and participation in this research.

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi Erin,

We apologize for the delay and any frustrations it has caused. I am glad we were able to sequence your other two dogs and will personally email you regarding your third dogs sample.

As for your question regarding us sending out 20 samples in a year, that is not the case. We used to have to wait for a batch of 20 samples to come in, and then we could send out that batch to be sequenced. We now have to wait to have at least 96 samples prepped and ready to be sent out together in a batch to be sequenced.

I hope this helps!

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you very much!

We are so happy to have you and your dog participating in our research.

As it continues on, we are learning and discovering more about our furry best friends every day, thanks to all of our participants! 🙂

Best Regards,
Brittney at Darwin’s Ark

[brittney logan]

Hi Erica,

Apologies for the longer than normal wait time. We are still recovering from the delays of the past year. Both of your dog’s samples remain safe and stable. They are in line to be sequenced in the next few days! 🙂

We will send you a notification email once results are uploaded to each of their profiles.

If you have any other questions regarding your dog’s samples, please feel free to email us directly at support@darwinsark.org

Thank you,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi Kristen,

Thank you for posting on the forums, that is a great question!

Yes, you can gift a Darwin’s Ark DNA kit right on our webpage. All you have to do is indicate to whom you would like to gift it to and we will send them an invitation to enroll and claim the gifted kit on their dogs profile.

The gifted kit is the same price as a normal order of $149.00

I am happy to help if you have any other questions, and thank you for considering gifting a Darwin’s Ark DNA kit! 🙂

[brittney logan]

Hi Marcia,

Our sincerest condolences on your dogs passing.

We thank you very much for enrolling her in our study, and apologies for the long awaited results. Your dog was participating for free, meaning her sample was supported by our grant funds, which take time to acquire.

Unfortunately, Coton de Tulear is not yet in our reference panel, but as more dogs enroll and are sequenced with us, we do hope to be able to add the breed. Currently when a breed is not yet in the panel, results will yield the most related breeds and will even show portions of “unknown” in the results. As the research and reference panel grows, we will update your dogs results and notify you of any changes.

We greatly appreciate your participation, thank you.

[brittney logan]

Hi Jennifer,

Yes the collection is very safe for you to handle and for your dog!

It is a dry swab that is put into your dog’s mouth to collect the saliva, then you invert the swab into a tube of a liquid, which preserves the DNA at room temperature.

We have a video avaliable on how to collect the sample here:

Swab

[brittney logan]

Hi Erica,

That is a great question.

Many times when people hear the word “research” or “study” they automatically think of a laboratory. But in this study, the owners and dogs are safely participating from the comfort of their home! We do not and never will use laboratory dogs.

The research is strictly computational, as we gather data from owners via the behavioral surveys. We send owners a saliva swab for them to collect from the mouth of their dog. It is a very easy and non-invasive collection process.

The data that we acquired in this study is used to better understand behavior and genetics in pet dogs. Our methodology and outcomes of the study are by no means intrusive or painful, and cannot be applied that way.

If you have any other questions about our methods or how the research works, we are happy to help! 🙂

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hi Mina,

Thank you very much for your support and participation in our research. We do apologize for the long wait, and wish we could support the sequencing for all of the Free Kits right away.

You dog’s behavioral surveys and DNA samples are very valuable to use, and I can assure you that the samples remain safe and stable.

Our research is grant funded, so depending on the grants we receive we are limited as to how many, and which dogs we can support at that time. For example, we received an allergy grant, so we were able to select and support the sequencing of dogs that fit that research project base on the survey questions answered by the owners. The grants we receive are the main source of how we can determine and send out the samples to be sequenced, but of course we do also have to select random samples to be sent as well.

We do take into consideration how long a dog has been participating and how many survey questions have been answered. The more questions answered, the more likely that dog is able to fit into the study! 🙂

I hope this helps to explain a bit of how the research works and why it takes so long.

We continue to apply for more grants and we send out samples whenever we can! We do have the option on all of the dog profiles to fund their sample if you do not want to wait any long for our funds to support the sequencing.

If you have any other questions, we are happy to help and if you would like more details on your dog directly please email us at support@darwinsark.org

Best,
Brittney

[brittney logan]

Hello, thank you for your interest in our research!

To enroll your dog, please make sure you are logged in and go to My Laboratory -> View Laboratory. There you will see the button “Add Dog” to create your dogs profile. We have 22 surveys available in order to learn more about your dog’s unique behaviors and physical characteristics. There is also the option to join the free kit waitlist, or you can donate in order to receive the DNA kit right away.

If you have any other question, I am happy to help!

[brittney logan]

Hi Lori,

I hope you were able to see our emails. If not I wanted to let you know that your dogs results were added to the profile on 2021-07-06! 🙂

To view them, please log in and view your dogs laboratory, then click on the pink dog house where you will see the results!

Apologies if you have not been receiving our emails to you previously, and I hope this forum post finds you well.

Best,
Brittney

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