Can anyone tell me if my Pekingese is a purebred?

devtec · 11-15-2009, 09:28 AM

Hello all!

Meet Munchie, our Pekingese. We got him as a rescue dog, so are unsure of his history. I think I've seen other Peks that look like him, but I think it is true that most Peks do not look like him. He's also pretty big for a Pek, weighing about 20 lbs and measuring 24" in length, whereas Peks are supposed to be 12-14 lbs and a bit smaller in general. He is the cutest little bugger I have ever seen in my life.

If anyone could take a look at our little guy and let me know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

devtec · 11-15-2009, 09:36 AM

A few more...

Lucillle · 11-15-2009, 09:44 AM

He is SO cute!!!

I don't know how accurate these companies are, but I thought I'd copy one just for you to take a peek:

http://www.canineheritage.com/

MafiaPrincess · 11-15-2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucillle

He is SO cute!!!

I don't know how accurate these companies are

Not in the slightest.

A real life friend is a biotechnologist going back to do more in genetics. So far the science is there. the stats are not.

Dekka wrote:

Quote:

"I have been meaning to make a thread about this for a while now. And actually I am glad I waited. We are now doing population genetics right now, so I actually have a better handle on why these are a waste of money.

Ok so first things first. One must always look at the source of the information. The companies performing these tests make incredible claims, but.. An example of one of the companies doing these.. Mars 'Wisdom Pannel' is one that taken by your vet and sent off to the company. This is the same company that brings us M&Ms pedigree dog food and Uncle Ben's instant rice. Intersting no?

Ok anyway off to the science...

When they take a sample of a dog, or a human, in order to run a profile, they only look at a small number of alleles (locations on genes) They look at non coding regions of the DNA. So the alleles they use as markers do not code for blue eyes, long hair, brown spots, etc etc.
CODIS for example uses 13 loci to profile people. In lab this year we are profiling ourselves (and I get to profile my son as I got a great DNA sample from a tooth the dentist extracted...) So once you have mapped your alleles at these 13 loci, then you compare them to a database.

This is where the problem arises. Your results are only as good as your database. This is also where it gets tricky with humans in the court system too.

How you 'determine' if your suspect/dog is from a subgroup/breed is to calculate the frequency of those alleles in different databases. So if your alleles are more common in African Americans, then they assume you are African American. (and that can be wrong too) But lets say you only have a good data base of Caucasians, African Americans, native Americans, and Hispanics. You get your allele frequencies back and you compare them and you have most in common with Hispanics...what if you are Polynesian? You can't show up as that, as there is no database (this is all fictional, I am sure there is a Polynesian database somewhere)

Now this issues with the dog DNA tests is that they are only comparing a small number of breeds and the DNA is almost all from US databases. So if your dog has any foreign ancestry that can mess up the results. If your dog has a breed that is not represented in the database then it will mess up the results. Also many breeds share common ancestry, this too can skew results.

When I was researching this on the net there was a news show that covered this. All the news anchors had their dog's DNA tested. It was interesting how the one anchor with a beautiful pure bred golden retrieve was told his dog's DNA showed he was a mix (forget what the mix was, but it was pretty funny) he was obviously upset.

The other main issue I have is that the general public puts so much 'faith' in DNA results (thanx CSI) but DNA results are not that cut and dry. Esp when we are talking DNA + statistics. I get very leery when people start acting like the DNA tests are accurate (this is not to bad on this board) As soon as this gets wide public acceptance, BSL will take on a whole new meaning. That is a scary scary thought.

One of many youtube videos on a purebred, papered dog who ends up being labeled as a mix by a dna testing company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a4CDvK868w

devtec · 11-15-2009, 11:20 AM

Thanks guys. I'm not so interested in determining his breed that I would get a genetic test for it. It's more because it simply would be nice to know, especially if I'd like to get another that looks just like him.

Munchie surely does not look like any of these. To me he has a very kind, gentle, zen-like face, which i just love. And he is big and sturdy. Other Peks I've picked up are very light and fragile feeling...

Michiyo-Fir · 11-15-2009, 11:42 AM

He probably has a bit of mix in him. But you know I've actually never seen a nicely bred Pekingese ever. I see lots and lots of mixes. Not sure why mixing Pekes is popular but a lot of people seem to do it. And then they breed the mix dogs and sell them as purebred.

Most of the people around here with 'purebred' pekingese have mixed dogs...

He is SUCH a cutie though! He looks so cuddly!

MafiaPrincess · 11-15-2009, 11:51 AM

I'm not a peke person, but I agree he is uber adorable.

RedyreRottweilers · 11-15-2009, 12:33 PM

I would like to see him standing from the front and side, however, he looks purebred to me.

He has a nice head, actually, with the typical envelope shape, a full nose roll, and the desired massive broad topskull. He also has a lovely eye and a good earset.

And as others said, completely adorable.

PappyMom · 11-15-2009, 01:46 PM

I agree with Redyre. I'm positive that he is pure. He's just a big-guy, that's all. Kind of like my Gizmo...a pure Papillon, but much bigger then all the other Paps. I love Pekes.. Before I got Gizmo, I had my heart set on a little Peke puppy..and then his little fluff-butt tainted me..lol! Yours is so beautiful. And tbh, I think it's better that he's bigger.. I feel that way about Gizmo, he's more sturdy then other Paps..I don't feel like I have to baby him...I can wrestle and run with him, with no problem!

mrslloyd09 · 11-15-2009, 03:48 PM

He looks like a younger version of my mom-in-law's pure Peke. Hers is very substantial and probably weighs close to twenty lbs and she's not fat.

Xeph · 11-15-2009, 04:06 PM

I too think he is pure, and better looking that some of the show Pekes (that are TOO squish faced). Dogs can go oversize in any breed, so he's likely just a big guy. He's too cute!