[Hostage]

I decided to do one of these tests on what I thought was a boxer lab mix. He is 1.5 years old. What we ended up is 50% Pitt Bull, 25% Irish Setter, and a bit of a lot of other things. We were skeptical and a little disapointed as we were intially wanting a lab mix, though that does not take away our love for him. We considered the possibility of a pittbull and other people suggested that, though no way did we ever think Irish Setter. I started to look into a setter and doing research and it explains a lot of his personality. When we go walk in dog parks he does zig zag back and forth while we walk exploring, while other peoples dogs would stay close by their side. He is also very muneverable and can turn on a dime giving other dogs a run for their money, when they play chase. A small border collie couldn't make a turn and litterally rolled out, when he was chasing my dog. He also points and he is closterphobic. We attemped to crate him when we got him, but were unable to as he would do more damage to walls when he was in the crate. He eventual busted out of it and since we have not crated him, he has been a good boy. He also loves to play with my neighbor's kids and they have watched him when he was gone, he seems to have more diplomacy than loyalty. Though I didn't want a guard dog.

He seems to have the frame of the setter, strong muscles of the pitbull, short hair of a bitpull, with a longer ridge of lab-like fur running along his back and neck. He also has the snout of a setter and the big head of the pitbull. The tail is like a whip. He is black w/ white paws, some white on his chest, and tip of tail.

My only fear with the dog is he likes to play and he can play a little rough. While he usually doesn't bug our house cats, I get worried he will trample small dogs as they will engage with play compared to my cats can slap him. When playing with larger dogs he is usually pretty good. Though on occasion he will nip and sometimes latch other dogs on the scruff or tail. This has me worried, though I am unsure when playing stops and starts. The other dogs don't yelp or show any signs of injury they just keep playing. I do stop it if I see him in engaging in this behavior and will put him in time out. If he continues I usually leave the park. He passed the AKC CGC on Monday and my biggest fear is having a dog that inflicts any harm on anyone or anything.

I think the DNA tests work well and it does explain a lot.

-Hostage

 

[spanielorbust]

. . . no way did we ever think Irish Setter . . .

Coat length and color are the visuals most use when they are considering a dog's possible ancestry, and those with short coated dogs rarely consider long coated breeds as possibly ancestral (short coat is dominant to long when smooth muzzles are involved).

We had a fabulous Irish Setter here for 14 years . . . an incredible partridge dog and great with the full extended family and all their dogs. I hope you enjoy your mix.

SOB

 

[MM13]

DNA tests does work well. I adopted 6 weeks old puppy from the humane society and they told me she was a lab mix but they didnt know what she was mixed with. So i ordered a DNA kit from dna my dog and got my results in less than 2 weeks. She's a level 2 (37-74%) lab, level 3 (20-36%) great dane and level 5 (less than 9%) rottweiler. Hula is now 18 weeks and she weighs 30.5 lbs. The more she grows the more i can see the dane in her.

 

[Canaqua]

I take the doggie DNA tests with a grain of salt. I have them for both our mutts. They seem to work better on dogs with fewer breeds in them. Our ACD mix came out as half ACD / half JRT. Makes perfect sense.

Our other dog, however, is more of a mystery mutt, with the only obvious breed in her being a Border Collie. Her test did show 25% BC, but it said she was mostly Italian Greyhound, with MANY other breeds thrown in there in very small amounts. Don't think so, she is over 60lbs, big for a BC even. She looks like a quite large Border Collie with a slightly square top of her head...dog trainer, vet and animal control lady think they see some Pit in there. There was a small amount of Boxer and Mastiff in the DNA tests, so maybe there is more of that. Don't see how she could possibly be predominantly Italian Greyhound!

 

[melaka]

I'm glad you liked your results but I don't put much stock in DNA tests either. They told me my 30-lb., short-hair girl was 12%-25% each Shetland Sheepdog, Chow and Old English Sheepdog. No, I don't think so. At least when I complained, they sent me my money back.

My guess is that she's part Pug and small Terrier from her mom (I saw her mom) and ACD and who knows what else from her dad. Maybe some Boxer or Pit, but a few generations removed.

 

[spanielorbust]

I'm glad you liked your results but I don't put much stock in DNA tests either. They told me my 30-lb., short-hair girl was 12%-25% each Shetland Sheepdog, Chow and Old English Sheepdog. No, I don't think so. At least when I complained, they sent me my money back.

My guess is that she's part Pug and small Terrier from her mom (I saw her mom) and ACD and who knows what else from her dad. Maybe some Boxer or Pit, but a few generations removed.

Why would you think 12%-25% each Shetland Sheepdog, Chow and Old English Sheepdog are wrong? Add a smooth coated mix (such as you are suspicious of) to that and a dog of your girls phenotype is very likely. As they couldn't account for 25-50% of her mix that would be the most likely source of her coloring and smooth coat (which is dominant and only needs to come from one ancestor).

I see all these breeds easily in her, especially the Chow, just as easily as Pug, Terrier and ACD.

SOB

 

[melaka]

Why would you think 12%-25% each Shetland Sheepdog, Chow and Old English Sheepdog are wrong? Add a smooth coated bull breed mix to that and a dog of your girls phenotype is very likely. As they couldn't account for 25-50% of her mix that would be the most likely source of her coloring and coat.

I see all these breeds easily in her, especially the Chow, just as easily as Pug, Terrier and ACD.

SOB

I could see Chow or even Sheltie. But I guess I had trouble believing OES because of her size. She likely has some herder in her background, based on her behavior, though she's really more Terrier-like. And, when I asked the "experts" over at Wisdom Panel, they decided to give me my money back rather than say why they thought the results were accurate. I thought that spoke volumes. (They essentially said, send us a photo and we'll explain why the results make sense. I send the photo and they say, oops, never mind, here's your money back.)

Edit: And, I forgot to mention that I know her mom was only 15 lbs. So it makes me wonder just how big her dad could've been for Buffy to still wind up small/medium-sized (and she was the smallest of her litter), and for her mom to make it through the birth without complications.

 

[Hostage]

The problem with the DNA test is when you get closer to a Heinz 57 dog a true mutt, then it is going to be less accurate. If a parent is a purebred or grand parents, it will be much more accurate. imho

 

[spanielorbust]

I would suggest that they understand good customer service. Taking their response to mean what you have is going too far, IMHO.

Not that wisdom panel CAN be incredibly accurate for a heinz . . . its just that your pup would not be an example of a bad result in my eyes.

With regard to size, if both parents had ONE small ancestor . . . then a pup can throw back to small, even IF they are larger. Being as you know the dam was a small mix the sire could have been a mix of almost anything as long as he was small enough to accomplish the task.

I had a 37 pound husky who was a throw back to small from larger parental dogs. I also know a 25 pound dog from a 12 pound dam and 16 pound sire and neither had one ancestor for four generations over 18 pounds. It happens.

SOB

 

[melaka]

I would suggest that they understand good customer service. Taking their response to mean what you have is going too far, IMHO.

Not that wisdom panel CAN be incredibly accurate for a heinz . . . its just that your pup would not be an example of a bad result in my eyes.

With regard to size, if both parents had ONE small ancestor . . . then a pup can throw back to small, even IF they are larger. Being as you know the dam was a small mix the sire could have been a mix of almost anything as long as he was small enough to accomplish the task.

I had a 37 pound husky who was a throw back to small from larger parental dogs. I also know a 25 pound dog from a 12 pound dam and 16 pound sire and neither had one ancestor for four generations over 18 pounds. It happens.

SOB

Thanks for your insight. I'm always interested in reading about the crazy things that can happen with genetics. OP, sorry to hijack the thread.