[inglewoodjack]

I rescued a 'hound mix' from the local humane society almost a year ago when he was 7 months old. They had no breed history on him but their adult size estimate has been more or less accurate: approx. 75lbs.

I have my thoughts about what breeds he is based on a few characteristics, but I decided to do a cheek-swab DNA test just out of curiosity. I followed the instructions to the letter and submitted a photo of him for his "official certificate" when he was just about 8 months old and still had a bit of a puppy face. The results were surprising to say the least!

The DNA testing company is 95% confident in their results and I'm 99% skeptical of them. Everybody who knows or has seen my dog have all laughed at the results when I've shared them. I even sent them recent photos like the ones below (along with a friendly assurance that I wouldn't be asking for my money back or anything silly like that - but that I'm just curious and think there may have been a mistake) and they were a little stubborn in their response and upped their claim of 95% to being 99.9% sure of their results.

What do you think? Do you have any guesses about what breeds he might be? To avoid influencing guesses either way I'll share the actual DNA test results once I get some feedback from the community.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing what you all think.

 

[melaka]

I'm not good at breed guesses but wanted to say he's very handsome.

I also had a ridiculous result from a DNA company, Wisdom Panel, though they didn't ask for a picture until I questioned the results. They told me my 30-lb., short-haired girl was 12%-25% Chow, Sheltie and ... Old English Sheepdog. I asked for them to retest, which is when they asked for her photo. Once I sent in the photo, they said they don't think it was worth retesting her and refunded my money.

Edit: For the record, I think mine is part Pug and small Terrier (or at least her mother looked to be that combo) with possibly some Australian Cattle Dog mixed in with a few other breeds.

 

[Amaryllis]

Mastiff x yellow lab?

I know those DNA tests are very unreliable. What did they say?

 

[Willowy]

I see Ridgeback, Lab, and there's something terrier-ish about his ears. Pit bull? Maybe a tiny bit of Great Dane (his muzzle is squarish like a Dane's).

 

[ChaosIsAWeim]

I definitely see Rhodesian Ridgback, not sure what else.

 

[Rescued]

I would say boxer, lab, maybe some pit, ridgeback

Weird ones I could see one of those tests throwing in: shar-pei, bulldog, foxhound, basset, mastiff, dane

 

[LittleFr0g]

Definitely see Rhodesian Ridgeback, but not sure what else. DNA tests are notoriously unreliable. I've shared this story here before, but I met a gentleman at our local dog park a while back, who had an obvious husky/Corgie cross. Dog looked just like a husky with the long body and short legs of a Corgie. The gentleman insisted that his dog was half Pug because a DNA test had told him so, lol.

 

[Willowy]

I know that there are unexpected results that can be true. . .someone here once posted a picture of a Poodle-mix litter (confirmed, as the mama dog--who appeared to be pure Poodle--gave birth at the shelter) who all looked very much like JRTs. Smooth coat and all, and if you sent in a DNA test on those pups not knowing what their mother was, you wouldn't believe the Poodle results. And I doubt anyone would believe that Squash and Shambles are half Husky! Genes are funny.

But sometimes the results do come out totally wrong. Or at least they seem like they just have to be totally wrong. My mom has a little black dog about 25 pounds, very slim-built, smooth single coat, looks like a sighthound mix. Her DNA test came back as mostly Beagle (I can believe some Beagle because she does woooo like a hound), but with all kinds of large hairy dogs as the secondary breeds. Newfie, Rott, Saint Bernard, etc. I just can't believe that! We didn't try disputing, we just figured she's too muttly to get any good results, LOL.

 

[RCloud]

Definitely Ridgeback, and maybe some lab.

 

[daydreamer]

I did one for my dog Sammi. They said she was tibetan mastiff on one grandparents side, and some kind of hairless dog on the other side. With some unknown mix breed also. Everyone in my family had a good laugh at the test results. She is way to small to have any mastiff in her unless its a small percent. I may do another one in the future to see if they say the same thing

 

[dagwall]

I'd guess ridgeback or maybe black mouth cur, lab mix

 

[Shell]

Ridgeback and something with a heavier coat- Lab maybe. I don't see any Pit or terrier at all.

 

[03firefly]

I'd say Shepherd and lab, but something about his forehead looks Rhodesian Ridgeback.
I have to say though, sometimes mixes can produce surprising results. I've meet mixes that are confirmed mixes - both parents are known to be pure-breds and were bred together - that would surprise you when you head what they were. There's always a chance for the results to be wrong, especially if your results do not match with height or clearly could not produce a coat type, but it can be surprising.

 

[inglewoodjack]

Thanks everyone for your input - my original guess was Ridgeback + "something else" too.
I agree that the something else is most likely lab or even some kind of shepherd, but he does have a dark brown (not quite black) mouth so maybe dagwall's right about blackmouth cur?

Here are the actual DNA results.

Level 2: Boston terrier (level 2 meaning at least one parent was purebred Boston terrier)
Level 4: Afghan hound
Level 4: Rottweiler
Level 5: English setter

Think it's safe to say their claim of being 99% accurate is busted?

 

[a7dk]

I'm terrible at this game but your dog is beautiful! I'm not really seeing any Pit, and his forehead does look a little hound-y to me but like I said, I'm no good at guessing!

There was a thread here awhile back where someone had an obvious pit mix (possibly poorly-bred purebred pit) but the DNA test said he was something like 50% beagle. Definitely didn't look it. I have hesitated to even try the DNA test with Hobbes, since he looks like he's got a fair amount of ABPT in him, but the Wisdom panel doesn't test for that, and I've heard lots of stories about the others being horribly inaccurate.

Whatever he is, beautiful dog! (I'm very interested to hear what the DNA test said about him!)

 

[a7dk]

Thanks everyone for your input - my original guess was Ridgeback + "something else" too.
I agree that the something else is most likely lab or even some kind of shepherd, but he does have a dark brown (not quite black) mouth so maybe dagwall's right about blackmouth cur?

Here are the actual DNA results.

Level 2: Boston terrier (level 2 meaning at least one parent was purebred Boston terrier)
Level 4: Afghan hound
Level 4: Rottweiler
Level 5: English setter

Think it's safe to say their claim of being 99% accurate is busted?

Hahaha! I don't really know what an English Setter looks like, but I'm definitely not seeing any of the others!

 

[begemot]

Do they list what breeds they test for? I think most of those things don't include all breeds. Maybe they don't even have ridgeback DNA in their database.

 

[Shell]

Ridgebacks that have black muzzles can have black gums and spotted tongues. But curs are far more common in some areas and blackmouth curs look very similar (both being large red hounds) so either one is a good guess. He looks like he has the urajiro markings which Ridgebacks can have.

I can see shepherd in the tail.

I don't see any of the breeds in the DNA results except possibly a small amount of English Setter could be giving a bit longer coat and the hair on the tail.

 

[Willowy]

Afghan Hound seems to be a very common result in DNA tests. And I just don't think there are that many Afghans running loose reproducing willy-nilly! I wonder what more common breed has similar DNA to an Afghan.


As for Boston, you just never know. My parents' neighbors had a mutt (of known heritage) who was half Boston. She didn't look like it at all. . .but at least she was black .

 

[inglewoodjack]

Thanks Shell - I'd never even heard of the blackmouth cur until dagwall's response but there are some definite similarities. Had a look at Chester in your album - great looking dog you have there.

@begemont: yeah, Ridgebacks are on their list of recognized breeds. They claim to have a database containing 98.7% of the most common dog breeds.

I mentioned to the DNA folks that I get asked on an almost weekly basis if Jack's a Ridgeback.
Here's their response:
"there is less than a 1% chance that there is any Rhodesian Ridgeback in him."

Haven't been asked if he's part Boston Terrier yet though. Weird.