On July 19, 2014, my boyfriend and I adopted a very adorable, quiet, and shy dog from Animal Care and Control. She was around 6 months old at the time and while we waited for her to be spayed, we picked out the name Cinders for her. Now on Cinders' paperwork she was listed as a mix of Labrador Retriever and Australian Kelpie. After her surgery was completed and were told that we could come pick her up, we asked the ACC for all their notes on her. In her notes, someone wrote down that they suspected that she was actually a Taiwanese Mountain dog (alternatively Formosan dog).
Upon getting her home we realized that not knowing her background might be a problem just for logistics purposes. What type of dog she is didn't really matter much to us, but knowing her predisposition, temperament, and potential growth was important for planning for her future. On heels of my boyfriend and I both taking 23andMe DNA tests, we figured that we should give Cinders a DNA test too.
There was a big problem though. If in fact Cinders was a Formosan, it wasn't part of any DNA test available on the market. So we figured it would still be worth the plunge if we could find out anything at all about her background. My boyfriend went ahead and ordered the Wisdom Panel 2.0 test. I wish I had taken pictures of the tests but I hadn't expected that I would be writing about it at the time so I did. The test is very simply two long swabs which you rub against their gumline, you then let them air dry, and then package and mail it off. It was fairly simple and we had it in the mailbox that night.
It was a long anxious wait to find out what her results were. The lab did let us know when they received it and when they were processing it however I spent everyday checking the website for results. Finally the results came in and we were so happy to have pieces of her history. There are large chunks that are missing which are assuming has to do with an unidentified breed (perhaps Formosan?) but knowing the rest does help to project Cinder's growth especially because she was only about 7 or 8 months old at the time that we did the test with her.
The Report
The report comes in at a whopping 10 pages but filled with lots of diagrams and information that is useful. Right off the first page we have a snapshot of our results and it turns out of the identified breeds that they do test against, Cinders is a mix of Staffordshire Bull Terrier and Rottweiler!
The following pages thereafter explain traits of Staffordshire Bull Terrier and Rottweiler separately and points out key traits that we might see Cinders exhibiting. One of my other favourite pages is "Other Possible Mixed Breed Signatures," which I've included below.
Armed with the information regarding her background, we knew what we could expect in terms of temperament and disposition. It wasn't too dissimilar from what we already knew. What did throw us for a loop was her projected weight because a Staffordshire Bull Terrier is estimated at a height of 13 - 16 inches and weight of 23 - 46 pounds. Compare that to a Rottweiler which has a height of 23 - 27 inches and a weight of 72 - 132 pounds which is a huge variance. Luckily page seven of this document clearly states that her adult weight is predicted to be between 45 - 70 pounds.
The Wisdom Panel 2.0 test was definitely worth it even at about $70. Sure, it would be nice to find out for sure if she's a Formosan dog and what that means for her future but having even a slight bit of details helps us understand her at times. If you find yourself in the situation that you adopt a dog and don't have much information about their background, I would definitely recommend opting for a DNA test if you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment