By KEVIN KIRKLAND
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Pets have personalities, and different breeds tend to have different character traits. With mixes, you never know exactly where your pet's quirks come from.
My wife and I thought we knew why our three dogs were different. But the Canine Heritage Breed Test showed that either we were really wrong -- or that science and DNA sometimes lie.
My wife grew up with Labrador retrievers, a breed that she and lots of others have found to be gentle, lovable and kid-friendly. Every dog she has gotten from a shelter or rescue group has been a female that looked like a Lab.
We're fairly sure that Fudge, the oldest of our three, is a (chocolate) Lab because we have her papers. We got the second dog, Bella, from a local Labrador rescue group after she was found running loose on a golf course.
The third, Shasta, was sort of a happy accident, a failed attempt at fostering a dog from a rescue group. My wife said she would find her a home and she did -- ours.
The Canine Heritage test kit ($65) from MMI Genomics comes with a big swab that you roll around inside your dog's mouth, then mail off for testing. We tested Bella, because we had always wondered what other breeds were in her background. Like many Lab mixes, she is a big black dog with a white bib plus a few stray white hairs on the tip of her tail and lots of white around her muzzle, even when she was young.
Bella sometimes barks at the other two dogs if they're in the garbage or doing something else wrong. That's why we call her the police dog and why we thought there might be a German shepherd in her bloodline.
When the test results arrived in about eight weeks, my wife called me at work in disbelief. There were no primary or secondary breeds listed, which MMI Genomics warns is often the case with mutts. A third section, labeled "In the Mix," lists any of 38 major breeds the company can identify in a DNA sample.
Three were listed for Bella: Siberian husky, English setter and Yorkshire terrier. No Labrador.
We had to laugh. A husky looks a little like a German shepherd, but it's a sled dog, not a guard dog. Bella's not very strong and can't stand the cold.
She has some similarities to an English setter but not the white coat speckled with black or brown spots. And a Yorkie? Come on! They're tiny dogs with long hair, usually tan and black. Where did Bella's thick, black coat come from if not a Lab?
Shasta's test results were even more baffling. The woman we got her from said her parents were a yellow Lab and a Rhodesian ridgeback, an African breed that looks like a yellow Lab with a white chest and some black around the muzzle.
Shasta is a little rounder than a ridgeback and lacks the ridge. Her temperament is more sweet Lab than aloof, sneaky ridgeback, which was bred to harass lions during a hunt.
We struck out again. Ridgebacks are not among the 38 breeds that MMI Genomics can identify. In such cases, the company often comes up with a breed that is further up the unknown breed's bloodline. For Shasta, the company came up with only one breed "in the mix": beagle.
You'll have to take my word for it: This dog is no beagle. OK, she likes to chase small suburban game like squirrels and rabbits. But she's got the worst nose of the three dogs. And no beagle was ever this quiet.
Maybe we need to try a more precise DNA test like the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis by Mars Veterinary. It costs more -- about $100 not including blood test -- and requires a veterinarian to draw the blood sample. The company claims it can positively identify more than 130 breeds.
It might show how our giant Yorkie and silent beagle stack up. Or we could just forget the whole thing and keep calling them Lab mixes. Who cares about their ancestors' colorful sex lives?
Bet their family trees would be a howl.
For more information: www.canineheritage.com, www.whatsmydog.com).
Kevin Kirkland can be reached at kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.
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