Bingo, We Have The Answers!

If you ever wonder if I’m losing my marbles, you’re probably correct.

A few months ago my hairstylist Liz was over doing my hair and she asked an innocent question while looking at Max:

What is HE?

Me: We think he might be a rat terrier/chihuahua mix; he loves to chase small prey, bark at anyone and everyone, dislikes his own kind and he’s very much a weirdo because a lot of times he won’t go outside before bed, I have to carry his 25lb ass far out to the middle of the yard, drop him in the grass, remind him that he’s a dog and beg for him to pee. (if he doesn’t pee, he will wake me up in the middle of the night from his crate to do so)

When Lolo first adopted him over 5 years ago, we thought he might be some sort of exotic dog, mixed with the regular flavor. But we soon figured out, nope. Just the regular mill kind, but we still wondered what exact variety.

Liz suggested I do a DNA test on him; it won’t tell us WHY he’s weird, but it would tell us WHAT he is. My jaw dropped: You can do those for dogs? I mean, will I find out if he’s really an African Prince?

Upon research they sell these tests on Amazon for a hundred bucks. It seemed a bit steep, but I then remembered I didn’t pay for anything to be waxed this past year: I HAD EXTRA MONEY.

EDITED to add: When I was looking it up on amazon to link it here, it dawned on me: the name of the company is Embark. EmBARK *slaps hand on forehead*

Max was questioning OUR sanity as we took his saliva sample. In about a month we had our results. In that amount of time, there was much query from my people on our family thread asking DID YOU GET MAX’S RESULTS YET? To an outsider, it looks like we had nothing else going on.

He’s more Super mutt than anything, which is kind of funny. A Super mutt is a mutt mixture. When I told him this, he immediately liked the Super part and agreed that he is indeed Super. Humble much?

Do you remember my Family Tree in my baby book. Well, I’m quite jealous that Max’s is filled out 100% more than mine.

As if finding out that he’s this or that wasn’t enough fun, a month later I got an email stating that the company had found some of his possible relatives; Jewel being the closest to his DNA.

Turns out Jewel is probably a distant cousin that we normally wouldn’t hear from unless Max had just won the lottery, (which he did) but thanks to science & technology, There She Is, waiting for a playdate with a dog who doesn’t like playing or dogs.

I blogged about when I did my Ancestry.com DNA and tree; people were coming out of the woodwork connecting with me. It was awesome, but also a little overwhelming. When I asked Max about meeting Jewel, he was happy about it until I told him that Jewel is IN fact a dog. That was a hard NO from him.

Anyhoo, we still love our little weirdo even if we’re semi-excited about his Dad Nathan coming home from Marine boot camp next month; that means Max will be going home to his real parents.

So, would you make the investment to see your pets DNA?

28 thoughts on “Bingo, We Have The Answers!”

  1. I’m in awe of your reasoning for spending the money to learn about Max’s ancestry. It makes perfect sense to me. As for what you found out, Jewel aside, Max is one of a kind. I’m sure he could have told you that and would suggest that you could have spent that money on some better quality snacks. But you had to know, didn’t you? Fascinating results.

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  2. My neighbor/friend is a Devoted Dog Mom and had all three of her rescue dogs Embark-ed. We were shocked to find out that one, the most nondescript, lunch-pail type basic dog, is actually a purebred Mountain Cur. We give him a lot more respect now.

    Max was always secure in the Knowledge Of His Superness. He’s one big eyeroll.

    (All of our luxury purchases now are made with the excuse that “We didn’t get to go on any trips to buy wine last year.”)

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    1. Purebred Mountain Cur? That is so wild. I bet that particular dog was always feeling a bit MORE important than the others, but wasn’t sure why? *giggle giggle* Callie is part Black Mouth Cur (we are told, but maybe she needs a test too?) So maybe Callie is a long lost relative of your neighbors dog. Is that how it works?

      I certainly hope that you have planned some wine purchasing trips for this coming year. *squee!*

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  4. This is hilarious. I don’t have pets but I suppose if I were curious I would go for it. I am cracking up at his little proposed family tree. I love his close relative discovery, Jewel. So funny. And look at you, knowing your breeds. You were so close.

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  6. I’m a lil suspicious of the dog DNA tests because I wonder what markers they’re using to determine breeds. Then I wonder how they got those markers (based on how many dogs, etc?) and how confident they are about the markers. Like, will they tell you your dog’s heritage is diff in 5 years because now they have more data?

    That said, I would sequence my cats’ DNA is a hot minute (and there’s like no info on cats bc reasons) and I would totally test my dog if we had one. Honestly it just seems fun and I am all for fun these days!

    Also I love the thought of you guys getting a spit sample from Max, dog of dignity.

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    1. You’ve brought up more questions about this than I ever thought about. Honestly, I didn’t even think about it that much when I did my DNA test other than knowing the government has ALL my info now.
      After we did this I had thought for a moment: “I wonder if they can do these tests for cats.” and then I remembered that there aren’t really that many breeds for cats, so NO. See, saving Cat People money left and right!
      When we were getting the sample there was a conversation: You hold him and I’ll swab. No, he’s not gonna like me if I swab, I’ll hold, YOU swab.
      Spoiler alert, he still likes both of us.

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  8. That’s actually pretty cool. I had to laugh about EmBark. I was in my 40’s when it dawned on me the origin of Ore-Ida! Lol!

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    1. Good lord woman. Thanks for letting me know about the Ore-Ida thing. I learned that TODAY! *Suz peeks out from under her rock*

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  9. Fascinating! But they’re barking up the wrong tree with me, seeing as I’m a cat owner. Pretty sure Sydney is just an American shorthair, calico in color. Though it’d be cool to see if she had a little lion or bobcat in her DNA!

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  11. Hahaha I love this! My daughter and I have discussed her doing this with her little Riley…I’ve done my dna and it cracks me up that max actually has a real dna match!! That’s actually pretty cool!!

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  12. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.
    I still have my Embark link and the coupon you gave to me. I need to do it now. I’ve been putting it off but now that I see your results, I want to know.
    My mom told me that litters can have two dads. Did you know this? I’d never heard of that before.

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    1. WHAT? TWO DADS? *mind blown*

      I can’t wait until you do yours—-it’s all the excitement we can handle lately. 🙂

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  13. I have wanted to do that for Buddy, my Chihuahua. He was a lost dog that adopted me. He looks like a full Chihuahua. I tried to find his real parents but never could. I would so love to do this.

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