I am so glad that I chose to learn about this awesome testing, but just to let you know… this is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wisdom Panel® Canine DNA Test. All opinions are my own.
How well do you know your pet? Stop wondering and find out for real with Canine DNA Testing from Wisdom Panel!
My Molly Mae is a “young” 13 1/2 years old. I don’t say that with that silly overtone of claiming I’m celebrating my 29th birthday again either. She’s an old gal, but she’s got spunk. Molly Mae and I have been together for longer than I’ve known my kids, longer than I’ve known my husband, longer than I’ve known most of my friends. She’s family.
I got Molly Mae from the humane society when she was just 7 or 8 weeks old. She was with the other puppies from her litter, but I picked her because of her eyes (one blue and one brown), and because she peed on me. Figured she was just so darn excited to meet me. Either that, or I’m a glutton for punishment. 🙂
Her litter was labeled as “boxer mix” but, truth be told, I don’t think anyone really knew. We’ve had people ask if she’s a Pitt Bull, Basenji, Rhodesian ridgeback, German Shepherd, Husky and the like… and up until now, your guess was as good as mine.
Not knowing her breed heritage, we were certainly really careful with introducing her to our new babies. She proved to us, however, that she welcomed taking on the “second mommy” role. She’s great with people, not very great at being a guard-dog (unless being kissed to death sounds frightening to you), she had a lot of energy as a puppy, and she is NOT a fan of other dogs. These are the things I knew. But, I’d always wanted to know more.
Which is why I gave her the Wisdom Panel® Canine DNA Test. Knowing the breeds in your dog can help proactively plan for their individual health, nutrition and behavioral/training needs. And as I shared before, most people think they can tell the breeds of dogs by simply looking at his or her physical (phenotypic) traits. Yet visual identification even by professionals is only accurate about 25% of the time – that means they’re incorrect 75% of the time!
Wisdom Panel tests use more than 1800 markers and draw from a 12,000+ breed sample database for a 90%+ accuracy. To date, the tests have been used by more than 500,000 pet parents to find out their dog’s unique genetic make-up and breed heritage. Wisdom Panel® Canine DNA tests provide breed ancestry back to the great-grandparent level, a predicted weight profile, trait and MDR1 screening results. Tests can be done at home using two swabs – no blood necessary. Results take approximately 2-3 weeks from the time the test reaches the lab.
Turns out, we were all pretty wrong about dear Molly Mae, too! The process was soo easy. Two swabs of the cheek, and mail in the samples. Just a short time later, I was emailed an entire file full of interesting information and important health notes to share with Molly’s veterinarian.
So, was the humane society right? Was she a boxer? Or was my hunch that she was mostly a pitt bull right? Turns out…. we were all wrong! Miss Molly Mae is 50% American Staffordshire Terrior (her spunky personality, big ol’ head, and dog-loathing), 25% Siberian Husky (the blue eye and tail?), 12.5% Chow Chow (she does have a blue spot on her tongue!), and 12.5% mixed breed groups (of which they largely pointed out Rhodesian Ridgeback and Basenji likely to be components). Crazy, right?
We were also given her family tree. I immediately texted all of my family to share her stats. Not sure they thought it was as totally mind-blowing as I did, but it still makes me so happy to know her background!
Beyond sharing her breed information, Wisdom Panel also provided some health information that would be great to have even if you think you know your dog’s breeding history. Molly was tested for the MDR1 mutation which can help your vet to choose the proper anesthesia (and many other drugs) protocol. It turns out my dog has one mutant and one normal gene and was clear for a gene that could cause exercise induced collapse. Additional factors shared included her suggested healthy weight range and her coat colors.
I’ve been given a lot of different opportunities to try new products and share them with readers, but this is definitely on my top five list. I was unexpectedly happy to finally know my pet. I only wish I had the information earlier!!!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wisdom Panel®.
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