First of all, congratulations to Kuruk, who won the Can You Guess (Luke’s DNA)…?contest! Ku won by random draw, because he guessed Labrador retriever as one of Luke’s three top breeds. No one guessed either of the other two! 24 of you guessed Labrador Retriever, so I numbered each correct guess in the order it came in, and did a draw on random.org.
I hope you all took this contest in the spirit it was intended, which was to have
fun. Judging by your comments, I think you did. I know that I certainly enjoyed all of your comments and guesses. Some of you said you had done the DNA test on your own dogs and believed the results, others were far more skeptical!
Everyone’s guesses were great, and one of the reasons I did this was because I really wanted to know what other people saw in him. Our vet and his assistants from the beginning saw hound dog in him, and so do we. He has a hound nose; it is just as strong as his beagle siblings’. 17 of you guessed that he had beagle in him, and 7 of you guessed other types of hounds. 11 of you guessed pointer and I had seen some photos of pointers and we thought that was a strong possibility too.
14 of you guessed border collie, which is a breed we also suspected when he was younger (the black & white with the stripe going up the nose reminds me of many border collies I’ve seen). We also had thought great Dane which 3 of you guessed, mostly because he was growing so fast and at one point my hubby talked to friends who have a great Dane who grew at about the same rate, and he reminded me of their Bella in appearance too.
OK, I know a lot of you are anxious to know what the other two breeds are, and I’m dragging this out like one of those obnoxious reality contest shows. Of course, at least here you can just scroll down to get to the bottom line!
I have to confess to a bit of mischief on my part, because I would have been really surprised if anyone had guessed either of the other two breeds, though I did try to hint towards some of the characteristics of those breeds when I told a few things about Luke. But none of those had anything to do with his physical appearance whatsoever. I did say we were surprised at the results, and I think you will be too…..
His other two top breeds (according to Wisdom Panel) are : POMERANIAN and MINIATURE WIREHAIRED DACHSHUND. No, really. These top 3 breeds show up in his family tree from his mother up to his great grandparents. His predicted weight was 23-40 pounds, and at the time we got the results, he was 3 months old and already 23 pounds. He weighed in at 40 pounds today, and he turns 5 months old this coming week. Now, Lab is his top breed so apparently that is where he’s going to get his size from. We think he’ll even be big for a Lab, probably ending up weighing at least 80 pounds.
Dachshunds are in the hound dog family, right? That just was not the hound we were expecting, but I suppose it could account for his strong nose. The results we were given by Wisdom Panel told characteristics of all the breeds and here’s where Luke shows some of those: Pomeranians: active and alert, enjoy agility , respond well to reward based training. Dachshunds: hunting dogs who scratch at the ground and dig, they enjoy any activity that uses their keen sense of smell. Both breeds can be suspicious or fearful of strangers, and Luke has shown that just a little bit with some people that have come to our house (he always warms up quickly though).
But the bottom line here is that my hubby and I are very skeptical about the results, mostly because of the size issue. However, they did get the Lab part right, we knew that his mother was a Lab mix (and she is small Lab, about 40 pounds). You can see that the results also show one side of his family tree as all “mixed breeds” and further in the report they tell 5 other breeds that could be in those mixes (from highest to lowest probability): Rat terrier (again, small, but he does have a similar look), borzoi (they are tall and rangy with a smaller head, which fits Luke’s look, they are a running hound with sometimes wavy fur which Luke is starting to show), bloodhound, American Eskimo dog, and border terrier. They do say that he is mixed beyond 3 generations, so who knows what characteristics might have come down from so many different breeds. Also, three of you did guess terrier, so you may have been on the right track, even though that wasn’t in the top 3!
If money were not an issue, we would do it over again just to see if the results came back the same. Also, in Wisdom Panel’s defense, they encourage you to call their customer service and get your results explained if you so desire. They provide you with videos with scientific explanations as well. We watched one, and half way through my eyes glazed over and my mind started to wander. Science was my worst subject in school, and to this day I hate it, so I have no interest in getting a scientific explanation at this point!
We really just did this test for fun, and I would still encourage anyone thinking about it to do the same. I wanted a Lab mix and that is what we got, and it is a lot of fun watching him grow, waiting to see how big he will get and what kind of dog he will be. He is who he is, and we love him no matter what his DNA is made up of!
Thank you to everyone who participated in my guessing game, I hope you had as much fun as I did! I’d love to know what everyone thinks now that you know the results.
Thank you to our blog hop hosts: Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, and My Brown Newfies! Please visit them and the other participants through the links below.
Hey Buddy
How cool that you’re such a mix of so many breeds, no woder you’re SO special!
Hope you’re having a fun day
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Thank you, Snoopy, what a nice thing to say!! 🙂 Have a fun weekend!!
That is so cool! I don’t know about Dachshund and Pomeranian though! I have thought about doing a DNA test on Diesel to see what he has in him besides Plott Hound. Who knows what we might find out!
Oh, you should definitely do it! I would love to guess on him, so if you did a guessing contest post like I did that would be lots of fun!
Wow!! I’m more shocked at Luke’s results than when I got Lucas’ results! That mixed breed side of the family could be contributing more than the other side… you just never know how genetics come together to create the final result. Thanks for sharing your experience. So fascinating!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed reading about it, Maggie. It is so interesting no matter how you look at it, even if you hate science like I do! lol
So it looks like they only got one half of the family tree? I don’t think I would trust those results too much either, unfortunately. Maybe save your money and in a few years they will have a better test. I do think there is hound in Luke so probably on the unknown side.
Congrats to the winner.
There is definitely hound in him of some kind. He has quite the nose on him, so it’s impossible to believe otherwise.
Science advances all the time, so you are right, maybe down the road it will get better and we can do it again.
I did the same test on my mixed-breed dog Ace. It only gave me Lab mix and the rest was too mixed to determine apparently. I think the tests are pretty accurate, and who knows what other breeds are in Luke’s heritage!
I’m too late, but I would’ve guessed Lab/English pointer/beagle/Am Staffordshire terrier
That would have been a good guess and very much in line with what other people guessed.
I think Luke’s heritage might be mixed so far back that it’s hard to determine.
I’m with you a bit on the skeptical side of this DNA testing. I’ve heard of people who’ve had it done and totally did not agree with the results.
Trust me, I’m no science major, but to me it would seem if he has a mom who was a petite lab (mix) then the father would have to be larger to produce a dog his (anticipated) size. But that’s just me.
It was a fun contest, guessing what he might possibly be. His coloring and profile definitely reminded me of my sister’s Rat Terrier. 🙂
It stands to reason to me also that his father must have been large. Maybe there is that bloodhound on that side.
He does show other terrier traits, such as liking to dig and scratch at the ground, but he hasn’t shown much interest in rodents….we have all kinds of squirrels at our bird feeders just outside their yard, and he’s shown no interest in them. He does, however, love to watch the birds fly over….wherever that might come from!
Not necessarily. When you are talking mixes, you can’t judge things like size or even temperament. The size could be coming from the unknown side of that pedigree or even as many as 4-5 generations back on the side that you know. Parents, grandparents are only part of the equation. At least that is how I understand it.
That makes perfect sense to me, to the extent that I understand it!
Definitely a surprise! I wonder if it would work the other way around. Mr. N’s would probably say he has Great Dane in him or something.
Ha ha, I bet you’re right!!
How fun…got the Lab, but never would have guessed the others. We did this on Tino too and was skeptical of the results…but it’s just for fun, so who cares.
Really, I wanted him to be mostly Lab anyway, and we did know we were getting that. Our Maggie was a Lab mix (along with shepherd and golden retriever, which we knew for sure because we knew where she came from), and she was such a great dog. She was all black like your Maggie.
I would have never guessed Pom or Doxy… I do see the Lab though. 🙂 Whatever Luke is he sure is a cutie! Can’t wait to see what he looks like all grown!
His ears are the most interesting thing…not really up or down, kind of in between. That’s one feature that I think makes him look so cute though, and I wonder where they’ll end up!
We got Coco test too. Her results were completely believable! Her results were a flat coated retriever mix crossed with a lab mix with the other top breeds being a few of the “bully breeds”. Lower on the list came the crazy stuff like husky and otterhound. I liked the percentage breakdown. We can physically see the lab and bully breeds, but the description of the flat coated retriever fits her to a T. So interesting! Thanks for sharing…gonna pull my results out and take another look!
I’m glad you got believable results! Who knows, the accuracy of the results may depend on how far back the mixed breeds go.
So, he’s a Pomadorhund? Never would have guessed the Pom part, or really the Doxie either, but like you said, at least that’s a hound, which makes sense. That was some fun mischief to try and get us to guess that crazy combo! Congrats to Ku!
I’m glad everyone had fun, and no one got mad that they really didn’t have a chance of guessing them all!
Pomadorhund makes him sound so sophisticated….lol.
We never would have guessed those other 2 breeds. Congrats to Ku for winning the contest! That was fun.
I’m so glad everyone had fun, and someone got to win a prize!
Never would have guessed that in a million years! Wonder if it is really what he is or not? As you say, it doesn’t really matter as long as he is happy and healthy.
Yeah, it doesn’t matter, but we can’t still help but wonder!
Wow Luke what on earth? LOL… I’ve seen some of these tests have weird results like this and then some seem totally accurate. I don’t think anyone would have ever guessed those 2 breeds in a million years!
I was really hoping someone might take a long shot and throw one of those in, but I wasn’t really surprised that no one did! We were completely thrown off when we first read it.
So I would have NEVER guessed Pomeranian in a million years. Congratulations to Kuruk for winning. I’m glad that you revealed the results, I have been wondering! I say he’s part Lab and 2/3’s pure Love!
Yeah, love is definitely a big part of his make-up! I’m glad so many of you were willing to play along, and interested in the results. Other than the black and white coloring that some Poms have, I don’t see any other features in him that resemble one!
What fun! I’ve really been looking forward to the big reveal and have to say I’m kind of stunned by those second two breeds. But… who knows? I’ve been tempted to do Rosie’s and now even more so. We know her mother was a Golden Retriever and now I’m looking at her wondering if there’s some Doxie in there… Whatever Luke is, he’s a beautiful boy!
Thanks….I’m so glad you enjoyed it. You should definitely do Rosie, I’d love to see if she has some doxie in her too!
We would have been way off on our guesses. Whatever the mix though that is one cute dog.
Thanks, we think he is too!! 🙂
Wow! Nobody saw that one coming!
Happy Monday Mischief!
Louise & Bernie 🙂
berniethefrenchie.blogspot.com
They certainly didn’t!! 🙂
Wow, I would never have thought that. Great mix of breeds though, and he is just plain cute!
He’s definitely heavy on the cute genes!! 🙂
Woah!!!!! Never would have guessed those breeds thats for sure!!!!!!
Interesting!!!! I thought Border collie was one of them definitely! hA!!!
Thanks for sharing, I have anxiously awaiting the results!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I hope he is going to be as smart as a border collie anyway…lol…that remains to be seen! 🙂
I’m glad I didn’t even take a shot at it because I would have been WAY off. BOL Happy Monday, pals!
Oz
Thanks, Oz! I don’t think your guess would have been any stranger than the truth though! 🙂
So you’ve got a Dach-ador-ian huh? Never would have guessed that!
This made me laugh out loud, for real: “They provide you with videos with scientific explanations as well. We watched one, and half way through my eyes glazed over and my mind started to wander.”
I often feel people get that way when I make my own posts too lengthy. 🙂
Dach-ador-ian, very good, Donna! I never even thought of trying to put the names together….you did it quite well, it sounds like a real breed!
Ha ha, I’ve written some of those lengthy posts that I wondered about myself!
Wow. Those results are…interesting. I have done one in the past, and feel it was fairly accurate. I really should do one on my Faolan, for kicks and giggles.
You should do it! It’s fun whether it comes out to be what you expected or not, right?
This was great. I can see why no one guessed the other two breeds. Congrats to Lu. This was fun. Hug your mutt!
I’m glad you thought it was fun too….I gave Luke a big hug!! He’s pretty happy with who he is. 🙂
Pee-ezzz I was so sure I had this one in the bag Bawahhhhhahaaaa xxxx
You guys had a good guess….you got the Lab part right too! xxxoooo
Thanks for playing!
OMD we would never in a million years guessed that LOL, we did enjoy it though 🙂 xxxoxxxx
Mollie and Alfie
So glad you enjoyed it!! xxxooo