Who's your Daddy.....and Momma?

I have always been a dog breed geek.

Ever since I was a kid I loved to learn about different dog breeds by reading books and watching dog shows. I still love trying to guess the breeds of dogs I see (I even shocked myself by recently being able to identify a Vizsla and Bedlington Terrier out on walks.)

Looks like a little lamb....Bedlington Terrier

So, when I got Jenny, of course I was curious to know for sure what breeds she was made up of. I was told that she was a Chihuahua mix at first. I assumed that due to her coloring and long body that she must also have some Dachshund in her as well. Plus, she loves to dig, which is a huge personality trait for a dachshund! So, we started calling her a "Chiweenie" which apparently is the true name of a Chi-Doxie mix.

I figured....Chiweenie for sure!

I was excited to find out that there actually was a dog DNA test to check for breeds.

At first I was skeptical. I assumed that I would have to send a picture and that got me thinking, "Well, they can just guess by the picture!"

Once I read the reviews and found out that you did NOT need to send in a picture, simply a DNA swab sample from your dog's saliva, I knew I needed to buy this! I chose the Wisdom Panel 2.0 and must say it was worth every penny!

Jenny and her "Who's Your Daddy" kit

The swabs drying off before send-off....

It was a super-simple process - all I had to do was use the little brushes to swab the inside of Jenny's cheek, put them back in the box, and send them off. The box was received by Wisdom Panel on January 10 and I had results on January 30. (I think it normally takes even less time. We received an email that results would be delayed due to high volume after Christmas and other issues such as severe weather.)

I was pretty surprised when I found out that she was NOT a Chi-Weenie!

It turns out that she is a Chihuahua and Cardigan Welsh Corgi Mix (known as a Chigi!)

(I did not send her pic until AFTER the results were sent to me. They asked for it to put it on this certificate.)

The following picture shows the POSSIBLE breeds that are on her Corgi Mix side.  

I believe she does have some Manchester Terrier in her, but do not see any visible traits of the other dogs listed. That's why I like to think of her as a Chi-Corgi-Manchester Terrier mix.

Jenny = Chi + Corgi  with some  Manchester Terrier

 It was truly fascinating for me to be able to find this out, not only for my own geeky dog breed curiosity, but also for Jenny's health reasons. It is good to know what disorders are common in certain breeds so that you can look out for them and be prepared. It is also excellent for training to know certain behavior characteristics that are common in particular breeds.

I knew the Chi part of her was what made her wary of strangers, but now I know that the Corgi part attributes to that as well. I now also understand that both sides of her family attribute to her difficulty with playing nicely with dogs who are even slightly larger than her.

I have to add that Wisdom Panel's customer service is excellent. I gave them a call today to ask if there was any way for them to tell if the Manchester Terrier in her was a Toy Manchester or Standard Manchester (yes, I'm that geeky about it.) They offered to run her DNA again just to look for those 2 breeds and within 30 minutes I had an email, explanation, and a graph. The results showed that Jenny’s blue dot does not seem to be grouping with either green (Toy) or red (full-size) cluster in particular. This is most likely because the Manchester terrier was reported to be possibly in Jenny’s mix and not in her recent ancestry. Because they did not receive as strong of a signal from this breed originally, it is difficult to determine whether Jenny is more related to a Toy Manchester terrier or to a full-sized Manchester terrier.

I'm so glad I splurged on Wisdom Panel and HIGHLY recommend you trying it if you are interested in what breeds are in your dog!