Anyone want to play the guessing game?

[Dizzy]

I don't care, I want

Give me dog!

[suthrnladi]

What a beauty. Who cares what he is, he's adorable. Hope he's a great dog, looks like fun.

[Kim M]

I have been researching the DNA tests since March and from what I've been reading the blood test is much more reliable. I also talked to some people who have done both and they said the results were very close to what they thought. One person had to send in a picture with the swab (which I thought was strange) and she deliberitely sent in the wrong picture. They contaced her and asked if she was sure it was the right picture because the results did not match the picture at all.

So after a lot of research I did the blood test.

So who knows but I should know more in a few weeks.

[Kim M]

Originally Posted by suthrnladi

What a beauty. Who cares what he is, he's adorable. Hope he's a great dog, looks like fun.

He really is a cool dog and very unique looking. I love this dog to death! I have had a lot of different dogs and love/loved them all but for some reason this one is my favorite. His personality is similar to an Akita's but a Canaan Dog has the same type of personality too.

He is fun and enjoys the dog parks but is kind of stand offish at times with people. He has gotten better and is friendlier then he used to be but not friendly like a Lab. He was never aggressive or mean just didn't really care to meet people. AND he's only 8 months old. You would think he'd be more hyper or something. He is very laid back.

[grab01]

His face looks very Akita to me, not so much Canaan Dog. He's a very handsome boy

I don't take much stock in the DNA tests..the three dogs I've personally seen do it have come back with some odd results. (they used the blood test)

A lab/pointer type looking dog came back as being a majority Puli ... a 6 lb chihuahua/mix came back as being Chi and Dal. And a dog whose mother looked like a Beagle and who appears to be a small Husky mix, complete with blue eye and deep red coloring, came back as a majority Shiba Inu...because there are so many of those running about procreating willy nilly apparently

Lots of people at work tried to get me to do a test on Grimmy, but I pointed out that it's just as accurate for me to guess. And I'm just not that curious

[bnwalker2]

Very handsome boy! I definitely see Akita in him. I see you're from Cincinnati, I'm also from the area and I don't think Canaan Dogs are very common here... but Akitas definitely are.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by Kim M

I have been researching the DNA tests since March and from what I've been reading the blood test is much more reliable. I also talked to some people who have done both and they said the results were very close to what they thought. One person had to send in a picture with the swab (which I thought was strange) and she deliberitely sent in the wrong picture. They contaced her and asked if she was sure it was the right picture because the results did not match the picture at all.

So after a lot of research I did the blood test.

So who knows but I should know more in a few weeks.

seriously... blood is actually a little harder to get dna from as hemoglobin is a PCR inhibitor..

ok so how these tests work...
they are checking for non coding DNA.. so they are NOT looking for the genes that give golden retievers yellow hair, or the wrinkles on a bassett... they are looking in the 'junk' DNA.

They don't look at all of it.. just a an infintesimally small part of the junk DNA.. then they run it though a computer and it somes back and says that statistically your dog has repeats in the non coding dna most similar too "insert breed here" now how do they know what breed is most similar too? Well they have a database of known purebred dogs.. but the issue is that if your dog is from different bloodlines, etc etc it won't come up.

THe part that is flawed is the statistical part.. it doesn't matter if you extract the DNA from buccal cells, blood cells, or any other tissue.. the DNA itself will be the same (well barring chimerism) the fact is there are no genes that say "JRT, or Akita"

I am sure you have heard of CODIS.. there was a case where a black man and a white man shared the same 12 out of the 13 loci that CODIS checks for.. they aren't related in anyway, not even of the same ethnicity... so if we can't do it for humans with a HUGE database.. there is no chance for us to do it reliably with canines.

[Romy]

Originally Posted by Dekka

I am sure you have heard of CODIS.. there was a case where a black man and a white man shared the same 12 out of the 13 loci that CODIS checks for.. they aren't related in anyway, not even of the same ethnicity... so if we can't do it for humans with a HUGE database.. there is no chance for us to do it reliably with canines.

Incidentally, we can't do it for different "races" of human because there IS no genetic distinction. "Race" is an social construct, not a biological one. People have tried and tried. If you were to group people based on blood proteins (not DNA) then Swedes and most Africans would be part of the same race.

Skin pigment is really just that, pigment. Nothing more.

Sorry for the hijack. Just felt the need to throw that out there.

Your dog is adorable! I too agree, that he looks like an akita mix.

[Dekka]

Race is to humans what breeds are to dogs.. its more than just skin pigment, there is hair texture, colour, eye shape, skull shape, etc etc. But yes we can't determine race by DNA at this point, no more than we can determine breeds in dogs.

[Kim M]

Originally Posted by grab01

His face looks very Akita to me, not so much Canaan Dog. He's a very handsome boy

I don't take much stock in the DNA tests..the three dogs I've personally seen do it have come back with some odd results. (they used the blood test)

A lab/pointer type looking dog came back as being a majority Puli ... a 6 lb chihuahua/mix came back as being Chi and Dal. And a dog whose mother looked like a Beagle and who appears to be a small Husky mix, complete with blue eye and deep red coloring, came back as a majority Shiba Inu...because there are so many of those running about procreating willy nilly apparently

Lots of people at work tried to get me to do a test on Grimmy, but I pointed out that it's just as accurate for me to guess. And I'm just not that curious

LOL.... the weird thing is the ones I have talked to did that did the blood test came back very close to what they thought or a breed they didn't consider but were like "yeah, that is it!" Who knows!!! As far as the Shiba Inu, you never know. A lady I know has these rare breed dogs (now I cannot think of the name) and she got them all from shelters. Also, here in Cincinnati I know of two Shiba Inu breeders and have seen some full bred ones in the pound.

We'll see what it says about my dog. I did not send in a picture so it should be interesting to see what they have to say!