Holly’s DNA Results
About a week and a half ago I got a DNA test kit for the dog.The shelter where we got her had told us she was a Rat Terrier mix, but
having lived with her for a while I was more and more sure there was
some sort of sheepdog in there (probably Border Collie from her
markings) as she has definite herding instincts and drops into a very
distinctive sheepdog pose on her belly with her ears up when she's
playing with other dogs.The vet had suggested a DNA test that needed a blood test, but that was
going to cost about $250, which seemed an awful lot just to satisfy my
curiosity. Then I found one online that I could buy from Amazon that
just involved doing cheek swabs (like they do on all the cop shows on
TV) and sending them in. This one was $50 so I figured I'd give it a go.I got the kit, swabbed Holly's cheeks with the oversized Q-Tips in it
and sent them in for them to compare against their database of breeds.
And today the results arrived- according to them she is about 60% Border
Collie, 30% English Springer Spaniel, and 10% Yorkshire Terrier.It's nice that I had called the Border Collie, the Springer Spaniel
explains why she retrieves so well (she'll bring a ball back and drop it
right in your hand most of the time), and the Yorkie probably explains
why she's quite small.Anyhow, now we know- she's not a Rat Terrier mix, she's a Border Collie
mix. But that doesn't change the fact that she's 100% dozy 🙂
2 Replies to “Holly’s DNA Results”
Oh my goodness! My dog looks a lot like yours. I got her from a NJ shelter about six months ago, and I've been trying to figure out what kind of mix she is. It's obvious that she's a border collie-terrier mix, but I can't figure out what KIND of terrier. How much does your dog weigh? My dog is about 27 pounds now at 10 months. I don't think she's going to get too much bigger, but I've been saying that since she was 15 pounds at 5 months, ha ha.
She's now coming up on three and seems to have leveled off at about 36 pounds. But that 36 pounds is all muscle- there's not an ounce of fat on her! We still do between 2 and 4 miles a day, and half of that walk usually involves lots of running after tennis balls.
If you're that curious I would recommend the BioPet DNA Breed Identification Kit you can find on Amazon (just search for "canine dna test"), I think it goes for about $50.
Good luck with your dog!