Dog DNA Test (or Tucker Is A Real Mix!)

A little while ago, I had won a dog DNA test from a contest online. I mentioned to my parents I had won it, but I forgot about it for a while. But finally, a package arrived at my dog with the Wisdom Panel test! I shipped it off to my parents so they could test Tucker!

I had been saying for years that I wanted to do a DNA test on our dogs. The dog my family had while I was growing up, Rascal, was a purebred Carin Terrier (we got the papers saying that when we adopted her) so she was never a mystery to us. But when we got Dante, we only knew about his mom (she was a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix). We never knew what his dad was but since he looked pretty much like a German Shepherd and Border Collie, we just said that was what he was. I wanted to get him DNA tested, but it wasn’t cheap to do and my parents didn’t want to waste the money.

When we got Tucker, the only information the foster mom knew about him (and his brother Chaucer) was that the mom was a Shepherd mix. Since the dogs were rescued from a dog hoarder, there was no way to find out what dog was the dad. And we don’t know if anyone knew more about his mom either.

Again, I started to bug my parents to get him DNA tested. They didn’t want to because they didn’t want to find out something scary about his breed mix and they thought it was still an expensive thing to do. Every so often, I’d say we should do the dog DNA testing and every time my parents would say they don’t need to do it.

So when I won the test, I was so happy! Finally we could find out what breeds Tucker is a mix of! According to my parents, it was a pretty easy test to do. They just had to swab his cheek and then put it into a container and ship it to Wisdom Panel. The results are supposed to come back within 3 weeks, but we got ours back much soon!

While Wisdom Panel tests for about 200 breeds, sometimes they can’t figure out exactly what breeds are in a mix. That’s why you see the “Mixed Breed” on one side. But I love that we got a breakdown for his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents!

We are assuming that the side with all the breeds figured out is his mom’s side since that is the side with the Shepherd on it. We had all assumed for a while that Tucker was a Shepherd/Lab mix, but we didn’t know what else he could be. We had been making random guesses for a while, but none of us were right!

Now looking at the DNA test, I never would have guessed Rottweiler or Boxer but it totally makes sense looking at him. He’s got the Rottweiler head and a Boxer smile. Not sure what dog breed has the giant teeth he has, but I think his big teeth are a charming part of his smile.

I don’t know where the Akita part of him is, but I totally can see how Chaucer was part Akita with how he was just a huge bundle of fluff! And none of the breeds in his mix are dogs with long legs, but in his mix breeds that couldn’t be determined there are some dogs with long legs (like Poodles and Weimaraner). And Tucker’s got some of the longest legs of any dog I’ve ever seen and he can get into the weirdest positions with them.

No matter what breeds the dog DNA test was going to come back with, that can’t change the total lovable goofball that Tucker is. No background on him can change his personality, but it is really fun to know what breeds his mix is. Also, my parents can finally give better answers when they get stopped on walks or hikes and people want to know what type of dog he is (that happens all the time).

While the DNA test was a lot of fun, I’m glad I won it so we could test Tucker. And after I won the test, I looked it up to see how much it would have cost to buy it. It turns out it’s not too expensive! On Amazon, you can get it for about $70. So if you’ve got a mixed breed dog that you’d like to find out their heritage, I highly recommend getting the test and seeing what the results are!

BTW, I was not paid by Wisdom Panel for this review. I randomly won the test and was so happy about what we found out that I wanted to share it with you all. My review is all of my opinion and I was not influenced in any way to write my review.

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