.Poppy.
15-01-22, 01:56
I just thought this was super cool, and definitely a lighter topic than some floating around right now. :yesyes:
Just some history, my dog is a rescue. He was brought into an animal shelter (I think he was confiscated from a hoarder) then pulled into rescue with 16 other Cocker mixes of varying ages. All fearful, all malnourished. I brought him home at 8 weeks (ish) old and he had a host of behavioral problems. He struggles with anxiety, reactivity, occasional fear aggression, and resource guarding (that one has improved the most). But he's so smart, tries so hard, and I love him so very much.
Anyway, a few years back I did an Embark DNA test on him because I was curious of his breed mix - which ended up being really fascinating. They also do some genetic health testing, and they also track relatives when new ones are entered into the system. I get hits pretty frequently, usually just like "cousin level" at most, it's amazing how many cousins one dog can have :roflmao:
But last week I got a hit that was "sibling/parent" level, and this week I got another one. Their owners posted where they came from and it's the same small town my boy is from, so they are definitely related. They also posted pictures of their dogs and there is a clear resemblance.
They live in different states, and my boy is not up to meeting strange dogs/people anyway, but I was just geeking out over this as it's so cool. I was just sure his family was all gone. I may message them through the site if I ever think of something to say, it would be really cool to see if they also had the same health/behavioral problems that he does. It would also be cool to see if they adopted from that rescue or from a different one, because there was only one other dog estimated to be the same age when he came into rescue, so clearly there were more dogs that got scattered, or I suppose sold by the original owner.
I'm probably the only person who is really fascinated/excited by this, but just think it's a really cool thing to discover.
Just some history, my dog is a rescue. He was brought into an animal shelter (I think he was confiscated from a hoarder) then pulled into rescue with 16 other Cocker mixes of varying ages. All fearful, all malnourished. I brought him home at 8 weeks (ish) old and he had a host of behavioral problems. He struggles with anxiety, reactivity, occasional fear aggression, and resource guarding (that one has improved the most). But he's so smart, tries so hard, and I love him so very much.
Anyway, a few years back I did an Embark DNA test on him because I was curious of his breed mix - which ended up being really fascinating. They also do some genetic health testing, and they also track relatives when new ones are entered into the system. I get hits pretty frequently, usually just like "cousin level" at most, it's amazing how many cousins one dog can have :roflmao:
But last week I got a hit that was "sibling/parent" level, and this week I got another one. Their owners posted where they came from and it's the same small town my boy is from, so they are definitely related. They also posted pictures of their dogs and there is a clear resemblance.
They live in different states, and my boy is not up to meeting strange dogs/people anyway, but I was just geeking out over this as it's so cool. I was just sure his family was all gone. I may message them through the site if I ever think of something to say, it would be really cool to see if they also had the same health/behavioral problems that he does. It would also be cool to see if they adopted from that rescue or from a different one, because there was only one other dog estimated to be the same age when he came into rescue, so clearly there were more dogs that got scattered, or I suppose sold by the original owner.
I'm probably the only person who is really fascinated/excited by this, but just think it's a really cool thing to discover.