Like most households during lockdown, we welcomed another four-legged baby to our home. Seeley’s Malinois/German Shepherd markings were what drew us to him in the first place but I couldn’t help but wonder what DNA was lurking under all that fluff, not to mention attitude.
The premise of the test is simple: you order your test kit, receive it a few days later, then go online to Wisdom Panel and register your kit by using the sample ID on the back of the box. You take the DNA samples by rolling a swab on the inside of your dog’s mouth, air dry, and return. And then the agonising wait begins…
The results
Three weeks later, we received an email announcing the results were in and that we could access them by logging onto the website using the account details we’d created. Drum roll please….
Our beautiful little mongrel is made up of 14 different breeds. The top 5 were 33% German Shepherd, 27% Anatolian Shepherd, 16% Central Asian Ovcharka, 5% Shetland Sheepdog and 3% White Swiss Shepherd. Apart from the first one, we had to spend the afternoon Googling.
Luckily Wisdom Panel did most of the legwork for us sharing information about all the breeds and their traits. On the traits page, the results stated (correctly) Seeley’s black muzzle and most importantly he’d be slim.
In the health section, we discovered that all of the 206 tests conducted with genetic conditions in mind (such as drug sensitivity, immune deficiency, and bleeding disorders) came back clear.
But with Wisdom Panel’s DNA’s kit, with every result, there’s an option to read further information about the tests carried out, what the results mean, and how the results were compiled.
I’ll be honest: having done Wisdom Panel’s test, I can’t imagine buying a dog and not doing this test. The swabbing process was simple, the results came back promptly and the subsequent information was easy to digest, albeit with plenty of opportunities for a more in-depth deep dive into Seeley’s DNA results.
Update from Wisdom Panel
One thing I love about Wisdom Panel is that they update you when they have more information. In February 2022 saying they have more DNA data and have updated Seeley’s profile. And boy did they!
The update included two new breeds (Malinois and Chihuahua!) for a total of 16 breeds and a new top 5: 42% German Shepherd, 8% Chihuahua, 5% Qatari Street Dog, 5% Anatolian Shepherd and 5% Pomeranian.