The suspense is over and we now know what Jake's mixed-breeds are.
Sort of.
After impatiently waiting two weeks for the results of Jake's Wisdom Panel DNA test, I can say that I'm slightly disappointed in the lack of accuracy but not surprised. I was expecting that, but hoping for more.
Science isn't perfect so all they can do is narrow it down with the info available.
It turns out Jake is a Mutt!
The results show that he is 25% Labrador Retriever, 25% American Staffordshire Terrier, 12.5% Chihuahua (really????), and 37.5% Mixed Breeds.
In looking at his lineage back to his Great-Grandparents, it's obvious that there is some serious "Mutt" in his heritage. And because of the mix of breeds, it's not possible to narrow it down further... which is the disappointing part.
Also, these tests don't test for every breed. For example, Jake's foster mom and myself think that he has a lot of traits of a Black Mouth Cur, but that breed isn't recognized or tested by Wisdom Panel. So it's very possible that is one of his mixed breeds, but instead they just throw it into Breed Groups.
Basically the 37.5% is comprised of Breed Groups that he's most likely related to. In order of highest possibility, they are: Herding Group (such as Australian Cattle Dog, Border Collie, German Shepherd Dog, Great Pyranees), Terrier Group (such as Chihuahua, Schnauzer, Wheaten Terrier, Russell Terrier, Miniature Pinscher), and the Asian Group (such as Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Shar-Pei, Chow-Chow).
Quite the grab bag of breeds!
I did find the Ancestry Tree Chart pretty interesting. It's cool to get an idea of what his parents and grandparents were like and to imagine what their life was like before Jake came along.
Jake came from Texas as a stray. He's likely the result of other stray dogs from Hurricane Harvey, breeding after surviving the storm. I'm sure there are some tenacious traits in his family line.
In any case, I'm glad I had the test done just to satisfy my curiosity, but it doesn't change how I feel about Jake.
He is special and unique and I love him. His personality and quirks can't be dictated by a breed group.
He's Jake.
