Never mind that Flat Coated Retrievers are a breed unknown to you. For two centuries they have been a brilliant and loyal breed, known in Britain as “the game keepers’ dog”. Congratulations! You’ve won a lottery!!
8
My groomer told me not to waste my money on a DNA test for our "Bear." She said they are not reliable or accurate.
I did a cheek swab of my dog Penny. People take her for a terrier mix so I wanted to know for sure what her breeds are. The Wisdm panel came back schnauzer Aussie mix with pug back somewhere distant.. She is black with white paws and brown whiskers. She is thirty pounds with a soft slightly wiry curly coat. Her brown eyes are lethal and when she sits up to ask for a treat one cannot refuse.
2
I will forever look at my dogs with suspicion. ಠ_ಠ
1
A number of comments came from people who were critical of Ms. Boylan's decision to spend money on this test for a dog, with the implication that it was silly and frivolous, and the money should have gone for some charitable cause. Really, folks, you only spend your money on really important purchases or for good causes? You never go out to dinner or buy something that would just make you happy?
Judgemental much?
24
Why is this news?
3
I can't believe that any one is so idiotic that they would pay for a DNA test of their pet. I also can't believe that the NIGHT would publish this idiocy. Its more National Enquirer or Mad Magazine quality
2
Welcome to being a flat coated retriever owner. I have had mine for 10 years. A beautiful black female name Barbie. They love balls, water, and people...especially people with treats. There is a FCR group on facebook that you should join. Plus a FCR health group. Enjoy.
3
So a dog can be "happy" or "self-assured" or even "smart" based on its DNA?
1
It has been my experience that the least interesting people are the most obsessed with creating their family trees. Perhaps they know at some level that they can only hope to interest others by borrowing the glory of a distant relative? (I'm not including closed adoptees, for whom it's surely natural to want to know some things about their kin.)
It's similar to my observation that those most interested in scrapbooking have the least interesting lives to record.
54
Perhaps the converse is also true—that people who eschew genealogy are afraid of being unrelated to anyone interesting.
62
Your ancestors are a snapshot of history. Where were they from? Where did they go? What choices did they make? You will find history made personal.
52
I've written a Symphony, ran a marathon (grandma's in Duluth), toured north America in a punk band, ridden my bike across ireland, built a home with my own two hands, helped apprehend a murder and I own and operate a strawberry farm. i also really enjoy family trees. It's possible my life is uninteresting to some, but I've found it's kept my attention very well. I suspect those that scrapbook feel similarly about their own lives. So long as "interesting" is subjective, your point isn't terribly helpful. Don't forget as minnesotians we must remain nice to a fault. The fabric of the universe depends on it. Even my corrective posture here has left me feeling very uneasy and I'm originally from Iowa.... Klobushar 2020!
77
You have to love how all the people saying, “Genes are not a big deal” are never the ones who were adopted or in the dark about their genetic heritage. It IS a big deal. I found my birth parents through a private search agency and then had a DNA test as well. These tools are a gift to those of us who do care to know more about where and who we came from.
7
Lovely piece of writing -thank you. Kudos also to the illustrator who produced the picture accompanying this pace.I do wonder though if Elizabeth Warren's motive for her recent foray into personal genetics had anything to do with "connection...(or)... the wistful hope that learning about where... (she)... come(s) from will help (her) understand who (she is).
3
My maternal Grandmother was adopted and our family has been trying to find her genetic parents since 1945. I sent in DNA samples to 2 companies and the results came back pretty much the same. We have found both sides of Grandma's family and I have made friends with some of my new found cousins.
I told my wonderful Grandmother in 1964 that when I grew up I was going to find "Helen", she asked why and I told her "because she is your Mom". I did it Grandma because I promised you I would. Thank You DNA test labs.
BTW, like Elizabeth Warren we have a genetic link to Native Americans at 4%. My few drops genetically link me to these wonderful people, our family never knew this. I am proud to care the blood of these wonderful people but I have no cultural link. Elizabeth was told since birth that she has Native American ancestry so she would, of course, believe she could legitimately claim she was. Like the author, she must have been quite surprised to learn the ancestor is too far back for her to claim their ancestry, just as Jennifer was surprised to learn her dog was only half lab.
Give Elizabeth a break, she did the best she could with the family info she had been told, until genetics proved her wrong.
14
Did the DNA test after finding 2 beautiful sisters who shared their dad with me and were delighted at last to have "the big brother we always wanted", and an answer to the mysterious "dark thing" they had always heard hints of, and the reason their mother was never called by her true first name. He had used that name once before.
So what if my DNA says I'm "100% Central and Eastern European Jewish." That's cute, may even explain why I love klezmer and blini, but my sisters are alive. They are so much more peoplish, with lives, decisions, and accidentals scars. And loves. Hurray for people who share your DNA. And hurray for those who don't. It's a global goppy messy species, what an author called "The Family of Man" -- and of dogs and cats, though no cat will admit it.
10
My mother's family migrated from Northern Belarus around 1905, my father's family from Lithuania about the same time. My paternal grandmother used to say we had a lot of ancestry from the hoards of Asians who swept over the area centuries before. My mother's parents knew little of their ancestry beyond their own parents. To my mother's distress, I used to tell people we could trace our family house cats back more generations than people. My other joke was, when the Nazis swept across Eastern Europe, they burned all the court houses, and records of our ancestry were lost as all the criminal records went up in smoke.
About two years ago, I took a 23 and Me test. It confirmed my grandmother's folklore tale. I am a full 25% combination of Mongolian, Siberian, and Eastern Asian/Native American, and only about 50% Eastern European. The balance is a mixture of percentages from southeastern Europe in the Crimea area.
I have a number of second and third cousines who distinctly look Asian, so I am not surprised.
As for my mother's family, a second cousin recently died with no apparent living heirs. Their estate became the target of inheritance hunters, representing supposed Eastern European third cousins. It turned into something out of a Charles Dickens novel.
4
We don't "own" dogs. I have to agree with Boulder, CO that human companions are pet guardians, not owners.
3
Honestly this really intrigues me (maybe I should get my cat's DNA tested? :-) ), mostly because my great-grandfather abandoned his wife and four kids during the depression. The kids decided they were done with their father and never looked into what happened to him, though there were rumors he ended up in New York. He was young enough to start anew so I have to wonder if I have family out there.
5
So many people love their dogs. I've had many, but one in particular piqued my interest regarding his heritage so much that I signed up to be notified about doggo DNA tests when they were just a rumor.
Cutter looked mostly like a large, black collie but with distinctive thick, glossy fur. He had a Bodhisattva personality and was a deep thinker. Protective, joyful and extremely intelligent. I felt he knew his heritage and was amused I didn't.
The test came back as mostly Bernese Mountain Dog (hence the fur) and Rough Coat Collie. We celebrated because I finally knew. Luckily, he didn't have the BMD Cancer gene and lived to be 17. Miss you, buddy.
19
@Kate - It's a fine thing when a Gud Boy finds a Gud Person to take care of.
3
I always thought genes (and genetic ties) were over-rated; except possibly for medical reasons. I'm closer to my "family of choice" than any blood relative. And aren't your "real" parents the people who raised you? Who cares who supplied the genetic material? I feel for the hapless sperm donors who thought they could remain anonymous. Actually I find the fact that they can't, shocking.
7
The story has an important lesson about implicit bias. We construct whole narratives about others based on their appearance. When we are forced to reconstruct those narratives because our assumptions based on appearance were proven false, it only demonstrates the prejudicial nature of those assumptions. The DNA analysis reveals the composition of our genes; what is tested is the composition of our character.
49
@dansaperstein Why is everyone so convinced that these tests yield accurate or even real results? I'm dubious. Also, I don't need to know what "breed" my dog comes from. She's a rescue and part of my family. I love her for who she is, not where she comes from. Our culture in 2019 is really messed up when this is what we're spending our money and time on. There are millions of homeless people and pets in the world. People and animals starving everywhere. Let's get some perspective.
2
I thought you were going to tell us she is one 1250th Native American...now that would be a surprise!
3
So what happens when you send Cloe's swab to Ancestry.com?
5
You are extraordinarily blessed. I have two flatties, and they are the world's most fabulous dog (I am biased).
2
The fact is none of you can fully ascertain "ancestry." Even the bloody Queen of England can only trace back just so far.
All of you are descended from "people" that were dragging their knuckles along the ground. As for making any comparison between humans and mongrels - that speaks for itself. I suggest you not feed your mutt and see how much it loves you.
2
Obviously, we have too much money if we do this for dogs. Sad
4
I picked up the search into my relatives and ancestors from my mother. The DNA testing, along with mDNA and other variants opened a new world. The biggest was Native American on my mothers linage and my fathers linage. I learned my great-grandparents back in 1680's were married literally around the corner from where I live now. They would have seen where I live almost 350 years ago. Many other discoveries have been made and I know many more to learn.
As others have stated, this is not everyone's favorite pastime. Discovering and research are mine.
4
May be unpolitically correct in the moment, thought not saying it to harm, just to point out: It's an interesting focus on DNA as proof of one's biological truth, coming as it does here from someone whose soul so differs from her DNA.
2
While I understand the sentiment that it's a waste of money to test your dog's DNA, sometimes curiosity wins.
When we adopted our dog the rescue group guessed he was a German shepherd mix. But a few months later, he was only 45 pounds, and herded everything in sight. He was quite protective and very wary of new things. My spouse, a scientist, thought it would be fun to test him "for science!" so we plunked down the $69 on a DNA test.
Turns out our dog is half Canaan dog, an ancient Israeli breed used for herding and protection. With little human intervention, they are essentially re-domesticated pariah dogs and tend to be aloof and cautious. Our dog closely resembles a Canaan dog in size and shape. I had never even heard of this breed, but after learning about Canaan dogs, it gave us a lot of insight into his quirky personality. He is most assuredly NOT easily distracted, but quite intense, as herding dogs can be. (Included in the other 50% of his DNA are other herding breeds including collie and Australian shepherd. No German shepherd listed.)
I have zero interest in testing my own DNA, but my dog's DNA was pretty interesting.
13
@jaybird
That was such an unusual breed! Rescue group really just guess about most of thee dogs they channel to new homes.
He is, I suspect, fortunate to be in the home of folks who understand his unique personality.
3
For all you dog-DNA naysayers, its worth pointing out that the information you get, particularly for a mixed breed (or what you think, or were told is a mixed breed) can be very helpful in providing you with breed characteristics and genetic information that can help you stave off dog issues (skin, eye, physical problems) that are known to exist for particular breeds.
Although, like the author, I was gobsmacked when I found out my Lhasa mix (I assumed hound/terrier) was a purebred Shih Tzu, albeit a giant version--so I must admit I am still a bit skeptical. How many Shih Tzus track and point???
5
I thought the big benefit of mixed breed was hybrid vigor.
1
Flat coats are wonderful dogs. Loyal, intelligent affectionate, athletic and above all playful. Ours waited outside in whatever weather obtained to greet me each night.
6
Please don't disparage Flat-Coated Retrievers. Our dear departed Shadow, a rescued FCR, was the best pet anyone could have had.
10
This whole recreational dna testing craze is well crazy.
I am all for the truth, and this to some degree helps at least when it comes to ripping apart families who thought they were biologic brothers sisters and parents, all to be upended when this test comes along.
If you are a happy family, and take a test, what do you expect? To be confirmed and know no more than already assumed as truth, or create an uproar to find that mom had a lover or dad was playing around in the neighborhood, and what good did that do? Especially if those folks are deceased, and have no possible way to explain the situation that can now only be interpreted as them being bad folks.
Finally, in a time when we are trying to make everyone agree to be a human being, do we really need to have some genetic testing to solidify old worthless ideas of being 'Norwegian' or 'German' or whatever?
I almost gag every time the ad comes on with someone being surprised they were only 12.746534% Latvian, when they thought they were at least 1/4. What difference does it make? Celebrate your heritage, yes. But not to the point to make you a racist and xenophobe because of the DNA tests now that they are available.
6
I signed up for 23andme years ago to try to find out what happened to my paternal grandfather’s great grandfather, who vanished in 1923 after his wife died, leaving four small children to be raised by his wife’s siblings and parents and a lot of questions about whether he died or just thought his children were better off without him. . So far I have no answers, other than that he was all Finnish, not part Russian as one of his children thought. He had a fairly unusual surname, but seems to have no close siblings or cousins by the name in Finland. He could have changed it. Maybe he was an orphan. I will probably never know. Along the way, I traced various other branches of the family back to the 1600s, found ancestors ordinary, illustrious and a few I’d rather not claim, and discovered I am a distant cousin to Madonna, whom I’d also prefer not to claim. I am also 0.04 percent Congolese to go with the 99.6 percent European. I would love to know that story but no one wrote it down. And none of it makes a whole lot of difference to my life. The people who love me and raised me are my family. My grandfather’s parents were the people who loved and adopted him. Theirs were the stories that were passed down. I am named in honor of the adoptive great grandfather. I think too much is made of genetics. Oh, and my new long haired cat may or may not be part Maine Coon. I don’t plan to have him tested. I love him regardless.
6
Cute article. I chuckled half way through it, wondering if those "Heinz 57" generalizations about various dogs having so many juxtaposing features could ever be accurately traced and documented.
I knew what and where our sweet dog, Abby, originated from jump street. The co-worker of mine who was originally going to adopt her called the breeder and said that he and his wife just had a litter of their own, i.e., triplets and could not take Abby. However, he knew a couple who would provide the perfect and loving home, i.e., my husband and me. As it turned out, Abby came from a long line of grand champions and her great-great-great grandfather was on the cover of some book. None of that mattered to us - we just fell in love with her and she with us.
I think the second to last closing line, "We are here to love one another, and to be loved." says it all. There was such a huge and continuous love fest between our perfect dog and us since day one. What always scared me was how much we did love her and how painful her passing would be. In the end, even knowing what we know now, we would have made the same decision all over again.
Having one's dog's DNA test is a fun thing to do and know, but it's the size of their heart that matters the most.
17
"...we are so much more than our genes..."
There. That says it all.
8
We adopted a Flat coat Lab from a shelter in Hayward WI in 1998, MacArther. What a dog! The shelter volunteers cried when we picked him up because they loved him.
He was intelligent, kind, a playful joker, and fiercely protected our other dogs if they were being intimidated by a bully at the dog lot. He was a dog you could talk to and be understood. I wish he could have lived forever, he was with us for 13 years.
26
A little light relief after a traumatic New Year. Personally I have better things to do with my money. Feed a starving child, donate books .... My pets are all heart. That’s all that counts.
5
My search lead me to a tiny town in Southern Poland and there, the church registry, in my name, went back to 1760 to a man named Jacob. A place, a date and a name.
Jacob has no story, no tale to tell, no real history and except for me, all but forgotten.
33
@RonRich You could weave your own story about Jacob. Some say we are not dead until no one remembers your name. You could tell Jacob about his descendants. Who knows. Maybe, and I personally think so, he would be pleased.
8
Ah, but you remember, and so now do we.
11
I got my dog tested for DNA about a year ago and I think it's the best money I've ever spent. I've owned three dogs and I've always wondered about their histories. The dog I own now, I got from a shelter where he was surrendered. He looks like a Rottweiler crossed with a lab. But the results came back no Rottweiler and identifying several other dogs. It was absolutely fascinating. They did not have a picture of my dog so there is no way they could have falsified the results. He is definitely a mix of all of the breeds. Here I must also add that I would never have my own DNA tested, but I was just fascinated with this DNA testing of dogs. Last month, I noticed that my dog's mother (45% dna match) has appeared on the database and I am currently reaching out to try to arrange a get-together with my dog's biological mother. I think that's pretty incredible. (it turns out the Rottweiler colors come from the Australian Kelpie in him)
6
Dog DNA tests are famously bogus. Two tests from the same dog frequently show different lineage. Save your money, they are what they are.
6
I know the ethnicity of one grandparent; the rest of me is, as far as I know, plain old boring generic white people. Probably all peasants who were trampled by history's famous. If there was any un-acknowledged messin' around, it would be interesting, but my "connections" are to the family I've grown up with, and the friends and "family" I've made in life.
I am easily distracted, though - maybe I'm part flat-coated retriever. Some, over the years, have suggested as much....
15
Thank you, Jennifer.....we are all born already connected to everyone, everything everywhere, and those who know “we are here to love one another” know we are loved...
4
No surprise in your dog’s DNA test could possibly compete with the surprise that one can actually give a dog a DNA test.
6
Exquisite closer.
1
Your dog is your dog....no matter what their DNA is.
4
A growing canine DNA industry allows landlords/multifamily dwellings to identify tenant poop scoop violators. Residents are required to submit a stool sample at lease signing or whenever program is started. The results are kept by the property authority. When unscooped poop is found a sample is sent to the lab (no pun). The offending dog owner can be warned, fined and even evicted.
The fee for this service is much less than dog ancestry testing for various reasons not worth going into here. Needless to say poop scooper violators corroborate the claim that there are no bad dogs just bad owners!
On the human DNA side:
It seems that almost every week a story about DNA testing linking humans to unknown sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, etc. is reported.
These stories prove that it is really a small world. As with all new scientific discoveries/technologies there are positive and negative consequences. DNA explorations are no different and the public must be educated about the negative consequences.
I think the known negative impacts should be listed on the form that people sign when they send in human DNA samples such as:
- you may find out your parents are not your bio parents
- you may find out your spouse is your blood relative
- etc.
On a musical note, this unraveling of the DNA reminds me of a song played by Del and Dawg called “I’m My Own Grandpa”. The lyrics need a little tweaking to reflect this 21st century phenomenon.
7
My experience was a bit different because I did it having no idea what breed my dog was. We knew she was a mutt of some sort. We learned she had german shepherd, Australian cattle dog and golden retriever in her. 25% was mixed breed, or as I prefer to call it, mystery mutt.
8
Lovely essay on being the self you are! Genes are interesting, but family process,life experience, and a positive sense of self are huge.
9
23 and Me told me I am 2.4% Neanderthal. I always knew there was something odd about great-uncle Charlie; now I know what it was.
15
"I don't know who my ancestors were," said a
Mongrel, "but we've been descending for a
long time." (The People Yes - Carl Sandburg)
7
Is this for real? Don't people have better ways to spend their money than get their dog's DNA tested?
7
We all yearn to be in that goldie locks zone; not too hot, not too cold, not smothered, not abandoned, not too stiff, not too soft, not too ________, not too ______________
just loved!!!!!!!!!!!
1
I am a direct descendant of Mitochondrial Eve. Learned that with no help from 23 & Me.
I have two cats. We also share a common ancestor – albeit a little more remote.
8
It occurs to me that knowing what breed your dog is probably not going to change her life or yours.
The donation you could have made to a dog shelter instead would have changed at least a few needy animals' lives for the better. It's a calculation I make all the time when considering buying something I can afford but that I don't really need. I nearly always donate the money to animal rescue instead. That doesn't make me a saint, by any means, and I am not preaching here. Just suggesting that it's worth considering.
16
@ediefr. What a wonderful response!
2
@ediefr
Love that you donate to a shelter, but testing one of my dogs led to the vet changing one of his prescriptions--it wasn't safe for my dog's main breed.
6
Last year,I was contacted by an heir search service, looking to find heirs for my cousin. My cousin died leaving a large estate and no will. I was told the service could find no living relatives other than my sister and I, using a conventional document search. To my sorrow, not only had I lost the opportunity to know this long lost relative, but my sister and I had no claim on his estate. In Michigan and 18 other states, one must at least have grandparents in common (my grandfather was the deceased's great-grandfather). So the estate went to the State of Michigan.
I have been wondering though, what if he had taken a commercial DNA test and was discovered to have fathered a child through a match made by one of these companies? What are the legal implications of such a discovery?
6
My recent DNA test confirmed the truth of a deeply held family secret that had been exposed only a couple of years ago. I have first cousins, through legal adoption, who are also full siblings.
Of the eight people directly involved, six are still living and have dealt well with our new understanding of family history and our relationships with each other. (Raised an only child, I am over the moon to have sibs, while my brother jokingly bemoans the fact that he now has TWO older sisters!)
But there was no guarantee of that result, and my heart breaks for those who feel their lives have turned upside down. One’s lifelong identity can change in an instant.
DNA testing is anathema to family secrets, with both welcome and unwelcome results. It is also anathema to racial purists.
So when we turn out to be “dogs of a different breed,” or newfound and surprising kin, we do indeed need to remember that we are here to love and be loved.
17
I am surprised by the letters here that put down the delving of the past, ancestry, etc. How would we have know about climate change for example, if we didn't have data from the past? We are not islands unto ourselves. More understanding is better. New connections in our makeup will bring a better knowledge of who we are, as genes dictate many aspects of our behavior and tendencies.
10
Chloe is teaching us all a valuable lesson. We are who we think we are, not necessarily what our genes tell us.
We are the stories we learned about our ancestors, the times our parents had to make tough choices based on their backgrounds and circumstances and, yes, even the fears our families have expressed about our mother not being good enough for our father because of her "less-than" relations (or vice versa) forcing them to run away to get married.
We carry those stories with us just as closely and intimately as we carry our genes, creating a complex picture of who we are in the world.
This is a lesson Elizabeth Warren learned the hard way with her DNA test, one we should also learn from her.
5
My paternal grandfather is not a blood relative - he married my grandmother when Dad was small, and Dad took his surname in his teens. But he is my grandfather, and I honour my unusual Scottish surname and the heritage that comes with it. Aside from medical history, I place little value on the connection of blood.
12
My baby boy dog told me testing isn't necessary because he knows who loves him, and that's all that matters.
27
My taxi driver on Mainland, the largest of the Orkney Islands, told me his DNA test indicated he was 51% Viking. He said his family had lived in the area for 1,000 years, and had documentation to prove it. Totally made my day!
15
"Easily distracted" describes 99.9% of dogs...
4
Obviously you haven’t met a Rottweiler. Very focused. Scarily so.
6
@Alan
Aussies are fanatically focused.
On a more serious note, from past New York Times issues, it is somewhat interesting and bemusing to learn that:
1) "nearly 20 percent of the nonhuman genomes held in computer data bases are contaminated with human DNA, presumably from the researchers who prepared the samples, say scientists who chanced upon the finding while looking for a human virus." (Feb., 16, 2011) And,
2) "In 2011, researchers performing a large clinical trial reported that two men who were found to have prostate cancer-- and had their prostates removed-- did not have the disease at all. Instead, their biopsy samples had been mishandled. (A third mix-up was caught before any action was taken.)
The researchers then performed a rigorous DNA analysis of more than 10,000 biopsies taken during the period. Twenty-seven were mislabeled. Among 6,733 blood samples, 31, or 0.5 percent, had been switched." (June 26, 2017)
[02/06/2019 W 11:04am Greenville NC]
1
In the 1960's, Lucy asked Charlie Brown why people are on the earth.
"People are here to make other people happy," he said.
"I guess I make people happy." Lucy said. And then added, "but I'm not happy. Somebody's not doing their job!"
16
I sent in a swab from my dogs mouth. Turns out he's half tuna.
19
@JimmyMac
. . . .and it probably explains who ate what remained in the cat's food bowl.
5
A family dog is at their best if they grow up with your son or daughter. The dog learns a whole different set of ideas and directions. Consequently, the dog matures with the child. I watched this with my daughter and her dog, a mixed breed consisting of German shepherd and dad was a travelling man.
His name was "Dorg" because no consensus ever existed on naming him. During the sad divorce from my first wife, he was the best friend I had.
After 50 years, I remember this wonderful animal with the greatest of affection and I don't care a wit about his DNA.
18
My great grandmother suffered, because my great uncle, her son, had babies with several baby mamas. My great grandmother wanted to know all of those babies. One of the mothers took her baby and left town, never to be heard from again by our family. I heard that this caused my great grandmother a lot of pain. After taking the 23- and me test, I found that I had a second cousin, one I didn't know about, that was the daughter of that baby who left town with his mama. Although we connected only briefly over the 23andme site, it was interesting to expand what I knew of our family.
5
Half flat coated retriever? Lucky you-they have been described as 'A kid in a dog suit', wonderful, fun companions. Enjoy.
10
I have had a similar experience to your friend Ms. Shapiro. My father was an orphan who was told that his Irish immigrant parents had both died when he was a baby. He grew up very proud of his Irish heritage. I grew up proud to be half Irish. Last spring I did Ancestry and 23 and Me tests. I turns out I have more Neanderthal background than Irish! Mind blown! My father's part of my DNA was Eastern European from around the Baltics. We finally determined this last week that my grandfather, at least, had not died when Dad was a baby. He was a pretty famous Hollywood actor, non-Irish, who died in 1968 - not 1932. Mind blown again! My sister and I are in touch now with relatives we didn't know we had! Astonishing!
16
Genetic links are interesting and can bring up new connections, but family is based on time and emotions and actions. You can find out about the medical history of a genetic parent, but the person who tucks you in at night is your mom or dad. I know lots of people with families defined by caring and not DNA.
Yes, this applies to our dogs and cats too. They don't even share a species, but they are family.
6
We got a DNA test for our small dog and the results we got back were literally not believable. There was no doubt that they were incorrect. On the other hand, the results my brother got back from his DNA test were spot-on in describing his ancestry. I think that a distinction needs to be made between commercial human DNA testing, which appears to be fairly accurate perhaps because of all of the research focus that has gone into human DNA testing, and dog DNA testing, which appears to be less accurate.
1
Also, "There is no one who can tell us who we are except ourselves." Yet you (aptly) say we are here to love and be loved. Thus, it seems, you recognize that the sentence quoted is not entirely true (though knowing a little of your personal history, one might understand why you would cling to such an assertion).
Like Martin Buber, I tend to think/feel/know/sense that we cannot exist but in relation to and with other(s). As such, at least as humans, we come to know ourselves, indeed to Be ourselves, in relation.
There is, I think, some problem, not just specifically, but also generally, in the hyper-individualism that says. "I alone define who I am," and even more with the follow-up assertion (implied or overt) that you and others must follow my own self/definition only, and even if it means entirely denying or suppressing your own experience of me.
Ms. Boylan, don't you think and deeply sense or know that it's a mix (no pure-bred reality here)? I want to think that you do.
Signed,
Love
3
Wonderful piece to read over morning coffee. I’ll be smiling for much of the day. While appreciating the message I do have to wonder why Jennifer felt the need to test her dog’s DNA. Another example of the waste of money by folks with too much disposable income. Perhaps the world would be a better place if each of us, when contemplating a foolish purchase, asked “Should I buy this item or donate the cash to charity”.
Now what was I saying?
7
@Gailmd
DNA tests for dogs are useful in order to determine the propensity for various diseases such as cancer, or hip dysplasia that in some cases can be ameliorated by diet or avoiding onset such as jumping.
And, as the story suggests, it is fun!
14
I agree and like how you couched it. (Our dog loved the couch, too!)
As for the other reply, the author makes no mention of the reason for doing the doggy's DNA other than for "ancestry" and, even so, unless you're a PETA extremist, one could validly argue that if the DNA were for health reasons, the money still might have been better spent donating it so that the family of an ill and impoverished child or other needy human being could receive critically-needed DNA testing and the possibly life-saving or life-easing information it offered.
How about it, Jennifer -- donate the proceeds from this NYT published piece to DNA testing or related services (such as the bone marrow transplant registries) so that sister and brother humans, regardless of their breed, might access what they desperately need?
I think it would make your pooch proud.
2
My sister and I pitched in for a $100 fee to Ancestory.com
to find out my father's ancestors came from Europe. Knowing they were Slovak and possibly German, we already knew they came from Europe not Mars!
What a rip off!
3
These types of article are always so positive, such happy stories. Personally, I've heard some very, very unhappy stories of people who went looking. But people who find out bad things tend to keep them quiet. As would you if you found out that you were related to a mass murderer. Or slave trader. Or rapist. Or find a long lost family who now hounds you for money. One last thing to keep in mind: when you take the test, you are taking it for everyone in your family. How do they feel about it?
8
I’ll have “Things rich white people do with their money,” for $100, Alex.
13
$149.95 if you get the dee-luxe edition.
2
Jenny Boylan writes some of the same things that come into my mind. Her descriptions of her dog, her family and life ring true for me, as if we were part of the same family. We are. The human family. All connected by the need to give and receive love
7
Paying money to have your dog’s ancestry tested is a sign of the apocalypse.
14
My dog, Frank, told me no testing is necessary. His relatives include the mighty Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Wishbone, and a distant cousin named Ollie, who made a fool of himself at the 2017 Cruft’s competition. He also believes he has a connection to an Egyptian cat who ruled thousands of years ago, but I find that a little hard to believe.
301
@Alexi is his name Shirley Mclaine?
16
@Alex
Ha - I wasn't the only one who found the dog-ancestry part the most interesting.
Never heard of a flat-coated retriever? What kind of dog person is that?
14
@Alex Ollie is my hero and spirit animal. We should all wish to be related to that happy spirit.
11
"Culture is not in the genes." That's one of the foundational principles of anthropology. However, genes do determine what you can taste and smell, see and hear, and feel. You construct your world from the data your senses present to you. That's why some places, foods, people, seem more familar and dear than others.
But you also learn preferences, positive and negative. That's why even your family can seem alien and other. Culture shapes what the genes provide.
Who am I, really? I am what I think and feel I am. I'm an immigrant. I'm lucky in that this person, this mask that is me, fits so well into the culture that surrounds me. I was not so fortunate when I arrived here, and in many ways I still feel alien, from another place.
Other people's experience teaches me that this tension between the familiar and the alien, the fit and the misfit, the Self anf the Other shapes a human life. "Celebrate our differences!" goes the mantra. Well, that's all there is, really.
2
I married a man who was adopted and an only child. Growing up he had no interest in finding out who his biological parents were. We divorced after 18+ years. Our 20-something daughter became curious about where her body type came from (since it wasn't from my side of the family). His adoptive parents were both deceased so he told her to go ahead and look. She found that not only was his mother alive, she had married his father and had three more children (two of whom were still living). Now he had a new mother and siblings. It continues to me to be very odd that my daughter and son have a biologically-related grandmother, an aunt and uncle that I don't know and am not part of their relationships with.
7
While DNA tests have major use in forensics, disease identification and so much more, doing them for verification of one's self or background is always like opening Pandora's box, Be careful if you can't handle the truth,
6
A friend told me a story the other day about how her brother found, through DNA testing, that their father wasn't their biological father. That they were half-siblings, the product of a sperm donor. That they had at least 4 and maybe more half-siblings, whom they have sought out. I have another friend who was found by the son whom she gave up for adoption 50 years ago and they have reunited quite happily.
This year I've had the extreme joy of holding my son's baby daughter in my arms. The love is irrational and overwhelming. The term I've used to describe it is ontological delight. I've come to believe that there is something deeper in people's search for DNA connections than they realize. There's something pre-rational, something quite mysterious and profound in the genetic connection.
4
Thank you for reminding me of my black Flat Coated Retriever, Charcoal..also known as Coal..rescued from being tied to a building. Very sweet if clueless. Easily spooked. She joined my other rescue, seemingly a Golden, with a touch of Collie...Porterhouse, rescued as a puppy from a steakhouse parking lot. They were Mutt and Jeff in appearance and temperament. Wish I could have tested them to know Exactly who they were. But I loved them as they were...and still miss them terribly. Best time of my life!
12
@Lori Wilson
I’m so glad you have a vet you trust for your dogs. I’m wondering, though, how you know she or he is good at identifying parental breeds in mixed breed dogs. Have eyewitnesses to breeding or births or DNA tests confirmed the conclusions? I’m a dog trainer who keeps up w/issues like this. My understanding of the current state of things is that ancestry identification from physical characteristics results in accurate ID of a single parent’s breed only about 50% of the time. As to DNA tests, if a result identifies a breed having 50% or more of presence in a dog, the result is likely accurate as to that breed, but as percentages of other breeds represented decline, so does accuracy. DNA results are only as good as the size of the data base to which they are compared, and every company has a different data base. There need to be thousands of more dogs sampled for results to become more accurate. I endorse principle in my field: See, train, love the dog right there in front of you. As I can tell you do with your dogs.
1
We are all related, not only to each other, but to every living thing.
We are all the end product of the first life on earth...which developed over eons into plants and animals, and even those bizarre creatures at the bottom of the ocean that thrive on sulfur.
All human beings arose out one common ancestor in Africa, sometimes referred to as "Eve".
And YET it is our human nature to seek close biological ties to each other. To have special relationships with those we feel are kin.
This aspect of human nature brings us closer to some and allows us to push away, even feel hatred, for those we perceive as outsiders.
23&Me constantly informs me that I have many 'cousins' genetically related to me.
It is nice the Ms. Finney Boylan has connected to her 4th cousin. And she is right to point out that 'connectedness' is an artifact of belief.
Would that we could all understand and believe that all life is connected.
3
Let's put some different light on this.
I first got pregnant in 1969. I was 19. I would not have gotten pregnant at all, ever, had I know that spina bifida is an inheritable disease. My mother was born with myelomeningocele and lived a painful life but she told me that it was caused by a benign tumor that had been growing in her mother's womb and had attached itself to my mother's back.
My daughter was born with spina bifida occulta but I didn't find that out until she was in high school. By then I had had 2 other children so 3 in total.
Had I known I carried a genetic marker for genetic disease I would not have chanced it. Personally, I learned that I would die someday very early on. At 8 I was diagnosed with cancer and my folks bought me a grave site. They took me out of the hospital the Sunday before I was operated on to go see where I would be buried and the casket that I would be packed into.
Well, I didn't have cancer but it was a lesson non-the-less. I will die some day for some reason.
I don't care where my forebears came from. I care more about what I do and if I am managing to be a good person most of the time.
11
A male friend donated sperm years ago and his “daughter” found him, and now they get together often. He never married and is thrilled to know her. He refers to her as his daughter and calls his mother her grandmother. She is 24 years old and he had nothing to do with her upbringing, and he didn’t even know she existed until recently. She may be his biological offspring, but is she really his daughter?
6
If they both think of each other as father and daughter now, of course she is. No one else's opinion matters.
13
I'm related to Cleopatra.
100
Hi, cuz...
15
Mark Antony was my great great great great great grandfather, according to 23 & me. (I’m blonde, blue eyed, and ruddy complexioned, but genes don’t lie right? go figure,) Let’s get together and talk old times, look through some history books, or visit our ancestors statues in museums.
14
And I’m one of the missing Romanovs.
35
The reasoning on inheritance is substantially wrong. Your forefather from Ireland, 175 years ago, spans around 8 generations. His genes then contribute 0.00390 to yours, let us round to 0.005 to allow for in-family marriage. Then still 99.5% of your genes come from others. Given the extensive travelling of the last several centuries, these other genes are from all over the world.
Extending the past to 25 generations will bring in tens of millions of gene contributors, including Caesars' (and Cleopatra's if you would also reckon with women as forefathers).
Go anywhere, and feel your genes!
4
While it may be fun to imagine what breeds make up your dog's ancestry, it is more likely you spent your money on a carney act. Dog DNA testing has no controls in the samples, thus is it as useless as your doctor gazing at your urine sample and diagnosing heart disease.
You've never heard of a Flat-Coated Retriever because there are not a lot of them in the US. Thus the chances that one is roaming amok siring puppies in someone's neighborhood is pretty slim. Not impossible, just pretty slim.
In the end, if your dog isn't purebred, it doesn't really matter who his grandparents were. Sorry you wasted your money.
Chloe has the right idea. Good girl!
3
My dad used to say, "Grandma Gussie was part Indian." I did not believe him but I did find unexpected Jewish heritage. When I was at the beach on Cape Cod a big tour bus pulled up and a group of people got out to see the sights. One of the dogs would not come when called and I yell, "Cubby "X", you come here now!" The whole tour group turned and someone asked, "What is that dog's name?" I found out they were from Kentucky and all family members with the same last name as Cubby and me. And they are Jewish. We had a nice chat about our heritage. Their ancestor came from Russia more recently than my German ancestor who came here in the 1860's. Interesting.
9
Half flat-coated retriever mixed with black lab? It would be hard to do better than this. FCRs are basically Goldens with black coats: similarly sweet dispositions, talents, begaviors and appearance.
Enjoy your great, and surprising but inspiring, mutt!
7
I was "adopted" when I was 17 months old and I have no recollection of my birth parents. Since the adoption was not legalized, much easier to do in the mid 1960's, I have been able to access my birth certificate. Years of trying to find something hit dead end after dead end. Flash forward to the dawn of the internet and still those wall refused to crumble. Then the Atomic bomb - a DNA test given as a Christmas gift by my wonderful boyfriend. That has opened up new, exciting and "terrifying" new frontier!
Ancestry.com gave me a few 3rd and 4th cousins and nothing more. One 3rd cousin reached out to me and that rabbit hole lead to finding my half siblings. Of course my birth father had passed but the shock was, he didn't know I existed!
A DNA kit changed my world view and expanded my family tree. By the way, I'm 74% English and 20% Irish. The kicker? 1% Indian (not American). I'm hoping to one day find that errant DNA contributor. What a story that would be!!
64
Rest assured, Jennifer, that the Flat-Coated Retriever is the finest breed of all. If I didn’t have rescue dogs, I’d have nothing but Flatties the rest of my life. They are the Peter Pans and the eternal adolescents of the dog world!
5
@Cynthia Lahti
:) I can say exactly the same thing about Labrador Retrievers. Or part of it, at least. They aren't Peter Pans (who would drive me crazy) but they are my absolute favorites and as they age, chill nicely.
2
January 26, Swedish science journalist Karin Bojs publishes in DN an article about the subject presented by Boylan, but with 2 key differences. Bojs’ column opens with (my translation):
“Humans cannot be divided into races. This has been clearly shown by DNA research. We are all far too mixed up as a result of all the migrations superimposed on one another. The differences between humans with different geographic origins are usually superficial involving how much pigment we have in skin, hair and eyes, and how we can break down various foods.
When it comes to dogs, however, one can really talk about breeds/American concepts of “race”. This is because people have deliberately bred dogs to (produce desired results) focused on appearance or behavior.”
Key differences between KB's in DN and JFB's in NYT and thus on reporting on public interest in individual’s genomes:
1) Bojs has published 2 books focused on genome variations in the Swedish population that are the result of overlapping in migrations from different places. I am joining one of her projects, the Y DNA project.
2) Bojs Draws on a recent study of the genomes of 17,000 dogs available @ https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2019/01/01/509315.full.pdf
In NYT the focus is on personal anecdote about what 23andme told someone; in DN the focus is on the fallacy of American classification of humans by “race” – see David Brooks’ classification of Kamala Harris.
More soon at
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
4
With a big enough piece of paper, we could draw a “family tree” showing our relationship to every living on the planet. There’s not an ant or an elephant or a tree that isn’t our own cousin, a gazillion times removed. There’s a few more steps between you and Chloe, Jennifer, than between you and your human cousins in various parts of the world, but you are cousins nonetheless.
Treat every living thing accordingly.
5
"It's funny how families are made."-- Morgan Freeman "Unleashed".
My family is made of people who are related and not related. I have several nieces and nephews who are not related to me. I even have a son who is not related to me and one who is. Don't tell THEM they aren't related! Everyone knows what the genetic ties are and aren't, and nobody cares. We're a family, with bonds of love (and conflict).
The woman who found out her father wasn't the sperm donor should know it doesn't make him any less her father.
The only issue I see, is if Chloe was sold to the owner as a pure-bred Black Lab, and she paid pure-bred prices, either she or the breeder got fleeced. Otherwise? A dog is a dog to a dog.
It's funny how families are made.
8
It is this sense of connection that is fundamental to the great wrong that Black America suffers. That your family name has little meaning, that your history is a dead end at the middle of the 19th Century. Anybody who has seen Louis Gates, Jr's excellent series "Finding Your Roots" will undoubtably experience the sense of discovery and affirmation that his black guests experience. Though financial "reparations" are not practical, I feel that every black American has a right to know their "roots".
11
My cats refuse to be swabbed.
WHAT ARE THEY HIDING???
379
Their claws, hopefully. Cat refusals can be kind of painful.
15
@rrr
Take a look at their tax returns.....
23
@rrr That they are 1/100th dog?
2
Great article!! I didn't even know they had such tests for dogs! Very touching and amazing stories of ancestry - I'm sure there are some very unbelievable stories out there....however, none, I believe, which approach the one of Aaron Long!
6
My experience with Wisdom Panel casts doubt on their abilities to accurately identify a dog's makeup. While the first test we did was questionable, as in - part 'Rat Terrier' , the 2nd was absolutely beyond belief. My second dog, Rex, looks like a Rotty and has the teeth strength of a Rotty (based on his destruction of non-Rotty proof toys). Yet there was nothing of Rotty or any other dog with tooth biting strength beyond normal. Nor were any of the proferred dogs of his ancestry looked like, or had his dimensions (all too small). I am NOT saying that all results are wrong, just to be sure to add a grain of salt in the results. My two dogs don't support the meaningfulness of the tests.
4
@Bruce Maier
We have a Shiba Inu who can totally destroy in less than 24 hours any Kong toy that has a squeaker in it.
3
If people spent as much time and money getting to know their neighbors and working to build relationships within their local communities they would probably achieve the same feelings of connectedness - and would improve our broader civil society instead of just their own "tribes"
19
@faithDNA search is like detective work. It's really about learning secrets. Sometimes really hurtful ones, sometimes joyful. Tribes are meaningful and help us cope.
Secrets are the basis of so many hurtful and even evil dynamics in both families and in society. We need more connections both in families and society and we need to learn how secrets can harm.
8
In a variation, the parents try to forget what the children want to remember.
DNA is some pretty wild stuff. For me it was enormously freeing.
But it is a Pandora’s box for your beliefs.
3
I took the DNA test (23andme) to find out what they could tell me about potential inherited medical conditions. They told me I had a 'slight tendency' towards 'late life macular degeneration'. That's good to know and my optometrist made sure to include the test for it in my last exam. But I really didn't need the test to tell me I'm 67% Irish. My mother (born in Ireland) wouldn't let me forget it as she used it to explain my rebellious nature.
7
The DNA tests do not change who we are, but for many people the tests change how we view ourselves.
Like all knowledge, this can prove helpful or harmful, as it can provide information related to our health, but also create unfair expectations of ourselves and change how we view others. Sometimes, not knowing and just imagining our past is the most healthy route.
3
Who we are is definitely more than DNA -- it is family, language and culture, just to name a few of the components. I've been amazed when people who have always known their family to be Scottish discovered on a DNA test that they are, say, more German and feel they need to trade in their kilts for lederhosen. But why? My own family is Hungarian and when we once discussed a DNA test, some of the elders got a little nervous (secrets?) but as one pointed out -- the results will likely show the family is ethnically German more than anything, but there's no reason to throw out the paprika. My family may have a lot of German DNA but the language, family stories, national experience, a tendency to garden a lot, a fondness for complaining, and an obsession with any dish containing paprika-seasoned sausage and sour cream trump any DNA test. This family is Hungarian.
11
I toy with doing a DNA test, but never quite do it. Partly because all of my great-grandparents emigrated from Europe, which means I'm pretty clear about where they came from. There are no mystery or missing ancestors, though no one knows what became of one grandfather's brother. So, maybe I think it will just confirm what I already know.
Also, though, I can't decide what to do with the opportunity to find "relatives" I didn't know I had. My first response is to wonder why I would want more of those. The extended family I have is amiable, but has never been close, i.e., very little connection. I cannot imagine I'd feel more connection to total strangers simply because we share DNA. Still, as a person with an avid interest in history, I'm tempted...
10
@Anne-Marie Hislop Don’t be so sure that it will just confirm what you already know.
My grandparents emigrated from Europe, and I knew them all. I expected confirmation of what I already knew. What I got was 75% confirmation and 25% surprise. Ironically, the surprise turned out to be the grandparent I was closest to.
I’m now in touch with several new cousins. I’m not close to any of them, but the connection is more than DNA. It’s shared family history.
10
When we rescued Jasper seven years ago, we used Wisdom Panel to find out what he was so we could better know what behaviors his breeds might dictate. When Wisdom Panel indicated the top three were Maltese, Pug and Australian Cattle Dog (go figure!), it perfectly explained his soft white coat, big brown eyes, curled pug tail, ability to run fast, but still want to be a lap dog, and remain 16 pounds. The test told us much. The accidental hybrid we’ve come to cherish.
13
Jenny, I think Chloe has the right idea. Don't think too hard about it.
20
Love hearing about Chloe. Happy too for the sperm donor finding true love with the mother of one of the children that results. Still, more good can come from DNA testing than bad. Thinking about the Netflix series where a daughter learns from her father--on his deathbed--that he's fathered 100-plus children! Complications ensue including the possibility that she's slept with a half-brother. Yikes!
11
I am an old hippie woman. My parents are dead. My only sibling is dead. My husband is dead. My kids are grown with kids of their own. It no longer really matters to me where I came from, or where, particularly, I am going.
What matters to me is that I am here, loving as I am able, content, and at peace.
That's enough.
265
@Kate But do yo have a dog?
5
@Kate I want to be you!
2
Jennifer Boylan: I love your writing, your way of looking at the world. Thank you!
45
“We are here to love one another,
and to be loved”. Amen
Thank you for your wisdom.
Let’s act like we believe it.
69
@Karen Yes! Another of the profound lessons our dogs try to teach us every day. If only we would learn...
3
Dna testing is a two pronged sword.
Would the author be as happy if she had found out that her dog had a genetic defect that would make the dogs life very short?
If ever love is freely given it is from dog to man. No questions necessary.
9
We think our dog is part border collie, part flat coated retriever (no DNA test). I love him dearly but he always gives me a look like he is ready to be disappointed by me. Sorta like,"Really?", with arched eyebrows.
11
@Ken
interpretation.
Try imagining he is trying to tell you that he doesn't understand why your rock his world and how he is so lucky
4
Wisdom Panel is not a “new” service. I had both of my dogs’ DNA tested six years ago. It’s been around for quite a while.
6
Jennifer, Another wonderful column! Your writing, wit and insights are always a delight. I always look forward to reading what you have to say. Thank you, thank you!
25
I’m presuming that if this DNA testing exists for dogs it also exists for felines, so I asked my cats if they would mind me swabbing out their mouths with a “special brush,” in order to more accurately establish their genetic profiles. Their reply was unrepeatable in a family newspaper.
221
@Susan
My cats would shred my hands and anything else they could reach if I tried that!
My vet is pretty good at guessing breed combos for dogs - I currently have a McNab/terrier cross and a lab/Viszla cross. I see no reason to shell out money for anything more in the breed department.
8
@Susan Like trying to get he cat to swallow a pill.
4
I don't know how there could be so many comments without a single reference to Elizabeth Warren, who taught us all not to be DNA tested unless you have a good reason. And proving whether you are part Native American is definitely not a good reason.
7
@michjas I know people have been upset by Warren's DNA test. I am unclear exactly why. She never said she belonged to a tribe. In fact, her family's lore has it that there was one ancestor in the past who was Native American and that information had been passed down. I think she did the DNA test not to prove she is Native American, because clearly she only has a tiny bit of that ancestry. Rather, she got tired of being called Pocahontas by Donald T. and having her mother be called a liar! No one seems to mention that behavior. Trumps name-calling, and turning a family's history into a slur, is typical of him. Senator Warren has apologized to any Native Americans who were upset. When will Donald apologize to everyone else, particularly Senator Warren, who was not lying, and never sought to gain anything from her tiny bit of Native American DNA except to get him off of her back and stop calling her names.
312
I used to have a mutt, a beautiful one, and people were stopping us on the street asking what breed it was.
My usual answer was "he's a strassehund", which made a lot of impression.
101
@Abu Skepty I had that happen to me with my beautiful mutt. I took to telling people she was a Finnish Shepard, bred for herding reindeer. Only downside to the breed? Easily distracted around Christmas. A few months after adopting this line, I learned there is a breed called a Laphund used in Finland for herding reindeer. And my dog looked just like one! Sadly, she is gone and there's no Laphund rescue organization here.
12
@Abu Skepty
I too had many inquiries about my dog Bradley.
When I lived in Brooklyn, he was a "Brooklyn Brindle"; the only one of his kind in all the world, and fated to remain so, since he was castrated at the shelter where I found him.
A tragedy: the world will never experience another of his kind.
7
@Abu Skepty I love it! Every day people ask me what my mutt is, and my internal reply is Long Island spotted stilthound, but I usually just say I don't know, because people would believe that ridiculousness.
2
I don't understand a lot of this.
A friend who is adopted, before DNA tests came along, got curious and requested some records and found out a bit. Where she'd been born, leads on how to find her birth mother. She didn't follow up, not sure why--guessing it had something to do with being wary of alienating her adoptive mother, a fabulous woman. Or perhaps trepidation within herself--who knows what cans of worms might lurk. On one level, it would have made good sense. Not knowing anything about her family background, she gets mammograms and colonoscopies and the like at maximum level, in part because she has no idea whether cancer runs in the family.
Where it falls apart for me is dogs. To paraphrase Richard Pryor, if you're doing DNA tests on your mutt, that's God's way of telling you that you have too much money. Take whatever it is that you're tempted to spend figuring whether your pooch is a terrier or spaniel or whatever and donate that money to the local animal shelter.
217
I agreed with your point completely until the day I was looking at my beautiful new puppy and thought I caught a glimmer of a pit bull in her profile. My hesitation regarding pit bulls prompted me to look into DNA testing which confirmed my suspicions revealing she is 25% American Staffordshire Terrier.
Again, the genetic information the company provides is very educational and entertaining. I’ve spent way more on far less educational, far less entertaining endeavors in my life! I’m sure you’ve spent money on something frivolous in your life that you really enjoyed.
Maybelle (with her pit bull roots) is the sweetest, loveliest dog I’ve ever had.
94
@August West - actually, certain breeds tend to have certain medical conditions. I think it’s helpful for that reason alone. And, it’s not so expensive! It’s exciting to get the test results. Just a fun thing to do and it’s nice to be able to answer with certainty when people say, “What kind of dog IS that.”
47
How accurate are the tests?
I'll bet that varies greatly, both by company and individual test!
Hence, more than 1 test from more than one company is needed — and confusion will reign!
4
Setting aside physical appearances and dispositions to medical conditions, genetic connections mean only what any given person reads into them. It could be deeply emotionally meaningful, or it could be a nominal connection. Some see biological ancestors as having helped give us the lives we have today, others see familial ancestors as just strangers. There is no single right answer. Just be kind to and accepting of those we come to know for one reason or another. We are all ultimately in this together.
36
My friends Maltipoo, Jax, (minipoodle and Maltese mix) turned out to actually be a Schnoodle (minipoodle and Schnauzer), but we still love him, and now have a good excuse to use the word, "Schnoodle." The genetics you get can be a grab bag, but if when you bring joy to those around you, you'll always find a family that welcomes you with open arms, just we like did with Jax (who is still a very good boy despite his unexpected ancestry)!
48
That flat-coated retriever is a very fine breed. I would pick a flat coat over the common lab any day.
26
@Dissatisfied
There are no common breeds.
While people may find one breed more to their liking than another, every dog is a miracle.
For me, Labs are it. And I say this after having had a Flat Coat who lived to an old age.
6
I’ve had flat coats for over 30 years. One is keeping my feet warm this very moment. They are lovely friends, always up for a snuggle and a giggle. You are fortunate to know something of them through Chloe.
40
Oh, but the beautiful Flat Coats are cursed with cancer and often shortened lives. Poor baby- may the Lab genes dominate when it comes to health issues.
17
If you’re constantly searching for what makes us different, then you’re probably also wondering why you’re so lonely. I don’t care what my DNA says, I know who I am. I thought we moved beyond all this one drop garbage decades ago.
I’m team Chloe, share the love, even if it turns out you’re condemned to a life of flat hair.
83
I can't understand this. Never got into this, the family tree, the DNA thing. Even if my father wasn't my biological father or my whole family, I'm still me. It doesn't matter who's blood is in me as long it is me. I tend to think I carry the blood of the planet, of the whole human race. I was brought up with a deep sense of self. Color of the skin don't matter, language don't matter, location don't matter. The past don't matter, is you moving forward that truly matters. I don't need a tree to know where I belong. I belong to everyone as everyone belong to me. In another words. We are humans and we are all related. Next time you see someone hunger. Feed your distant cousin, if he shivers from the cold because he don't have a coat give him one. An early holiday present. That is the way I view the world. Yes, we have cousins that really do really bad things but they are still distant relations. I might not agree with what they have done but I tend to have a bit of compassion toward them and definite compassion for myself for having such a jerk as a relative. the humanity Tree is huge!! Every one wants separatism, the true as I see it, there is not such thing but the wall we built to keep everyone out. We are always building walls. China built walls, Germany built walls, USA want to build walls and so on. Lets bring down the walls. It slows our progress to truly consciously manifest the human family Tree.
138
For various reasons, I've never known much family, including having been the only child of my mother. Through ancestry and DNA I hope to find a sense of familial belonging. That in no way disconnects me from humanity, in fact, it extends my sense of connection.
If you don't understand that, be at peace. I have met my half sister and have a feeling of deeper connection to people and places.
84
@DD Yes, the past does matter. It is where we have come from. Without knowledge of that, how can we hope to move foward?
8
I am from India. Record keeping there is poor. In India you're either a Dravidian or an Aryan or you could be both, the former of dark extraction, the latter of fair extraction, the former of African roots and the latter of European roots, you're either a South Indian or a North Indian, you could be a Zoroastrian of Persian extraction, you could be from Alexander the Great or from the soldiers who came with him to Northern India, you could be from the Mughals or from Dwarka or from Mohenjo daro or from Harappa, you could be from Afghanistan or Tibet or from Nepal or Bhutan (Nipple or Button??) or from Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, Myanmar or from Iran as also your ancestors. There is no way of knowing accurately who you are or from whom you came or from whence if you are from India from gene analysis. Genetic tests can only tell me how much of me is European, how much of me is African and how much of me is Asian. I already know I am all three and I don't want to know how much of me is what. I just watched a program about the gene analysis of Native Americans showing that they came from the Beringia people and from the Clovis people after them. The Beringia people came from Asia. In countries and people with ancient civilizations and in countries where proper records have not been kept it would be very hard to trace family roots and genetic concordance with any particular ethnic group or people.
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I am very concerned about privacy and security of DNA information. The consumer has no privacy protection regardless of the so-called privacy protection policies. Read carefully.
This from AncestryDNA:
" By submitting DNA to AncestryDNA, you grant AncestryDNA and the Ancestry Group Companies a royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable, transferable license to host, transfer, process, analyze, distribute, and communicate your Genetic Information for the purposes of providing you products and services, conducting Ancestry’s research and product development, enhancing Ancestry’s user experience, and making and offering personalized products and services.
In other words: we use your Genetic Information to provide products and services to you and improve our products and services for all our users. In addition, you understand that by providing any DNA to us, you acquire no rights in any research or commercial products that may be developed by AncestryDNA using your Genetic Information."
Other sites have similar lack of full privacy protection or control of the sale or dissemination of your DNA for any number of uses.
Run, don't walk away from these companies.
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On the contrary, the major DNA testing companies have thus far been highly cautious about user privacy. From my experience with all of the major US DNA testing companies, they give users extensive control over privacy and the use of data. The terms you list are clearly necessary for them to provide the services millions of people seek. As a user in no way connected with any of these companies, I see nothing nefarious about these terms. I view the use of my DNA for scientific and medical research to help cure diseases as a noble use of DNA testing; users are free to opt out of this use of their data. If my DNA can be used to solve serious crimes then society benefits all the more. Sadly it seems the careless manner with which social media companies have handled user data has affected the perception of responsible companies in entirely different sectors.
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@Goldenpony
I doubt their accuracy. I remember reading about a set of identical triplets and several sets of identical twins who received profiles indicating they were completely unrelated.
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@Albert
As a senior IT administrator, @goldenpony has the more accurate view of these companies.
While I had tests run on one of my dogs because I just wanted to know, receiving an analysis that I thought made perfect sense, I will not send my own anywhere.
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A friend of mine got this done with her two mutts. The result? They're mutts.
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@E.N.That is exactly what I found out about myself!
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@E.N.Mine too. They call them mega-mutts.
@E.N.
Maybe being “mutts” she had hoped to boost their canine self-esteem by being able to reveal to them that they were in fact distantly related to Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, or Old Yeller.
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OMG, her friend has 67 biological children! Why? Can't be just the few dollars they make on sperm donation. Ego?
Do the children know this and who he is and what are the chances of them dating and having children together? Irresponsible.
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@Vail. You must have never been truly broke. If you ever had a day where you did not have enough to eat you would perhaps consider sperm donation to be for money rather than ego. It is certainly easier than giving blood for grocery money. I think in recent years sperm donors are paid fairly well for their few minutes of "work."
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My dogs, most of whom have crossed the Bridge, and I are all resolved to enjoy being mongrels.
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Research your Dog DNA tests thoroughly. Embark is much more expensive but it made so much more sense for my particular very-mixed breed puppydog. For a less mixed-up mutt Wisdom Panel may be fine.
I believe Embark looks at over 200,000 alleles as compared to WP’s 10,000.
Fascinating information obtained and very educational!
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Most amazing to me is how very different siblings, raised together, are from one another.
Same gene pool, same environment, yet different in almost every way.
Who we become is very much dependent upon an infinite number of exposures to various circumstances over a long period of time.
Or as Vonnegut said: a long series of accidents.
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As years and experiences pass, I am ever more convinced that genetics explains many personal quirks of many people.
Still, it does not cancel out love, or nurture. I is an additional factor. More understanding of just one thing ought not to mean less appreciation for all the rest.
Most of us accept that we might learn we are prone to high blood pressure or at greater risk of Alzheimer's or specific cancers. Why is it so hard to accept that some personal oddities can be inherited?
I see in my kids things that remind me strongly of specific relatives now gone, people they never met. I also see the effect on them of love, and security, and nurture. One does not contradict the other, nor cancel it.
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@Mark Thomason - I did not realize that it is hard for most people (?) to accept that personal oddities may be grounded in some genetic element but take their form thanks to the individual's upbringing.
Don't miss the latest on Denisovan and Neanderthal and especially the young girl who had one D parent and one N parent.
Larry
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
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Thank you, Jenny! I needed that.
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Having done DNA tests with all of my sisters, children, and the odd other few, I learned that while I and each of my siblings have the same parents, we have very different percentages of regional DNA, such is the randomness of it. While I am 42% eastern European, one of my sisters is 12%. She got more "Irish" than I did. Similar in my own children as well. I find it all fascinating. Perhaps most interesting, I stumbled across someone who seems to be a first cousin; not a 2nd or 3rd cousin, those abound. A first? Seems we have some family secrets. This person has not responded to my outreach.
Perhaps more interesting are the results from my dog's DNA test. Grizzly was a rescue adoption, no pedigreed fancy dogs for me. Dark chocolate in color, so many characteristics of a Lab; the vet presumed he was a "Lab mix". Lo and behold, he is actually 48% American Pit Bull Terrier! Lab accounts for about 14%, and there are similar amounts of Chow Chow and Dalmation. Smaller amounts of Doberman, Rottweiler, and Collie are mixed in there, and finally 6% "supermutt". This changes nothing about anything, really, though to avoid stigma I don't talk about the pit bull terrier prominence too much. He's the sweetest most wonderful dog. I also get updates with newly found relatives of Grizzly's, I'm not sure, am I supposed to arrange play dates?
I am fascinated with history and love knowing from where I came; better still is knowing nothing truly defines us but our own ambition.
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The tests aren’t that accurate in terms of regional heritage. If you were to repeat yours, you would get different results.
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@Suzanna “...you might get different results” would be more accurate. I’ve tested with three different companies, and my results are consistent. All have the same unexpected ancestry, which I have since confirmed by doing traditional family history research.
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@Ells Just as an FYI, a first cousin shows the same as a "half-uncle". That's how we learned that my (not-a-prince) grandfather had a third family.
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I sort of do an eye roll every time I see an ad to send in DNA somewhere to see where you are from. I do so, because (and even though I am of Irish heritage) if you go back far enough, we are all related - all brothers and sisters.
Perhaps I am a bit ''Pollyannish'' when I say the sentence above, but perhaps at the same time, our world needs a lot more thinking along the same lines. (especially if we are going to come together to combat climate change and save our species)
Besides, I have lived more now in other parts of the world, than the ''homeland'', and I feel like a global citizen more and more every day. If only more of us could push ourselves to delve into other cultures, traditions and be among people that do not look, act or speak like ourselves.
Save the money on any DNA test.
Save up for a plane ticket and go explore.
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That is part of the point of such tests: unity.
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@FunkyIrishman - Funky I agree with most of what you write but here in Sweden as I try to convey in an early morning submission, not yet accepted, there is a lot more serious use of DNA testing than Finney Boylan conveys. I am taking part in the Y-DNA project in which males with known lines of descent add their own genomic information to a project that will steadily improve the story of the post-glaciation in migrations to Sweden - from distinctly different distant populations, culturally different - to add to what we already know, especially thanks to genome giant Svante Pääbo, there are no genetically distinct "races"
Hitler's views on a pure Aryan "race" were strongly influenced, even developed, by his underlings contacts with Herman Lundborg, the founder in 1922 of The Swedish Institute of Race Biology.
Swedish researchers and even some political figures learned their lesson from that experience so there is no longer an institute and no Swedish researcher known to me would use white race, black race as a research variable, still a common practice in the USA.
I spent 2 hours yesterday at the Red Cross with 2 colleagues, born in Iran, conversing in Swedish with 10 individuals from 7 different countries. A good way to do what you recommend.
Larry
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
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@FunkyIrishman
DNA testing and global travel are not mutually exclusive.
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Wikitree is a wonderful project that is building the human tree with the goal of showing we are all related. Bloodlines from incomplete DNA analyses are obviously wonderful for adoptees and children of sperm-bank donors, but horrible in determining our ancestry because they do not go back far enough. We all came from Africa, recently, not so recently, or long ago.
Chloe! Her father snuck in? Her mother lied? Gosh. She sounds lovely, and loved.
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"And yet I’m still left with the suspicion that the question of who we are will always remain a mystery, not least because we are so much more than our genes. There is no one who can tell us who we are except ourselves."
Unsurprisingly, Boylan's ideology is one of supreme individualism and social constructivism. To her, we are self-invented, making our own reality and values.
An alternative exists: that our being and identity is a reality that we come to terms with and seek to understand. We reconcile our beliefs and ideas to the material world, rather than warp the world to fit our ideology.
That I am the son of my mother and father is genetically true and while it is not the totality of my existence, it is one of the most significant realities of my life. It is not a social construct. Nobody "tells me" who I am. I don't "tell myself" who I am. I am.
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@James
Indeed. I really like your comment - well done. The bottom line question will always be: ''Where did it all begin?''
We as a species since developing consciousness have always asked ourselves that question, and have tried to fill the void with all sorts of things. In our modern age, it is now DNA testing, and once, we are able to travel among the stars, it will be yet another. (hope we get there)
For my little spec of time, I am not going to waste a second of it trying to dissect percentages of this or that. I don't hold it against anyone else that may. I only hope the question doesn't overtake them in their every day lives.
14
And here we thought it was you writing all these wonderful columns, Jenny...
As they say – on the Internet, no one knows if...
> You’re a dog
> Your dog ate your homework
> Your dog did your homework – or wrote your column
So, Chloe – back to the important issues facing us today...
Will Tom Brady play till he’s 45...
That’s about seven and a half, in dog years...
Most dogs are catching Frisbees well past that age...
And – on the Internet – throwing them too...
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Wisdom Panel isn't new. I had my dog's DNA done by them a decade ago.
9
Oh, to be Chloe, well-loved and utterly unconcerned about her ancestry!
We really are programmed fo search for connections, I think.
But, It helps to remember, that even when it turns out that there are no big surprises in our DNA, no "flat coated retrievers" of our own, that we still struggle to understand who we are. Life - and love are still mysterious.
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