I am seriously impressed! You guys really know your breeds!
But… no one got all three of Lucas’ breeds! In fact, not one single person out of 60 got the third breed right, though several of you got two of the three correct. But we’ll get to that in a minute! (As an aside: 28 different breeds were guessed! 28!! for one dog!! This just illustrates the challenges of breed ID in the sheltering system, for pit bull type dogs, etc…. but that’s another convo for another day.)
So, I’ll get to the winners of the Guess Lucas’ Breeds contest in just a minute.
I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Angela Hughes, DVM, PhD, from Mars Vet. It was the most interesting conversation I could have imagined. She walked me through his results chromosome-by-chromosome. Honestly, I was thrilled to learn so much about Lucas’ genetic ancestry. So, here goes!
Drumroll….
Lucas is, predominately, German shepherd dog. I don’t think anyone is surprised by that one because over 80% of you guessed that correctly! He is mostly GSD, going all the way back to his grandparents. He strongly resembles a GSD, with some differences, which I’ll talk about in more detail.
Next up, Lucas comes from a parent who was a mix between two different breeds: boxer and Saint Bernard! A whopping 10% of you guessed boxer (if you guessed boxer, can you pretty please share in the comments why?! John and I were shocked by the boxer part!) And not one single person guessed Saint Bernard.
So, there you have it! Lucas is a German shepherd x boxer x Saint Bernard.
Who would’ve guessed?!
Some interesting things I learned about his genetic makeup:
- His ears have the “airplane effect” because he has a base of cartilage that comes from his boxer ancestry, but size from the other two.
- Yellow is a recessive gene in dog coats – it takes two copies of the gene to create a yellow dog – but all three of his breeds have a yellow gene, so it was sort of predestined!
- Black is a dominant trait, though, and in Lucas it’s expressed in his “mask.”
As far as behavior goes, Dr. Hughes made a really interesting point: Breeding focused on tweaking aspects of the prey drive. She said, “We have been very specific in our breeding process such that we’ve made a certain part of that process predominant by increasing the frequency or intensity of that behavior for a certain breed.” So, think of a terrier chasing down rats, a border collie herding sheep, and so on. When you mix those up, the result is a mix-and-match of behaviors that is much closer to the “natural” state of a dog. In other words, as she put it, they become a jack of all trades, master of none. Lucas has a good combo of his ancestors’ traits, but he doesn’t excel at any.
Okay, so why DNA test to begin with? Obviously, satisfying your curiosity is the biggest and, in my opinion, most compelling reason. Another reason, though, is to be aware of genetic health concerns. For instance, boxers are prone to a heart disease that’s even now named after them, Boxer cardiomyopethy. Vets may check out the heart of a boxer pretty closely, but I doubt any vet would’ve checked Lucas for that because how on earth would they have known he had boxer ancestry?
Definitely something to think about…
Now for the winners!
Since six out of the 10 people who guessed boxer also guessed German shepherd, we were left with a tie! As I said in the rules, in the case of a tie, the winners would be the first people who guessed correctly. That means our winners are:
- Couches for Breakfast
- Lynn Hubbard
- h2moose
Congratulations! You’ll be receiving an email from me with the details on claiming your prize today.
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Wow that is so interesting!! I would never have guessed either the boxer or the St. Bernard. I’d have sworn lab. Maybe it’s just my love of that breed, but I see labs in most big dogs!
Congratulations to your winners!!
I know!! I was SO surprised! Over the years, we’ve had many people say shepherd x lab, so I was surprised there wasn’t any lab either!
He looked SO much like he had a bit of boxer to me from pictures of him head on. Those black markings on his nose and eyes seemed more boxer than shepherd, as does his face shape between and above his eyes.
That’s so interesting to me! I guess I haven’t looked at enough boxers to have a strong sense… but I’m off to do lots of Google image searches! Congrats on the win! 🙂
Fascinating. I bet you’ll be looking at Boxers and St. Bernard’s much more closely when you meet them around town. And yes, the GSD was quite obvious.
Absolutely!! I was so interested to go through his genetic makeup through his appearance because, once she walked me through it, I totally felt like “AHH! OF course!” Now I’m looking at tons of images of boxers and SBs to compare their phenotype!
Congrats to the Winners! I would have never guessed in a million years, Boxer and St. Bernard! OMG! I have to buy one of these test! I’m sure it will say Titan is part poodle or chihuaha (sp?)! hehe
Bren, that seriously made me laugh! If Titan is part poodle or chihuahua, I will just fall out of my chair! If you do decide to do a DNA test on Titan, please share the results – I just think this is so interesting!
wow boxer, i never would’ve guessed boxer but St. Bernard doesn’t surprise me as much. I like the reason behind the yellow coat, (sneaky recessive genes) that’s where my lab guess came from.. Congrats to the winners. fun contest. I did look into where I could purchase a kit here in Canada, it turns out Petsmart.
OOH! If you do the DNA test, please share the results!! I’d love to know!!
Boxer GSD is an awesome combo! Nola is boxer/mailinois which is super close. 🙂
Awww! It sure does result in some handsome (well, pretty in Nola’s case) pups, doesn’t it? 🙂
Thank you Maggie! I am very excited, my son has an unusual puppy they adopted and will make a great gift for them. We adopted a dog last year and used the test. Our “Lab Mix” turned out to be a weimaraner, Standard poodle, Boxer mix. After knowing the breeds I can pick them out of her. I noticed how your dogs legs turn in slightly as well as the ears hinted at Boxer. I’ll be glad to keep you updated on the results!
I can’t wait to find out the results! It’s so exciting, isn’t it? 🙂 Congrats on the win!
I gave a friend a doggie DNA kit for Xmas one year and she loved the results as a second present. WOW, Lucas and St. Bernard – amazing. What a cute doggie!
What a perfect gift idea!! Filing that away for Christmas… 🙂
I’m dying to do a test on Zora. When I look at her, I see GSD – but she doesn’t really have the size or temperament. One vet said she was a Schnauzer mix. Someone else have asked me if she is an Australian Cattle Dog. It’s more just to satisfy my curiosity, but I also think it would help because ancestry influences their general temperament as well as breed-related health issues.
It’s funny how the genes come together to form the dog! She may have GSD in her but then something else that had a stronger influence over her behavior. It’s certainly interesting to look at Lucas now through the lens of his genetic ancestry – and I think it’s helped explain a handful of his “quirks” in both behavior and appearance! If you decide to do it, please share the results! I’d love to know!!
That is so interesting!! I don’t know, the Saint Bernard surprised me much more than the boxer!
Congratulations to the winners! I bet they will have fun finding out their own results too.
I think this is a great idea that you did this, not only to satisfy curiosity, but to know the genetic make-up for health reasons.
You’re right – it definitely is fun! I was surprised about the St. Bernard, too, but I think his super thick undercoat fits that breed well. It’s fascinating to learn how individual genes are expressed!
Fascinating. Our old guy, “Murphy,” is such a mix, we had to have him tested to satisfy our curiosity. His mama was a stray in a small town where we used to live, and we knew she was about a 40 pound black mix that looked like she had some sort of herding breed. We also thought he had some husky because of his mask, and fluffy insulating undercoat. He’s 80 pounds and so tall he can rest his chin on the dining room table. Imagine our surprise when the results came back, confirming the husky and shepherd we suspected, but adding in beagle!
WOW! That is really interesting. It’s so funny how the genes mix and match to create our pups. I wonder if size is a dominant or recessive trait?
I tested my dog twice with somewhat different results. I recommend a second test!
That’s interesting, Wendy. Do you know/mind sharing which version of the test you used?
What?!! No corgi? Congratulations to the winners.
HA! I was shocked, too! 🙂
Glad I’m late on this… I was way wrongo. Whoever guessed, “Blackmouth Cur” I think knows their breeds substantially well that’s an awesome way of explaining the resulting combination of breeds honestly!! Nice job!
So, I stumbled on this while searching for what I suspected was my dog’s breed. Your dog looks a lot like mine. Lucy is 15, and she’s an excellent scent hunter, and kept our backyard free from all manner of ‘dangers’ for years. She loves to hunt and is stubborn, tempermental and prone to fits of ‘revenge’ if she feels slighted. But, she is such a love! Those big eyes, she is an attention hog, follows me through the house, loves on her girls (my daughters), and has never met a human she didn’t like. She also has those tiny little lumps that you mentioned, and now that I think of it, my brother’s boxers all had them as well. The muzzle and little ‘beauty mark’ on the cheek are clearly GSD markings. I’ve been considering a DNA test for her, especially since her health is failing, just to know for sure. I wish I could attach a picture of her. Thanks for putting this up!