As I have mentioned, in June of 2014 this ridiculously amazing little bug became part of my life.

As a rescue, he came with some baggage. Mostly fear of being hit, not being fed, and not accepting love, as it was clearly not being given to him. Let me assure you he does not have that problem any more. He is loved more than he can even believe, and it turns out is quite the little snuggle bug himself.

For the past year, my husband and I have spent many an evening scouring the internet and googling random combinations of dogs and trying to figure out what the heck he is. His paperwork upon adoption had him as a Doberman mix, but as he is just under 2 feet tall and only about 35 pounds, I am thinking not so much Doberman.

Well my curiosity finally got the best of me and late one night, after a beer or two, I ordered this…. Wisdom Panel 2.0

It comes ready to use, and ready to ship back which is nice. The whole process took maybe 5 minutes. You swab their cheek, then you package the sample, put it back in the box it came in, apply the new return label. Our first results were a little confusing. They told us he was mostly mixed dog (which they can’t account for) and a combination of chihuahua and miniature wire haired dachshund. Given his current size, which is more than twice what the adult expectancy is of either of those dogs, I was confounded. After contacting Wisdom Panel, I received a request to furnish them with a picture of Bronson, his measurements, and any other pertinent information or concerns that I had. Within two weeks they had retested our DNA and sent us a customized letter explaining their new interpretation.

“The sample submitted for Bronson was of good quality, with greater than 90% marker detection, and this was adequate to generate a unique signature for use in testing. Bronson’s strongest observed chromosomal match was to the US lines of the Vizsla, at a level supportive of a grandparent for him. However, it appears that the Vizsla lines from which he came were somewhat unusual, and were detected well but considered statistically unlikely based on comparison to the standard American Vizslas in our database. This is why the breed was reported so prominently in his next five breeds detected list. The data strongly supports European hunting/gundog ancestry for him, particularly this breed, and so I have updated his report to reflect this finding. The show-style Chihuahua was an excellent match for him as a grandparent, as reported. He also shows a significant match to the miniature wirehaired Dachshund; however, the breed was estimated to donate only 11% of his ancestry, which is more consistent with a great grandparent, and appears to have been overestimated in your original report. The weight prediction provided for him was based on the reported breeds in his family tree, and their average show weights, as we do not directly test for “size genes”; for this reason, when a more representative tree was selected, his predicted weight was given as 28-47 lbs, which is more appropriate. Bronson is clearly a unique dog. ”

Very cool Wisdom Panel 2.0! I highly reccomend this product. Not only was it fun to find out what our little Heinz was, but it comes with a behavioral analysis, health facts, and training tips. They are also true to their word, made sure we were 100% satisfied with their product, not something you get to often these days. I appreciate the effort, and think that this is a MUST purchase for anyone out there who wants to know more about their little mutt. 🙂