Merlin

For the past 11 years I have been constantly asked what breed our lovely dog Merlin is. I could never give an answer, now I can. DNA results told us level 2 German Shepherd Dog and level 3 Irish Setter. That certainly explains his intelligence, gentleness and beauty.

Carol

Stellaaaaa!

Dear HappyDogDNA,

I wanted to write and let you know how excited we were to receive our results from the DNA kit we ordered from your website. We had been thinking about getting a dog for some time and talked about wanting a female that had short hair and was mid-sized. We looked at some specific breeds but decided to check out the local animal shelter to see if anything caught our eye. After seeing and meeting Stella, we knew she was the perfect fit for our family! Her breed didn't matter to us but, of course, we were very curious.

The first time we visited her at the shelter, her tag said that she was a "hound mix" but her adoption paperwork said "golden retriever mix" and the vet mentioned "lab, golden, Shepard and some terrier due to her size" (she is about 30 pounds and about knee high). With all of these breeds in the mix, we started to take bets on what Stella might be made up of! We swabbed her cheek, sent off the test and waited only about a week and a half for the results.

I will tell you that NONE of us guessed right on ANY of the breeds!!! Her highest level (level 2) was a Miniature Pinscher! My son googled that breed since I didn't have any idea what they even looked like. He found a picture that looked almost identical to Stella - except the dog in the picture was 12 inches tall and weighed about 10 pounds!! The rest of the mix included all Level 4's: Boxer, Springer Spaniel, Weimaraner and, her dirty little secret, Yorkshire Terrier!

It was SO interesting to find out that all those big dogs and a few little one's make up our beautiful Stella! It is great to know what breeds are in her for the obvious health and behavior reasons but also since almost everyone that meets her asks "what kind of a dog is she?". It is hilarious to say "she is mostly Miniature Pinscher" as she jumps up and licks their face (we are still working on that jumping thing...).

Thank you HappyDog.DNA for sending the test so quickly, for answering all of my questions (since I was nervous about the cheek swab but it was easy as can be) and for providing such a wonderful test! We were so very satisfied with our entire experience and look forward to a life with our new "Miniature Pinscher" mix!!

Sincerely,
Kathie

Fred

Fred's owner was so impressed and satisfied with his test results that she ordered three more!

I already did one test and there were some REAL surprises. Dog looks like a Dal/Pointer, but came out to be:

• Level 2: Dalmation
• Level 4: German Shepherd, English Setter
• Level 5: Saluki, Italian Greyhound, Chihuahua!

Pics attached. Fred is his name. I don't have a good pic that shows his back legs, but they are not straight like a Dal, but look like a shepherd. I just never thought about that. And he is the incredible watch dog. I guess the dal, shepherd, and chihuahua contribute to that.

PamG

Jay - My mutt story and results, thanks for your service!

I will be brief with my story. We had to say goodbye to our loyal lab/Dalmatian mix after 17 years of companionship. This was in April of 2006. Of course we were just very sad. We did not know if another dog would come into our lives. We figured when the time was right it would happen.

About 6 weeks later, I was working in Houston at a house. This little fella comes climbing out of the storm ditch and wags his tail at me. He was clearly a stray and needed a home. After a short stay at the vet, he came home. He is the most wonderful and grateful dog. Truly a blessing to us.

The vet said he was a lab mix. Come to find out....

• Level 2: Chow Chow
• Level 3: Lhasa Apso
• Level 4: Chinese Shar-Pei

I named him Jay after the street where he was found.

Thanks again,
Ryan
Houston, Texas

Chloe Elizabeth

Hi!

And thanks so much for your great service - we're delighted!

We adopted Chloe when a friend moved out of the country. He'd adopted Chloe a couple years earlier, and everyone, even the vets, thought she was a lab-akita mix. Since she has absolutely no interest in retrieving, we thought that couldn't be right... When she showed an aggressive streak against other dogs, we thought maybe something more aggressive? But - wow! Level 3: Newfoundland, and then Level 4's and 5's in 4 toy breeds, with a little Basset Hound and Siberian Husky for good measure. Amazing! I call her the Newfietoy now. We're all giggling at the thought of a mixed-toy breed Basset Hound falling for a Newfie-Husky mix. Maybe her aggression is from an over-confident little Westie in her heritage?

Chloe is 24 inches at the shoulder, and 45 inches from nose to the base of her 15 inch long tail. She weighs in at 62 lbs, and has had the ACLs repaired in both knees. She's a big girl, and an absolute sweetheart who has never met a human she didn't love on first sight, but is not known for playing well with other dogs. She is very territorial and protective, but would love to play with our cat.

Thanks again letting us learn a little more about our girl Chloe!

Molly and Chris

Elvis

Many thanks to the Dicksons. Elvis is one lucky pup!



We were curious when we first got Elvis in December as to what exactly he was mixed with. We knew he was primarily German Shepherd because of all the dominant appearance characteristics. When I came across happydogdna.com I was excited. I would finally get answers. I ordered it and it came in quickly with easy directions. I followed them then popped it in the mail. It seemed so quick when the results came in and I was actually quite surprised. I have attached a photo of our Elvis and here are his results. And as of around a month ago. He was 10 months old at just shy of 60 pounds.

• Level 2: German Shepherd
• Level 4: Akita
• Level 5: Afghan Hound
• Level 5: Chinese Shar-Pei.

Wow What a truly unique mix. I must say it is helpful to know a dog's breeds. Elvis is going to be 1 year old on the 4th of July 2009. Last month he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. It is very common in German Shepherds. We caught it extremely early, due to my motherly paranoia with my furbaby. He is being treated for it and seems to be doing great. Some people feel a free dog shouldn't cost much. I feel no matter how much they cost initially they are family and it doesn't matter what they cost. I rescued Elvis for free and he will be our four legged furry son until the day the good Lord takes him home. Thank you so much happydogdna.com we are extremely appreciative.

Elvis' MOM and DAD
The Dicksons

Marshall

The following letter is the first note we received from Marshall's owner after she received his test results:

We recently adopted Marshall from a Golden Retriever rescue group. He was a stray and there was no history on him. He has a wonderful temperment and is very gentle, playful, and intelligent. He loves his belly rubs and doesn't like to be too far away from us. We were sure he was at least 50% golden retriever and everyone he meets comments on what a beautiful golden he is and asks what else he is mixed with. After so many questions from others, and because we were curious as well, we got his DNA tested. We expected to see some type of herding breed since he does try to herd his human brother and sister (ages 9 and 6 ). We also suspected husky or shepherd since his tail is SO thick and fluffy. We were in no way prepared to find out that he has NO golden in him at all. Everyone who knows him was shocked. Here are his results:

• Level 2 : English Springer Spaniel
• Level 4: Bull Terrier, Italian Greyhound, Miniature Pinscher, Shetland Sheepdog, Siberian Husky

Often when a customer receives results that show their dog is made up of a half-dozen or more breeds, we explain to them that when there are that many breeds at such low levels, the dominant characteristics of the detected breeds are often not evident. However, when we received the photo of Marshall who looked so much like a Golden Retriever, we had to dig a little deeper. We asked the lab to re-run Marshall's DNA just to be certain that the test was performed properly and the results were accurate. The second analysis revealed the same results except that Italian Greyhound fell below the threshold of reportable levels.

We shared this with Marshall's owner who had the following reply:

Thanks for the info and thanks for asking them to rerun the test. I am satisfied.. I guess it's true you never know what a dog is going to look like when all the DNA combine from the different breeds. He must get his size from the Husky DNA because he is very big. We went through a golden rescue group for temperament because we have two young children. Thankfully, he is a great dog. I guess this is a good lesson for us and the rescue groups and it explains why we didn't see some of the golden personality traits we expected when we got him. You have a great service and we have shared your website info with many of our friends.

Sincerely,
Susan