SALT LAKE CITY — We’ve become aware of business like Ancestry and 23andMe that help individuals discover family connections and learn where they originated from. There’s another business that’s attempting to do the exact same for dog owners, who are utilizing it for a lot more than identifying their dog’s breed.
Arguably the hardest feature of having a dog is ultimately needing to see them go. But Jasper is still going strong, even at his age. Wayne Watson says Jasper is most likely his favorite.
“Probably about 14 (years old), that’s what I’m guessing,” Watson said. “He’s number eight.”
Which is partially why he needed to know more.
Wayne Watson embraced Jasper, who was rescued from a hoarding scenario with over 140 other dogs in 2012. (Photo courtesy: Watson family)
“After we had him for a little while, especially when he was younger, he looked so much like a miniature pinscher. I mean there’s some days…the chihuahua, you could see it come out, but other days he would his stance, he looked like a miniature Doberman pinscher,” Watson said. “Our daughter, who is a veterinary technician, suggested that we use this Embark vet DNA testing, which is like 23andMe and Ancestry, but it’s for dogs.”
Dog DNA screening
The concept to make the test available for dog owners can be found in part from Adam Boyko, an associate teacher at Cornell University.
“We were doing research grade array testing in my lab looking at 200,000 markers across the genome,” Boyko said. “But if you wanted to buy a dog DNA test, the most advanced on the market was only looking at 300 markers across the genome. So there was no research value to it, and you also weren’t getting a good, accurate result.”
Boyko is likewise co-founder and chief science officer at Embark DNA. In his research study, he says he was amazed at the number of dog owners wished to help and just how much they ended up being connected to what they might discover.
“We need to give owners and veterinarians and breeders you know this cutting-edge information. There’s clearly a demand for it,” he said.
And that brings us back to Jasper.
“So we did it and come back and there’s no pinscher Doberman at all in him,” Watson said. “He’s half-chihuahua, a quarter Australian cattle dog, (an eighth) small poodle…and then the rest is just a big mix.”
While there’s no Doberman in Jasper, there’s another factor Watson got the DNA test. He rescued Jasper from a shelter after he was found in the home of a hoarder in Ogden in 2012 — with 148 other dogs. We covered the story here on KSL TV.
Watson says Jasper has actually constantly hesitated of other dogs.
“He’s really scared. And I know if you can imagine 150 dogs all in a house smaller than this, probably fighting for their existence — it probably wasn’t very pleasant,” Watson said.
But he believed if simply perhaps he might discover a dog brother or sister, perhaps that would be various.
“I really thought that maybe if we get him together with some of his relatives… he just doesn’t like other dogs, he’s terrified. But I thought maybe if he got somebody… I don’t know what I was thinking,” Watson said with a laugh. “I was thinking maybe if he got together with some of his relatives he might be more of a ‘dog person,’ but he just doesn’t like other dogs at all.”
He said they did discover numerous of Jasper’s cousins and a sis, however they have actually all died.
Still, that’s okay. Watson says he’s grateful for what they did learn more about Jasper, even if it’s most likely he’ll need to stay more of a “person person” than a dog individual.
