This is my space to share my quest to collect as many broken branches as I can in my fractured family tree which resembles a bramble bush more then a proper tree. As I go forward in this blogging journey I hope to share how I have searched far & wide for family - with no regard for where they come from or if I should really want them.
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

BUT What About the Dog? ~ Canine DNA

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 16 (SHOULD BE A MOVIE)


Our dog gets extra treats because I love watching her eat them.

I have never seen a dog who chews her food more mindfully. 

When she's chewing I think she looks like she's talking so have wanted to add a voiceover. 

This week for SHOULD BE A MOVIE I decided to do it!

The video was 13 seconds long so I created a 13 second voiceover related to genealogy for this week's blog.

To be honest I have created voiceover for Tori since she first arrived to us 11 1/2 years ago as a foster dog, but never in video. 

Right from the start she had a face that looked thoughtful. 



Every morning she meets me in the kitchen, and sits with a hopeful look that she will receive the exact same morning treat she has received for years. When I dawdle she will look shifty eyed to the top of the fridge and the drawer where the treats are kept. If I try to leave the kitchen she will herd me back to the area where her treats are dispensed. The voiceover goes like this "Hurry, use those thumbs. Let's get this breakfast party started." 

In looking at the video I'm not sure she looks like she's actually saying the words. 

Maybe it's my video skills?  

Maybe it's my voiceover skills? 

Maybe it's the software?  

I don't think I will pursue the skill and training to actually turn the dog into a spokesperson, but I am fairly confident I will continue her day-to-day voiceovers. 

Frequently heard is "BUT what about the dog?" at meal, snack, or leaving the house times.

That was what I was thinking about when I created the voiceover script. 

I had run out of humans I wanted to do DNA for so had looked at the dog as the next candidate.

When we adopted her they said she was an Irish Terrier XHer puppy fur was the non-shedding Irish Terrier. When her adult fur came in there was no doubt she was crossed with German Shepherd (or maybe Lab) due to the excessive shedding. 

When she arrived as our foster dog we were told she was full grown. She was perfect sized, and her fur was the Irish Terrier non-shedding. 


Then she started to grow, but her fur was still non-shedding.


Then we discovered she was at max 6 months old when she arrived to our home, and she doubled in size becoming a house hippo. 




When her adult fur arrived she became a shedder. We realized her cross was some sort of shepherd or maybe a lab.  

We wondered what her cross breed were so I began researching which company had the best reviews for Canine Breed DNA.

We had almost made our decision when I I read the article "How accurate are dog DNA tests? We unleash the truth" from CBC on March 4th 2023 (linked in sources below)

"Marketplace recruited two mixed-breed dogs, one purebred dog
and one human (Marketplace's very own Travis Dhanraj) to test the
accuracy of consumer dog DNA tests. Their DNA was sent to four
companies that claim to specialize in dog genetic testing:
Wisdom Panel, Embark, Accu-metrics and DNA My Dog. 
Nearly all the results were different, even for the same dog, despite
all claiming nearly 100 per cent accuracy rates." 

After reading the article we decided not to test the dog's DNA since the results would likely be suspect. 

We will likely never know the story of how she was found abandoned on the Abby Mission Highway, and then spent 2 weeks at the shelter unclaimed. 

They sent her to us to foster while she recovered after being fixed. 

How could we not fall in love with her. 

She arrived as a friendly & obedient 6 month old puppy. 

She had obviously been cared for. 

She attached immediately with all she met regardless of species, and regardless of how they felt.



BUT, what about the dog!!! 



This is why I search - 


Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!







***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***


Somehow Related Past Blogs:



Footnotes:

1  Cowley, Jenny & Travis Dhanraj. How accurate are dog DNA tests? We unleash the truth. CBC News, Business, Marketplace. Originally published March 4th 2023. Retrieved April 16th 2023 from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-dog-dna-test-1.6763274 


Sources:

Cowley, Jenny & Travis Dhanraj. How accurate are dog DNA tests? We unleash the truth. CBC News, Business, Marketplace. Originally published March 4th 2023. Retrieved April 16th 2023 from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-dog-dna-test-1.6763274


Photos & Video:

Personal


Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/



If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please
include a link to the specific blog and
credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/
My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.
All rights reserved.
Please & Thank you!

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