Welcome to our quarterly column offering advice for Golden owners. Scroll down for even more advice – for dogs, from dogs.
Is Your Dog a Spotted Canardly?
DNA Testing for Dogs
By Jean Burggraf
Molly looking very golden-ish.
Several years ago, my father inquired about an unusual-looking dog and was told that the dog was a Spotted Canardly. The dog’s owner was joking – Canardly was his made-up name for a dog that is a mix of so many breeds that you “canardly” tell what kind of dog it is.
Until recently, a mutt was just a mutt, and intrigued owners could only guess what breeds might be included in the mix. Now DNA testing is available to determine your dog’s breed makeup. Owners can satisfy their curiosity, and they may also find explanations for particular personality traits and behaviors. The test requires only a small blood sample, and it costs approximately $150.
Judy Hartlieb and her husband Daron Kruse adopted their GRRIN dog Andy in 2005. Andy had been picked up as a stray when he was just a young puppy, so GRRIN knew nothing about his genetic makeup. He looked like a Golden pup, and that was really all we had to go on. This summer Andy was DNA-tested, and his results show that he is primarily Golden Retriever, with a little bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Judy says this makes perfect sense and explains several of Andy’s qualities. Nova Scotia Duck Tollers are the smallest of the retrievers and often have white markings on the chest, they are retrieving machines who typically have a sad facial expression unless they’re focused on a ball, and they like to pounce on the ball when retrieving it and then toss it in the owner’s lap. This describes Andy perfectly!
My GRRIN dog Molly was also picked up as a stray, in 2000, when she was not yet full-grown. She too looked like a Golden, except for a white blaze on her face. As she matured and her adult coat came in, she began to look more like a mix, though she still looked mostly Golden. Her personality is somewhat different from the typical Golden: Molly is cheerful and affectionate toward family, but aloof with strangers, and she is very independent and stubborn. When I had her DNA-tested, I expected that she would be at least half Golden, but her results turned out to be a complete surprise! Molly’s test shows no Golden Retriever DNA at all! She has a moderate amount of Norwegian Elkhound, and lesser amounts of Chow, Sheltie, Siberian Husky, and Vizsla! This breed combination fully explains her quirky personality. Apparently it’s just an accident of nature that she happens to look like a Golden Retriever!
In GRRIN, only dogs that are recognizable as Golden Retrievers are supposed to enter the program. Most often the surrendering owners can confirm that the dogs are purebred Goldens. However, we do occasionally get shelter dogs and strays with unknown backgrounds, and then we have to use our best judgment as to whether a dog appears to be a Golden or not. My Molly is a true example of a Canardly who fooled everyone!
The DNA test results were fascinating and a lot of fun for Judy and me. If you have a dog you are curious about, you can find more information about DNA testing at www.wisdompanel.com.
Ask a Dog
A column offering advice for dogs – from dogs
Dear Goldenonymous,
You gonna’ eat that?
Signed,
Sparky
Dear Sparky,
You said a mouthful. Your question is on the mind of most dogs – certainly most Golden Retrievers – 24/7. Dogs are descended from wolves who had to hunt for their food. When a wolf found something to eat, he simply had to devour it since he might not find food again for a long time.
We domesticated dogs have an easier life, but we still have that willingness to eat just about anything, anytime, anywhere. Some of us are perfectly polite about it. Others are more assertive. If we see a stick of butter uncovered on the countertop, we help ourselves to it. Ditto for a loaf of bread, a slice of cheese, or a hamburger. Heck, I’ve even eaten a cherry pie on Christmas Day. (Mom wasn’t too happy about that.)
Humans need to understand that our hunger is driven by our DNA. My own family has learned to keep food away from the edge of the counter. They keep the dog food safely secured in a container that’s just short of Fort Knox in terms of stability. Mom teaches the rest of the family to never feed me treats with chocolate, raisins or other stuff that can harm me. She reads up on new ideas about dog diets, talks to her friends who feed raw or home-cooked meals, talks to her vets, and sticks with a high-quality dry food but supplements it with great tasting things like bites of baked potato (no sour cream, darn it), green beans (great filler food without calories) or bits of cheese. She puts salmon oil on our food to make our coats shiny and smooth. She gives us bites of banana on our breakfast, which Dad thinks is really weird.
We don’t have to hunt for our food anymore, but we will always have an appetite for vittles. Pavlov became famous for a reason: we remember every drive-thru or vet’s office that gave us treats, and we salivate whenever we return because we expect … we hope … we pray that we’ll get a biscuit again from the nice lady who hands Mom her latte. Life is truly good!
