A Tale of Two Doggies

The Internet, genetics and brotherhood.

If you’ve been following me you know that we recently adopted a dog named Teddy. We were told he is a Great Pyrenees mix and that he’d been paling around a San Antonio neighborhood for at least three months with two others dogs, one of which, was also a Great Pyrenees mix. Interested in knowing how much Great Pyrenees he is and what other breeds are in there, we ordered a doggie DNA kit from EmbarkVet. With Teddy looking at my utterly confused, I swabbed his mouth and sent off the kit. About 10 days later we got the results.

Great Pyrenees and Labrador Retriever were what we were expecting. I’d never heard of the other two breeds before. Like 23 and Me, they also provide a genetic health report. Teddy has one gene that affects his liver. It was suggested that we forward the report to his vet so that if they ever do a test involving his liver, they will correctly interpret the results as they are impacted by this genetic trait. Good to know.

Embark will also show any other dogs they have provided results for that are related to yours. Sure enough, there were several dogs that share about 24% of Teddy’s DNA. These are either half-siblings, and aunt/uncle or a grandparent. About a week later, a new relative appeared.

Embark had connected us with Teddy’s brother. I contacted Douglas, Maverick’s owner. They had very recently adopted Maverick and had the same backstory we did. The other Great Pyrenees that Teddy had been paling around with had been his brother. That we both happened to do a DNA test and choose the same company was a very nice coincidence. After some chatting back and forth, we made plans to reunite these brothers for an afternoon.

Yesterday we drove about 2 hours down to their house in Boerne, Texas where we met Douglas and Anne (who adopted Maverick) as well as their daughter Laura and her boyfriend Dax. As it turned out, it was a friend of Dax who was involved with a golden retriever rescue organization that had thought Maverick was an English Golden just as we had thought about Teddy. Because of his medical issues (both of which are easily managable) and that the apparently acted quite scared in the shelter, the shelter didn’t think Maverick would get adopted and were about to put him down when he was picked up by the rescue. Having met Maverick, it’s hard to imagine. He seems quite healthy and confident. After Maverick made it clear whose house this was, the two brothers got along just fine. We learned a lot about how they are similar and how they are different.

They both like to follow us around. They both like lots of attention. They both can be stubborn. They were both initially scared of the TV but are getting over it. Having been strays perhaps for most of their short lives, they are both adjusting and learning to live inside a house. Maverick likes walks but not car rides. Teddy is exactly the opposite in this respect. Maverick is definitely more of the guard dog than Teddy. He pays attention to people going by on the sidewalk outside and will bark to let them know he’s there. Teddy looks but he doesn’t bark (yet). I don’t know if it was because we were in Maverick’s house but Teddy was definitely the submissive one. By the end of the visit, they were quite comfortable with each other.

We saw several small groups of deer in the Doug and Anne’s neighborhood. One group went through the backyard while we were looking out the window. Laura presented Teddy with the gift of an antler that had been dropped in their backyard. Teddy loves it. We bought him a large, thick one from the local pet store and Teddy finished it off in two weeks. Maverick’s adopted family is so nice and was very welcoming. We all had a great time.

Never did I think that this DNA test would actually result in finding Teddy’s brother. It was great to get them together if only for an afternoon. Perhaps some day in the future they will meet again.