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Bella

East Asian Village Dog

  • Bella, an East Asian Village Dog tested with EmbarkVet.com Bella, an East Asian Village Dog tested with EmbarkVet.com

“We adopted Bella from a local shelter called HKDogRescue. She was surrendered to HKDR by the HKAFD who had found her and her sister abandoned in parkland. She was estimated to be 8 weeks old on May 14 2017. Bella has the signature brown spots above her eyes that most rottweilers and dobermans and a variety of mutts have. We are curious to know her pedigree as the information would help us train and understand her better.”

Instagram tag
@babadook.bella

Place of Birth

Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

Current Location

Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

From

Hong Kong Dog Rescue Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, Wai Fung Street, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong

This dog has been viewed and been given 0 wags

Genetic Breed Result

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Village dog trace breed analysis

Village dogs often have short stretches of DNA that match purebred dogs, due to a distant common ancestor or a more recent mating between a purebred and a village dog. Bella has short stretches of DNA in common with this breed:

What exactly are village dogs?

Village dogs are the free-breeding, free-roaming “outside” dogs found around the world living in and around human settlements big and small. They are also known as island dogs, pariah dogs, or free-ranging dogs.

Many village dog populations precede the formation of modern breed dogs.

They make up about 3/4s of the billion or so dogs living on Earth today. They serve as trash cleaners, sentinels, and even sometimes companions while still retaining much of their freedom. Embark’s founders have studied village dogs on six continents since 2007 in their efforts to understand the history, traits, and health of the domestic dog. Through this work they have discovered the origins of the dog in Central Asia, and also identified genetic regions involved in domestication and local adaptation, such as the high altitude adaptation in Himalayan dogs. Embark is the only dog DNA test that includes diverse village dogs from around the world in its breed reference panel.

So what breeds are in my dog?

In a very real sense, East Asian Village Dog is the actual breed of your dog. Village dogs like this descend from separate lines of dogs than the lines that have been bred into standardized breeds like Labradors and Poodles. If you trace the family tree of Bella back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

East Asian Village Dog

Many years ago, when wolves began scavenging our hunting camps, they became gradually attuned to human life. Genetic changes in those wolves over time led to tameness, small body size and early age of first reproduction that soon after yielded what we see today in the East Asian village dogs.

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Village dogs have lived just about everywhere across the world for thousands of years. Long before there were any recognized dog breeds, there were village dogs around the fires and trash heaps of early human villages. Bella is part of this ancient heritage, not descended from a specific breed, but continuing the ancient lineage of dogs that were our first, best friends.

Embark's co-founders studied Village Dogs on six continents in their efforts to understand the history, traits, and health of the domestic dog. Through this work, they discovered evidence for the origins of the dog in Central Asia , and they also identified genetic regions involved in domestication and local adaptation. As a result, Embark has the largest Village Dog reference panel of any canine genetics company.

We compared Bella's DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Bella's DNA is most similar to those village dogs. The areas of darkest red reflect the greatest similarity to our village dog panel.

Village Dog Map
Similarity to village dog groups around the world. Darker red reflects greater similarity.

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Health Summary

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Bella inherited one variant that you should learn more about.

And one variant that you should tell your vet about.

Hereditary Cataracts

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Bella inherited one copy of the variant we tested

What does this result mean?

We do not know whether this increases the risk that Bella will develop this disease.

Scientific Basis

Research studies for this variant have been based on dogs of other breeds. Not enough dogs with the breeds in Bella have been studied to know whether or not this variant will increase Bella’s risk of developing this disease.

What is Hereditary Cataracts?

Cataracts are the result of a progressive disease of the lens. The lens is normally a transparent structure of precisely organized fibers that lives in the pupil and focuses light. Cataracts cause the lens fibers to become disordered and turns the lens into a milky blue color. The lens is no longer transparent, light fails to reach the retina, and blindness is the end result. With this genetic mutation, dogs can develop cataracts at only a few weeks to months of age.

ALT Activity

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Bella inherited both copies of the variant we tested

Why is this important to your vet?

Bella has two copies of a variant in the GPT gene and is likely to have a lower than average baseline ALT activity. ALT is a commonly used measure of liver health on routine veterinary blood chemistry panels. As such, your veterinarian may want to watch for changes in Bella's ALT activity above their current, healthy, ALT activity. As an increase above Bella’s baseline ALT activity could be evidence of liver damage, even if it is within normal limits by standard ALT reference ranges.

What is ALT Activity?

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a clinical tool that can be used by veterinarians to better monitor liver health. This result is not associated with liver disease. ALT is one of several values veterinarians measure on routine blood work to evaluate the liver. It is a naturally occurring enzyme located in liver cells that helps break down protein. When the liver is damaged or inflamed, ALT is released into the bloodstream.

Breed-Relevant Genetic Conditions

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Additional Genetic Conditions

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Traits

Explore the genetics behind your dog’s appearance and size.

Base Coat Color

Base Coat Color

Coat Color Modifiers

Coat Color Modifiers

Other Coat Traits

Other Coat Traits

Other Body Features

Other Body Features

Body Size

Body Size

Performance

Performance

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Through Bella’s mitochondrial DNA we can trace her mother’s ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that her ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.

Haplogroup

A1d

Haplotype

A91/11/378

Map

A1d

Bella’s Haplogroup

This female lineage can be traced back about 15,000 years to some of the original Central Asian wolves that were domesticated into modern dogs. The early females that represent this lineage were likely taken into Eurasia, where they spread rapidly. As a result, many modern breed and village dogs from the Americas, Africa, through Asia and down into Oceania belong to this group! This widespread lineage is not limited to a select few breeds, but the majority of Rottweilers, Afghan Hounds and Wirehaired Pointing Griffons belong to it. It is also the most common female lineage among Papillons, Samoyeds and Jack Russell Terriers. Considering its occurrence in breeds as diverse as Afghan Hounds and Samoyeds, some of this is likely ancient variation. But because of its presence in many modern European breeds, much of its diversity likely can be attributed to much more recent breeding.

A91/11/378

Bella’s Haplotype

Part of the large A1d haplogroup, this common haplotype occurs in village dogs all over the world. Among the 29 breeds that we have detected it in to date, the most frequent breeds we see expressing it are Afghan Hounds, Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, and Borzois.

The vast majority of Rottweilers have the A1d haplogroup.

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The Paternal Haplotype reveals a dog’s deep ancestral lineage, stretching back thousands of years to the original domestication of dogs.

Are you looking for information on the breeds that Bella inherited from her mom and dad? Check out her breed breakdown and family tree.

Paternal Haplotype is determined by looking at a dog’s Y-chromosome—but not all dogs have Y-chromosomes!

Why can’t we show Paternal Haplotype results for female dogs?

All dogs have two sex chromosomes. Female dogs have two X-chromosomes (XX) and male dogs have one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome (XY). When having offspring, female (XX) dogs always pass an X-chromosome to their puppy. Male (XY) dogs can pass either an X or a Y-chromosome—if the puppy receives an X-chromosome from its father then it will be a female (XX) puppy and if it receives a Y-chromosome then it will be a male (XY) puppy. As you can see, Y-chromosomes are passed down from a male dog only to its male offspring.

Since Bella is a female (XX) dog, she has no Y-chromosome for us to analyze and determine a paternal haplotype.

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