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Darwin

Japanese or Korean Village Dog

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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. Darwin has short stretches of DNA in common with these breeds:

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, Japanese or Korean 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 Darwin back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

Japanese or Korean 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 Japanese and Korean 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. Darwin 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 Darwin's DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Darwin'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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Here’s what Darwin’s family tree may have looked like.
While there may be other possible configurations of his family’s relationships, this is the most likely family tree to explain Darwin’s breed mix.

Breed Reveal Video

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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

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

Haplogroup

A1e

Haplotype

A479

Map

A1e

Darwin’s Haplogroup

This female lineage likely stems from some of the original Central Asian wolves that were domesticated into modern dogs starting about 15,000 years ago. It seemed to be a fairly rare dog line for most of dog history until the past 300 years, when the lineage seemed to “explode” out and spread quickly. What really separates this group from the pack is its presence in Alaskan village dogs and Samoyeds. It is possible that this was an indigenous lineage brought to the Americas from Siberia when people were first starting to make that trip themselves! We see this lineage pop up in overwhelming numbers of Irish Wolfhounds, and it also occurs frequently in popular large breeds like Bernese Mountain Dogs, Saint Bernards and Great Danes. Shetland Sheepdogs are also common members of this maternal line, and we see it a lot in Boxers, too. Though it may be all mixed up with European dogs thanks to recent breeding events, its origins in the Americas makes it a very exciting lineage for sure!

A479

Darwin’s Haplotype

Part of the A1e haplogroup, the A479 haplotype occurs most commonly in Armenian Gamprs. We've also spotted it in European Village Dogs.

Irish Wolfhounds are a consistent carrier of A1e.

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Through Darwin’s Y-chromosome we can trace his father’s ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that his ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.

Haplogroup

A2a

Haplotype

Hc.12

Map

A2a

Darwin’s Haplogroup

A2a is a truly ancient lineage. Unlike the recent upstart A1 lineages which found their way from a few popular European males a couple hundred years ago into many dogs in many breeds, A2a shows ancient roots without major recent expansion. It is likely one of the oldest eastern Eurasian male lineages of dogs, where it has existed for thousands of years. Nowadays, it's commonly found in Tibetan Terriers and Chow Chows as well as in Southeastern Asian village dogs. The Chow Chow seems to have been depicted in sculpture over 2,000 years ago, so this is an ancient lineage indeed, and dogs with it have a long and noble pedigree! Males from this lineage have continued to be bred in similar forms and breeds for millennia.

Hc.12

Darwin’s Haplotype

Part of the A2a haplogroup, this rare haplotype occurs in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.

The large-sized Tibetan Mastiff descends from this ancient lineage.

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