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Dug

Formosan Mountain Dog

“We adopted him from Taiwan!”

Place of Birth

Taiwan

Current Location

San Diego, California, USA

From

Taiwan

This dog has been viewed and been given 2 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. Dug 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, Formosan Mountain 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 Dug back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

Formosan Mountain Dog

Formosan Mountain Dogs hail from the Formosan Mountain region in Taiwan. Recently, some of these ancient dogs were used as foundational stock to create the Taiwan Dog breed.

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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. Dug 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 Dug's DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Dug'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 Dug’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 Dug’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

Performance

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Through Dug’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

A1d

Haplotype

A458

Map

A1d

Dug’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.

A458

Dug’s Haplotype

Part of the A1d haplogroup, the A458 haplotype occurs most commonly in East Asian Village Dogs. It's a rare find!

The vast majority of Rottweilers have the A1d haplogroup.

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Through Dug’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

B

Haplotype

H15.4

Map

B

Dug’s Haplogroup

B is a relatively rare paternal line that has only recently started to expand. The dominant lineage among the ancient Shih Tzu breed, it is also found among Tibetan Spaniels. Outside of these two breeds, B seems to be a particularly common paternal line among the village dogs of India and Southeast Asia, though it is found as far afield as Africa and down into Oceania. Considering that it is particularly diverse in northern India, it could be that this lineage hung out mostly in South Asia after the expansion of domestic dogs from Central Asia. Because it is present in Mongolia as well, it may not be surprising that ancient East Asian dog breeds are also part of this lineage. Alternatively, perhaps males representing this lineage headed north out of southern Eurasia, which eventually gave rise to the Shih Tzu and may have inspired stylistic representations of lions in ancient China!

H15.4

Dug’s Haplotype

Part of the B haplogroup, this rare haplotype has been spotted in village dogs in Vietnam.

The B Haplogroup is most commonly found the adorable Shih Tzu breed.

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