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Kenobi

West African Village Dog

“Kenobi is from N'Djamena, Chad! We rescued him in N'Djamena when he was a puppy. He is incredibly fast, and loves to sleep in high places.”

Place of Birth

N'Djamena, N'Djamena, Chad

Current Location

Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA

From

N'Djamena, N'Djamena, Chad

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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. Kenobi 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, West African 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 Kenobi back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

West African Village Dog

African village dogs live in many different environments: desert, plains, forest, woodland, mountains, and more. As such, African village dogs vary as widely as African cultures. Despite their differences, they all tend to be independent and resourceful, and can make excellent companions if adopted young and raised in the right environment.

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

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

Base Coat Color

Base Coat Color

Coat Color Modifiers

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Other Coat Traits

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Through Kenobi’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

A233

Map

A1e

Kenobi’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!

A233

Kenobi’s Haplotype

Part of the large A1e haplogroup, we see this haplotype in village dogs across Central Africa through the Middle East and into South Asia. As for breeds, we see it in the highest frequency among Irish Wolfhounds, with some detections in Greyhounds, Posavac Hounds, and Beagles as well.

Irish Wolfhounds are a consistent carrier of A1e.

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Through Kenobi’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

F

Haplotype

H9

Map

F

Kenobi’s Haplogroup

F is the odd duck in the family of domestic dog male lineages. This paternal lineage is genetically closer to wolves, foxes, and jackals than to other dogs. This indicates that it came into the dog population after dogs were originally domesticated, when one particularly attractive male wolf mated with a female dog, over 6,000 years ago. Since then, these dogs found their way into Africa and Mongolia. It hasn't been found outside those areas except in Basenjis. Basenjis are an iconic African breed, that first made its way to the USA in the early 20th century when a handful of individuals were imported from the Congo. The Basenji is an ancient breed which is distantly related to other dog breeds (most of which are European or Asian), and it has the earliest separation date from all other breed populations. Unsurprisingly, the F lineage has also been found in African village dogs, as well as, surprisingly, some samples from Mongolia. The fact the lineage is found in two very distant places is evidence that it entered the dog population many thousands of years ago.

H9

Kenobi’s Haplotype

A member of the F haplogroup, this haplotype is found in Basenjis and village dogs throughout Africa.

Congo Dogs in Africa commonly have this hapgloroup.

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