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Oso

Central and East African Village Dog

  • Oso, a Central and East African Village Dog tested with EmbarkVet.com Oso, a Central and East African Village Dog tested with EmbarkVet.com

“Rescued from Bangui, Central African Republic at 8 months old. Had fear aggression, losing it now slowly but surely. Not entirely gone, fine offleash but on a leash can be unpredictable, lunges and growls at people sometimes. Gets a long, thin ridge down his back when stressed. Very fast runner! At dog park people often take videos of him running, say thanks for getting their dogs to run and play. Is very attached to my husband, gets separation anxiety. Chews his toenails, chases his tail.”

Place of Birth

Bangui, Bangui, Central African Republic

Current Location

SF, California, USA

From

Bangui, Bangui, Central African Republic

This dog has been viewed and been given 7 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. Oso 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, Central and East 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 Oso back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

Central and East 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. Oso 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 Oso's DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Oso'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 Oso’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 Oso’s breed mix.
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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

Other Coat Traits

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Body Size

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Through Oso’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

A1b

Haplotype

A361/409/611

Map

A1b

Oso’s Haplogroup

This female lineage was very likely one of the original lineages in the wolves that were first domesticated into dogs in Central Asia about 15,000 years ago. Since then, the lineage has been very successful and travelled the globe! Dogs from this group are found in ancient Bronze Age fossils in the Middle East and southern Europe. By the end of the Bronze Age, it became exceedingly common in Europe. These dogs later became many of the dogs that started some of today's most popular breeds, like German Shepherds, Pugs, Whippets, English Sheepdogs and Miniature Schnauzers. During the period of European colonization, the lineage became even more widespread as European dogs followed their owners to far-flung places like South America and Oceania. It's now found in many popular breeds as well as village dogs across the world!

A361/409/611

Oso’s Haplotype

Part of the A1b haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most frequently in German Shepherd Dogs, Poodles, and Shiloh Shepherds.

A1b is the most common haplogroup found in German Shepherds.

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Through Oso’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

Oso’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

Oso’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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