Venn diagram

Compare your dogs to Tai - “Chicken Feet” Select one to begin:

Tai - “Chicken Feet”

Formosan Mountain Dog

“Tai is a street dog that was adopted from Taiwan. Little is known about his past except that he had a faintly positive distemper test as a puppy and was pulled from a high kill shelter by a rescue, where he remained in foster care until age 2. Tai is very smart, a little skittish, and extremely mischievous. He learns quickly and is extremely agile. He is a smaller-medium dog at 28lbs and 20” at the withers. Tai passed in April 2019 of DCM and lung cancer. He was 10.5 years old.”

Instagram tag
@thehappyfluffs

Place of Birth

Taiwan

Current Location

Los Angeles, California, USA

From

Taiwan

This dog has been viewed and been given 0 wags

Genetic Breed Result

Loading...

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. Tai - “Chicken Feet” 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, 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 Tai - “Chicken Feet” 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.

Learn More

Loading...

Start a conversation! Message this dog’s humans.

Loading...

Explore

Changes to this dog’s profile
  • On 5/21/2020 changed name from "Tai" to "Tai - “Chicken Feet”"

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. Tai - “Chicken Feet” 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 Tai - “Chicken Feet”'s DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Tai - “Chicken Feet”'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.

Explore

Here’s what Tai - “Chicken Feet”’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 Tai - “Chicken Feet”’s breed mix.
Loading...
Loading...

Explore

Health Summary

good icon

Good news!

Tai - “Chicken Feet” is not at increased risk for the genetic health conditions that Embark tests.

Breed-Relevant Genetic Conditions

good icon

Additional Genetic Conditions

good icon

Explore

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

Loading...

Explore

Through Tai - “Chicken Feet”’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

B1

Haplotype

B1b

Map

B1

Tai - “Chicken Feet”’s Haplogroup

B1 is the second most common maternal lineage in breeds of European or American origin. It is the female line of the majority of Golden Retrievers, Basset Hounds, and Shih Tzus, and about half of Beagles, Pekingese and Toy Poodles. This lineage is also somewhat common among village dogs that carry distinct ancestry from these breeds. We know this is a result of B1 dogs being common amongst the European dogs that their conquering owners brought around the world, because nowhere on earth is it a very common lineage in village dogs. It even enables us to trace the path of (human) colonization: Because most Bichons are B1 and Bichons are popular in Spanish culture, B1 is now fairly common among village dogs in Latin America.

B1b

Tai - “Chicken Feet”’s Haplotype

Part of the large B1 haplogroup, we see this haplotype in village dogs across the world, including those from Central America, the Middle East, South Asia, and the French Polynesian Islands. Among the 31 breed dogs we see it in, we see it in Poodles, Otterhounds, and Labrador Retrievers. It is also our most commonly-sampled Golden Retriever haplotype!

The B1 haplogroup can be found in village dogs like the Peruvian Village Dog, pictured above.

Loading...

Explore

Through Tai - “Chicken Feet”’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

A2b

Haplotype

Hc.2

Map

A2b

Tai - “Chicken Feet”’s Haplogroup

A2b appears to have split a few times in succession, which means that some of the Central Asian male ancestors of this lineage went their separate ways before their respective Y chromosomes made their rounds. There is not much diversity in this lineage, meaning that it has only begun to take off recently. Two iconic breeds, the Dachshund and Bloodhound, represent this lineage well. Over half of Rottweilers are A2b, as are the majority of Labrador Retrievers and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. While A2a is restricted mostly to East Asia, this paternal line is also found among European breeds.

Hc.2

Tai - “Chicken Feet”’s Haplotype

Part of the A2b haplogroup, this haplotype has been found in Chinese Shar-pei and village dogs in Papua New Guinea.

A2b is found in the Daschund breed.

Loading...

Explore