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Tux

American Village Dog

“Tux was found as a puppy a few days old in the wooded area of Aruba. We adopted him from Sgt. Peppers Rescue in Aruba and he came to live with us in Massachusetts May 2021, when he was about 10 weeks old. He’s a loving and energetic boy, and his birthday is estimated to be March 1st.”

Place of Birth

Aruba

Current Location

Quincy, Massachusetts, USA

From

Aruba

This dog has been viewed and been given 36 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. Tux 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, American 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 Tux back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

American Village Dog

American village dogs inhabit most areas of Central and South America and the Caribbean, living in both rural village and urban areas. They go by many names, including “satos” (Puerto Rico) and “potcakes” (the Bahamas).

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

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 Tux’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

A1a

Haplotype

A388

Map

A1a

Tux’s Haplogroup

A1a is the most common maternal lineage among Western dogs. This lineage traveled from the site of dog domestication in Central Asia to Europe along with an early dog expansion perhaps 10,000 years ago. It hung around in European village dogs for many millennia. Then, about 300 years ago, some of the prized females in the line were chosen as the founding dogs for several dog breeds. That set in motion a huge expansion of this lineage. It's now the maternal lineage of the overwhelming majority of Mastiffs, Labrador Retrievers and Gordon Setters. About half of Boxers and less than half of Shar-Pei dogs descend from the A1a line. It is also common across the world among village dogs, a legacy of European colonialism.

A388

Tux’s Haplotype

Part of the large A1a haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most frequently in Staffordshire Terriers, Labrador Retrievers, and English Bulldogs.

Shar Pei dogs think A1a is the coolest!

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Through Tux’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.10

Map

A2b

Tux’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.10

Tux’s Haplotype

Part of the A2b haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most commonly in Labrador Retrievers, Rottweilers, Curly-Coated Retrievers, Dandie Dinmont Terriers, and village dogs throughout the world.

A2b is found in the Daschund breed.

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