It all started with village dogs. Did you know that most dogs worldwide are not descended from modern breeds? The majority are unique village dogs.
Village dogs are free-ranging, free-breeding dogs whose ancestors were native to specific regions. Our founders traveled globally, swabbing dogs in remote areas, along with a research team from Cornell University. This research uncovered the origins of dogs in Central Asia and identified genetic regions related to domestication and adaptation. We’re proud to be the only dog DNA test that can identify village dogs, with the largest village dog reference panel in the industry.
Village dogs are crucial for understanding the history of domestic dogs and their relationship with humans. They played a significant role in the development of modern breeds and the establishment of Embark!
While village dogs may not have ancestry from modern breeds, their genetic contributions are significant. Each type of village dog has a unique genetic signature that we can identify. When we recognize a dog as a village dog, it’s not due to an inability to determine its breed; rather, we can pinpoint its unique ancestry.
What is a Supermutt? At Embark, we value transparency. If any part of your dog’s breed mix doesn’t match our database or is too small to be accurately identified, we will inform you. Other tests may list breeds that may or may not be present to fill that small percentage.
“Supermutt” refers to ancestry that is significantly distant in your dog’s family tree, making it less confidently identifiable. Our ancestry algorithm identifies identical DNA segments between your dog and purebred dogs in our reference dataset. Longer segments indicate recent ancestry, while shorter segments reflect more distant ancestry.
Many dogs descend from mixed breeds. The further back the purebred ancestors, the smaller the identical DNA segments that match our reference dataset. In some cases, the best matches are so minuscule that we cannot confidently assign them to a specific breed, resulting in a “Supermutt” designation. Within this result, we offer insights into the most likely distant ancestors.
Why breed results can be surprising. Sometimes, appearances can be misleading! Your dog’s breed mix may not align with their looks. Visual breed identification is notoriously unreliable—studies show it can be wrong over 80% of the time! Less than 1% of a dog’s 20,000 genes influence appearance. The variation among dogs makes visual or behavioral identification an unreliable method for determining ancestry.
Even purebred dogs can have a small percentage (about 1-5%) of DNA from another breed that is undetectable by DNA tests, leading to unexpected appearances.