Fri 8th April: What is my dog?

Blondie at Tai Po is clearly large part husky

We're still experiencing some email issues after switching to a new server/system along with the new website, and I was wondecterssticsring why my inbox was empty when I'm normally rushing to keep up with replies.  At least these are all temporary glitches which are easily fixable (if you know what you're doing), but I'm really looking forward to the end of all of our recent problems.

Stunning Athena and brother Banjo look German shepherd-ish

I'm still playing catch-up with my Lamma dogs and their need for license and rabies vaccination updates, although thankfully coming to the end of the list.  Not having had a van for so long meant prioritising, and sick dogs that had to see a vet or puppies that were due vaccinations jumped the queue.  With no other appointments today I was able to get five dogs to AFCD in Pokfulam for license renewal, and that pretty much took up the whole afternoon as it's once again the season for very low tides and boats not being able to reach the end of the pier, so timing is vital.

Amos is still in need of a home, and the small ears indicate that he is part sharpei

A subject came up today that has been controversial since it was first introduced in 2007, and that is dog DNA testing.  I know many adopters of mixed or multibreeds wonder what the genetic make-up of their dog is and decide to have it tested.  Having seen the results of the early DNA tests here in Hong Kong I came to the conclusion that they were totally unreliable and a waste of money, and even now I remain as sceptical as ever when it comes to determining local mongrels and their heritage.  A dog's breed mix can only be identified if that particular breed has been entered into the database, and whereas in the United States, for example, the pit bull will show up as a common ancestor that would be highly unlikely in Hong Kong where the sharpei gene would dominate.  In Australia the popular breeds are again different, and the genetic make-up of mixes may even show the native dingo, a breed unknown in other parts of the world.   A quick Google search came up with similar results, each saying that different DNA-testing companies would show varying results:

 "Tests also differ in the number of breeds available for comparison. Mars Veterinary interrogates the genetic signatures of more than 130 of the 159 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC).* MMI Genomics recently announced the XL version of their test, which has a database of more than 100 breeds. The breed list available for BioPet Vet Lab contains 58 breeds. DNA Print Genomics does not report specific breed matches; rather, “15 elements of dog ancestry” are revealed, and the customer performs a search of the company’s online database to identify matches to particular breeds. Since each test interrogates a different set of breeds, sending your dog’s sample to more than one company may not return identical results".

To be honest I don't know if there is a database of specific breeds common to Hong Kong or South East Asia which would give any sort of reliable DNA test result, but unless there is and you have your dog tested locally I'm still of the opinion that testing is too random and unreliable to bother with.