Are you surprised?! We were too!
When Ashley and Jacob heard about seven 8-week-old puppies that had been dumped in Durant, Oklahoma, their hearts were immediately touched. When they shared the news with Ashley’s parents, Craig and Susan, Craig fell in love with one particular pup—Charlie. It was love at first sight! That same weekend, Craig and Susan drove to Oklahoma to scoop up the sweet boy. Not long after, Ashley and Jacob followed suit, bringing home Doc just a couple of weeks later.
Since Charlie and Doc were the same age and had been found together, it was natural to assume they were siblings—but they looked nothing alike. Because a single litter of puppies can have multiple fathers, we suspected they might be half siblings. But nope—turns out these two are full siblings! We were so surprised that we just had to share their story—and talk about why we love dog DNA testing.
When you check out the full results of their DNA testing, you’ll notice that while they are very similar, there are some differences in their breed make-up. Did you know that even when two pups have the exact same mom and dad, they don’t get identical sets of DNA. Just like human siblings, they each inherit a mix of genes, and that mix isn’t distributed evenly. So:
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One pup might pick up more of the “Great Pyrenees” DNA from dad.
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The littermate might lean heavier on the “Chihuahua” DNA from mom.
That’s why DNA tests can show different breed percentages for littermates, even though the parents are the same. It also explains how full sibling puppies can look dramatically different.
Knowing your dog’s genetic and breed makeup isn’t just interesting—it can also be incredibly insightful and helpful. Understanding who your pup is unlocks so much of their potential! Many of our trainers at What a Great Dog! are certified Family Dog Mediators, and we’re big fans of the program.
From the Family Dog Mediation website:
As a culture, as humanity, we have simply forgotten who our dogs are, the history that we share with them, and the cornerstone natural laws that dictate the behaviors of all life on Earth. “Behavior problems,” common as they are in dogs these days, are unnatural. “Behavior problems” tell us that something is terribly wrong beneath the surface. Understanding—not more training—is the missing key to helping them. If we don’t understand something, then we will have the wrong expectations about it, and that will lead to frustration when it doesn’t work the way we expect it to.
If you’ve ever worked with one of our FDM-certified trainers, you know exactly what we’re talking about. We believe that understanding is everything. It helps us create realistic expectations, choose the right enrichment activities, and gain insight into why our pups behave the way they do.
The Family Dog Mediator framework organizes dogs into 10 categories based on the jobs they were historically developed to do. For example, Border Collies fall into the Herding group because they were bred to assist with herding livestock.
The groups include:
- Bulldogs
- Guardians
- Gun Dogs
- Herding
- Natural Dogs
- Scent Hounds
- Sight Hounds
- Terriers
- Toy Dogs
- World Dogs
While every dog is a unique individual, these groups provide a general framework of characteristics you might expect. Take the Border Collie again—these dogs were shaped over more than a century of selective breeding for intelligence, high drive, and boundless energy. So when we hear about a Border Collie “herding the grandkids,” it’s not surprising at all! That’s part of what they were bred to do. But with the right training and enrichment, we can teach them more appropriate outlets for those natural genetic tendencies—and help them thrive in family life.
So if you’ve ever been curious about your dog’s genetic makeup, we highly recommend checking it out! Some of the more popular options include Wisdom Panel or Embark!