| Someone who's been following this blog for a while might remember this Mad Blogger mentioning her two beloved pups Malcolm and Cinco. After they both went over the Rainbow Bridge, I adopted Otis. His papers said he was a Great Pyrenees mix, but he looked like a long-legged yellow lab mix to me. So I got a doggy DNA kit and sent in a swab. Turns out, he is a Great Pyrenees mix! He has two purebred parents - Doberman for his mom, Great Pyrenees for his dad. And while this mix doesn't seem to be recognized as one of those designer doohickies (no offense), Otis is part of a small, but growing, Great Dobernees clan. |  Otis & Kat |
I found the whole thing fascinating. And when it comes to Alaskan Husky sled dogs, my sisters had always told me that they're largely descended from a long line of arctic breeds - like the Malamute, Siberian, or even Greenland dog, with little dabs of lab, border collie, or even hound mixed in. "Travel to an Alaskan village," they said. "Kat... those dogs. The best of those dogs." Glorified mutts defined more by a desire to run and tolerance for the cold than by who they're descended from. But what exactly were they, and where did they come from?!
So I had the bright idea of getting the twins a doggy DNA test for Christmas. No strings attached... they were free to pick whichever dog they wanted to know more about. A dog-father like Jonah - with Seeing Double from the beginning, or a dog they purchased, or one they bred more recently. There was a fair bit of debate, but they ultimately chose Twister.
Twister and his litter mates ~ Atari, Tonka, Hotwheels, YoYo, Jigsaw, Slinky, and Rubiks ~ make up the Toy Litter and were born to Fog on May 31, 2021. Momma Fog is a Seeing Double dog and is running on Anna's Iditarod team this year. The dad of the litter is Rawhide, a dog owned by a fellow musher and friend and is also the Lead Dog champ of the Kobuk 440 sled dog race. Kristy and Anna see a lot of potential in Fog, and Rawhide has already proven himself to be an exceptional sled dog. By extension, their litter of pups has great promise.
Twister is now about full grown and is used to his harness, looking forward to a chance to run. He's been on some shorter runs with veteran dogs and the twins really like what they see. Given that the doggy DNA test this Mad Blogger chose includes a wide variety of genetic health screens, picking Twister to give a sample made good sense. They'd learn more about him and his siblings, a group of dogs that could be like their Muppet litter, B-Squad, or Trouble litters... the next generation of amazing dogs that epitomize an Alaskan Husky with their ability and love to run.
The whole process was simple - nothing more than a cheek swab for Twister so-many hours after his last meal, mailing it in, and waiting. And the results, my friends, were worth waiting for.
Twister is an Alaskan Husky. Any dribs or drabs of "recognized" breeds were too small to detect. His ancestors were village dogs that gravitated to humans thousands of years ago and were subsequently brought all over the world, although his genetic heritage ties most closely to the ancient dog ancestors that first inhabited Alaska and lived with Alaskan Natives. Twister's genes go back to "long before there were any recognized dog breeds... Twister 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." (Per the Embark DNA Test Report.)
The test that was used, made by Embark, claims to have the most thorough Village Dog reference panel publicly available today, and I have no reason to doubt the results. I only say that, as it wasn't what I was expecting. I anticipated a chart with X% this and Y% that, with a hair of W% and a touch of Z%, with the Xs and Ys arctic breeds I had read about or seen in an AKC dog show. Oh no. We're going back to before... before breeds and bedazzled collars. Before kennel clubs and doodles. We're going back to when humans needed dogs, dogs more recently descending from wolves needed humans, and there was a long way to go in the cold.
It may seem a cliche, but these dogs are where the phrase "born to run" came from. Thousands of years of evolution in a partnership with humans with a goal of moving from point A to point B no matter what Mother Nature throws at you. In the cold? Sure. Colder? Even better. Yes, they're dogs that like tasty snacks and belly rubs and butt scratch. They take naps in the sun and when they work too hard they can get tired or sore. But don't claim a well-cared for Iditarod dog doesn't like what he or she is doing. If anything, they don't like it - they love it.
This is exactly what Joe Redington Sr. was after when he worked with Dorothy G. Page to start the Iditarod in the first place. Yes, it honors the Diphtheria Run of 1925. But I believe the roots of their dream are as long as the ancestral trees of the Alaskan Husky. I believe all they wanted was to see these amazing canine athletes continue to do what they love.
So I had the bright idea of getting the twins a doggy DNA test for Christmas. No strings attached... they were free to pick whichever dog they wanted to know more about. A dog-father like Jonah - with Seeing Double from the beginning, or a dog they purchased, or one they bred more recently. There was a fair bit of debate, but they ultimately chose Twister.
Twister and his litter mates ~ Atari, Tonka, Hotwheels, YoYo, Jigsaw, Slinky, and Rubiks ~ make up the Toy Litter and were born to Fog on May 31, 2021. Momma Fog is a Seeing Double dog and is running on Anna's Iditarod team this year. The dad of the litter is Rawhide, a dog owned by a fellow musher and friend and is also the Lead Dog champ of the Kobuk 440 sled dog race. Kristy and Anna see a lot of potential in Fog, and Rawhide has already proven himself to be an exceptional sled dog. By extension, their litter of pups has great promise.
Twister is now about full grown and is used to his harness, looking forward to a chance to run. He's been on some shorter runs with veteran dogs and the twins really like what they see. Given that the doggy DNA test this Mad Blogger chose includes a wide variety of genetic health screens, picking Twister to give a sample made good sense. They'd learn more about him and his siblings, a group of dogs that could be like their Muppet litter, B-Squad, or Trouble litters... the next generation of amazing dogs that epitomize an Alaskan Husky with their ability and love to run.
The whole process was simple - nothing more than a cheek swab for Twister so-many hours after his last meal, mailing it in, and waiting. And the results, my friends, were worth waiting for.
Twister is an Alaskan Husky. Any dribs or drabs of "recognized" breeds were too small to detect. His ancestors were village dogs that gravitated to humans thousands of years ago and were subsequently brought all over the world, although his genetic heritage ties most closely to the ancient dog ancestors that first inhabited Alaska and lived with Alaskan Natives. Twister's genes go back to "long before there were any recognized dog breeds... Twister 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." (Per the Embark DNA Test Report.)
The test that was used, made by Embark, claims to have the most thorough Village Dog reference panel publicly available today, and I have no reason to doubt the results. I only say that, as it wasn't what I was expecting. I anticipated a chart with X% this and Y% that, with a hair of W% and a touch of Z%, with the Xs and Ys arctic breeds I had read about or seen in an AKC dog show. Oh no. We're going back to before... before breeds and bedazzled collars. Before kennel clubs and doodles. We're going back to when humans needed dogs, dogs more recently descending from wolves needed humans, and there was a long way to go in the cold.
It may seem a cliche, but these dogs are where the phrase "born to run" came from. Thousands of years of evolution in a partnership with humans with a goal of moving from point A to point B no matter what Mother Nature throws at you. In the cold? Sure. Colder? Even better. Yes, they're dogs that like tasty snacks and belly rubs and butt scratch. They take naps in the sun and when they work too hard they can get tired or sore. But don't claim a well-cared for Iditarod dog doesn't like what he or she is doing. If anything, they don't like it - they love it.
This is exactly what Joe Redington Sr. was after when he worked with Dorothy G. Page to start the Iditarod in the first place. Yes, it honors the Diphtheria Run of 1925. But I believe the roots of their dream are as long as the ancestral trees of the Alaskan Husky. I believe all they wanted was to see these amazing canine athletes continue to do what they love.
 Fog giving birth to the Toy Litter, May 2021.  One of the twins get a cheek swab from Twister for his DNA sample. |  The Next Generation - Twister and the rest of the Toy Litter.  Twister - Sassy Pose |
Excerpts from Twister's DNA Test Report:
Twister is an "Alaskan-Type Husky".
Where Twister's mom, Fog, and her ancestors came from.
Where Rawhide, Twister's dad, and his ancestors orginated.
