r/DoggyDNA 9d ago

Am I tripping? Discussion

So we got our new puppy a couple of months ago. They told us he was Anatolian, which I didn't believe. But I definitely wasn't expecting him to be predominantly Husky. Am I tripping to think it's very wrong on the Husky part of things? Sure, I can see most of the other breeds, some of which I guessed before the results. But mainly Husky?? Something seems off to me lol

He's also 80 pounds at 10 months old, and Embark lists his estimated adult weight of 66 pounds.

321 Upvotes

u/AutoModerator 9d ago

Welcome to r/DoggyDNA, the subreddit for dog DNA test discussion and results.


RULE 1: ONLY POST BREED ID REQUESTS IF YOU HAVE STARTED A DNA TEST.

RULE 2: BE NICE TO EACH OTHER.

RULE 3: FLAIR YOUR POST. "NEEDS UPDATE" IS FOR PRE-RESULT POSTS.

RULE 4: IF YOU HAVE RESULTS FOR YOUR DOG, POST THE RESULTS IN YOUR THREAD.

Report rulebreakers and enjoy the dogs.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

229

u/WarmWoolenMitten 9d ago

Embark is the most accurate out there, and he's very mixed. I'd also point out that huskies (especially ones not specifically bred for show) don't have a lot of highly distinctive traits that would show up in a mix. They're fairly generic dogs - the biggest trait that often shows up in pitskies is the erect ears, but again with this many breeds in the mix with all kinds of different ears it's easy to get anything.

The estimated weights are typically pretty good, but plenty are off by a lot. There are a lot of genes that go into determining size and Embark certainly hasn't found all of them yet!

59

u/Cnidoo 8d ago

The dog is fairly overweight too. His healthy weight is probably close to 65

17

u/Whycantboyscry 8d ago

I agree. This dog appears to be 10-12 lbs overweight. Even a dog with thick bone should still be leaner with a tuck. My Rottweiler has a very nice tuck at 80 lbs.

5

u/Reinboordt 8d ago

Keeping the big dogs lean is always the way to go. A lot of weight bragging amongst giant breed owners these days. Sounds like you have a beautiful dog.

Here’s my girl on the right you can see her physique, she’s a Saint Bernard, Neapolitan, cane corso and bullmastiff mix. Nice and lean!

https://preview.redd.it/ir72rqq3ftae1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e9550264e41a5fe9a7ff03864df7b16a0160bc9

3

u/Whycantboyscry 8d ago

https://preview.redd.it/z5sfjb5tjtae1.jpeg?width=746&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05a96d27374aa5b568bc4fb5b98d67f7938abcd2

Interesting mix & beautiful dog! Sounds extremely protective. Here’s my rott. We’re working on muscling up her hind. Keeping weight off of big dogs is really good for their joints as well.

2

u/Reinboordt 8d ago

She’s a little hyper vigilant over sounds, she barks at anything lol. Otherwise she’s a very loving and easy going dog. Excellent off switch, she’s happy to lounge all day or go on a hike.

Your dog looks beautiful! Unfortunately you see a lot of overweight rotties because many people assume they’re supposed to look that way. Your dog has a good snout also, not too squished (hypertype, I think they call it) Great job on the body conditioning, my girl is pretty muscly considering she spends a lot of time sleeping on the couch lol

https://preview.redd.it/cv127gzyntae1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f63021e13ec18741edd316331fa6beec7bb59dd6

3

u/alokasia 7d ago

Same goes for small dogs! The amount of overweight frenchies and chihuahuas out there is heartbreaking.

1

u/Reinboordt 7d ago

You know what, I didn’t think of that but you are completely right

2

u/poochiejefferson 8d ago

Yeah both those dogs are overweight.

2

u/Grey_Centre 8d ago

Hmmm I don’t know about that, esp going from the pics. And at 28% overall mastiff and who knows what in the supermutt cluster I think he’s may well be in the right range weight wise. Looks healthy enough in the photos

15

u/Cnidoo 8d ago

You’d need a side profile and a top down view to be sure but pic 3 shows a lack of tuck, and his ribs aren’t visible in a single shot. With his coat type the last 3 ribs should be visible, which seems crazy to most people in the us who are used to our population of 80% overweight dogs and see a healthy one as “abused”

1

u/GigiLaRousse 8d ago

My girl is at her lightest adult weight at 91lbs. Embark guessed 65lbs. It knew she'd have rear dew claws and her coat colour.

178

u/emily_lyon 9d ago

Loving that you’re tripping over the husky aspect and not the dogue de Bordeaux

36

u/LenaMacarena 8d ago

I adopted what was supposed to be an Anatolian as well: Dogue de Bordeaux, Mastiff, GSD, Boxer per Wisdom Panel. Was not thick like this guy at all, but well over 100 lbs. The GSD did a lot of work in creating a leaner body type and non-blocky head.

1

u/oleyka 8d ago

Oh, interesting! I thought Anatolian as well. Wondering if it's possible that Embark does not test for Anatolian, or if they have too narrow of a sample (from too few of existing lines?), and simp[ly do not recognize part-Anatolians from other lineages... and so they distribute the Anatolian DNA across multiple other breeds?

28

u/Powerstroke_73 9d ago

Given his size and muscle tone, some sort of Mastiff wasn't a shock to us at all.

80

u/emily_lyon 9d ago

As you get more familiar with the doggy DNA page, you’ll realize just how uncommon it is to have rare dog breed mutts but for some reason people always are convinced they have a duck tolling retriever or something when it’s really just a DIY golden. Bully, mastiff, sure. But having actual dogue de Bordeaux mixed up in there is WILD (and super cool)

6

u/chouldntbehere 8d ago

Yeah I thought I had a pit lab because everyone said so but her mannerisms told me different, my girl is a hound threw and threw. Britney 16% pitbull 12% and 58% pointer. She's a beaut. Looks like a pointer acts like a pitbull.

1

u/Global-Painting6154 8d ago

I'd believe Bordeaux before husky

154

u/EmmaEsme22 9d ago

Look at it backwards, your dog is over 70% NOT a Husky.

Also, they look accurate, I saw the Mastiff and Dogue right away.

82

u/Cloistered_Lobster 9d ago

This. The dog isn’t predominantly husky, he’s predominantly NOT husky.

26

u/human-ish_ 9d ago

Exactly. 28.1% is not predominant in any way.

12

u/fallopianmelodrama 8d ago

This lol. How is 28% "mainly" husky?

10

u/jackieO2023 9d ago

That’s what I was thinking, too. I see no Husky at all.

51

u/Starlady174 9d ago

Without knowing your dog's size, I would have guessed pitsky. I'm assuming your pup is much larger than the pittie would bring, on account of the mastiff. Husky is probably accurate though!

13

u/Powerstroke_73 9d ago

He does have some pit in his super mutt category. I had guessed that based off of his head shape

30

u/Difficult-Froyo1192 9d ago

Nah the pug is the most trippy part there. Huskies are very good at not contributing a lot looks wise. It tends to be more subtle contributions that are easy to over look. He looks almost exactly what I guessed (did not guess Dogue specifically or pug). I’ve seen a lot of low percent pugs appearing in mostly larger mixes with bully/mastiff predominantly in them lately though. Not sure why but I guess pugs have been getting around

It’s a kinda weird explanation but the subtle shade shift and lighter colors usually are what indicates a husky may be there. They’re fairly common crosses, especially in dogs this color. The tail also has a more spitz look which is what kinda confirms the suspicion

33

u/kmo986 8d ago

The thing is he’s not “mainly husky.” He’s 28% husky. He’s 72% NOT husky. He’s a highly mixed dog so while husky may be the highest percentage of his dna, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the contributing dna to main parts of his appearance. Browse this sub long enough and you’ll see plenty of examples of smaller percentages of dna doing heavier lifting in terms of appearance than larger percentages.

24

u/Collies_and_Skates 8d ago

He looks a little heavy (and the red dog in the photo behind him looks overweight from that angle as well) What does your vet think about his weight?

47

u/calvin-coolidge 9d ago

Please tell everyone he’s a husky pug mix

8

u/Powerstroke_73 9d ago

Not a bad idea! 🤣

3

u/Zealousideal_Play847 9d ago

I see what you did there 😂

11

u/Majestic_Recording_5 9d ago

It seems correct to me.

12

u/jimmyjams_ 9d ago

If you ignore the head, his body shape/color/fur look almost identical to my 44% husky mix!

10

u/troseo 8d ago

Have y'all ever gotten your other dog tested? Super curious as they look like an older version of our dog!

https://preview.redd.it/ubg06wycloae1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfc1f87840f5b3f36bad77ba97be82a1ab3c2dca

12

u/Powerstroke_73 8d ago

Yes, we got them tested at the same time. Very much a boxer, but we didn't guess any of the others lol.

https://preview.redd.it/n9ll2lyemoae1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01f6d4d5b86712ac11c5d01fa2577b77d34d8836

4

u/troseo 8d ago

That is so cool! We need to get Chavel tested too!

11

u/ThrowRA47910 8d ago

Husky shows up first as a highest percentage breed, sure, but he's not 'predominantly husky'. There's a whole ~71.9% other stuff that ISN'T husky going on there.

What's in the supermutt?

19

u/kerfluffles_b 9d ago

Anatolian Shepherd is a weirdly common guess for dogs that are similar to this color pattern, but anatolians aren’t common (generally) and guessing by color is basically the worst way to guess (generally).

Your dog doesn’t look like an Anatolian Shepherd Dog — everything from the shape of his face and ears to his structure and coat length is just not what an Anatolian looks like.

9

u/Financial-Bobcat-612 9d ago

Looks very husky in the eyes, but like a husky mix! This makes perfect sense to me lol

7

u/Hopeful_Edge7652 9d ago

no that looks perfectly right but just too crazy of a mix for me to guess tbh

7

u/TommyScraps 8d ago

Well, with the huge mash of breeds, he could range anywhere between pug and mastiff. I’m mostly sure he’s way past pug size, lol! The husky is still just a small amount and it could only be apparent through behaviors.

For his looks, I think he’s mostly inherited from GSD, Dogue de Bordeaux and mastiffs/pugs. I can’t recall the exact mastiff, but like the average pug with the tan body and the darker muzzles and ears. They look like more giant, more wrinkled st Bernard’s.

5

u/Jdjel 8d ago

I have a boxer husky mix who looks fairly similar and she’s closer to 50% husky/malamute so absolutely I think your results are pretty accurate

7

u/Secret_Parking1168 9d ago

I would think some pittie, but genetics are weird

4

u/Powerstroke_73 9d ago

There is pit in his super mutt category!

3

u/CharleyDawg 9d ago

I would have guessed a Pit box, but I can see husky mix in the tail and bum fur. I gre up with tons of husky mixes and it shows up in odd places. I actually think the pug does show a little in the face bristles. 🤣 I guess size comes from Dogue du Bordeaux. What a great combo.

3

u/ZeroDudeMan 8d ago

Lol the Pug!! 🤣

3

u/bwikae 8d ago

My mutt rescue pup is 31% heeler and 18% Chihuahua and doesn't particularly resemble either of them, but he has such a wide breed variety in his lineage it makes sense. It happens! 30% isn't a lot I guess!

3

u/Greedy_Group2251 8d ago

You’re tripping for sure!

3

u/jurassicslug 8d ago edited 8d ago

He’s really a mastiff mix (if you add all the mastiff breeds - the mastiff, DdB and rottie it’s c. 40%, plus pugs are like mini wrinkly mastiffs at a stretch!) which I think is consistent with the way he looks and his big fat head 😂 - very handsome boy!

Husky (maybe pug!) has added some lighter colouring and looks like he’s gotten a deeper double coat than most mastiff-types (rotties are double coated but the general mastiff /DdB is shorter coated), probably coming from husky/gsd.

I think his colouring is the most surprising - he doesn’t have black/tan markings from the GSD/rottie which tend to push through quite strongly in mixes - but could have been a white shepherd I guess? Or maybe a lighter kind of cream English mastiff

2

u/Silly_punkk 9d ago

Genetics are weird, and sometimes the tiniest percentages can influence big parts of the dogs appearance. Embark guesses the average weight based on a mathematical formula, but the mastiff in his mix could absolutely be why he's so big.

2

u/Bobbiduke 8d ago

This redditor that posted earlier today also has a predominantly husky dog that doesn't look husky

https://www.reddit.com/r/DoggyDNA/s/4mgClLrrC2

It's one of the breeds whose traits get overshadowed by other breeds pretty often. Both my dogs have 20% husky and 40% German shepherds, yet they are 100 and 120 lbs. They are only 7% and 12% St. Bernard which is where they got their size from.

2

u/TheGoodOne81 8d ago

It's only 28% in the husky so I wouldn't expect for strong physical traits.

2

u/Frequent-Big-2662 8d ago

I can see the husky a bit but the big thing would be how his personality is.

He looks a lot like our little girl we adopted. She’s two with an unknown history. We’re waiting on Embark results but believe she has husky in her based on her distinct wailing/cries and also a pit 😂 all we know for certain is she’s 100% a cootie patootie just like you’re little pup

https://preview.redd.it/t16i0xy36tae1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9be3616226a019b5c4dadcc1f6f6af12f325c971

2

u/hgracep 8d ago

be careful with his weight, he’s starting to look a little too heavy and i see your other dog in the background is significantly overweight.

2

u/DesperateWin3227 8d ago

Before I even wiped past the first photo I said “definitely husky in there” lol. I read one comment once and it stuck with me, to apply that here; this dog is still 72% not husky.

2

u/partyinplatypus 8d ago

That dog is not predominantly Husky, it is 28% Husky. We really need to do more statistical education in this country

-2

u/Powerstroke_73 8d ago

0

u/partyinplatypus 8d ago

I love AI for stuff like art but people replacing critical thinking with chat bots will be the end of society.

0

u/Powerstroke_73 8d ago

I actually understand the definition of predominantly, that's why I used it in my OP. I just used it as a reference since you think you're superior to everyone.

1

u/MayBAmy 8d ago

I've been on the DoggyDNA sub for only a few weeks yet I am shocked at how many dogs have Husky in them, and often a good dose.

WHY?

I don't think I've ever even seen one outside of a dog show in my area (New England). All of my rescues have come from down south, are they that prevalent down there? They're not even a southern breed, typically! They must be the horniest dogs on the planet?

It seems they are right up there with Pibbles percentage-wise. I've been so surprised at how many 'BCs' are actually husky mixes, and faux GSDs too. Whatever is going on?

9

u/frustratedcuriosity 8d ago

It's more that they are escape artists and people want a dog that "looks like a wolf" without realizing they need a lot of time and effort to keep happy, so they end up letting them go if they get out.

I'm in CA and a quick Petfinder search shows there are over 1200 purebred huskies up for adoption within a hundred miles of me. Just on my block there are 6 huskies (not including my own husky mix!)

6

u/MayBAmy 8d ago

Must be the different areas of the country - here, we have Labs galore, Pibbles, and lots of Goldens. We don't have stray dogs running loose - we just don't - so not too many super-mutt, multi-mixes around here.

We adopted what my son calls our 'Bootleg Border Collie' who's DNA is currently out for processing. Not only does he look like one, he herds, has the BC 'eye', all the physical traits, coat, coloration...and he's probably a Husky too. Lol.

3

u/frustratedcuriosity 8d ago

I was definitely hoping my husky mix was actually an Aussie mix 🤣 she's an absolute nutcase but I was in denial

7

u/emily_lyon 8d ago

West coast is rife with huskies. Used to work at a spay neuter center in the Bay Area. We had a discount program for chihuahuas and pit bulls because they were the most common breed to end up in a shelter. Two years ago they ended up switching the program— now they offer discounts to huskies, shepherds and pits. Check out the website of any state or city run shelter in the Bay Area. It’s all huskies and shepherds

2

u/MayBAmy 8d ago

So odd. They're not known to be easy dogs, they shed like a mofo, their energy level is off the charts, and they suffer in hot weather. Why so many in CA? It boggles the mind.

7

u/emily_lyon 8d ago

Nope, it’s a horrible idea all around! But they’re pretty and that’s often the extent of the thought put into it. Don’t even get me started on the French bulldog problem in California 🫠 where the average lifespan for that breed is now 4 years! Can’t even begin to tell you the horror stories I’ve seen working in a vet ER

2

u/BigBerthaCarrotTop 8d ago

I’m 2 hours outside the bay and we started seeing that shift about 7 years ago in our shelters. Still a lot of pit/bully breed mixes, but huskies, GSDs, and even Belgian Malinois are matching their numbers. Way less small dogs now than when I started 13 years ago too.

1

u/Reinboordt 8d ago

The mastiff breeds (dogue de Bordeaux,mastiff& Rottweiler) are greater than the % of husky, and it really shows. The combo of husky and mastiff one of them has to win out lol.

Very interesting combo and I’m sure a healthy one too.

Please come over to the mastiff subreddit and post your baby some time!

1

u/m0mmyneedsabeer 8d ago

My mother in law adopted a black puppy with some white on her legs and chest, very short sleek coat. She turned out to be 33% Great Pyrenees

1

u/Secret_Parking1168 4d ago

It's weird how genetics works. But really, the husky percentage level is not that much higher than the super mutt

0

u/21stcenturyghost 9d ago

I would have guessed mostly pit!

0

u/royalgalaxyx 8d ago

Those Pit Bull genes are always strong

-1

u/danvapes_ 8d ago

American village dog I bet

-2

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Whycantboyscry 8d ago

The dog is only 18%