What is the oldest known breed of dog in the world?
Posted by DNA Guru in 
Q. What is the oldest known breed of dog in the world? – Tom, West Bloomfield, Michigan
A. There are fourteen contenders for the title of “oldest breed.” Dogs, as we know them today, are descendants of domesticated wolves. DNA research was conducted to determine which dog breeds had the most common ‘genetic fingerprints’ to wolves.
The fourteen “ancient breeds” identified are:
- Afghan Hound
- Akita
- Alaskan Malamute
- Basenji
- Chow Chow
- Lhasa Apso
- Pekingese
- Saluki
- Samoyed
- Shar-pei
- Shiba Inu
- Shih Tzu
- Siberian Husky
- Tibetan Terrier
This research was reported in the article “Genetic Structure of the Purebred Domestic Dog” in the journal Science, Volume 304, on May 21, 2004.
Why are some pit bulls 30 pounds and some 100+?
Q. Why are some pit bulls 30 pounds and some 100+? – Brandon, Des Moines, Iowa
A. The primary determinant of a dog’s adult size is its genes. Common Pit Bulls, as opposed to show dogs, are often interbred with other breeds to increase their size and/or aggressiveness. As a result, many Pit Bulls are a mix of 2 or 3 breeds. Some breeders have bred them to Bull Mastiffs or Presa Canarios to get a bigger dog. A true (purebred) pit bull is actually an American Staffordshire or the American Pit Bull Terrier variant, and is going to be about 45-60 lbs. It is possible with cross breeding or inbreeding to create Pit Bull-like dogs of almost any size.
DNA Testing – Wolf Hybrids?
Q. We believe we have a wolf hybrid dog. We read that you don’t currently have wolf listed as one of the “breeds” in the test list. Is it reasonable to assume that the ‘no match’ portion of his genes in the breed results would be his percentage of wolf blood? Sean, Sandpoint, Idaho
A. Sean -
Sadly, there are a lot of unscrupulous people who sell various mixed-breed dogs as wolf hybrids in the pursuit of easy money. Generally, most of these dogs are not actually wolf hybrids. In checking with several wolf experts who are often asked to identify these dogs, we heard that as many as three-quarters of the wolf hybrids they examine are not really wolf hybrids.
Generally, a DNA breed test on a wolf hybrid will show only the percentage of the Dog’s genes that map to a breed on our list. So it may only show a level 2 or 3 or 4 of the dog breed, but will not identify the wolf genes in any way. So if the dog is actually a wolf hybrid and we only identify a third of the dog’s genes, it is possible that the balance is mostly wolf. More likely, the balance could be a mix of dogs either not on the list or found in very small percentages.
There are a handful of visual cues that usually can help identify wolf dog hybrids. Yellow eyes and oversize canine teeth are the two easiest traits to use to identify a hybrid. You won’t likely see any true hybrids with brown eyes or average size fangs. Behavior is the other, particularly behavior towards other dogs. (territoriality, prey drive)
-DNA Guru
Interpreting Breed Test Results (1)
Q. We just got our dog Buster’s breed test results back and we’re not sure how to interpret the results. The test results only showed Level 3 Boxer and Level 4 Lab. Does this mean he’s half Boxer and half Lab? – Gina, Madison, Wisconsin
A. Gina – Although your test results only show 2 breeds, this doesn’t really mean that your dog is half Boxer and half Lab. What this report tells you about Buster is that about one-third of your dog’s breed trait gene’s match the breed profile for Boxer and roughly one-fifth of your dog’s breed trait genes match the breed profile for Labrador Retriever. In other words, the breed test was able to identify just about half of your dog’s genes that determine breed traits. The remaining half were not identifiable due to one of two reasons. Either the remaining breeds in your dog were not part of the test (list) breed database, or more likely, the other breeds in your dog were found in such small percentages that these were not significant enough to be reliable as breed indicators.
-DNA Guru
Why isn’t Pit Bull on the Breed List?
This is a question we get quite frequently here at Apex DNA HQ. There are a few reasons for this.
First, let’s look at the breed itself. There is probably no more controversial breed than Pit Bulls. They have come under fire in many communities who want to ban the breed because of reports of a few individual dogs who have become problematic and draw a lot of attention. Because of this, some DNA labs have made a decision to exclude Pit Bulls from their test database as they don’t want to be responsible for a dog’s death sentence if the dog happens be in an area where the dogs have been banned.
Ask the DNA Guru
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