And The Winner Is...

Well, um, hmmm... about 50 dogpeople got one of our breeds right... and a few dogpeople got two of our breeds right... even if they guessed different breeds from the other guessers... but, nobody got three or four of our breeds right.

So dogmom is in a quandry... she doesn't know who to declare as winner of our favorite things basket... everybody who got two right ... (I mean, that's 50% right ... and as you know from reading our blog if you're half right about us, you're doing pretty good...) or everybody... or um, making us wait some more.

Even dogmom didn't guess more than half right, and she LIVES with us ... and has for seven years now! So... what should we do? Pick one of these and vote in the comments... dogmom says "Dogs rule!"

• Wait until the expanded breed test results come back this fall.
• Randomly draw a winner from anybody who guessed half right.
• Randomly draw a winner from anybody who guessed at all.

Ok - you can vote with your comments over the next couple of days...

MEANWHILE...

Here's what the DNA test shows is in us:

OPIE:

• American Staffordshire Terrier
• Chihuahua
• Beagle
• Poodle

Dogmom says that explains his love of children, his penchant for wearing clothes, and his taste for exotic foods...

GOMER:

• Pug
• Whippet
• Beagle
• Cocker Spaniel

Dogmom says that explains... well, that doesn't explain much. Since the Labrador that's pretty obvious didn't show up, they are going to retest Gomer in the fall, when they refine the test to look for American, British or German Labrador history.

Dogmom says that she believes the science behind the test is sound. She exchanged emails with people at the company, and they do hundreds of thousands of DNA tests each year... even though releasing the availability of testing to the general public only started in February this year.

But, she recommends that if you want to do the test on your mixed-breed dog, that you wait until the expanded breeds test is available this fall. At that point, they will be testing for 100 of the 151 AKC breeds instead of 38. They are constantly adding new breeds as they are able to verify them -- which is why American Staffordshire Terrier showed up in Opie even though it wasn't one of the listed verified breeds -- but the full 100 won't be available for a few months.

They also found the "glitch" in Labrador DNA by testing "purebred" Labradors and noticing some of the tests did not show Labrador DNA. Turns out, they were only testing for American Labrador DNA and there are three strains of Labradors in the U.S. - American, British and German.

So... Tosca can stop biting her foot... the results are in!

Wuf Ya!

Vote... And Pics from the Humane Society Walk

Don't forget to click the link at the left (or in yesterday's post) to vote in the contest to guess what breeds are in us. You could win a basket filled with our favorite things! (Or, if you don't have a K9 in your house, you could win a basket of dogmom's favorite things!)

In the meantime, we thought you might like to look at some of the pictures we took last weekend at the Carver-Scott Humane Society Walk to Unite Pets and People. We went and we looked at all the booths and met some of the dogs, but we didn't actually walk very far because Gomer's leg was still hurting him and he was limping a lot.

(BTW, he seems to be doing much better now!)

Anyways, here you go. Enjoy! (Click on the photos to see full size.)

And don't forget to vote!

Wuf Ya!

We Interrupt This Blog... (UPDATE)

For an important announcement...

Dogmom got our DNA test results in the mail yesterday!

Since nobody guessed correctly (ahem, including her) ... she's launching another survey to guess what breeds are in us.

That's right, not just Opie... but in Gomer, too. She apparently really wants to give away some of the dog treats and chew bones and toys that she bought...

You can click here to guess: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?90B4D8C592D7C7.

Or, you can click the button at the top of our blog.

She said to tell you some hints...

• At least one breed that would appear pretty obvious is missing from each of our results.
• At least one surprising breed is listed in each of our results.
• Both of us have four breeds listed as "in the mix."
• Neither of us has a "primary breed" that makes up 50% or more of us.
• Neither of us has a "secondary breed" that is prevalent and makes up less than 50% of us.

So - click the link... guess four breeds for each of us... and we'll see if anybody can figure us out.

(Dogmom says good luck with that... after seven years, she still hasn't figured us out!)

You have until Monday night, May 28, to guess -- so tell all your friends, too, so they don't miss out!

Wuf Ya!

UPDATE - WE JUST RECEIVED CONFIRMATION FROM THE DNA TESTING COMPANY THAT ONE OF THE BREEDS IN OPIE WAS NOT ON THE ORIGINAL LIST OF BREEDS VERIFIED... SO IF YOU'VE JUST VOTED... PLEASE VOTE AGAIN, AS DOGMOM HAS ADDED THE OTHER BREEDS TESTED TO THE SURVEY LIST.

What Breed of Dog is Your Human?

Welcome to Friday Fun Day... which means we don't have anything specific to bark about, so we're making something up or stealing from somedog else...

That, and we're STILL waiting to find out what breed Opie is.

Dogmom has had this link in her arsenal for a long time... help your human(s) to figure out how to take the quiz and post your findings in our comments section. We wanna see what kind of dogs you're all living with.

Our dogmom is a Great Dane. Here's the link:

discover your dog breed @ quiz meme

What's your human?
Wuf Ya!

What Breed Is Opie Contest!

Yo... Opie here. So, we're having this silly contest to see if anybody in dogblogland can guess what breed I am before my DNA test results come back. To quote Tosca, "Harrummmppphhh!" Like it matters what breed I am. I'm cute and I'm smart and dogmom loves me.

But, anyways... dogmom says I should appease the human. So, here are many pictures of me that she took. I weigh about 53 pounds. Click the link below to enter your guess...



Here's the link to the survey: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?80A4C8D788C3D1. You can guess multiple times, but have to leave your email each time, so we know who won. The contest runs until we get the results. Prize to be determined.

Good luck, I guess. Wuf Ya! - Opie

Doggie DNA Test

Ok, so we promised to give you more information about the doggie DNA test that dogmom is getting for us for our birthdays that are coming up. Lazy dogmom hasn't done our tests yet, but she promises we will do it and send it in this weekend. Something about us not having food just before the test and that we seem to be eating all the time.

Ok... so here's the poop scoop. The official name is the Canine Heritage Breed Test. It's done by a company called MMI Genomics.





Probably, some of the humans that you purebreeds own have already heard of this company, 'cuz they've been doing parentage testing for a long time to prove your purity, per se.

Anyways, this test is just like the one on that show that dogmom watches on the big grey box in the cabinet in the living room. You know, the one where they're always trying to figure out how somebody got dead?

Dogmom says it's really simple and even lowly humans without veterinary degrees can do it. If your human can brush your teeth without you freaking out and biting them, then they can do this test. 'Cuz it's about the same... she's going to stick a little brush in our mouth and rub it on our cheek (instead of our teeth, so I guess it's not exactly the same) for 30 seconds. Then, she scribbles on some paper and puts the brush and the paper in the tube and drops it in the mailbox. Then we wait for results... and that's the hard part.

Anyway, there are some limitations... they've got 38 breeds that are verified that they can test against. If you're not one of those, then you might get a false reading - they might pick up some breed that is way back in your ancestry and the only evidence of that breed in you is the single white hair between your toes on your left front foot or something. No, not really, but they say in the materials that it might happen that your results show some breeds that your human won't think are right. But they also say that they will be adding more breeds in the future... but that they believe the 38 verified breeds will account for the majority of mixed breed dogs.

Here's the link directly to their web site for information: http://www.metamorphixinc.com/products2a.html

And, here's a link to frequently asked questions about the test:
http://www.metamorphixinc.com/faqcanher.html

And, here's a link to a video of how easy it is to do the test yourself:
http://www.metamorphixinc.com/k9sample.mov

Anyways... the test costs $65 per dog, which dogmom says doesn't compare to what she's going to spend in a couple of weeks at the vet office to update our vaccinations and everything.

Oh, yeah, Tosca suggested that we have a contest to guess what breeds are in Opie. So, dogmom's gonna do that!

We'll post some pictures of him tomorrow from different angles and let you enter guesses.
Wuf Ya!