Today we're going to review Embark's dog DNA test, designed to reveal your dog's
breed ancestry. First we need to get a DNA sample from Remy, and we're going to
do this with the cotton swab provided by Embark. You put the cotton swab in the
cheek pocket of the dog and rub it around for about 30 seconds. And then you
have your DNA sample! I think Remy thought that was pretty weird.
Now that we have the DNA sample, we take the cap off and we just put the cap
in the tube here with a special solution. Now we're going to flip the canister
back and forth ten times to make sure that the solution gets all over the swab
and fully soaks it.
Do you think we're playing a game? Now we're gonna pack away our sample into
the box that we received the Embark kit in and then we're going to send it off
and wait for our results. Now we're going to take a look at what happens once you
receive the email telling you that your Embark results are in! We're going to
sign in. And now we're going to take a look at Remy's results. So as you can see here,
he is 51.6% American Pitbull Terrier, 30.6% American Staffordshire Terrier,
8.8% Siberian Husky, 5.8% black-and-tan coon hound, and finally 3.2% bloodhound
so he's a pretty interesting mix! When I adopted him from the shelter they said
he was a boxer mix. Clearly he is not a boxer mix at all - he's very much a
pitbull mix! There's also some other really interesting information in this
Embark kit. We can see a little more info here about Remy's different
breeds. There's even a little breed reveal video. I won't make you watch the
entire thing, but it's pretty darn adorable and it's really fun to share
with friends and family. Down here we have little descriptions of each breed
that makes up Remy, which is interesting to read about. We have the family tree
section that shows exactly which breeds the different parents had. As you can see,
one of Remy's great grandparents was a Siberian Husky. Over here we have mixed
matches. This is fun! So this actually shows other dogs that have a very
similar breed mix to Remy. For example Roxy Rey over here is a 91% match to
Remy, which means Roxy Rey has 91% of the same breed composition that Remy
has, but as you can see - I mean this dog looks similar in some ways, but also very
different from Remy. Especially with those big pointy ears! Which are
definitely an Australian cattle dog trait. We also have some info on the
maternal and paternal hallo type. Honestly it's a little too scienc-y
from me. I didn't really read through this too much, but it might
be fun to read if you're curious about the exact origins of your dog's various breeds.
So as you can see, because this is the breed-specific kit, the health and
the traits section are grayed out, which means I can't access them. If I click
them, it will give me an option to upgrade to get that information.
For this version, they only give access to the breed info - but also as part of the
breed info, you can see your dog's relatives and I think this is a super
fun feature. With the DNA relatives section, you can see which dogs that have
taken Embark's tests have a similar DNA to your dog. Which means they're
genetically related to your dog. As you can see, there's this dog Bam that
Embark says is as closely related to Remy as human first cousins! So that's
pretty cool. If we click Bam we can see a little info about him.
We can see where he was born and
where his current location is. He's in Little Rock, Arkansas and we're in Boston
right now. We're probably not going to meet up and say hi to each other.
But if he lived nearby we could get together and maybe have a little play date!
That would be pretty fun. And as part of this kit, you also have the research tab
that lets you take little assessments and quizzes about your dog. It just
helps provide research for Embark. They're pretty fun to do.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results. It was really fun to learn about Remy's breeds.
I really had no idea what he was and now I know, and it's definitely a surprise, so I'm
glad I got the test done. As you can see, Embark offers a breed
Identification Kit and a Breed + Health Kit. The Breed Identification Kit
is the one that I did. The Breed Identification Kit gives you access to
obviously your dog's breed identification, their family tree,
your DNA relative finder, but what's missing is the health check and the
physical traits. And that information is quite important - especially if you
suspect that your dog might have some genic health risks or diseases.
But that Breed + Health Kit is regularly priced at $199 and the Breed
Identification Kit is only $129, so if you don't want to spend close to $200 on
your dog's DNA, the Breed Identification Kit is a good substitute. Now I think
it's worth noting that Embark is definitely more expensive than some
other dog DNA tests out there, but it's important to realize that there are some
major advantages to Embark. First of all, Embark is a lot more accurate than other tests.
They use a lot more genetic markers for their data, which makes their
results more accurate. They're also doing a ton of really interesting cutting-edge
science in the field of dog DNA. They're one of the first research teams to
explore the DNA background of village dogs, which are small pockets of dog
populations that grow up around in villages all over the world. They also
have tons of features you don't normally find in other dog DNA tests, like the
relative finder and the look-alike features. They're definitely different
than other tests out there, which is why their price point is a little bit higher.
You're getting a lot more data and a lot more accuracy. Overall, I would suggest
doing Embark - especially if you've adopted a dog from a shelter and you're
curious about their background. It is fun to find out your dog's DNA, but it also
can be helpful with training because when you understand your dog's breed history,
it can help influence your training strategy. Maybe you want to be
on the lookout for certain behaviors that are more common in Shepherds or
hunting breeds, and knowing your dog's breed ancestry can be really helpful in
that sense. So check out Embark! We have a full article review on K9 of Mine.
I'll put a link to that in the description below. We're also going to
put in the description any promo codes that we know of for Embark, so make sure
to check that to get a discount. Thanks guys, I hope you give Embark a try.
Let me know in the comments if you have tried it and what you think!