Gwen passed away last year from cancer. Since then, her owner, Valerie, has treasured every memory of this gentle, athletic dog who accompanied her on long walks and shared an unforgettable road trip in a campervan between Colorado and Florida in the United States during the pandemic.
But several months after her passing, a notification appeared on the DNA test app she had used for Gwen a few years earlier. The message announced a very strong genetic match with another dog. It was a surprise Valerie hadn't expected at all.
A puzzling genetic match, eight years later
According to the results sent by the Embark platform, Gwen would have a brother or sister, with a 72% DNA match. The problem? The other dog, Jake, was reportedly born in 2022, eight years after Gwen's estimated birth in 2014.
Adopted in 2016 from Foothills Animal Shelter in Colorado, Gwen had swollen mammary glands at the time, as if she had recently had a litter. But no puppies had been found with her. This DNA discovery leaves room for several theories. Could her former owners have bred her parents several years later? Is it simply a coincidence, or could there have been a mix-up with the samples?
Valerie leans towards the latter explanation. The test had also been carried out on Sparky, her daughter's dog, who was also born in 2022. She thinks a sample mix-up is possible, especially as one of the samples had been temporarily lost.
An uncertain result but full of emotion
Whilst waiting for a clear answer, Valerie has tried to contact the owners of the dog identified as Gwen's "brother", without success so far.
Despite the uncertainty, this experience has stirred up a lot of emotion. Valerie believes that this type of test can really help to better understand the origins of a crossbreed dog adopted from a rescue, whether to understand its temperament, behaviour or anticipate certain health problems. And whilst Gwen is no longer here to meet this genetic "relative", the idea of an invisible bond between them remains an unexpected comfort.
