I recently found myself in possession of a former street puppy of unknown descent 
and I think it’d be fun to do one of the DNA tests - does anyone have experience with both, or either?
I’m fairly confident in guessing he’s likely GSD + ??, but I’d love to know what the other part is that caused him to be a tricolor. And of course the health screening could be helpful.
Pup in question:
What an attractive fellow! Does he have a name?
We did Embark for my pooch. The results were mixed (no pun intended). The pit bull and Australian breeds are pretty easy to buy. Yorkie? Nahhh.
From what I’ve seen, Embark is the gold standard for dog DNA. Wisdom can throw out some weird breeds at the sub 5% level that muddy the actual analysis.
For your handsome boy, with those ears and build and head shape, I’m wondering if there’s some Great Dane?
He came with the name Benji (from a foster for the rescue) and we decided to keep it, even though he doesn’t know it - easier than trying to decide on a new name between the three of us 
I can definite see the pit and cattle dog in yours! It’s funny how the mixes end up.
Anything is possible! Mixed breeds certainly bring out some unusual looks. He’s not overly big, estimated at 4-5 months and weighing 30lb, I’d guess he’s probably 18-19" tall at the moment.
I see Great Dane also. Imagine a silhouette, he looks Great Dane.
This may be crazy and a long shot, but I’m getting collie vibes with his head and ears. Here a pic. Collie ears don’t always tip–taping them is not uncommon. Collies come in a smooth variety, and in this color.
Embark is much better than Wisdom. Plus their health panels are great to have.
That’s a really cute boy you have.
You may have more than 2 breeds.
I’d guess high percent GSD and
Maybe Dobie and beagle. JK
Love him! Have done Embark on 3 of mine. Really appreciated the health testing part. 2 came back mixed between 5-7 breeds. One came back 100%. None quite matched their phenotype completely. But I saw echoes of the results.
It was also good to learn that Ruby had something funky going on with her liver blood work results. I believe that they would never come in within the normal range and also that she had what is that thing called where they have the white footed dog gene.? Anyway, if you do it, please keep this thread going and let us guess and then post the results
I wouldn’t be mad about that at all a smooth Collie was on my wish list if we decided to go the purebred route.
It’s surprisingly hard to catch a picture of a puppy standing UP and still at the same time, but I somewhat managed.
Next to my 60lb meathead Charlie, his wrestle-mania buddy. They are more or less equal in height at the moment.
@ThreeWishes I will definitely update! Keep the guesses flowing
I’m still getting solid smooth collie vibes with these pics! Suuuuper curious what you find with his DNA test!
How old is he? He’s got some awfully solid bone, and might have quite a bit more size in there.
First picture looked like a dane to me too, we had one decades ago, Little Bit, wonderful dog.
Standing one, body looks like sighthound of some kind, greyhound maybe or some other?
The color is … puzzling, some GSD kind of shades?.
Seems not “dry” enough muzzle for collie, too fleshy, but that may come from dane.
Our local rescue lady used to say they were that unique wonderful breed : AWESOME!. 
Man I love him. What expression in that face. Did I miss it or did you tell us a name ?
Hmm I don’t see Collie. I see shepherd (probably GSD) and something like hound mix and/or one of the working breeds like Swiss Mt or Bernese Mt for that color pattern.
So maybe a Beagle mix or Berner mix plus GSD mix or something. Probably more than just two breeds involved. It’s a tough age too - all puppies are awkwardly gangly at that age and it might be misleading us.
I did Embark with my dog. I knew her breeding, but it was spot on. I thought maybe some other breeds might crop up, but nope.
The main reason I did it was because I wanted the genetic info. Both her parents were Amish puppy mill stock so I didn’t know what might be lurking in her lineage (she was an oopsie when the neighbor’s dog bred a friend’s dog).
We did the Royal Canin blood test on both our dogs (lab pyr mix and what we were told was a purebred Golden, he is). I felt the blood was most accurate and it tests for a ridiculous amount of health issues in addition to breed, which was less important for the mix since we did the test so late in her life but good for the Golden since he was a bit of a rescue and is just a baby (omg he’s 1 now 
). No test is 100% but I felt the RC gave me some peace of mind! But now I want to do Embark and see if they match
You definitely want Embark for this. 
Assuming you are in the U.S., while “village dogs” are now scarce in this country and your dog is likely a mixed breed, if there is any chance of your dog being a ‘village dog’, WP does not test for it. Embark has an extensive village dog database.
A true “village dog” has no human-bred purebreds in its ancestry. Original ancient dogs hung around human habitation eating scraps and mating randomly. Depending on where you are in the world, there are still a few (or many) from that scattershot lineage, where “strays” still breed indiscriminately, generation after generation.
Humans later began selectively breeding and developed lines of dogs that conformed to the description of a “breed”. Registries, pedigrees, etc. etc. etc.
Embark’s founders have a fascination with surviving clans of village dogs worldwide, and dedicated themselves to an extensive global village dog database – in addition to the purebreds.
Wisdom Panel has no village dogs in its database. WP’s results will instead throw a plethora of low percentage breed “matches”, which don’t mean much other than that all dogs are dogs (statistical noise as followers describe it).
In the U.S., other than in isolated regional pockets, there are few if any village dogs left. But there are some. And there are many places in the world where dogs are not extensively kept as purebreds that have surviving strains of village dogs. In some places they are prolific. Those village dogs can find their way to the U.S. mainland as adoptees of returning expats.
I love his beautiful eyes so much! 
I’ve learned a lot since I fell down the dog breed research rabbit hole! 
#1 lesson: be prepared to be surprised. Or not! 
One of the most important things I learned is how easy it seems, but how hard it is, to visually identify the breed traits in a mixed breed. Because of the way genetics work, and especially in dogs: Dominant genes that hide other traits, recessive genes that don’t show the trait, incomplete dominance that change what we see, genes that act on other genes to change the outcome in the actual dog, etc. and so on. As with many before and after me, I learned that I’m not nearly as good at identifying the breeds in mixed breed dogs as I thought!
I definitely see some potential GSD traits in your handsome dog. And yet, those traits can be misleading, as well. As well as his juvenile self not yet showing his final self version.
Many breeds have prick ears. He’s a useful shape for his size, as are many breeds and mixes. And his coloring may trigger GSD impressions but is actually one of the “generic” primitive dog color & patterns – brown with black saddle, with or without black masking on the face. Sometimes very-mixed breed dogs with no GSD have a similar coloring and pattern.
(Found this bit of trivia so interesting: Most GSD’s are in the primitive color / pattern range because they are one of the earliest ‘breeds’ developed by humans living in wild country in Europe. Ancient humans who desperately needed a guard / livestock dog. This lot of hang-around dogs virtually volunteered for the position in exchange for food. Somewhat similar types can be found throughout central and eastern Europe.)
My all-time favorite sub-Reddit, at times profoundly educational, although sometimes you have to sift through the chaff:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DoggyDNA/
If your dog has lifelong “sonar ears” you might enjoy this sub-Reddit for dogs who may involuntarily take flight in a high wind (jk! sort of).
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonarears/
y’all look … my favorite ever sonar-ear dog … I don’t know if anyone has measured yet, but there may be more ears than dog …
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonarears/comments/1j0ie8f/hairy_sonar_ears/
One more tip … if you find Embark DNA test kits to be pricey, register on their website to be notified of sales, which they tend to have 3 or 4 times a year. You can save $20 or more.
Also if you buy any test kit at a pet store, look carefully at the box info to make sure that it is not outdated. Depending on the store, they can sit in the racks/shelves for a long time.
Do not use any brand but Embark or Wisdom Panel. The rest are close to being scams. “Ancestry” and “DNAmyDog” are sometimes being marketed with other products. Some of the results these have delivered have been hilarious and wildly incorrect. For a few months “Ancestry” was ridiculously incorrectly reporting many dogs as 30% or more wolf/coyote, which is actually illegal to keep in most municipalities!
I’ve used Embark for my dogs when Embark has a sale. I have done the health profile kit with them.
My vet thought my little adopted pug was a mix but it turns out she is just 51 percent inbred (hoarding situation). Edited to add a photo of Fleur.
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