Delilah's Embark Results!

Public Results (<- Link)

Overall I'm very impressed with this test! I had initially wanted it because I was curious about Delilah's breed, but the health results and genetic traits ended up being much more interesting and useful to me! This was very, very cool.  If I wanted I could download her raw genetic data from over 200,000 markers if I wanted to use or interpret it myself, but that's way over my head.  Another nice thing that they do is update your test results for free as research advances and they find new genetic associations to test for and interpret.  I'm so glad we did this test, it was well worth the price and the wait!  Here are some points of interest from Delilah's results.

Health Results

Delilah was tested for 162 genetic diseases and disorders. Surprisingly, she was clear for all of them! Not even a carrier. Not every disease tested for exists in terriers, many of them are breed specific diseases. But I guess the idea is if you have a mutt and you don't know what it is, it could potentially have any of them.  I don't think you'll be able to see her health results on her public profile, so I took a screen shot of the summary.  Obviously, it goes into much more detail about each disease that was tested for.

Breed

The test says that Delilah is about 88% Russell-Type Terrier (Jacks, Parsons, and Russell terriers) and 12% Rat Terrier. I suspected Rat Terrier, I didn't really think she was JRT at all! Even the ones without the short legs tend to be sturdier dogs. Additionally, the analysis estimated her weight to be around 18 lbs, which would make sense for a JRT x Rat Terrier mix, but Delilah is only a third of that size!

I emailed the company asking about the size and telling them that I had suspected Delilah to be a Toy Fox Terrier. They got back to me within 24 hours and this was the response:

"I can understand why you would wonder that. Delilah shares five times as much of her genetic material with Russell-Type Terriers than Toy Fox Terriers, which is consistent with Russell-Type Terrier ancestry (as you point out the two breeds are related so any dog that has one in them will also have some---but less---genetic material matching the other breed). So it's not really possible that she has much Toy Fox Terrier in her. With that said, it's impossible with these related breeds to rule out small genetic contributions from a breed like Toy Fox Terrier that are masked by the much larger Russell-Type Terrier ancestry, and it's possible that contributed to her looks. But I want to stress that from her genes, she most likely is 88% Russell-Type Terrier and 12% Rat Terrier, and she certainly has no more than 5% Toy Fox Terrier in any case. 

Regarding her size, the genetics for extremely large or extremely small size aren't very well known. Our algorithm uses all the known body size loci and Delilah had the small version of almost all of them which is why she is predicted to be a small dog (<20 lbs). We're hoping to use dogs of extreme size (both large and small) to help scientists discover the mutations that differentiate small dogs from tiny dogs (and large dogs from massive dogs), and will add Delilah's weight information to our research panel. Thanks for sending it!" 

I had really suspected Toy Fox Terrier!  I guess now I get to call Delilah my Teacup Russell! :P  My boyfriend's calling her a Jack Rat. 

Delilah and Leo, a full Jack Russell

Traits/Advanced Results

I've just always been interested in coat color genetics so I found that section to be pretty interesting. Also the JRT and Rat Terrier would explain why she's red and white with a mask since TFTs can't be that color.  It looks like Embark recently updated their site and you can't currently see advanced results on Delilah's public profile.  Here's a little glimpse of what they look like.

Inbreeding!

The traits section is the section where I first noticed something unusual. Her inbreeding coefficient is 47%, which is very high. I always suspected she was a little inbred because she's a little mentally abnormal, and we've always had some sort of health or behavior issue going on with her. I didn't realize it was that high. A brother x sister mating would result in an inbreeding coefficient of roughly 50%.

There are a couple of visuals included that also indicate a brother x sister mating (as opposed to a 100% inbred dog crossed with a non inbred dog). One is on the summary when it breaks down the breed mix by chromosome. Rather than a pure Russell crossed with a Russell x Rat Terrier, it looks like the chromosomes from each parent (in a chromosome pair, one comes from the father and one from the mother) are very similar and both contain mostly JRT DNA with a little bit of Rat Terrier DNA. In some pairs, such as 13 and 37, the chromosomes look almost identical. So the parents were the same mix. This is represented in the family tree, where both parents had an identical background. It really looks like her parents were indeed siblings. This explains SO MUCH about her health and mental issues.

Happy National Dog Day!

Happy National Dog Day from me and Delilah!  I hope you all are enjoying the day with your furry friends!

To celebrate, we went on a 2 hour hike today.  We tried a new park, Colchester Pond.  It was great!  Dogs had to be on leash, which is good, because Delilah still needs to be on a long lead and I hate when uncontrolled off leash dogs run up to her when we're training on hikes.  We didn't have that problem at all today!

Posing

We ran through a field!

The scenery was beautiful.

I really liked the contrast of the birch bark.

Swimming

Climbing

Found this cute little guy (or girl!)

Adventuring

Chiaroscuro

"Chiaroscuro in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition."

You Know What Delilah Reminds Me Of?

The 'raptors from Jurassic Park!

Intelligent, agile, fierce... and yet... able to be tamed?

Adventures in Jericho

We went to Mills Riverside Park yesterday!

It was a beautiful day.

Delilah listened so well!

My beautiful girl <3

Delilah found a river and lost her shit.

Attacking the river.

Practicing recall.

 Playing with her West Paw Design Jive ball.

Say Cheese!

Busy Month!

Hey, haven't posted in a while!  Things have been really busy here with work, applying to a new job, searching for a new apartment, and playing more shows with my band... oh yeah, and we just started agility training!

Training:
Delilah finished the prep school prerequisite course for agility and started beginner's agility!  So far we've practiced weave poles a lot and she's getting pretty good at them.  She catches on to clicker training and patterns quickly.  We were going to practice a jump last class but Delilah got distracted and ran away when I let her off leash to jump so instead we practiced staying still.  It's something she struggles with.  I brought her hiking today at the middle school and they have a track and athletic fields.  I practiced her off leash recall, heeling, sit-stay, set up, and left and right over a jump.  She did really, really well, even though she hasn't been outside with distractions very much since last fall.

I'm also house-sitting for my parents (and watching Mia) this week so they have a yard I'm definitely going to take advantage of.  I bought about $32 worth of PVC piping and made a jump and a set of 6 weave polls.  We practiced with those this afternoon as well and she did awesome!  She was so excited she ran out and just started circling the poles and going over the jump before I even told her to do anything (I did have some really tasty treats though)!

Health:

After a couple of disappointing visits at our first vet (long story short I got the bill for our last visit and I was charged for a couple of steroid injections that the vet hadn't discussed with me) we changed to a new one.  So far we've had a much better experience at the new practice so we're going to continue going there.  Something interesting that came up- our old vet told me Delilah might have a luxating patella in one of her legs but then during a later visit told me that it felt like it was strengthening and probably a developmental thing.  Well this new vet told us not only does she definitely have a luxating patella, but she has them in both legs.  The good news is that he told us she was so small and light weight that we could still do agility and it will probably never affect her.  So I'm really glad we ended up getting a second opinion about her knees regardless of the other reasons we switched vets.

Adventures:
We've started hiking again!  It's been awhile.  We've mostly just gone to the middle school because they have a lot of open fields for Delilah to sprint around in, as well as a few trails in the woods.  We've been having a lot of fun.  Someone posted in one of the toy fox terrier groups I'm in on facebook- asking if a toy fox terrier would be a good choice for them because they want to hike and train tricks.  A LOT of people said that they're too fragile!!!  Not true at all- Delilah can run and play and hike for hours and it doesn't put a dent in her energy.  There were a few other people that bring their dogs hiking and train them to do things and said that they're tough, awesome little dogs, but man, a lot of those people just keep them inside and let them get fat and lazy, and then call them fragile.  These guys are classified as toy dogs by the AKC, but they are most definitely terriers at heart- it's a shame people aren't letting them be dogs!

I keep her on leash when we get to the road- I don't trust her judgment.

She just loves sprinting around in open areas.

Behavior:

Lastly, we had some big progress with her stranger anxiety/reactivity.  I brought her to my Grandma's house for a family St. Patrick's day dinner.  When the family started arriving I kept her in her crate in the room I had been staying in and I let a few people peek in to see her but not bother her.  She barked a little.  A couple of hours later I took her downstairs to go out and she didn't bark at anyone!  I let her hang out inside with everyone else after that and she was fine.  She was curious about most of the people and ran around with the other dogs (Mia, my grandma's whippet Chloe, my aunt's lab Windsor).  All the other dogs were bigger than her, and scared of her!  Especially Windsor.  He hid behind my aunt and once Delilah got too close- he jumped out and barked loudly at her.  She jumped backwards and fell over, but got up, shook off, and ran back over and started yapping at him.  I quickly got her out of there, but it was really funny- definitely a terrier- trying to take on a dog over 10x her size!  So much sass.

Short Adventure to the Waterfront!

The other day it was in the 60's!  It was finally warm enough for my little southern girl to go outside.  I got out of work at 2 and we spent a couple of hours walking around town.  We went to Battery park and the Waterfront and the views were beautiful!  Delilah was excited to finally be out as well.

People watching.

You might have noticed her fancy new leash and collar.  Sam bought them for her when her old leash broke.  They're from Mutts and Mittens Handmade Collars and Leashes- they seem to be very nice quality.  They're quite soft and comfortable for me to hold and for Delilah to wear.  She actually prefers the collar to her harnesses.  And 10% of the sale was donated to an animal rescue, so that was awesome of them.  We got the smallest size- XS- which looks a little big on her but it's nice because it disperses the pressure around her neck so it's more comfortable than a thin collar.  Despite being Phish themed (Sam's a big fan), I'm really liking these.

Delilah's New Bed

Because everything belongs to her.

Delilah Won't Poop...

...because she's worried about the invasion of the tiny white particles.

She did this the. Entire. Walk.

And she was too excited to poop!

You Can Jump On My Shoulders

Delilah was hanging out on my shoulders last night while I was finishing "Show Dog" by Josh Dean.  At one point she was actually draped around my shoulders like a scarf!  It's really cute but it can also get annoying when you just want some space.  She is the epitome of a "velcro dog" or a "lap dog."

Training class tonight.  Hoping the trainer's back so we can move on to new stuff.  We've been practicing "down" all week and she's finally starting to get both the word and the hand signal- I don't have to lure her anymore!

Also put a word to her mat down- "place."  She goes to her mat, lays down, and stays there until I release her.  We're still working on the release but she's starting to get it- I can toss a treat and she'll stay until I tell her it's "okay" to get it.  I'm not sure if the place command is what the trainer had in mind when she said mat work, but it's a good one for Delilah to know anyways, and a pretty impressive string of some simple behaviors.  I'm proud of her at least.

Sam's iPhone Pictures

My boyfriend, Sam, sent me some cute pictures he took on his phone to post on my blog.

Exploring Oakledge Park

This Week's Training Class:

The trainer that teaches our class wasn't there because of an emergency so a different trainer taught it.  We were supposed to practice last week's homework which I thought Delilah had been doing well.  In class she was awesome at sit and touch.  The problem was with down.  We weren't supposed to lure them or use a hand signal/point- we were just supposed to say "down" and the dog was supposed to lie down with the voice command alone.  Delilah just stared at me blankly- she doesn't associate the cue word with the behavior.  I still had to lure her into the down.  This is kind of embarrassing but I got so frustrated and anxious that when I tried to ask a question I started stuttering and I got self conscious when I saw everyone else watching me and started crying.  It was really embarrassing and I got very upset with myself.  My boyfriend was not there to help me because he had work.  Ugh, I hate myself.

So anyways, we've spent the last few days practicing down practically non stop and it seems like she's starting to get it.  I asked on the dog forum again and got a lot of helpful advice, including an exercise we've been doing that she's caught on to pretty well.  Lure her into the down, click, feed her multiple treats one after another, and then hold a treat over her head so she has to stand to get it, and do it again.  Eventually she should start going down automatically which is when I should add the cue word.  When I tried this with the clicker, she'd pop up as soon as I clicked and before I could even give her the first treat, so I tried the exercise without the clicker and she went down and STAYED down each time!  So now I need to figure out the clicker problem.

Today's Adventure:

Today I gave Delilah a bath, which she hated so much.  So I decided to bring her somewhere fun to make it up to her.  I didn't want to drive to off leash hiking trails in Essex or Jericho (too far away) so I brought her to Oakledge Park right on Lake Champlain in Burlington.

There were sooo many squirrels, she spent the whole time tracking, chasing, and screaming at squirrels.  She wanted to murder all of them!  For such a poorly bred dog, she has a textbook terrier temperament and incredible prey drive.  I really want to do something like terrier racing or barn hunt with her so she can have an outlet for it.  The problem is it's hard to find a lot of dog sports in Vermont, other than like agility.

Squirrel?

Squirrel?

An awesome tree house!

Squirrel?

The "I want to murder squirrels" expression

Screaming at waves.  She also screamed at all of the squirrels.