A Dog DNA Test Changed Our Pet Parenting Style

“She was rolling in the mud earlier, so you’ve got a muddy face, haven’t you?” says Taz as she beams at Nellie the Golden Retriever, who’s just popped into the room to say hello to me over Zoom as I chat to her pet parents about her story. She’s sitting like the best girl in town and is every bit as gorgeous as she looks on her Instagram account (yep, Nellie is an influencer, and it seems to me like she knows it, too). 

But it wasn’t love at first sight for Taz and her partner Alex – well, not exactly anyway. “We didn’t actually choose her,” says Taz of spotting Nellie in a litter of pups at a breeder in Sussex – “because she was covered in her siblings’ poo!” A sign of things to come, I comment. “Literally,” laughs Taz. “Right now she’s covered in mud.” To avoid touching, in Taz’s words, the “poopy one” of the litter, she and Alex picked up two of Nellie’s siblings first – “but they were really unsettled and didn’t seem comfy at all.” It didn’t feel right. 

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So Taz reassessed the situation and took the fact that Nellie had a pink collar on as a good sign – “pink is my favourite colour” – so she scooped up the “little poopy girl”. And that was it. “She instantly nuzzled in and settled in our arms, the rest, as they say, is history,” gushes Taz, whose devotion has clearly grown from that moment. 

Back then, Nellie was just three weeks old and so small she could fit in the palm of Alex’s hand (“Alex does have very big hands,” caveats Taz). “My thumb was almost as big as her head,” he says. “But she just snuggled in and my heart melted.”

The couple brought Nellie home to Surrey when she was eight weeks old, making them into a family of three. For Taz, that first day brought a mixture of trepidation and joy – “40 percent excitement and like 60 percent nerves,” she says. “It’s a whole new world and a huge commitment.” On the other hand, Alex is a cool, calm and collected dog dad, so the three create a lovely harmony together. 

The early years

Nellie turns two on New Year’s Eve and her entire life has been documented on social media – including all the firsts like trying broccoli and pooping outside to posting about the daily realities of living with a Golden from snuggles on the sofa and adventures in the forest to tricks and training. 

So is life with Nellie as they expected it would be? “You always hear how chaotic Golden puppies are – little baby sharks when they’re teething and everything, and that they’re a bit wild,” says Taz, who thought Nellie might be the “odd one out” because she’s very gentle. “She’s a funny girl, too,” adds Taz. “Funny and silly, but also loving and sweet.” 

On Nellie’s Instagram page, there’s often comments along the lines of: “How is she so calm? My Golden has ruined my carpet and eaten all my socks!” “People would be surprised at how chilled she was,” Taz continues. “In comparison to, stereotypically, what Goldens are like as a breed. But we’ve always thought that she was just a sweet, loving little girl.”

Learning more about Nellie through DNA testing

Of course, as a bonafide doggy influencer, Nellie has been known to get some interesting opportunities come her way. So when Wisdom Panel got in touch with Nellie, via her PA Taz, about DNA testing, Taz was intrigued. Because, of course, they already knew that Nellie was a Golden Retriever, they wondered what the results might offer? Turns out, the test isn’t just about breed, says Taz. “You can find out about your dog’s traits and behaviour and just a bit more about them. Plus, you can tell if they have relatives, any connections that have some sort of link to Nellie’s heritage.”

The test involved taking a swab of saliva from Nellie’s mouth and sending it off for testing. “It’s returned by post to our lab where Wisdom performs genetic analysis on a custom platform commonly known as an ‘Illumina chip’,” explains Oliver Forman, Wisdom Panel’s product development manager. “Once the analysis is complete and data is processed using complex algorithms, pet parents receive a report detailing their pet’s breed ancestry, physical traits, genetic health and even if any relatives have also been tested.”

Way beyond breed, the test results are unique to your own dog. “Our new behaviours feature includes 15 predictions about your dog,” Oliver explains. “These range from risk of separation anxiety and propensity to gain weight, to fun traits such as tendency to sleep on their back or sploot!”

All of this info can lead to getting to know your dog on a much deeper level. Oliver says that pet parents can understand particular traits and behaviours, any health risks, breed background and family tree – even finding their dog’s relatives. “This deepened understanding can really strengthen the relationship and allow pet parents to provide the most personalised care possible to their adored pet,” he explains.

Behavioural traits uncovered

That’s exactly how Taz and Alex felt when Nellie’s results – titled: ‘Today you get to meet your whole dog’ – dropped into their email inbox a couple of weeks after they’d taken the swab. “Of course, she’s 100 percent Golden Retriever,” says Taz. But on top of that, they learnt that she has “reduced shedding”, which Taz says is because Nellie is a working Golden rather than a show version of the breed. Taz also found it cute that Nellie’s more likely to have floppy ears – “which she does, hers feel like velvet”. Alex says it was also a comfort to know that from a medical side of things, that Nellie is “hunky dory”. “She’s clear of 263 genetic health predispositions,” says Taz.

And behaviourally, the couple learnt that Nellie is prone to generalised fear and anxiety, and separation anxiety. Recently, Nellie was startled by a firework that unexpectedly went off on her walk – luckily she was on her lead so she didn’t run away. So Alex and Taz have been working on desensitising her to noises. “The test results gave us a bit of reassurance in ourselves,” says Alex. “It wasn’t something that we were necessarily doing wrong, but something she’s more predisposed to than some other dogs.”

Both Taz and Alex believe getting the results has just grown on what they already knew about their beloved dog. “We’re preemptive about things that could make her anxious,” explains Alex, who tells me that they’ve worked on doing separation anxiety training – incrementally increasing the time they’re away from her.

And, judging from the many videos on social, Nellie certainly doesn‘t mind all the cuddles!

*Wisdom is a Mars brand. We think the products are pretty cool, but we don’t play favourites. So, when a product has family ties, we’ll be real with you.