Right before the COVID-19 pandemic began, we adopted a shelter puppy. It was perfect timing, as having the puppy has been a good distraction for all of us stuck at home. She was about 10 weeks old when we brought her home and we really didn't know much about what dog breeds she was a mix of. She was a rescue, and the animal shelter didn't know the parents of the puppies. They had guessed she was a large breed Collie/Shepherd mix of some sort.

By the way, the dog's name is Koira, which is Finnish for dog. It's kind of a tradition in our Finnish family to name pets with FInnish names. Since the beginning she's proven to be a very smart, energetic puppy. It didn't take long to potty train her and she's also kennel trained. That's the advantage of being able to spend so much time with her.

We toyed with the idea of getting a DNA test for her. We hesitated because they aren't cheap. We did some searching online and ended up purchasing a dna test from Embark. There are two options that we saw. One was a "Breed Identification Kit," and the other was a more expensive "Breed & Health DNA Kit."

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We just opted for the Breed ID kit which was $129. It only took a few days for it to arrive in the mail. My wife did the dna swab which was no big deal. We mailed it back in and they said it would take a couple of weeks to process. In reality, it happened much faster. Within a couple of days we got an e-mail telling us that the test was being processed. Another week passed and we got the results!

She's a Shepsky! Well, mostly. As you can see below, she's mostly Husky and German Shepherd. Which makes a lot of sense with how crazy big her ears have gotten. They are like antennas that she can move around like Yoda. We had considered she might be husky as she grew, but her colors and her eyes didn't really match the husky features. There's a mix of other breeds in there too, and it has really helped us figure out what is best for raising this puppy. We know she needs lots of exercise and a job to do. We also know she's probably going to be bigger than we originally thought.

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We feel satisfied with spending the money on the DNA test. We would always be curious anyway, and now we know what kind of puppy we are training. If you've been on the fence, I would recommend going for it.

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