Finding Out Our Rescue Dog’s Breed

This is not a promotional post. I paid for the service and personally loved the product so much that I wanted to share our experience!

If you pop by here often you will know that we have a loveable little chunk that answers to the name of Bruce!
We rehomed Bruce from Birmingham Dog’s Home back in 2021 and we were so glad that he came into our lives. Bruce had little background and was basically dumped at a vet’s after being declared as a stray. He did however have a microchip, so the reason why his owner no longer wished to keep him is unknown to us. All we are aware of is that he had a whole load of health issues including swollen testicles and prostate issues, bringing up blood, broken teeth, in fact, he was so poorly, the vets and dog’s home didn’t expect him to pull through.

Bruce being the strong little fellow that he is, turned a corner and started to recover after a lot of care and treatment. As soon as we saw him and read his profile on the BDH website, we just had to go and visit him. We knew that Bruce was predominantly a Staffordshire bull terrier as he looked just like my beautiful Tikka who I had the pleasure to call mine for almost 16 years. Bruce was just a much chunkier version!
Bruce also has a slight underbite and big jowls which led us to believe he is crossed with either a bulldog or a boxer.
I was buying some bits and bobs for Bruce at Pets At Home when I discovered Wisdom Panel. It sounded quite interesting so I looked into it.

What is Wisdom Panel?

Wisdom Panel is a division of Mars Petcare, which includes brands that we know and trust well such as Pedigree, Whiskas and Royal Canin. I was quite glad to see that this was part of Mars, so I could rest assured that the test wasn’t some random money-making scam that gave a load of rubbish results that are probably not genuine.
I also felt positive about the fact that Pets At Home were stocking these kits so I felt that this was a trusted brand and definitely worth a shot.

How Do You Take The Dog DNA Sample?

The kit is super easy to use and can be done in four steps.

• 1 Activate your kit
• 2 Swab your pet’s cheek to collect DNA
• 3 Let the swab dry and post it back to us (using our pre-paid mailer)
• 4 Results in 2-3 weeks
  

Getting Bruce’s Cheek sample was pretty straight forward albeit with a few chomps on the stick! But we got there.
After everything was filled in and sealed, I popped the prepaid package back in the post.
When you register the kit online you open an account so that you can access your results when the time comes. It asks if you would like to add a profile picture of your dog so that you can share the page with friends and family.
The cynical me, purposely left the photo off just incase it affected the outcome of our results.
I received an email notification really quickly. I think it was around 2 weeks, if that!

We loved reading through the results, it was so interesting. The tests revealed what we thought…

Bruce is – 48% Staffordshire Bull Terrier, 48% Boxer so predominantly Staffy cross Boxer with the remaining 3% American Pit Bull Terrier and 1% American Bulldog.

The results don’t just stop there though. You can find out all kinds of information such as multiple health tests, physical traits and more. You don’t have to another swab for these although you do have to pay an extra fee. I haven’t used this service as yet, but I most probably will to find out more about Bruce.

While we were waiting for Bruce’s test results to come back, we did read quite a few reviews. Some good, and some negative. We can only speak through our experience that the test was easy to complete, simple to register and the results were both accurate and delivered in a timely fashion. I would recommend the Wisdom Panel to anyone who, like us, who has rehomed a dog and knows very little of their background.