The NAID is known for being a controversial breed! Much of this consternation relates to the fact that the woman credited with “founding” the breed was a breeder of wolf-dogs before she began working with NAIDs. There is also much debate over the breed’s possible wolf origins. The foundation breeding stock was obtained from tribal dogs of unknown lineage, making it possible to have wolf lineage no less than ten generations ago.
There is a new fad of conducting “DNA” testing on dogs to learn their ancestry. There are several NAID groups on social media platforms that have a significant amount of misinformation floating around regarding this topic because many of these groups promote the fad of testing NAIDs for ancestry through places such as Embark, which use algorithms and not proper DNA testing to determine your dog’s ancestry. These are called direct-to-consumer, or DTC, tests.
These DTC tests have little, if any, baseline information to reference when testing a NAID! Therefore, DTC ancestry tests will always show the NAID having a percentage of wolf DNA. You may also discover, if you test through multiple companies, their reports of wolf content will vary widely from each other. These reports are unreliable, and this type of testing is still relatively new. Please refrain from relying on these as your sources of information when trying to determine your NAID’s ancestry.
We choose to rely on the pioneering authority in the wolf-dog testing and research field, the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory experts. With this method of testing, we provide you with the most sophisticated, scientifically-sound test that is not only a proper DNA examination but also will hold up in a court of law – something the Embark and other similar tests will not do. Please use this test as your only source of information when determining your NAID’s potential wolf ancestry because it will protect you and your NAID.
