When Gwen, a rescue dog from a Colorado shelter, first arrived at her new family in 2016, no one knew much about her past.
This sweet, Boxer girl had a wonderful life and was beloved every step of the way. Sadly, a year ago, Gwen crossed the rainbow bridge after battling cancer. She left a huge void in her family’s lives. However, as it turned out, her story didn’t end there.
Gwen’s Embark DNA test, which she took a few years ago, yielded one more surprising result.
An Unexpected Surprise No One Saw Coming
A Reddit user named u/Hungry-Emu-6732 recently shared Gwen’s story with her followers. Before long, it sparked a discussion among users, and for a good reason.
According to her owners, Gwen was adopted as a rescue from a Colorado shelter. At the time, she was already two and had a litter before. Sadly, none of her babies were found with her.
In the meantime, Gwen truly blossomed in her new home. She adapted into her new family perfectly and had a wonderful life until last year, when she passed away from cancer.
Still heartbroken by Gwen’s loss, her mom didn’t expect to receive any surprises. However, the recent one left her shocked to the core! The family had taken a DNA test for Gwen a few years ago, and one more unexpected result arrived just recently: Gwen had a sibling!
“A few years before she passed we had the Embark DNA test done. Lots of cousins, etc. but, today we got an update that they found a sibling-72% match,” the Reddit post reads.
The thing that shocked Gwen’s owners the most was that she and her sibling, Jake, were eight years apart.
“However, this dog was born in 2022. We adopted Gwen in 2016 and she was estimated to be about 2 at that time, meaning she was born ~2014. What are the chances her parents had another litter 8 years later, or what other connection could this be?,” the post continues.
Soon enough, the post went viral, sparking a debate.
While some didn’t exclude the possibility of Gwen and Jake, in fact, coming from the same parents in the eight-year time frame, others, including Gwen’s owner, were more inclined toward another theory…
One Possible Theory
In the comments of the post, the owner explained that Gwen’s DNA was sent along with Sparky’s, her daughter’s dog also born in 2022.
While Gwen didn’t look much like her matched sibling, Sparky, on the other hand, shared a lot of physical similarities with him. The whole situation made the family believe their results somehow got mixed up.
“He and this boy look very much alike- and the matches for him on Embark look more like Gwen. I’m thinking they were mixed up somehow when they lost and then found one sample and this guy is actually Sparky’s brother,” the owner concluded.
One thing is for sure: while Gwen’s “sibling situation” is still under debate, her family will make sure her loving memory is always preserved and cherished.