There have been numerous examples of people adopting a certain breed of dog only to later do a DNA test and find out that the truth was much different.
Situations like this aren’t that uncommon and it happens to a lot of people simply because it’s difficult to accurately tell a dog’s breed when they are really small.
The story we will follow is actually about an owner from California who adopted a Border Collie, only for a DNA test to reveal the truth about him.
Well, What Was He?
When a Reddit user by the name of u/Bombared first decided to adopt his dog, named Achilles, who was supposedly a Border Collie, he was surprised to learn that the pup had a few secrets.
He was actually found with his sister roaming the Central Valley in California when the rescuers came to save them. They were taken to a shelter shortly after.
The rescuers listed him as a ‘Border Collie’, but his new owner took him into the home and noticed that something was off about him soon.
The first sign was the dog’s mood. He didn’t have a lot of behavioral traits that Border Collies have. Not only that, but it took a long time for him to learn how to take treats.
Food was not something that motivated him very much. He was also starting to change physically, so the owner did a DNA test on him.
To his surprise, he found out that Achilles was actually not a Border Collie. The results showed that he was: 45.8% Pomeranian, 43.8% Husky, 6.2% Alaskan Malamute and 4.2% Supermutt.
Well, that would certainly explain a lot. Despite learning this, Achilles’ owner still loves him very much, and virtually nothing has changed with this information.
What Does Reddit Have To Say?
After posting Achilles’ story on Reddit, many people were surprised by the dog’s breed and as a result, they shared their thoughts on the entire story.
One person commented: “Was expecting to see a chow or Akita in there, but Pomeranian definitely explains the tiny fluffy ears too! He’s very handsome, and other than the black and white coloring looks absolutely nothing like a border collie!”
This seems to be what a lot of other people were also expecting, but the dog’s weight kind of shut down the theory pretty quickly.
Another person said: “Somehow these breeds combined to look like a purebred Karelian Bear Dog. That’s just wild.”
That would be the case if the dog weren’t much smaller than a Karelian Bear Dog. The truth is that there is a massive difference in size between the two.
Lastly, somebody commented: “My first thought was Akita, so I got the Spitz part, just the wrong breed, haha. Fun fact – Pomeranians were originally medium to large sized dogs before the breed was bred down to be a companion dog.”
I didn’t know that about Pomeranians, but it’s a very fascinating piece of knowledge. It would also explain some of Achilles’ behavioral traits.
Still, even though he is mostly a low energy, couch potato who occasionally likes to chase squirrels, Achilles is a very good boy who loves spending time with his owner no matter what they are doing.