Henry's Age: Dog DNA Age Test

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I rescued Henry in December 2017. It's crazy that nearly 7 years have passed since I met him and he became a part of the family! He is my best friend. He is so loving. I love him more than words. 

I rescued him, so his age and breed were unknown. Here's the first video I ever saw of him! He is about 26 pounds and looks like an Australian Cattle Dog, though he is about half the size of a typical cattle dog. They're usually around 50 pounds. I did a dog DNA test a few years ago. Henry is an Australian cattle dog and chihuahua. HA! Such an odd combination, but that explains why he is small! 

As a side note, I rescued him from a non-profit organization, Tracy's Paws, that rescues dogs from high-kill, overcrowded shelters and neglect situations. He came from Texas, which has an overpopulation problem. He was picked up around Brownsville, Texas, and put into a high-kill shelter, where he was rescued by Tracy's Paws. They drive dogs nationwide to give them homes, so I highly recommend following their Instagram if you want to adopt a pup. I love seeing all of the pups pop up in my feed. Henry would be so offended if we got another pup- he is definitely only pup energy, but one of you needs to check out Scooter. I saw him pop up in my feed, and he is SO CUTE. They do YouTube videos of each pup, too, and Scooter is just a sweetie. Their next stop is Geneva, IL! 

Henry's rescue bio said he was around 2.5-3 years old. A few days after I got him, I took Henry to his first vet appointment. The vet suggested he was two years old, so I went with that. Based on the math, he's likely going to be nine years old in December.

Anyway, Embark reached out and asked if I wanted to try out their DNA age test. I almost said no. My reasoning is that I wanted to believe that Henry was almost nine, and I was so worried that the test would return and say he was much older. If you don't know much about dogs, they don't live long lives. It's incredibly unfortunate. Nine is getting old for a dog. Our dog, Mac, lived until 16ish, which was a blessing. 

I fully realize my reasoning for not wanting to do the age test is silly because regardless of the test, he is the age that he is. My husband had an idea that we would do the test, and he would do it through his email so that he would get the results and I wouldn't have to know. That way, my husband could share the results with the vet, and he would know his actual age in case that ever became super important. 

Anyway, as you can see, I know Henry's age from the test! My husband spilled the beans since Henry was estimated to be eight years, eight months old, and not any older than we thought! It's wild because that is what we estimated. It puts him about a month younger than what we thought. They gave him a birthday of January 9, 2016... January 9th also happens to be my sister's birthday, and I just felt SO good about him being given that birthday. I felt so relieved that he didn't get an older age that I cried! 

The test also tells you what life phase your dog is in. Henry is a 'mature adult'! It was easy to do. If you have ever done a dog DNA test, it is very similar to that: You just swab your pup's mouth, package it up, and send it off. We got the results about a month later. 

This test was gifted from Embark, but this post is not sponsored. I'd recommend this to anyone who doesn't know how old their pup may be. Vets can usually tell by their teeth, and in our case, our vet was almost spot-on, but it's nice to have another confirmation of his age. 

We have his yearly vet appointment this weekend, and I will tell the vet we did the test so they can add it to his file! 

I often wonder what Henry was up to in the first two years of his life. I know that for at least four of those months, right before I adopted him, he was in a high-kill shelter and then rescued from the shelter. But otherwise, I will never know and always wonder. I pray he lives a long and healthy life; he is so special to me.

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