Overview
- Published in PNAS, the analysis aggregated 2,693 dog and wolf genomes and measured wolf ancestry in roughly 64.1% of modern breed dogs.
- The detected segments derive from post-domestication crosses roughly 800–1,000 generations ago on average, with breed-specific events as recent as 17–31 generations.
- Intentionally wolf-crossed breeds show the highest levels, including Czechoslovakian and Saarloos wolfdogs at approximately 23%–40%.
- Elevated levels appear in larger working, Arctic sled, pariah, and hunting dogs, whereas terriers, gundogs, and scent hounds are lowest, and Chihuahuas retain about 0.2%.
- All sampled village dogs carried wolf DNA, often in regions tied to smell, and about half of surveyed wild wolves carried dog ancestry, a trend already flagged as a conservation concern.