...
By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A Texas man kept being told by people his rescue dog was a poodle, until a DNA test yielded a shock result.
Justin Philip from Houston took to Reddit, posting under the handle u/AdministrationIcy368, to share what was revealed about the dog everyone assumed was “a standard poodle.” “I am surprised by the results,” Philip wrote alongside the post.
Philip told Newsweek he adopted Ivory from a local rescue organization, Camo Rescue in Magnolia, about a month ago. “Ivory is so sweet. She is full of energy and loves her toys,” he said. “She is estimated to be about 18 months old.”
Read More on Pets
...
Philip says Ivory has lots of admirers. “We were told by many people that she is a poodle,” he said. Though the consensus seemed to be that Ivory was a poodle, Philip wasn’t so sure. “We had our doubts about her being 100 percent,” he said. “We got the DNA test done to really be sure.”
Poodles remain a consistently popular dog breed among Americans today. The American Kennel Club’s 2025 registration statistics saw poodles rank among the top breeds, behind French bulldogs, golden retrievers, German shepherds and labradors.
Philip decided to get Ivory tested, in part, because of previous experience. “We had a rescue who recently passed away. We didn’t think she was a full poodle, and to our surprise, she was 100 percent,” he said.
This time, however, would be different, as the Reddit post revealed. While Ivory was predominantly a poodle, with “standard” poodle DNA accounting for 70.8 percent of her overall profile, the Embark DNA test revealed another unexpected breed in the mix. Ivory, it turns out, is 29.2 percent Golden Retriever. Despite his initial doubts about Ivory’s poodle heritage, the results caught Philip completely by surprise.
“We were initially somewhat ‘disappointed’ because we really wanted a full standard poodle. But also shocked at how much she presented as a poodle being only 70 percent,” he said.
The reaction among those commenting on the Reddit post was one of similar surprise. “That golden percentage is doing NONE of the work,” one user joked. “Oh my goodness! She looks mostly spoo,” another said. “A third added: “When you rescue, there's always a risk like this.”
...
Some, however, were convinced they could see the Golden Retriever in Ivory. “She definitely has a bit of a golden retriever face and eyes. My parents have a pure bred black standard poodle and the face shape and eyes are a little different!” one said. “Yeah I am not typically a poodle fan, they’re “beaky” (I like smooshed face dogs) but this one has a wider more retriever type face,” another wrote.
Looking back now, Philip can see clear differences between Ivory and his old rescue poodle. For one thing, Ivory’s coat felt “smoother and less coarse.” “We realized that when we were petting her at the rescue org but we thought maybe because she was younger,” he said. Philip noted that her snout and jaw also looks different and “longer” compared to the previous poodle who had a snout “like a triangle.”
There was one more thing. “She smells like a golden when she comes back inside from playing. Our older poodle had no smell,” he said. It may have been a surprise, but Philip is very happy with Ivory. He wouldn’t change her for anything. He just thought the DNA results were interesting.
“It just shows you it’s all luck of the draw,” he said.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines