Your chihuahua is just a little bit wolfy.
In fact, scientists at the Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History, have found that the majority of dogs living today have some wolf DNA.
Dogs are thought to have diverged from wolves about 20,000 years ago.
As you might expect, a dog like the Czechoslovakian and Sarloos wolfdogs, purposely bred with wolves, have the highest levels of wolf ancestry at 23 to 40 percent of their genomes. Wolf ancestry is higher among larger dogs and working dogs, such a sled dogs and hunting dogs.
But, size alone doesn't tell you about wolf ancestry. Large guardian dogs like the Neapolitan mastiff, bullmastiff have no detectable wolf ancestry. Meanwhile the chihuahua as .2 percent wolf ancestry.
Terriers, gundogs, and scent hounds have the least wolf ancestry on average.
