Vardis, a black dog with a blocky head and a friendly disposition, arrived at One Tail at a Time, a shelter in Chicago, in September 2021. Almost immediately, he got pneumonia. While he convalesced, he went to live with a foster family, who were curious about his background and decided to get his DNA tested through a service called Embark. Like 23andMe or Ancestry for humans, the service analyzes genetic samples to identify a dog’s breed, potential health issues, and possible family members.
The test revealed that Vardis was half golden retriever, half American bully, and that he had a sister in Chicago named Brunch who had been adopted through another shelter. When Vardis was moved to a new foster home, his new foster mom, Jessica Jones, got in touch with Brunch’s owners, and they arranged a reunion last November at Jones’s house in suburban Berwyn.
