My new dental tech was doing a deep clean and to amuse myself I asked her about her dog because she had spoken loving about him on a previous visit. Enthusiastically she told me she had the dog's DNA done from a kit on amazon.com She thought it was $60 or $70 for this service.
When she got the results, she was thrilled and her excitement carried forward. "Oh, the huskey makes him a good long-distance runner - when I train for marathons, he goes with me and if I did 10 miles, he probably did 16 because he'll run ahead of me and then double back. His coloring is Doberman.." and on she went.
Ads for this service stress the fact that testing is painless, uninvolved and send the mouth swab to them and results will be mailed back postage-free.
I can see how it could be amusing to read the results and attribute certain behaviors, possibilities for specific diseases - I immediately thought of hip dysplasia in German Shepherds - to your very own dog. Further, if you'd purchased a thoroughbred and the results that came back had 47 other types of dogs present ... lawsuit time when it was a $2,000 dog.
I had less hope for getting your cat's DNA. Cats are famous for multi-partners of equally dubious distinction. The average found cat is unlikely to be an exotic such as a Burmese. Basepaws describes its services as the first ever for feline DNA. It seems to have been a result of success with dog DNA.
And then I read this: "My cat's name is Roger and I really want to learn more about his DNA because I want to confirm his royalty." Ooooky-dokey ...
However, all of the above paled in contrast to a new fad in Silicon Valley. Billionaires are raising chickens. Naturally competitive the tech personnel are going in for the exotic "heritage chickens" which are a very old breed and often nearly extinct. A heritage bird's average price is $350 vs. $15 for a bunch of common chickens. The buyers are looking for chickens that are affectionate and calm; in other words, small child friendly.
Coops are often a miniature of the residence. But not always. Williams-Sonoma sells a chemical free, sustainable red pine residence for the dear chickens. It is considered the Range Rover of chicken coops by chicken aficionados.
Some coops have solar panels, automated doors, electric lighting and video cameras so that you can visit and check on them from far away. Some chickens rate a personal chef who prepares the organic salmon, watermelon and steak of their diet. This is important because the family eats the eggs. And a six-pack of personally harvested (?) eggs has replaced the traditional bottle of wine for mein host.
A phone app - Coop Tender - comes with the ability to change the coop temperature, ventilation and a motion detector predator alert that switches on a blue-white floodlight. .
Silicon Valley personnel say that after a day of looking at a computer screen, chicken watching is very enjoyable. Even in their living room as particularly nice chickens are invited in to roam the house - wearing a chicken diaper. I should have known that all things are possible - pamperyourpoultry.com and mypetchicken.com sell them. The price range is from $14.95 to $9.49 at Walmart.
And their children enjoy collecting eggs which given the attention to detail most often shown by the driven, they probably do in a haz-mat suit. Monogrammed, of course.
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