Los Angeles Times

Consumer Confidential: Does this dog look like a Saint Bernard? The questionable business of home DNA tests

A DNA test found that I'm 72.3 percent of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, thanks to ancestors from Ukraine. I expected as much.

It also determined that I'm 11.3 percent Scandinavian, 7.8 percent Spanish or Portuguese, and 3.1 percent Italian.

This is unexpected, both to me and my parents, who insist there are no secret Swedes or Spaniards in our family tree. I gesture a lot when I speak, so who knows about the Italian thing.

Another DNA test found that my family's dog, Teddy, is part pit bull, which comes as no surprise. Many rescue pooches have pit bull roots.

The test also says Teddy is to a

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