Project Wisdom
an international effort to preserve and understand the Tornjak breed at a genetic level.

a man holding up a tornjak puppy while a woman takes a DNA swab from the puppies cheek
very close up image of 2 DNA swabs in a woman's hand
two women at a dining table looking and pointing at an offical FCI pedigree

About Project Wisdom

The project combines three key elements:

  • a detailed analysis of the Tornjak pedigree database to identify dogs that best represent the breed’s broad genetic heritage;
  • active involvement from the global Tornjak community, with owners from multiple countries volunteering their dogs and even traveling across borders to provide DNA samples;
  • and advanced genetic testing performed by Wisdom Panel.

The goal of Project Wisdom is to have Tornjak DNA officially mapped and recorded with Wisdom Panel. This achievement will lay the groundwork for future health insights, helping to identify potential genetic diseases, while also strengthening breed recognition and documentation worldwide.

Od Dinare's role with the project

Od Dinare has worked alongside the Tornjak Club of North America to facilitate Project Wisdom from its earliest stages. Our role has included working with Wisdom Panel to establish the project, creating pedigree analysis tools to identify suitable candidates (like the one below) and coordinating DNA collection from Tornjaks in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other parts of Europe.

This project would not have been possible without the participation of Tornjak owners who generously contributed their dogs' DNA and pedigrees. We are grateful to everyone who helped make this research effort possible and proud to contribute to a project that will benefit the future of the breed.

This Webpage:

This webpage serves as a working tool for Project Wisdom. Here, we map Tornjak pedigrees, compare lineages, and identify dogs that are the best candidates for DNA submission. This tool helps visualize which dogs have ancestry overlap.

How to utilize this tool:

Each 'Group' represents dogs that share a common ancestor. The shared ancestor is listed below the Group.

Clicking on a name will highlight all instances of that dog. Re-clicking on it will remove the highlight.

The number in the little yellow circles indicates how many groups each dog is a part of. Littermates are paired into 1 name because they share all ancestors.