Dog breed DNA testing can be a mixed bag of bucks

Do you know what breeds your dog may carry?

Unless you have a pure-bred pedigreed pooch, it’s possible you may not. Addressing this concern, veterinary medicine now markets a host of testing capabilities, all aimed at identifying the various canine breeds a dog may have in its ancestry.

Some dog breed DNA kits use saliva, swabbed from the pet’s mouth. Others test blood instead.

Sure, the accuracy claims of various canine DNA testing options vary.

Some seem to offer wider dog breed recognition capabilities, including exotic and rare breeds not commonly found. But none of the Canine DNA Breed Identification Test Kits makes any claim of 100 percent accuracy.

Prices are all over the map, running anywhere from about $65 to $200 or more.

Having adopted a mixed breed pup from a canine rescue group, I wanted to run a DNA test to identify the breeds in her background. We are pretty sure she is a Border Collie and Labrador Retriever mix. At least, that’s what they told us. And she sure looks the part.

However, she may have additional dog breeds in her bloodlines.

My veterinarian offers a DNA testing program, using a blood sample from the dog. The test costs $160.  The local pet store (part of a major pet supply retailer chain) can do a similar test for about $75.

I opted not to have my vet run the pricey test. And I clicked onto the internet to compare other dog breed DNA testing choice.

The Wisdom Panel test, one of the most popular ones, retails for $79.99. I found it for $65.99 on Amazon. And, because I am an Amazon Prime member, the shipping is free. They’ll send me the kit, which includes swabs to collect the dog’s saliva samples, and a packet to mail them in for testing. Within a few weeks, I should receive the canine breed report.

So we’ll stay tuned to learn my pup’s actual dog breed DNA test results. Is she a Borador … or something more complicated than that?

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