Whether you have a mutt or a supposed pure bred, The DNA Breed Identification kit from Viaguard, Inc. will show you which breeds your pooch has descended from along with possible genetic health concerns and personality traits. They send you the kit for free, but the processing will cost you $71 and some change. If you’re not interested in your pet’s family tree, this company provides human DNA tests as well… including some non-standard ones that allow you to send in some pretty freaky items for testing.
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Hi Julie,
I love your website! That’s great and thanks for the update on doggie DNA… that’s useful info.
I also wanted to pass along… I work at a large vet clinic and we’ve different places that do the DNA test. We really like the DNA Diagnostics Center in Ohio. They are the ones you see on TV doing Maury Povich “who’s your daddy” stuff but they also have a Pet DNA site http://www.vetdnacenter.com/ We have found them to be accurate and reasonably priced…and they are a U.S. company.
@Joe Looks like they have some interesting tests too. I’m curious about the coat length tests… Can’t you just look at your dog and see how long their fur is? Or is for testing a male and female to see if their offspring would be fluffy? I used to have a Corgi… so I know that fluffy fur is sometimes a ‘bad’ thing.
In our country, the kennel club requires chipping, and on that chip is the pedigree of a dog going back at least 4 generations. No breeder can lie about bloodlines or any in-breeding, because every dog and their history is in the online database. The database also includes any show rankings, so no lying about that by breeders either.
What, is the AKC not doing this yet? It’s just a relational db that any database expert could build.
As an example, our doxy:
http://jalostus.kennelliitto.fi/frmKoira.aspx?RekNo=FIN23273/02&R=148.12
If someone tries to sell you a dog that’s not chipped, that does not have this information readily available, move on. You’re doing dogs no favors by buying from unscrupulous breeders, encouraging them to still breed two dogs just because they look pretty.
If the AKC had something like this, wouldn’t there not be much need for a DNA kit?
To add to that, it’s easy to look up the histories of the dogs in the db, so you’ll know about things like size and coat type and ailments and all that good stuff.
But I have to ask again, doesn’t a good breeder tell you these things anyway? Ours did…
Of course this commentary isn’t against posting these products. 🙂
It’s just a lament that there’s even needed to begin with.