Decoding dog DNA tests (2024)

VERIFY put three dog DNA companies to the test to figure out if they can identify your dog’s breed as accurately as they say.

VERIFY Staff

Play Video

Close Video

Decoding dog DNA tests (8)

  • Chapter 1 Our Dogs
  • Chapter 2 The Science of Dog DNA
  • Chapter 3 How to Test a Dog's DNA
  • Chapter 4 Our Tests
  • Chapter 5 Dog DNA Industry isn't Regulated
  • Chapter 6 Our Results

Published: 6:27 PM EDT April 17, 2024

Updated: 1:37 PM EDT May 27, 2024

Dog DNA tests have become an increasingly popular purchase for many pet owners who are curious about their furry friend’s ancestry. And since so many dogs are rescues or mixed-breeds, there are plenty of potential customers for these dog DNA companies.

They are so popular that dog DNA testing has become a $235 million industry, according to Zion Market Research. VERIFY readers reached out to us to ask if these tests are accurate.

VERIFY looked into the science of dog genetics, DNA testing and what research says about different dog DNA companies. We also conducted our own experiment to determine the accuracy of three popular dog DNA testing companies.

Our testing included four DNA samples: a purebred dog with documented pedigree, one dog the owners were told is a German wirehaired pointer and Labrador retriever mix, one rescue mutt of unknown origins and a human. We sent these samples to three dog DNA testing companies to get a sense of their accuracy and any differences between them.

THE QUESTION

Can you determine your dog’s breed from a DNA test?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Decoding dog DNA tests (10)

Yes, you can determine your dog’s breed from a DNA test. However, the reliability of dog DNA tests varies from company to company.

Chapter 1 Our Dogs

VERIFY tested the DNA of three dogs – one purebred long-haired dachshund with documented heritage, a rescue mutt who the owners were told is part German wirehaired pointer and part Labrador, another rescue mutt with unknown origins – and one human VERIFY reporter named Josh Sidorowicz.

The purebred dog is Versace, an American Kennel Club (AKC) champion long-haired dachshund owned by Connie Delaney in Lutz, Florida. Delaney has the documentation and certification that state Versace is a purebred with lineage and pedigree that goes back generations.

When asked what she was expecting from the DNA test, Delaney said she would be “absolutely amazed” if the results suggested Versace was anything but a purebred dachshund.

Decoding dog DNA tests (11) Decoding dog DNA tests (12)

Credit: VERIFY

There is no documentation for our mixed-breeds, both of which are rescue dogs.

Maka is an 11-year-old rescue mutt who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with Tony Loeffler and Michael Griffin. Loeffler says they were told he is a mix of Labrador retriever and German wirehaired pointer.

Decoding dog DNA tests (13) Decoding dog DNA tests (14)

Credit: VERIFY

Beau is Sidorowicz’s dog he adopted as a puppy from a local rescue in 2018. Sidorowicz says he thinks Beau, who is brindle-colored, is some kind of Labrador retriever mix.

“My husband likes to tease me now and remind me how resistant I was for so long to the idea of us having a dog because now, of course, I couldn’t imagine a world without our Beauster,” Sidorowicz said.

Decoding dog DNA tests (15) Decoding dog DNA tests (16)

Credit: VERIFY

Finally, Sidorowicz took a sample of his own DNA to submit for dog DNA testing just to see if any of the companies could tell the difference between human DNA and a dog’s DNA.

Decoding dog DNA tests (17) Decoding dog DNA tests (18)

Credit: VERIFY

Chapter 2 The Science of Dog DNA

Dog breeds are genetically distinct enough that it is possible to accurately determine a dog’s breed through scientifically sound DNA testing.

“Being able to tell what breed your dog is can be done with very, very high fidelity,” Elaine Ostrander, Ph.D., a scientist whose lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute focuses on canine genetic research, told VERIFY in an interview. “Being able to tell what the major component breeds of your mixed breed are done, again, with very high fidelity from multiple companies.”

There is much more genetic variation between different breeds of dogs than there is between different populations of humans, Ostrander wrote in the American Scientist, a magazine published by the Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society.

“Thus the concept of a dog breed is very real and can be defined not only by the dog's appearance but genetically as well,” Ostrander wrote.

To illustrate this, Ostrander described a study in which a computer had to identify a dog’s breed by genetic profile alone. The computer correctly identified the breed of 99% of dogs it was asked to identify.

Chapter 3 How to Test a Dog's DNA

First, you have to get a sample of a dog’s DNA. Dog DNA companies usually provide a swab you can use to collect your dog’s DNA from the saliva inside of its mouth.

“Once you’ve got your swab, follow the steps to package it up and ship it to the company. After the lab receives it, their technicians will extract and process the DNA,” ASPCA Pet Health Insurance says. “They’ll use a computer algorithm to match the chromosomal patterns of your pet’s DNA to a breed database.”

To accomplish this, Ostrander says the tester needs “reference panels” to determine the breed or breeds of a dog. These reference panels are basically samples of that dog breeds’ DNA already in the tester’s database.

The AKC and owners of purebred dogs tend to keep pedigrees and registration numbers that allow researchers to go back five generations or more in the dog’s ancestry, Ostrander says. By collecting DNA samples from these dogs, researchers can build accurate reference panels with dogs they know to be a particular breed.

Halie Rando, Ph.D., a computer scientist and the lead researcher in a University of Colorado study on the accuracy of several dog DNA tests, explained how these reference panels of purebred dogs can then be used to identify the pedigree of mixed-breed dogs.

“So in the U.S., that typically means someone would start with samples collected from AKC registered dogs, and then use those as a prototype of the genetic information associated with that breed,” Rando said. “And then if you have a mixed-breed dog, you can compare that information against the purebred dogs and identify the percentage of their genome associated with each purebred.”

So we can VERIFY that accurate DNA testing of dogs is possible. But not all DNA tests on the market are created equal.

Chapter 4 Our Tests

VERIFY conducted our own study by testing three dogs’ and a human’s DNA using three popular dog DNA testing companies: Viaguard Accu-Metrics, Embark and Wisdom Panel.

Embark and Wisdom Panel are the two companies that most frequently show up in online lists of the best dog DNA companies. They are two of the three most highly rated tests on a commercial DNA test review site.

While many dog DNA test companies use similar methods to determine a dog’s breed, those methods and the data used to support the tests aren't exactly the same. So test results can still vary from company to company.

“To determine breed ancestry of a given dog based on their DNA, Embark uses a proven scientific process that compares a dog’s DNA to the DNA of tens of thousands of purebred dogs in our reference database,” Jenna Dockweiler, Ph.D., a veterinary geneticist at Embark, said. “We can identify what percentage of a dog’s ancestry came from each breed by identifying how much of their DNA matches perfectly to a breed in our reference database.”

Dockweiler noted that other reputable dog DNA companies use a similar method to determine a dog’s breed, but the results may vary between tests due to differences in each company’s reference databases and algorithms.

Rebecca Foran, Ph.D., head of research and development at Wisdom Panel, says Wisdom Panel’s “breed detection system” has error rates two to four times lower than the industry standard.

Accu-Metrics was the least accurate among six dog DNA testing companies in a study conducted by researchers in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The researchers submitted pictures and DNA samples of 12 different dogs to the various dog DNA companies. Half of the photos were correctly matched with the sample dog’s saliva, while the other half were submitted with saliva from a completely different dog.

Rando told VERIFY that the researchers also had an artificial intelligence guess the dog breed for each DNA sample based on the photo they submitted alongside each DNA test. That includes the six samples paired with photos of entirely different dogs.

“In our study, we found that Accu-Metrics was less accurate than the AI at predicting the breed of the dog, the dog's DNA,” Rando said. “And the [artificial intelligence] could never have succeeded in half of the cases.”

“We are a DNA testing laboratory and our function is to report the results that our DNA analysts derive from the submitted samples,” Viaguard Accu-Metrics said in a statement. “Those results of course can be influenced by the quality of the submitted samples/other factors. Once the results have been released our work is complete and we have no further comment.”

Accu-Metrics was also the third lowest-rated among 17 commercial dog DNA tests listed on DNAtestingchoice.com, the DNA test review site.

Embark and Wisdom Panel both require saliva swabs to collect the DNA samples. Accu-Metrics requires a saliva swab, although it also asks for but does not require a photo of the dog. Embark and Wisdom Panel do not ask for a photo of the dog.

Chapter 5 Dog DNA Industry isn't Regulated

ASPCA Pet Health Insurance says the dog DNA industry isn’t regulated, which makes it hard to gauge claims companies make about the accuracy of their tests.

“While dog DNA services may boast a high percentage of accuracy, those claims are based on evaluations done by the companies themselves,” Hartville Pet Insurance says. “Their claims may be correct, but they haven’t been validated by an outside party. In addition, services use different methodologies, which aren’t available to the public for comparison.”

There are a number of reasons why different commercial dog DNA tests may yield results and vary in accuracy, Foran, who works for Wisdom Panel, says.

“Breed mix results from different DNA testing companies can vary in some cases,” Foran said. “This is because each pet DNA testing company uses its own reference populations (populations of pets with known geographical origins or purebred lineages) and algorithms to determine breed background.”

Foran said you could think of searching for a dog’s genetic ancestry like you would search for the answer to a question on a search engine like Google.

“The genetic markers are the search term, the ancestry algorithm is the internet search engine, and the reference panel is the extent of data across the web,” Foran said. “You need all three to get the most accurate and precise results.”

Foran said tests can yield different results because of differences in reference panels, differences in the algorithms used to detect a dog’s ancestry based on these reference panels and differences in the types and number of genetic variants considered.

In the University of Colorado study, researchers sent various dog DNA companies genetic samples alongside photos of dogs that were genetically and physically different from the dog the genetic sample originated from. The study was conducted because some dog DNA testing companies require a photo of the dog with its genetic sample.

For example, the researchers sent a photo of a big, silky-haired Brittany spaniel with a genetic sample of a small, hairless Chinese crested.

Decoding dog DNA tests (19) Decoding dog DNA tests (20)

Credit: VERIFY

“In five of the six companies, results for the Chinese crested dog that included a photo of the spaniel came back mostly accurate,” the study’s press release said. “But one test, completed by Accu-Metrics, determined in an ‘official analysis’ that the dog was part border collie and part golden retriever — a conclusion that seems to align more with the photo of the dog than the DNA sample.”

The researchers noted there is “no scientific reason” why a photo would be needed to analyze the dog’s DNA. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine had 5,922 survey respondents guess the breed of 20 dogs from a selection of 100 based entirely on a photo of each dog. The respondents correctly identified a prominent breed an average of 27% of the time.

That means determining a dog’s breed based on its appearance is often ineffective.

Chapter 6 Our Results

Our first test subject was Versace, the purebred long-haired dachshund. Sure enough, all three tests confirmed that Versace is 100% dachshund.

Decoding dog DNA tests (21) Decoding dog DNA tests (22)

Credit: VERIFY

But once we looked at the results for the remaining two dogs and the human, Accu-Metrics’ results started drifting away from the Embark and Wisdom Panel results.

Maka, the rescue mutt believed to be a Labrador retriever and wirehaired pointer mix, is mostly American pit bull terrier and Australian cattle dog, according to both Embark and Wisdom Panel. Although Embark said he is 68% those two breeds, while Wisdom Panel said he’s just 29% those two breeds.

Accu-Metrics’ testing, however, found entirely different results. It said Maka is 100% Labrador retriever.

Decoding dog DNA tests (23) Decoding dog DNA tests (24)

Credit: VERFY

Beau, the mutt Sidorowicz believed is a Labrador retriever mix, is part pit bull terrier, both Embark and Wisdom say. Embark said he is 31% pit bull, 25% “supermutt” and 19% golden retriever. Wisdom Panel said he’s about 25% pit bull and 22% golden retriever.

But again, Accu-Metrics’ results were very different. Its result said Beau is largely a mix of American Staffordshire terrier and Belgian malinois.

Decoding dog DNA tests (25) Decoding dog DNA tests (26)

Credit: VERIFY

“Dogs like Beau and Maka who are extremely genetically diverse have DNA segments so small that they can no longer be accurately assigned to one particular breed,” Dockweiler said. “At Embark, when that happens, we report what we call a percentage of ‘Supermutt’ ancestry. That’s our way of informing the dog owner about where some of those strands might come from – but go ‘farther back’ in their ancestry than the dog’s great grandparents.”

Ostrander says it makes sense that both rescue dogs have pit bull in their genetics because pit bulls are a breed that often end up in rescue situations.

Finally, we sent all three companies Sidorowicz’s DNA swab. Embark and Wisdom Panel said they couldn’t process the sample.

Accu-Metrics, however, said Sidorowicz is a lot like his dog. It said he is primarily Belgian malinois and Staffordshire bull terrier with a little bit of French bulldog in him, too.

Decoding dog DNA tests (27) Decoding dog DNA tests (28)

Credit: VERIFY

“The dog DNA testing industry is unregulated, which means it’s important for dog owners to do their research when it comes to selecting which test to use to determine breed ancestry,” Dockweiler, who works for Embark, said. “Look for a test that has a large reference database, uses research-grade genotyping technology, and uses microarray methods that meet or exceed industry quality control standards.”

ASPCA Pet Health Insurance also says you can “probably feel confident if you choose a reputable company with good reviews” when picking out a dog DNA test.

Credits:

  • Reporter: Josh Sidorowicz
  • Digital journalist: Emery Winter
  • Video editor: Tolu Oluwadiya
  • Graphics: Amie Casaldi and Eleni Hosack
  • Social: Amanda Lashbaugh
  • Editors: Lindsay Claiborn and Sara Roth
  • Yes, some blue-green algae is toxic to pets
  • There’s no evidence the respiratory illness affecting dogs can spread to cats or humans
  • There’s no federal no-fly list for pets

The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »

Follow Us

Want something VERIFIED?

Text: 202-410-8808

Decoding dog DNA tests (2024)

FAQs

How do I read my dog's DNA results? ›

In this section, you will find three results: clear, carrier, or affected.
  1. Clear: Your dog does not have a copy of the abnormal gene you tested for. ...
  2. Carrier: Your dog has one copy of the abnormal gene you tested for. ...
  3. Affected: Your dog has two copies of the abnormal gene you tested for.
Mar 23, 2024

Can dog DNA tests be wrong? ›

Many dog DNA testing companies claim more than 90% accuracy; these types of tests are never 100% accurate, and there are lots of factors that can influence your pup's results, including: Quality of the DNA sample: Contaminated or improperly collected samples can lead to incorrect results.

How do I understand my DNA results? ›

The DNA test report you will receive shows numbers (in the first column) that indicate each of the 21 loci involved in the DNA testing process. The columns marked “allele” on the DNA test report contain numbers indicating the two alleles found at each locus (or one number if they are the same size).

What are the results of a dog DNA test? ›

DNA test results include your dog's breed mix by percentage based on a library of anywhere from 250-350 unique dog breeds. For each of the breeds your pup gets, you can get additional information on each breed: temperament, appearance, history, fun facts, and related breed information.

How do you read DNA profile results? ›

A DNA paternity test result appears all in one page. It contains a DNA profile for each person in the test. The report also shows the combined parentage index (CPI) and a percentage indicating the strength of the result. All of this information produces a single answer for the question of paternity.

How are paternity test results read? ›

DNA paternity test results usually list a “probability of paternity” as two values: 0 or 99.9. A result of 0 means there isn't a genetic match between the potential non-birthing parent and the fetus or child — they aren't the father.

Is Embark DNA ever wrong? ›

The microarray probes we use are designed for exceptional accuracy, surpassing 99.9%. Most genotyping results will be completed in 2-4 weeks from the time we scan your swab at our lab. Completion times may vary for other Embark products.

What are some drawbacks to testing dog DNA? ›

The Drawbacks of Pet DNA Tests

This is because the FDA does not regulate animal DNA tests. Because of this, the FDA has not approved any direct-to-consumer pet DNA tests to help detect or prevent medical conditions in animals. More often than not, these health tests aren't completely accurate.

What happens if you DNA test a purebred dog? ›

That's false. Fact: It's true that the Embark DNA Test for Purebred Dogs will tell you about your dog's breed and ancestry, but it does much more than that. Our Purebred Dog DNA Test also screens for 250+ genetic health risks, measures genetic diversity, and connects you with your dog's relatives.

How to read genetic test results? ›

There are three possible results you can receive from genetic testing: positive, negative or uncertain. The meaning of these results depends on multiple factors, such as the type of genetic testing that was performed and your personal and family history, among others.

What is the DNA reading code? ›

The Universal Genetic Code is the instruction manual that all cells use to read the DNA sequence of a gene and build a corresponding protein. Proteins are made of amino acids that are strung together in a chain. Each 3-letter DNA sequence, or codon, encodes a specific amino acid.

What does 0.5 mean on a paternity test? ›

A prior probability of 0.5 is the standard approach used in relationship analysis since it assumes that before considering the DNA results, it is equally likely that the man tested is, or not the father.

What does a canine DNA test tell you? ›

DNA tests are a great way for you to understand your dog's genes and can help people who are thinking of breeding from their dog to avoid passing on inherited conditions to any future puppies, or can help owners to know what conditions their dog may develop as they get older.

What do the levels mean in a dog DNA test? ›

Level 1 will help dog owners learn which breed forms the most significant part of their dog's DNA (75% or more). Level 2 will indicate those breeds that are present in your dog's DNA, which will be easily recognizable but not as strong as those indicated in level 1.

What DNA test do vets recommend for dogs? ›

Best dog DNA test for breed identification: Wisdom Panel Breed Discovery. Wisdom Panel states they have the world's largest breed database which covers all AKC registered breeds and some rare breeds as well. However, if your dog is a mixed breed, pick Embark's Breed Dog DNA Test, which is more accurate.

How do you read a DNA sample? ›

When we look at a sequence of DNA, we read it in the 5′-3′ direction. The relative positions of genes or other sites along a DNA strand can be described as upstream (towards the 5′ end) or downstream (towards the 3′ end).

Can you find out what breed your dog is with DNA test? ›

DNA MY Dog will determine every breed in your dog through a simple, at-home DNA cheek swab kit. Tests for over 350 breeds. Results include a report on every breed, by percentage, found in your dog's unique DNA. Results also include a custom certificate and report.

How do you read dog breeding papers? ›

The dog's official name, as recorded by a kennel or other organization, will definitely appear on the pedigree. Usually it will appear as the first name on the left or right corner, along with the date of birth. Identify the dog's ancestors. Most of the time, the names of the dog's parents will be just to the right.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Mrs. Angelic Larkin

Last Updated:

Views: 5925

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (67 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Mrs. Angelic Larkin

Birthday: 1992-06-28

Address: Apt. 413 8275 Mueller Overpass, South Magnolia, IA 99527-6023

Phone: +6824704719725

Job: District Real-Estate Facilitator

Hobby: Letterboxing, Vacation, Poi, Homebrewing, Mountain biking, Slacklining, Cabaret

Introduction: My name is Mrs. Angelic Larkin, I am a cute, charming, funny, determined, inexpensive, joyous, cheerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.