Dog DNA Testing Services

Stanthedog

Hello all, I've a 3 year old terrier cross !!!!! who I rehoused when she was 7 months old. She is a brilliant little dog and I love to bits. Since she has been with us she has settled in brilliantly and she's my pride and joy. I have a few ideas of what the potential cross breeds she may be but curiosity is getting the better of me and I really want to know more. I've heard that you can DNA test your dog and google returns lots of results when I search for it. Many companies appear not to be in the UK and I'm cautious about being "ripped off". Has anyone used one of these services and if so can you recommend a low cost reputable tester. Many thanks

krlyr

It's not about being reputable, but the lack of accuracy. They have breeds on file from certain DNA markers - but essentially all dogs originate back to the wolf and many breeds are a cross of different breeds. So at what point, for example, does a Dobermann become a Dobermann and not a Rottweiler, Great Dane, Greyhound, etc crossbreed? And a European line Dobermann may well vary genetically to a US line Dobermann - which one is on file?

I've heard of some iffy results and some truly silly ones - Terrier sized dogs being large proportion giant mountain dog breeds, for example, and your bog standard Heinz being a high percent some rare, barely seen breed.

I'd save my money and ask people on a dog forum to take guesses based on appearance and traits. If the cash is really burning a hole in your pocket, donate it to a dog rescue who could probably do with it far more than your curiousity needs a bunch of unreliable DNA results!

skintandscared_2

I would love to know what's mixed in with our Jack Russell. I recently saw a pic of a Bichon/Jack Russell cross and it's the closest I've seen to our Ted, although the other one has a fuller face...

Our Teddy ....

skintandscared_2

and the Bichon/Jack cross....

Artytarty

He's adorable! maybe mixed with a teddy bear:)

UKTigerlily

krlyr wrote: »

It's not about being reputable, but the lack of accuracy. They have breeds on file from certain DNA markers - but essentially all dogs originate back to the wolf and many breeds are a cross of different breeds. So at what point, for example, does a Dobermann become a Dobermann and not a Rottweiler, Great Dane, Greyhound, etc crossbreed? And a European line Dobermann may well vary genetically to a US line Dobermann - which one is on file?

I've heard of some iffy results and some truly silly ones - Terrier sized dogs being large proportion giant mountain dog breeds, for example, and your bog standard Heinz being a high percent some rare, barely seen breed.

I'd save my money and ask people on a dog forum to take guesses based on appearance and traits. If the cash is really burning a hole in your pocket, donate it to a dog rescue who could probably do with it far more than your curiousity needs a bunch of unreliable DNA results!

I would echo this a thousand times over. A friend of mine did the DNA test from I think one of the most well known places & she thought he was a Staffy x Boxer (he looked like both breeds) . . he came back one parent a Staffy mix one a Staffy x Pinscher & that he had five other breeds found including Great Dane, Papillon, Rotti & Saluki. Boxer wasn't mentioned anywhere nor were any Mastiff types