Comments on: Can I find out my dog's breed(s)?

Question: Can I find out my dog's breed(s)?

archimago — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:08:59 -0800

I heard that you can send a sample of your dog's DNA out to be tested to determine breed. I have a pound mutt who I would love to know the mix before she passes. Anyone know if such a service exists?

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:13:37 -0800

What's My Dog.com?

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:13:53 -0800

(BTW, typed "dog dna breed" into Google. :-)

By: dilettante

dilettante — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:51:27 -0800

There's this one. Launches in July, I think - I read about it in the news somewhere.

By: dilettante

dilettante — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:52:31 -0800

Erm. Now that I follow the link above, it's the same one.

Nevermind.

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:26:30 -0800

You might be interested in this, the first scientific attempt to use genetic information to identify pure-bred dogs.

Mars Veterinary, the company planning to offer these tests, will only provide an estimate of the breed mixture of a non-pure bred dog, according to their website.

(I suspect the reason they are not yet offering pure-bred tests is legal, not scientific.)

Note that dog breeds are a human concept without a perfect analogue in the genome of Canis familiaris. (Well, to be pedantic, C. familiaris is also a human concept, as are species, but that's another debate.) Anyhoo, any attempt to ID a dog breed from a biologic sample is going to be probabilistic, not deterministic.

By: Salvatorparadise

Salvatorparadise — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:31:06 -0800

these guys are the newest and most well known

http://www.metamorphixinc.com/

(someone tell me how to turn links into words)

anyway, they don't test for pits, just 38 or so common breeds, i've heard they don't test for pits because they're afraid the testing would be used to ID animals to put to sleep

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:45:51 -0800

Salvatorparadise, just replace the parenthesis below with left < or right>:
(a href="full link address")text you want displayed(/a)

By: intermod

intermod — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:25:34 -0800

Or, while composing your comment, use the blue link button below.

By: Airhen

Airhen — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:12:07 -0800

My employer published a seven-part (yes) series about this very topic: the last part.

By: monkeymadness

monkeymadness — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:46:58 -0800

Why don't you post a pic of the dog and let us try to hack through it with you? I always like guessing at breed crosses.

By: happyturtle

happyturtle — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:39:30 -0800

Seconding monkeymadness. I thought my dog was a mutt, and one day I met a lady who recognized her breed.

By: Salvatorparadise

Salvatorparadise — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:16:33 -0800

thanks for the info on links

airhen: that was a great series!