I was talking to the lady next to me at my dog’s obedience class and she mentioned that she was having her dog DNA tested. She couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to know what mix her dog was. I had never heard of DNA testing for dogs before, so I was quite surprised it was available. (The picture on the right is a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix.
The woman told me she ordered a DNA kit online and that the results would cost about $60.00. When I think of DNA testing, I picture big laboratories with scientists in white lab coats, sitting at microscopes, beakers, and test tubes strewn about them. I didn’t realize that testing was that simple.
Everyone in the class was anxiously awaiting the test results. It only took about a week for the results to come back. It was amazing, really. The test gave the actual percentage of each dog breed that her dog’s DNA was made up of. She told me that her dog was tested according to 135 dogs that the AKC recognizes as purebreds.
She found out that her dog was part Australian shepherd, German shepherd, and golden retriever. Everyone in the obedience class was guessing what breeds the dog might be made up of, but no one got the right answer. The dog owner was very happy with the results and a few of the other people in the class are planning on having their dogs tested also.
So, if you’ve been wondering about what your mixed breed dog is made up of, or if you want to be sure that your dog is a purebred, you might want to consider DNA testing for your dog. DNA BreedID.com will do the test for $59.99. That is the least expensive place I found on the internet.
