Has anyone done the Canine Heritage Breed test to find out what breeds their mixed breed dog is made of?
If so, what do you think? Were you surprised? Would you do it again?
I love my mutt too! I would never change him. Sometimes I just look at him and I am so curious what his Momma Dog looked like and what his Daddy Dog looked like. But before I spend any money on the test, I wondered if others had any experience with it.
My boy Buster: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/100162
I haven't used the canine Heritage test but I have heard of it. Currently they can't idenitify all breeds. You might wish to check their website to see a list of the 38 breeds they can currently identify. If your pet contains a breed not listed they will not be able to identify that part of the DNA and may list a breed in the gentic that occured prior. They are supposed to be adding new breeds to their current base within a few months. There is also another DNA agencey called Zoogen that can determine what's in your doggies mix. Go to their website to see what breeds their DNA databse consits off. Also ask your vet if the perform the MARS test. It's suposed to be available sometime midsummer. Good luck. I think it's great you want to know your dogs history. It helps you better care for your pet if you know what your dogs breeds are and what they are genetically at risk for.
Nope – never have done it nor do I really care. I love my mutt just the way she is..,
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I know two people who have, and both concluded it was a scam. In both cases, the results made no sense and the test only includes a limited number of breeds.
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Not sure if it is true or not but on opne web sight they where talking about it and someone sent in the info on thier dog who was a champion in the show ring pure breed golden and it came back that the dog was a mix of two different things, mother was a golden and the father they said was a lab. Like I said not sure if it is true. not even sure what that test is all about
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No i have not, and like posted above, don't think i would! i love my lil' mixed smoothy just the way she is! And what breed or breeds she is could not change that! But i do know what breeds the owner said she was : Australian Shepherd/ Pom. and Chuawua(SP??)
Heres my pup!
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/566248
Added:here is one site
and it says it cost 65$
I would never spend that much, for something that may or may not work!If someone truly cared that much- why not just get a pure bred? and even having this test could not really tell you what the parents looks where- just the general breed, who could of been mixed by both mixed parents… and there would be so many different jeans, it would just be a waste of time 4-6 weeks and a waste of money! The best way is to ask a vet, he could probably tell you best!
http://www.uncrate.com/men/gear/pets/canine-heritage-breed-test/
Good luck! ♥
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NOPE but it is a good idea if it is important to you or your insurance company – homeowners ins can be a head ache.
HOT dog
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PUREBREEDS ARE BETTER
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GOLDEN RETRIEVER SHANE 4 YEARS OLD
Looking at their website, I don't know if I would do it.
First, they only have 38 breeds. Sure they are some of the most popular breeds, but thats a pretty limited number.
Second, until now, I did not know you could tell this kind of information from a species. Last I knew, a dog was a dog. Unless it is kept secret, you can't tell race, age, hair color, foot size, etc. from a small blood sample, so how could you tell what kind of dog you have by blood sample.
If this does to a degree work, I would like to send in a sample of blood from a wolf… dogs are domesticated wolfs after all…
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I haven't used the canine Heritage test but I have heard of it. Currently they can't idenitify all breeds. You might wish to check their website to see a list of the 38 breeds they can currently identify. If your pet contains a breed not listed they will not be able to identify that part of the DNA and may list a breed in the gentic that occured prior. They are supposed to be adding new breeds to their current base within a few months. There is also another DNA agencey called Zoogen that can determine what's in your doggies mix. Go to their website to see what breeds their DNA databse consits off. Also ask your vet if the perform the MARS test. It's suposed to be available sometime midsummer. Good luck. I think it's great you want to know your dogs history. It helps you better care for your pet if you know what your dogs breeds are and what they are genetically at risk for.
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I have a dog that I adopted almost 5 years ago. She looks pretty much like a lab, but maybe a mix. For years I was obsessed with figuring out what she was. I researched on websites, reading about labs, German Shorthaired Pointers, Pointers etc. Trying to figure out if she was purebred, mixed etc. I took pictures and posted them on discussion groups asking people what they thought. Everyone always had a different opinion.
Then, one day, for some reason, I decided I didn't care any more. I realized that no matter what I found out it wasn't going to change anything about my wonderful dog. Since then I realize that our relationship has gotten stronger. Since I worry less about what happened to her before she came to me and what her background is I focus more on our relationship now. She is more focused and well behaved. This could be a coincidence, but I'm not sure.
Anyway this is all to say I know how you feel, trying to find out what makes up your dog. But I'm not sure I would spend the money, it will probably not change anything about how you feel about your gorgeous boy!
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Hi there!
I am a mutt lover myself. Actually, I am affiliated with another mixed-breed DNA test, Wisdom Panel MX. Many of Wisdom’s competitors (Canine Heritage included) have customers that re-do their dog with Wisdom Panel MX and have a lot of success and are pleased with the results. Also, Wisdom is peer-reviewed (standard for scientific testing) and is backed by the internationally respected Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition.
Wisdom Panel is the gold standard in mixed-breed genetic identification for dogs. Wisdom detects 157 different breeds (all breeds in the AKC except for Beauceron, English Toy Spaniel, Dogue de Bordeaux, Miniature Bull Terrier, Sky Terrier, Swedish Vallhund and Tibetan Mastiff. The rest are covered!)
There are two things that separate Wisdom from other tests like Canine Heritage (1) Only blood-based test, scientifically proven to provide the highest quality DNA sample compared to cheek swabs and (2) Wisdom Panel MX is the only test claiming accuracy, an average of 90% with mixed-breed dogs.
If you’d like more info, you can visit http://www.wisdompanel.com or you can reach out to me directly at wisdom@wisdompanel.com. I’d love to answer your questions!
i know that knowing Buster’s breed makeup will not make you love him any more or less, but it is always fun to reveal a mutt’s untold story!
Good luck.
I have used this test, and the Wisdom Panel test (MARS). The swab test came back after six weeks saying they had no clue what my dog’s mix was. I was refunded 75% of my money after several months of emails and a phone call.
I did the Wisdom Panel (requires a blood test), and yes, I would do it again the minute I adopt a mixed-breed dog. I was totally wrong in what I thought he was all these years. You might say so what? My dog has some very strange habits and also thin hair. After years of hearing, ‘well, he’s just weird’ after I got the test back and researched the breeds involved, it all made perfect sense. Also the thin hair problem was solved, as one of his breeds doesn’t have regular hair. Once I got over the initial shock of what breeds he was, after all these years I have a better understanding of him.
I had the Wisdom Panel MX by Mars for my dog, because it was the only one on the market (at the time, I don’t know if others have added it) with the American Staffordshire Terrier on there. I was very surprised by my results, which showed Kaci as AmStaff, Dalmation, Briard, and Chinese Crested. She is mostly AmStaff, but her tale is Briard, her size is due to large dogs(AmStaff, Dalmation, Briard) mixing with a tiny one(Chinese Crested), the list goes on. They give you a great packet of info about the breeds and how to determine how they fit into your dog. The only downside I found, is that it was not able to pinpoint a dominant breed, each breed they found was listed equally.
I loved the test done by wisdom panel. I love my dog and I wanted to understand why he did the things that he did. All types of different breeds damand a different type of games or obediance. This test help me pin point his top 5 breeds in his blood and each and everyone of those breeds I can completly say is true. the test can pin pont 153 out of 158 dog breeds in the AKC. I also work at a vet clinic where we have done 10 different other dogs. All came out completly believable! I’m not saying that this will change you or your dogs life, it really is more entertainment for yourself than anything else, but I believe it is worth it ; )
We have three rescues, two of which we had breed information on and one, Lucy, we didn’t.
Lucy was found in her humans apartment a week after they had been taken to a nursing home. She looks like a toy poodle mix with shih tzu or maltese. She had some ‘odd habits’ which we attributed to her trauma at being left for a week.
We decided to get the genetic testing for possible future health problems. Were we surprised!
She is 1/2 toy poodle and 1/2 pomeranian. That explaned ALL her behavior. She looks like a poodle and acts EXACTLY like a typical pomeranian. This has helped us immensly in understanding her and our training methods. It was the best thing we could have done. Now rather than seeing her as neurotic, we appreciate our little (7 lb.) pomme-poo
We found a dog out stopping traffic one day, and kept him. When we were in obedience school, I was asked a zillion times what kind of dog was he? He looks very much like a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, but we knew he wasn’t. We’ve just been going with a Golden-mix or “the Red kind” to describe him. I’m a molecular biologist, and I was impressed with the quality and technique of the Wisdom Panel test. I simply had to find out what he was! We were amazed with the results, and they seem to fit him to a tee. He is such a wonderful mixture, truly unique (as all mixed breed dogs are
The test was only able to detect distant heritage, but it identified 4 breeds: German Shepherd Dog, Collie, Laborador Retriever and Pomeranian!!! I guess that gives him his coat color and his obnoxious barking 
We would love him just the same without having done the test, but I’m really glad we did.
canine heritage is a total rip off!! They sent back the most ridiculous breeds that are no way in my dog. I was extremely disappointed!
The sweetheart of a dog we rescued 3 years ago has been both a marvel and a puzzle. The rescue had her advertised as a “terrier-mix” (Airedale/Wheaten), but I’ve always felt there was hound in there somewhere. No matter how many classes or how much training, once her nose hits a scent, she’s off in that direction, completely ignoring everything.
She’s breezed through several beginning and advanced Obedience and Novice classes, picks up her toys and has learned dozens of tricks at home. She’s curious, very energetic and loves challenge. I want to move on to classes that will be fun, stimulating and challenging for her.
For this reason, I had both the saliva and blood based tests with two different companies. What a joke… (My own vet doesn’t provide them and, for many reasons, questions the validity of this testing).
Anyway, the saliva test came back a Basset/Poodle mix; the blood test version came back Basset/Beagle. After a photo and explanation to both companies that this dog in no way resembles a Basset in either behavior or physical characteristics, I received the following revisions:
Saliva test:
Basset, Poodle, Rottweiler, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Yorkshire Terrier, Siberian Husky.
Blood test: Basset, Dalmation, German Shepherd, Italian Spanone
You can come to your own conclusions here, Basset is the only common breed between both companies, both testing types, so yes, it’s probable there is a distant Bassset in her mix.
After all this, a new dilemma has presented itself: If my dog is ever lost, how do I describe her on a flyer??? The Benji lookalike “terrier-mix” would surely bring her home, so that’s what it will be.
Save your money on the tests; go with your gut – and your dog. Your dogs responses, behavior and learning style will tell you much more than these tests, which ultimately lead to more confusion.
Just love ‘em.
luvmyk9
I made the mistake of doing one of the cheap DNA tests on my Coco. It took forever and the results were a joke.
THEN I discovered the Mars Veterinary “Wisdom Panel MX” DNA testing program. After investigating their program, I begged my veterinarian to sign up for their program and he did. The blood was drawn and sent off for the test. When the results came back both my vet and I were really surprised at the result.
The reason I wanted to have Coco tested is because she was a rescue off the street. She resembled in some ways a Chihuahua (there are a lot of them here) but I knew she wasn’t. Though Chihuahuas are loyal dogs many people are afraid of them because they can seem to be pretty much psycho. My vet was almost convinced that she was mainly Chihuahua. The report stated that only trace DNA patterns could be found (meaning from way back in her ancestry) and the patterns shown represented a family tree containing Bedlington Terrior, Pomeranian, and Chinese Crested.
I had her tested while she was still young and growing. Just a few days before the results came back I was commenting on the fact that her cute little belly was turning two tone, slightly beige and pink. Lo and behond that is a trait of the Chinese Crested. Voila, the results were vindicated.
The Wisdom Panel is higher priced than the others on the web, but it is far more detailed. I think it is worth every penny. Yes, I would still love my Coco even if I had not run the test, but knowing what her history is gives me a better idea of what might be in her health future, and that is important so I can keep her with me as long as possible.
Like “2thedogs,” my family obsessed about the mix in our wonderful rescue dog and we tried the test from the company that claims 130 breeds and requires that blood be drawn by a vet. The results were SO disappointing that I complained to Visa and got a full refund. Here’s what they don’t tell you. The tests are very good IF your dog’s parents, or sometimes grandparents, are thoroughbreds, but if they are typical mutts, like ours, the genes are virtually indistinguishable and you get info about “traces” of a breed, but that tells you nothing about how the dog looks or behaves. So the truth is they are using state-of-the-art DNA technology, but the ads are very misleading about what the tests actually can do. Perhaps it will get better in a few years. .
My husband and I have two glorious mutts that we adore and we enjoyed guessing what breeds were in them. For Father’s Day I had both of them tested – we used Mars Veterinary, http://www.wisdompanel.com – they test for almost 150 breeds. To answer your original questions, yes we were very very surprised by the breeds that came up and yes, we would do it again and will do it again with the next dog(s) that come into our lives. While it gave us a little insight into some of their characteristics and personality traits, it was motly just plain fun to do and fun to look at them and then try to see where a certain breed pops up!
Yes, I did the test and found my mutt was really a lot of pedigree in him. He was a mix and over 50% Spinone Italiano. I am really glad we found this out as it gave us a lot of insight into his personality and his medical type history. Yes, I would do it again. Woody
“From the American Foxhound to the Black and Tan Coonhound, the newly updated Wisdom Panel MX will detect 157 breeds that may be present in a mutt, covering 153 of the 158 American Kennel Club (AKC) registered dogs plus four breeds found on the AKC’s Foundation List.”
The quote above is from the Mars Wisdom Panel and they use a blood sample instead of a cotton swab. It has been available for many months now. My dog was tested in May. She definitely looked like an Australian Shepherd Mix and without them ever having seen her the results came back Austalian Shepherd, Labrador Retriever and Boxer with other breeds to faint to identify. I agree with several posters that it really doesn’t matter as far as how you feel about your dog but I don’t see the relevance of making that statement in connection with breed detection through DNA. I don’t think anyone has their mixed breed tested because somehow it may change the way they feel about their dog.
The fact that I know my dog is an Aussie Mix explains her prey drive and tendencies to be mouthy, as if she were trying to herd her people. It is also beneficial to be aware of health issues relevant to the breeds in the mix. If you are considering the DNA test, I would highly recommend going to a vet that is providing this test through the Mars Wisdom Panel. You can log on to http://www.wisdompanel.com and enter your zip code to find a vet in your area.
Also, I sent them an e-mail a couple of months ago to ask if they were going to test for wolves and coyote DNA in mixed breeds and here’s the response I received: “We would estimate that wolves and coyotes will be introduced in mid 2009 next year.”
People always ask us what our dog is a mix of–he’s so darn cute, but our answer is just “What do YOU think he is?” I did the Mars Wisdom panel and didn’t get any relevant info about my dog. A friend did the cheaper test and got “inconclusive” as her result, so unless you have lots of spare money, I don’t think I would bother.
Yes, we had the Wisdom Panel, by Mars Veterinary, test done. We have an old guy who was listed as a Lab Mix at the Rescue. We quickly discovered he had not an ounce of Lab in him, as he hates water, even raindrops, and would never deign to retrieve any item. No one could figure out what he was.
We chose the Wisdom Panel because it uses a blood test, which would seem to be more accurate than a cheek swab, and because it tests for most breeds (157 breeds at this time). This dog’s DNA results were astonishing … very dilute, but we see traits of these breeds in him.
So, then, we decided to test our mostly Lab mix, a search-and-rescue dog. We were really curious what the other breed or breeds are. She came back primarily Lab, but with Springer Spaniel and Husky too. This makes sense.
Finally, we tested the small mix we got from a Basenji Rescue. After having her for a short time, we discovered she is some kind of stock, herding dog, but no one could pinpoint it. From the test, we learned she’s also diluted with other breeds including Basenji, but has Belgian Shepherd in her. No one ever guessed that … but this also makes sense.
We’re happy we had the tests done. In fact, if we were to adopt another dog, depending upon the circumstances — and we are committed to adopting mature mutts — we might do the test first or soon after adopting.
The Board has been flooded in 24 hours with people who went to Wisdom Panel (Mars) because the company sent an email blast to its mailing list with a link to this site and a request to spread the word.
The fact remains that, while a few people got good results (probably because one parent or grandparent was purebred), the majority got itsy bitsy traces that don’t tell them much.
Mars says that it can’t yet detect the breed of SINCLE BREED dogs (purebreds). So how can it tell when there are 5 or 10 breeds mixed in there.
Save your money and get a special food bowl and collar for the pooch.
Mars Wisdom Panel
We thought our dog was an Aussie with a tail, but he came back 99% Border Collie.
Definitely worth it. We will subtly adjust our training in agility to suit BC tendencies.
The only bad thing is his name no longer fits his breed — Melbourne ;-(