How Accurate Are Dog DNA Tests?

Have you ever been asked what breed your dog is? Chances are, you've answered that many times.

Since a dog's look can be deceiving, one of the first things most people ask dog owners is the breed of their dogs.

I'm saying this because it happened to me. In fact, when I had my first dog, I didn't know what to say when bombarded with this question. Now I know better, thanks to dog DNA test kits. 

I thought knowing the breed will give me better understanding of my dog, but as it turned out, it changed how my friends reacted to her behaviour which in turn raised more questions about the accuracy of the test.

After many days of argument, I asked him to repeat the test using a DNA test kits from another company.

Months later, he did the dog DNA test using different DNA test kits. Much to our chagrin, the results given by the other DNA test kit manufacturer did not agree with the first one.

That was when I asked, does it mean all dog DNA tests results are wrong? I don't think so. Dog parents, breeders, scientists and vets have relied on dog DNA tests for many years. So, it will be helpful if we can have an understanding of what dog DNA tests are before we go deep into their level of accuracy.

Dog DNA Tests Defined

Dog DNA tests are genetic analyses carried out by genetics technicians in their laboratory using samples collected from the skin, hair, or other tissues of your dog. 

Some of the tests involve collecting your dog's DNA from the inside surface of the cheek using a small brush or cotton swab, sending the sample to a laboratory where genetic technicians search for specific changes in chromosomes, DNA, or proteins. After the test is carried out, the results will then be forwarded to you in writing.

What does a dog DNA tests tell you?

A dog DNA tests can tell you the following:

It can tell you more about the breed that is tested. For instance, if your dog is a mixed breed, a dog DNA tests can help in identifying most of the contributing breeds.

It can also tell you about the potential health conditions that could occur in future thereby giving you options to manage your dog's health more effectively.

It can help you identify potential personality traits in your dog. By knowing the breeds, you can determine whether the pet is suitable for particular lines of work.

Are Dog DNA Tests Accurate?

Nowadays, dog DNA test kits are sold directly to anyone who wants to carry out DNA tests. There's neither regulation nor government group deciding or ruling whether the test is good or bad. Therefore, you have to exercise caution while spending money on some of these tests because some of the companies carrying out the DNA tests do not have many dog breeds in their database that can lead to high accuracy in their results.

Although there are some levels of accuracy in DNA tests conducted by companies with more dog breeds in their database, dog DNA tests are not as accurate as you're made to believe. In fact, at this current stage of its development, dog DNA tests are not 100% accurate.

There are, however, DNA tests that can help identify the breeds of dogs by comparing their DNA to bunch of other dogs DNA. But try to look for companies having more dog breeds in their database, which leads to high level of accuracy.

If the dog is a a pure bred, the results will be more accurate. But if your dog is a mixed breed and comes from a great many breeds, each with just a small contribution to the total, then the DNA tests may be unable to identify most or all of the breeds contributing to the dog.

Can Dog DNA Tests Be Wrong?

I know that the thought of finding out what makes your dogs who they are with a quick, simple test is pretty appealing. But the hard truth is that there's no dog DNA tests that’ll predict all your dog's future health challenges with 100% accuracy overnight - at least not for now. That doesn’t mean you shouldn't carry out the test; it just means you just need to go into the process with some care and caution.

Although dog DNA tests can give more insights into how your dog DNA matches with other dogs DNA, some companies are selling potentially misleading and inaccurate information with their DNA test kits. Many of the genes that some companies interpret as a test for diseases in dogs might not stand up to follow-up studies. So don't depend solely on a dog DNA tests results predicting disease in your dogs because a dog DNA tests can be wrong.

The genetic technicians carrying out the dog DNA tests can also make mistakes. Since the accuracy and ability of some dog DNA tests to predict health outcomes has not been validated, experts in dog genetics and canine health want you to be careful when a dog DNA tests predict any disease in your dog.

A dog DNA tests can only offer warnings of risks. For instance, dogs that have genes associated with blindness are at risk for blindness, but they're not necessarily blind. Therefore, such owners should look out for blindness and consult vets that can monitor and test the dogs now and in the future. In this case, the DNA results will be helpful, because the vet will have a better idea of what tests to run.

Acting otherwise will do no good since the science behind most of the tests is based on correlation which isn't the same as causation. In order for causation to be established, scientists sometimes need tens of thousand of test subjects in the data collected. And since research into canine genetics is still in its infancy, couple with less funding and more genetic variability, these huge data may not be gathered easily.

It’s worth repeating though: dog DNA tests is not 100 percent accurate - and whether you choose to know what kind of breed your dog is or predict their future health challenges is totally up to you.

Your dogs are more than their DNA and breed information. You don’t need to know their DNA to know who they are.

But if you fall into the camp of people trying to learn about their dogs background so they can change their personality, keep paying attention to your dogs and you'll be happy for it.