Our sister site, the Daily Dachshund and Dog News has sniffed out a potential scandal. It seems DIY Dog DNA kits are labeling a suspiciously high number of mutts as part Afghan and Mastiff — even purebred Dachshunds. Doxie Mama told the Daily Doxie, “I had a friend who did this with her longhaired dachshund who is clearly pure bred, and the report came back with 5 different contributing breeds and Mastiff was near the top of the list.”
We suggest your friend demand her money back.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I saw A DNA test kit hanging at the check out stand of Petsmart the other night. I don’t know if it was this particular one or not though. The price was around $60.00
Rachel in California.
It sounds like a job for Consumer Reports…! We were half considering trying a DNA test just out of curiosity for our rescue Scottie pup who is growing to look not quite 100% Scottie …weren’t too sure because of the cost in the 1st place but this is also off-putting…! Thanks for bringing this to light!
i’ve never believed these doggie DNA testing things were anything but a scam. for one: i have trouble believing they can do DNA tests for what they’re charging, quite frankly (having at least a little knowledge in how police labs work, costs, etc.).
and second, if these tests truly are legit, why on earth do they require you to provide a photo of your dog? they shouldn’t NEED one. that’s like detectives giving the lab a photo of their suspect so that the lab can match their findings accordingly.
but hey, maybe it’s just me – the supreme skeptic.
Illona, not all test require a photo. We did the Mars Vet Wisdom Panel Insight from Petsmart and all they required was a couple of swabs of our dogs saliva. And only asked our dogs name and our name and address. To me, that does sound like a scam.
I recently adopted a Siberian husky mix from the humane society. I was curious what the mix was since so many people thought that she was part Akita. I purchase a Biovet DNA test from Petsmart. I only had to provide the name of the puppy and date of birth. They did not ask for a picture nor a description of the dog. The results just came back and she is listed as Siberian Husky and Great Dane. I am happy with the results because just by looking at her the Siberian husky is a given, especially the blue eye. Great Dane….well now I guess I know the reason for those really long legs and long body. In my case I believe the test was correct or at least with the part of the Siberian Husky…..
I just go my test results back from Biopet and what I had guessed was a goldie and beagle mix is supposedly mostly Siberian Husky and Boston Terrier! I think it’s got to be a scam.
I run a pit bull rescue in Kentucky. I recently adopted my third dog, Siris, who came through my rescue with his 11 brothers & sisters as well as his mother. His mom was a pit bull & he and many of his siblings were chocolate tri color. I was curious if there was any red-rust king doberman in him…and curious about the DNA tests, so I sent one off. It came back today. Parson Russell Terrier, Shetland Sheepdog & English Setter. He is quite obviously NONE of these and I have demanded my money back. It IS a big scam & should be canceled. The only good thing I can see coming from this is fighting the BSL anti pit bull laws…now I can say "No, it's not a pit bull, it's a Parson Russell Terrier/Sheltie/English Setter mix. I have the papers to prove it." That's the only good thing I can see about the DNA test, but I am STILL demanding my money back!!
We too wanted to know what our 55lb+ pit bull mix was mixed with…got the test, and it came back 34-74% Boston Terrier, and 10-19% Border Collie, Boxer, and Poodle. I think it's a total scam!!!
I've done a little reading on these tests and since Pit Bulls are not recognized by the AKC the name will not show up in the results. The test at Petsmart only uses 62 breeds to compare to so they say the pit bull mixes will likely be related to the nearest match boxer, bulldog, mastiff. I would go with the tests that use over 100 breeds for comparison.
People need to remember that first of all the only dogs that are typically listed with any DNA company are AKC registered dogs. A 'pit bull' is NOT a registered breed it is a general term. Staffordshire terriers, etc will be able to be matched because it is a 'registered' breed. And it is true that there are only so many breeds in the system as of yet. We should all know that the lists are growing as we speak and keep in mind if your dogs specific dna is not listed in the breeds available it will give you the closest breed it possibly can and this may be something you dont expect. I dont think its a scam just not perfected as we would all like it to be.
For a truly accurate DNA analysis, I would recommend the Wisdom Panel MX test. This is a test performed with blood, not a swab, and is reported to be greater than 90% accurate. It identifies over 150 breeds.
Where do you go get one done? At the vet? Sorry if a dumb question. Thanks Jeff.
Lucia, the blood tests need to be done at the vet…but many of the check swab tests now test for almost as large a number of breeds.
This is a scam. I’ve done one in Canada called DNAmyDog.com.
Paid $59+tax and delivery, it came to $75! I know that my puppy is mostly Border Collie with some German Shephard from the father, but looks NOTHING like a German Shephard. She looks exactly like a purebred Border Collie, and acts just like one too. Did the first test, it came back Level 2 German Shephard, Level 4 Chihuaha and Dachsund, Level 5 Greyhound! No Border Collie? I demanded a retest! Got the retest 3 weeks later, same results only they added Border Collie in the Level 4 and moved the Dachsund to Level 5 (took away the Greyhound which was the only one that made a little bit of sense). It’s like they manually adjusted the results to add the BC to appease me. It’s a SCAM!!!
Border Collies, Pitbulls and Jack Russels are not kennel club recgonized breeds which is why you don’t see them in the show ring. If your dog has any of those in the mix then it won’t show up in the results.
I tested my Miniature Schnauzer with the DNAmyDog and she came back Level 1 Schnauzer.
They are definitely limited and since I purchased mine from a rescue group trying to raise money I feel it was worth while.
Jade is correct, if you look at the breeds that each of these DNA will test for they only test for AKC registered breeds and not all of them. A Pittbull was originally bred from terriers and boxers so the test would probably register any type of dog in those breeds. We purchased one for our dog and received the results we expected. As with any purchase do your homework.
Jade is NOT correct as far as Border Collies being kennel club registered. They are registered with the AKC. I know Pittbulls are not registered but Jack Russells are. However, she is correct that if a type of dog is not covered by the test, they will show as something else.
I personally think these tests are scams. I did a Wisdom Panel check swab test on my most likely pure bred Aussie. She is a rescue dog but the man that owned her before did tell the rescue that she was an Aussie. Since her ears are pricked, a flaw in Aussie, I suspected she may have some Sheltie or Border Collie (all three of which were covered by the test) so decided to test her. Her results came back 5/8 mixed breed, 1/8 Cavalier KIng Charles Spaniel, 1/8 Rough Collie and 1/8 Aussie. What a farce! Even other Aussie owners that I know think she is pure or at least majority Aussie. I complained but have had no resolution as of this time.
In May of 2011 I posted that I had my Aussie Dna tested and it came back weird, so I felt the DNA testing was a scam. I did complain, as I mentioned, but have since had some resolution. Not only did Wisdom Panel’s customer service call me, but they had the dna results sent to their geneticist to hand do the results. Apparently the results are figured by a computer. For example, if the results show a 40% probablity that the gene sequence it is looking at is from an australian shepherd and a 40.2% probability that the same gene sequence is from a german shepherd, it will pick the 40.2% probability, regardless of what other sequences show. If a person does it (as the redo was in my case) they look at the whole picture and can get the best fit. The geneticist called me personally after the redo and spoke with me for 45 minutes to explain everything. I ended up most pleased with the job done by Mars Wisdom Panel. They went above and beyond!
Essentially, the “testers” have positive controls which show a spread of bands they picture. They run the DNA through something called PCR in order to search for markers(bands) present in your dog, usually indicated by size. Dirty DNA can lead to bad bands, hard to read bands, and in the long run, bad calls. What many people don’t realize is that the test only determines how much a dog is of a certain species. These means that if the dog turns out to be 25% beagle, this DOES NOT mean one of the grand parents was a 100% beagle. This means that your dog has 25% beagle in him, which could theoretically be possible if you have two half beagles breed. Also note that recessive genes carry through, so even though all the dogs they determined in your lineage are big dogs, this in no way means your dog can’t be small or vice versa. So just because 50% of your dog is Great Dane, yet your dog looks like a poodle, doesn’t necessarily mean the test failed, as you have 50% of your potentially dominant DNA unaccounted for from any number of breeds. Likewise, a dog could have a parent with 50% beagle and end up with essentially no beagle in them. This is simple genetics. In reality, two dogs, both 50% beagle could theoretically have a dog with no significant beagle DNA, or a dog with 100% beagle DNA(although unlikely as the genes that make up a breed are a little more complex than a punnett square)..
This test DOES NOT determine lineage… merely the higher percentages of DNA present in the animal. They might call them “parents” and “grandparents”, but that is just a reference for “has X% DNA” and has no baring on what the parentage is. This also means that any breed that makes up less than app. 12.5% of your animal simply doesn’t show up. So a true heinz 57 dog with 20 species of dog in it’s genetic makeup would render no result.Furthermore, there is no way to determine what your dogs parents are, unless your dog turns out to be exactly 50% one breed and 50% the other.