DNA test kits have become hugely popular over the last decade or so. This may in part be thanks to the popular TV series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’  Over 26 million Americans have so far taken an at-home ancestry test. For many, the appeal lies in the exciting possibility of unlocking hidden information about who we are and where we come from. 

In recent years, it’s also become possible to find out more about your dog’s genetic make-up with an at-home DNA test designed especially for them.  There are many different dog DNA tests on the market, you can see what users are saying by checking out a Basepaws review. Tests can provide information to help owners care for their pet more easily. For example, owners may be able to take steps to manage potential health risks before they turn into major problems.

It’s relatively easy to perform a DNA test on your dog. Just swab the inside of their mouth, send the swab away in the mail, and wait a couple of weeks for the results. 

Most owners are interested in the types of dog breeds that may have found their way into their own dog’s ancestry. This information can be quite fun to have, and can help answer questions such as how big might my dog get? It can be an entertaining way to strengthen the bond you have with your pet. Knowing a little bit about the types of breeds that mixed together to create your dog might tell you something about your dog’s personality traits too. For example, if your pup is 80% Border Collie, the odds are good that they will be very energetic, enjoy chasing things and show herding instincts.

Many also hope to get information about genetic health markers that could give some idea about the future medical needs of a pet. This information could help an owner decide whether it’s a good idea to breed from their dog for example and might help their vet make a tailored plan as to how often the pet ought to have a routine health check. 

But while DNA tests can offer up some clues about the genetic background of an animal, they have their limitations. It’s an unregulated industry, and some manufacturers will have better quality controls in place than others. Doing genetic testing to breakdown the breed makeup of your dog can be fun, but we’re still in the early stages and some researchers question the accuracy. Also, these tests can’t always give us a truly clear and accurate picture when it comes to health. It’s generally better to use these tests to inform breeding decisions, rather than to make medical choices. Even then, a dose of caution is needed. 

While the test may reveal that your dog carries a health marker for a specific disease, they cannot tell us whether that disease will ever arise. While carrying a specific genetic variant may raise the likelihood that an animal will suffer from the associated disease, it is by no means guaranteed. Dog DNA tests look at single gene mutations. But most genetic disorders have complex, multi-gene inheritance, that these tests simply aren’t able to identify. There are also individual environmental factors to consider that will increase or decrease the risk of disease for an animal. 

Each breed has health testing recommendations that all reputable breeders should adhere to. For dogs, these are listed on the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) website: https://ofa.org/about/. A quick search using CHIC’s breed directory will tell you that while genetic testing has its place, it can’t replace every disease screening test that may be needed. Take the Labrador Retriever for example. You’ll find at least eight at-risk conditions listed for this breed. These are screened for not only by DNA testing, but also by other tests such as x-rays and eye examinations. DNA testing can’t provide all the health information that is needed in every case. Currently, only a combined approach that makes use of DNA analysis, health screening schemes and pedigree information can significantly reduce the frequency of inherited diseases.   

Some researchers worry that ruling out breeding dogs solely on the basis of a single failed DNA test result could reduce the gene pool of pedigree lines and make inbreeding more common. It could also inadvertently increase the prevalence of other genetic diseases which have not been tested for.

There is also a risk that DNA tests could be over-interpreted by a dog’s owner, potentially leading to negative outcomes for some pets. If an owner reads too much into the test result and becomes concerned that they don’t have the healthy animal they believed they were getting, they might resort to giving their pet away or surrendered them to a shelter. Alternatively, they might be tempted to pay large amounts of money on follow-up tests or interventions that could be invasive for their dog and might not be what their dog actually needs. In some cases, owners may decide to pre-emptively end their dog’s life if they think they are predisposed to a degenerative disease, because don’t they want their pet to suffer.

There is a huge body of research around genetic tests for humans, and this has given us enough information that look at whether or not a certain mutation in our genes actually leads to us developing a certain disease. This body of research doesn’t yet exist for dogs, and as a result, we still don’t know how best to interpret dog DNA test results. What is needed is more quality control, regulation and data-sharing between DNA testing companies, so that risk factors can be properly followed up and outcomes more definitively known. Work is being done to take steps to achieve this by the The International Partnership for Dogs, but it is early days yet.

However, with a greater understanding of how these tests can be used appropriately, there lies a huge opportunity to improve the welfare of our pets. Breeding decisions based on test results are a powerful tool for improved genetic health. Also they can be useful to protect the health of your dog, if interpreted correctly. One example of this in testing for the presence of Multidrug Resistance 1 (MDR1) drug sensitivity, which is the result of a genetic variant that can place dogs at risk of severe or life-threatening complications after taking particular medications at specific doses.  

Additionally, your dog’s DNA sample may be used for research to study ways to advance the prevention, detection, progression and treatment of serious canine health conditions — helping future generations of dogs. There is tremendous value in genetic testing, if we do it right.