Who am I, mummy?
Just browsing the internet while the dogs were having a sleep yesterday I came across something I’d never heard of before. I knew people could have DNA testing from the occasional glance at some of those crazy daytime TV shows, but DNA testing for dogs? And why?
Well it’s really quite interesting, particularly if you have a mixed breed dog. They can actually tell you which breeds your dog is made up of. Isn’t that amazing? Seemingly these test can show up breeds even down to around 10% of the dog’s make-up.
Dog DNA tests are quite common in the pedigree dog world it seems, as it’s possible to tell you if your dog is really totally pure-bred, or indeed, just as in the human scenario, can actually show proof of parentage.
Sometimes I think I must be quite behind the times!
I can see this could help dog behaviourists too, as different types of dogs – hounds, terriers, etc – have different traits it could be very helpful in knowing which way to approach the dog in dealing with sorting out behavioural problems.
And how do they do this test? I had visions of people sticking needles into their dogs to get some blood to test, but it’s actually not like that at all. You can get kits – they’re widely available and even sell them on Amazon – and it’s done with a swab taken from the inside of the cheek, so if you’re thinking of doing it, it’s not painful or upsetting for the dog.
I must admit, I don’t feel the need to be rushing off to do any DNA testing myself on my own dogs. I’m happy with them being themselves and don’t really feel the need to delve too deep, but I can see that it could be quite interesting to know some more, particularly if you have a very mixed up dog that you have no idea what could be in there! Now that could be quite a revelation.
