Exploring Canine Genetic Testing Panels | Vet's Voice

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Join Dr. Em as they cover their experience using a canine DNA panel! Should you also be using one?
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[@VetMedCorner]

If you do decide to do a dog DNA panel, make sure to choose a reputable company, and if you are looking for breed results then consider getting results from 2 separate reputable companies in order to be able to compare results. If the same breed shows up in both results you would be able to have more confidence in that result! But, as always, take the results with a grain of salt!!!!

[@Carol-qe2su]

My dog is a medical nightmare (severe atopy & food allergies, epilepsy, and DCM - all managed well with his rDVM, dermatologist, neurologist, and cardiologist) so I did an Embark test on him. He is not a carrier for *any* of the genes they test for. So clear results don’t mean you will have a healthy dog. The rest was accurate for coat colour/length/adult weight (within 0.5 lbs).

[@VetMedCorner]

You are exactly right, the testing is very limited!

[@pintardogs]

I was delaying doing this test for almost five years, but I finally ordered it 🤦‍♀️😂 My motivation was the following: my dog comes from the line of island street dogs that are pretty endemic to the area, but she is definitely mixed with somebody's pet / breed dog. And since she is getting older I felt like it was important for me to know what was mixed in in there. She has a very independent dog, very similar to many native breeds in her behavior and she has a very cute howling almost similar to dingoes or papa new guinea singing dogs. Would be fun to know if she has some dingo in her 😮

[@VetMedCorner]

It will be interesting to see what the breed results are!

[@Unknown-hu4gf]

Your girl is so beautiful!!! I swear she looks like a British Black Lab and was surprised that her Embark results didn't suggest that exactly... I left out the breed on the questionnaire when I did testing on my dog (full breed) and the results were dead on. For me the results of the entire testing were a relief and quashed my angst. It was worth it for me to get some foresight no matter what it may be.

[@VetMedCorner]

Thank you 🥰 Your eye is keen! My dog's sire is from GB and her dam is from American field trial stock! I wasn't sure how specific Embark would get, but I also didn't care as I already have the information. I'm so glad that you found the results to be a relief. That's wonderful 😊💜 I definitely understand there are some people that will be the case for. I also prefer to have as much information as possible, no matter what the results end up being. That said, from talking with so many clients over the years I also know that not everyone feels the same... I hope that people don't feel this is something they *should* be doing and to take it with a grain of salt if they do decide to!

[@ashpags]

Also, sending lots of love to Adelaide after her terrible ordeal of having to go 30 minutes without food! We had labs growing up and they definitely would have starved as well. 😂

[@VetMedCorner]

It was touch and go there, for a bit 😂 She's just grateful that at least one person realizes she needs some extra love after this ordeal 😜

[@wishuponakate]

I did Embark in the fall of 2022 for my then newly-adopted dog. He looks like a red-brown beagle type dog. Results came back much quicker than yours (only like 2 weeks), and we found out he is Mostly Chihuahua and German Shepard, but also has Rat Terrier, Beagle, and Lab in him.

[@VetMedCorner]

How absolutely fascinating!!

[@judithb4202]

You have great friends! I’m glad you didn’t get any breed surprises 😂

[@VetMedCorner]

I definitely do!!! My partner and I have been joking that we are surprised the results didn't include parts of other species (like bovine as our dog occasionally enjoys eating grass with our cat... Or porcine due to her eating habits...) 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Deathrend8481]

I adopted two dogs that are more than likely sisters from our local pound back in October. Best guess was GSD/Rottweiler and maybe a bit of APB. Decided to test one and wait and do the second later. Turns out, dad was a pure breed Rottweiler with relatives all over the world. Mom was 95% GSD with one Rottie Great Grandparent. So she's 53% Rot/47% GSD. I thought the medical screening wouldn't be bad since I had zero information about her. Low ALT was the only thing that came back. I don't have any regrets. I want to do the sister, but that's mainly because I want to know if she really is related. On the funny side, they estimate her adult weight at 55lbs (GSD/Rottie, really?) She's 84lbs at around 14 months old and a bit underweight.

[@VetMedCorner]

I'm so interested in the information we get back, thank you for sharing about your dogs. It will be fascinating to see if your two dogs are related or not at some point!

[@Raphael-sk9pv]

i heard that veterinarians can also see what breed your dog is by blood work? is this true and also is it accurate?

[@VetMedCorner]

There are some genetic tests that are done using blood samples, yes!

[@pittiesnkitties1216]

I had the Embark test done on my two dogs. I was curious about their breed, but was also curious if it would label them as siblings. I knew they had the same parents, just not the same litter. I got results in about 3 weeks. Dog 1: 67% American Pit Bull Terrier, 19.2% American Staffordshire Terrier, 13.8% Supermutt (There may be small amounts of DNA from these distant ancestors: Boxer, Collie, American Bulldog). Wolfiness: 0.9%, Projected weight: 62 pounds, actual weight: 80 pounds (just slightly overweight according to BCS). Unfortunately, I don't believe the traits were accurate, as it said the coat would be dark, with white spots, when it is really mostly white. Dog 2: 75.1% American Pit Bull Terrier, 15.8% American Staffordshire Terrier, 9.1% Boxer. Wolfiness: 0.3%, Projected weight: 62 pounds, actual weight: 80 pounds (great BCS). It did say they have 61% shared DNA and labeled them as Immediate Family (as related as human full siblings or parent/children). I had heard that Boxers commonly like to use their paws to touch things or get attention, and I see it with Dog 2. It was fun to do. I would like to try the Wisdom Panel to see what results it gives, but money is tight. I will definitely do it again on future dogs.

[@VetMedCorner]

That's a really neat situation to use Embark for and I find the results fascinating!!! Thank you so much for sharing about your experience ☺️

[@annejan6543]

I did a DNA test on my last 3 Beagles. I take the results with a very large grain of salt. Beagle 1. Primary/Secondary was English setter and German Short Haired Pointer and Tertiary was Beagle. Beagle 2. 100% Beagle. Beagle 3. 92% Beagle and 8% Cane Corso which made me laugh out loud as this Beagle is a whopping 14 lbs. I will always do a DNA test for all my rescue dogs and I treat each test as a highly entertaining exercise.

[@VetMedCorner]

A highly entertaining exercise is a great description 😅

[@lkane4980]

I would like to mention that these DNA tests are necessary for selecting breeding pairs. It is very important that both Dam and Sire are screened, to reduce or eliminate hereditary health problems to their offspring. Also if the breed has the Merle gene, it's important to have the BP lengths; to avoid or reduce the risks of vision and auditory impairments. Piebald should also be tested. *Before the pairs are chosen! Research is always improving and not every DNA testing company offers the same tests. Some have higher accuracy too.

[@VetMedCorner]

Absolutely can be part of the testing prior to using a dog for breeding! Good point!

[@Dancer425]

Looks like the testing has improved! My Shelties were part of a study a # of years ago. The DNA results came back showing that one was in the 70% range Sheltie, the other in the 80% range. Both were purebred. The tests were re-run and those new results showed them to be 90-some percent Sheltie. Made me wonder about the results ppl are getting for their mixed breed pups.

[@VetMedCorner]

Your experience fits with what I've been hearing from clients over the years. I think it took some time for the database to get built up in order to improve accuracy for things like breed results. How amazing that you and your dogs were able to contribute to the research in this area! Thank you for doing that! 💪

[@petera5179]

If you haven’t already can you talk about whether to spay/neuter your dog ?

[@VetMedCorner]

Thank you so very much for the recommendation!!! I do have that topic on my list but haven't covered it yet. It's a big and complex subject that is going to be a bit tricky to try and cover well... I'll keep working on it!

[@petera5179]

@@VetMedCorner I thought it would be a big topic, maybe you can tackle one at a time Spay then Neuter. Many thanks for your response and I really want to say I appreciate your channel, in my personal opinion you’re the only voice I value. I also appreciate your taste in Music ! I watch many Voice Coach Reactions on You Tube, just now tuning into Teddy Swims “I can’t make you love me” … Wow

[@VetMedCorner]

The responsibility of putting out nuanced information accurately, but still in a way that's understandable/real life applicable weighs on me. I take it very seriously! All the effort is far more worthwhile when it's appreciated, so your comment means a great deal. Thank you ☺️ I really enjoy the mental health breaks - they are such a lovely change for me and very helpful for my schedule as well since they are approximately 1/3 the work. I'm a classically trained pianist and enjoy a large variety of different genres of music. I saw Teddy Swims perform a song with Kelly Clarkson and really enjoyed it! The runs were beautiful and I thought their voices complimented each other so well!

[@ZaryaTheLaika]

5:54 - Zarya's breeder says her mom Luna is part wolf, but RKF doesn't issue pedigrees for dogs with less than 4 generations of recorded ancestors. Only one I can find confirmed is Nayda in 1974... Should had sent me the test!

[@ZaryaTheLaika]

Hace read some of these tests don't have NA wolves in their databases and vice versa with European wolves. So tthats something to keep in mind

[@VetMedCorner]

Finding out if what we've been told is accurate is always fascinating to me! Included in my results was my dog's maternal haplotype, which apparently generated in central Asia... But I don't know how/if that correlates to wolf ancestry on different continents. They did also say that the majority of dogs are under 1% wolfishness, but that there are some populations that will be 2-4%, and rarely do they find dogs above 5%.

[@ZaryaTheLaika]

@@VetMedCorner I believe most domesticated dogs are descendants of Central Asian and East Siberian populations

[@VetMedCorner]

I just went and checked - according to Embark, the haplotype my dog has is the most common one. (Of course, I don't have any paternal haplotype information from Embark) It's been an interesting report to read, and my nerdy self enjoyed spending the time going through it ☺️ That said, I still take it all with a grain of salt as there's still a lot about the canine genome that we simply don't know...

[@ZaryaTheLaika]

@@VetMedCorner Yeah, was kind of "why would you brag about that when a registered dog will have less than 6.25% of the original outcross." And if he's referring to the 1974 experiment, that's so many generations ago, any signature is just noise

[@janhankins911]

I found this video very enlightening about dog DNA testing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/imO4eoaAjthkb7s It's fun to watch, as well. I think doing a DNA test is great if you can afford it and you don't let it change how you feel about your dog or let it worry you unnecessarily about a particular disease. I've not had any of my dogs tested (I know the genetic background of my current three dogs).

[@VetMedCorner]

I do think that the company one uses matters greatly (which that video you linked to seems to demonstrate as well). I tend to recommend to clients to send tests to two separate companies if they were looking for breed results, but I cut that section out of this video as the video was loooooong. Seeing the video you linked makes me feel like maybe I should have kept that section in!!!

[@Raphael-sk9pv]

ah yes! i been thinking about doing a dna test for my dog! Perfect timing

[@VetMedCorner]

As I conclude, probably not necessary/worthwhile for most healthy dogs, and if you do decide to proceed, then take all results with a grain of salt!!! 🧂

[@ChristineClark-ft8tq]

I would love a video on dog dental chews and which brands are really effective. I give my dog Ark Naturals, they include toothpaste. But I noticed if I give the red or green version his poop seems to change color to match the color of the treat. Is that concerning? Also, there are so many in market and expensive. Are they really worth it

[@VetMedCorner]

Excellent question! I have a dental series, and here's the one that covers what actually works to slow down dental disease: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6PNYaGtjbiohKssi=Ym7AUw1nqYZ8oJiI If it doesn't have the VOHC accepted seal on it, then it's useless!