Dog DNA test: Could it help you better train and take care of your dog?
Dog DNA test: Could it help you better train and take care of your dog?
From the Dog Scanner app to Wisdom Panel to the Dog Aging project, pet science is fun to observe
“She’s a Beagle,” my godfather said.
“She’s a Doberman Pinscher,” my father said.
“Is that a hot dog?” asks pretty much every stranger I walk by, referring to the nickname for Dachshunds. (My father changed his guess to Dachshund by the end of year one.)
Recommended Buy (from What On Earth Catalog): Dachshund Bookends
Today, I revisited the Dog Scanner app that I’d used three years ago when I first adopted my dog Junee. My godfather was so confident that Junee was a Beagle to the point where I wondered if I owned Black Snoopy. (This would give me another reason to love those Peanuts kids.) While a Beagle is nowhere in sight on this dog breed app, some of the results are consistent with the three-year-old guesses. Others are new dog breed guesses altogether.
In 2021, the dog breed guesses from the Dog Scanner app were:
Black and Tan Coonhound
Greek Harehound (two pics)
Transylvanian Hound (three pics)
Doberman Pinscher
German Pinscher
Slovensky Kopov
Dachshund
The now-defunct Scan Dogs app labeled her:
Black-and-Tan Coonhound (three pics)
Redbone Coonhound (two pics)
In 2024, the dog breed guesses from the Dog Scanner app are:
Greek Harehound
Slovensky Kopov
Westphalian Dachsbracke
Dachshund (two pics)
Lancashire Heeler
At this point, I have no clue what my dog’s breed is. She’s long like a Dachshund but more muscular looking and doesn’t have that front, low pouch that Dachshunds notoriously have. And although her long body has a tough time on tall steps, high couches and beds like Dachshunds — unlike my mother’s Shih Tzu mix who can climb up and hop over pretty much anything — Hounds would clearly show up to her puppy family reunion. It’s making me really consider about dog DNA tests.
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I’m already a member of the Dog Aging Project, and I do all kinds of surveys and tests to help veterinarians and other pet health experts study why some dogs age faster than others, specifically bigger dogs.
Recommended Read: “Do black pet owners live longer than black non-pet owners? ~ Why I chose to participate in the Dog Aging Project”
But a part of me is curious about what Junee’s dog DNA results will be for more specific pet health queries. Luckily, my 3-year-old dog doesn’t have any health concerns (if you exclude her weak stomach from dental bones).
And during her puppy year of crate training, I was definitely convinced she was going to earn her stripes as a notoriously stubborn-to-crate-train Dachshund. Turns out I was 100% wrong. Junee will get on board with pretty much any trick (Dog Aging Project games included) if there are carrots (or Milk-Bones) involved. And the older she got, the friendlier she became with ottomans so she could hop, climb and get into trouble behind drywall.
Turf grass and paper training though? Failed completely. It did come in handy for air-drying clothes and watering hanging plants so my laminate floors didn’t get wet. Clearly, that’s not what turf grass is for, but I got my money’s worth. If we’re talking about stubbornness, Junee has Dachshund habits. But her obsession with hunting rabbits and finding dead animals takes me right back to the Hound mix dog tag she currently wears. So I’m right back at the dog DNA breed drawing board.
Recommended Read: “House pet training in reverse ~ Countdown to teaching my dog how to use the bathroom inside after mastering potty training outside”
Knowing what kind of dog breed has been living with me for the past three years intrigues me. Why should historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. have all the fun? If you’re a pet owner and decide to try out a DNA test, let me know in the comment section how it went.
Shamontiel is a dog lover to her core: 585 completed walks with 99 dogs, eight dog-housesittings and six dog boardings at the time of this publication.
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