Dog DNA tests decipher mutts' varied makeup

The white puppy that Melissa Limkemann brought home from North Carolina this winter was a hound mix. Or so she was told.

Then three veterinarians came up with three different kinds of mixed breeds. So the Lakewood, Ohio, resident decided to spend $130 to unravel the mystery.

A DNA test showed the dog, Batman, has traces of six breeds, ranging from a 10-pound Italian greyhound to a 185-pound mastiff.

"He is a true classic mutt," Limkemann said.

DNA testing, which has been used for more than a decade to track down criminals, is being marketed to pet owners who want to know the makeup of their mixed-breed dogs.

Several tests have hit the market in the past year, ranging in price from $50 to about $125.

Petco's Canine Heritage Breed Test has been available online and in limited markets, including Seattle, since summer, and sales have surpassed expectations, a company spokesman said.

Mars Veterinary, which estimates that half the country's 70 million dogs are mixed breed, expects a growing market for its Wisdom Panel MX test, said veterinarian and geneticist Angela Hughes, an independent contractor who helped develop Wisdom Panel.

But curiosity is not the only driving force.

Several years ago, Hughes' mixed-breed dog Rimsky had seizurelike episodes and she was unsure how to treat it. After a grand mal seizure, the dog was diagnosed with epilepsy and now is on medication.

The DNA test given later showed that the dog is part cocker spaniel, a breed with a tendency toward epilepsy.

"Had I known he was a cocker spaniel, I would have been able to treat it sooner," Hughes said.

For the Wisdom Panel test, which can detect 134 breeds, a veterinarian must draw blood. About 4,000 clinics, including several in the Seattle area, offer the test. (To find a clinic near you, go to wisdompanel.com.)

Petco's test and others rely on a cheek swab, which a pet owner can do.

Not all pet owners and vets, though, are sold on the DNA testing.

After Stella Rosenfeld's dog died, she adopted what she thought was another basenji-mix dog. She grew concerned when the dog, Benno, started lunging and biting her neighbors at a retirement community and wondered what other breeds the dog was besides basenji.

She took Benno to the vet for the Wisdom Panel test and was shocked when she got the results — Boston terrier mix and no trace of basenji.

"I'm skeptical of the whole thing," she said.

Mars Veterinary agreed to retest her dog and told her that if she still isn't satisfied, it will refund her money.

Hughes said the test has an 84 percent accuracy rate and that in less than 1 percent of the cases, the company retests because testers also are baffled by the results.

Oberlin, Ohio, veterinarian Emily Nicely said that since the test is not 100 percent accurate, she worries it might incorrectly determine that a dog is a pit bull, for example, and force the owner to get additional insurance. Or worse, get rid of the dog.

Batman's owner, Limkemann, runs a nonprofit dog-rescue operation and would test her foster dogs if the test were cheaper. She figures that if she knows precisely a dog's background and how big it will grow, she will have an easier time finding it a home.

Companies like Mars say they recognize the value to shelters and offer them discounts.

In the future, the DNA test might be able to determine if a dog has a specific mutation for a disease and how big a puppy will be when fully grown.