Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Dogs

PawTracks may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How to identify your dog’s breed when you aren’t sure what they are

Vera Lawlor
By

If you’ve ever adopted an adorable mixed-breed dog from your local shelter, you’re familiar with the guessing game that happens when you meet fellow dog lovers while out on a walk. The conversation goes something like this: “Oh, just look at those cute floppy ears and curly tail, he looks so interesting. What breed is he?” You respond with the breed mix that was listed on his adoption paperwork and then add your own guess based on his appearance and behavior traits, but you aren’t 100% sure. That’s why more and more pet parents are turning to DNA test kits to take the guesswork out of determining the breed heritage of their dogs.

Cute mixed breed dog wearing a bandana.

Dog DNA tests provide valuable information

Several companies that specialize in canine genetic testing offer dog DNA test kits. According to Katie Grzyb, a veterinary expert for PetMD, these test kits provide information about dogs at the cellular level, which is the only way to truly know what breed your dog is. In an NPR article about DNA tests for pets, Angela Hughes, a veterinary geneticist with Mars Petcare, said that DNA tests help owners better understand their dogs: “What makes them tick? Why do they look the way they do? Why do they act the way they do?”

Related Videos

Some DNA tests include health screenings, which can tell you if your dog is predisposed to a hereditary condition based on his genetic makeup. While this doesn’t mean that your dog will suffer from any of these conditions, it does alert pet owners and veterinarians to be on the lookout for certain problems. The following popular at-home tests provide easy-to-use kits for DNA collection that involves swabbing your dog’s mouth for saliva, putting it in a tube, and mailing it off to the company for analysis.

Related
  • The Embark Breed and Health Kit ($149) is made in partnership with Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and is one of the most expensive test kits. The results provide heritage information going back to a dog’s great-grandparents. The kit tests for more than 200 genetic diseases like glaucoma, degenerative myelopathy, and common adult-onset diseases. The kit also provides pet parents with a list of canine companions who share their dogs’ DNA. It can be fun to connect with the pet parents of your rescued dog’s relatives to see if the pups are similar in appearance and temperament.
  • The Wisdom Panel 3.0 Canine DNA Test ($91.95) is less expensive and analyzes more than 350 breeds, types, and varieties. One of the leading canine genetics companies, Wisdom Health has tested the DNA of more than 1.5 million dogs. According to the company, it has developed the largest and most comprehensive breed database in the world. The Wisdom Panel provides a three-generation family tree and a multidrug-resistance screening test, which helps determine whether your dog is allergic to commonly used medications. It also offers a predicted weight profile to help pet parents make good choices when it comes to nutrition and exercise.
  • The DNA My Dog Breed Identification Test Kit ($65.95) is a good option for pet parents on a budget. In addition to providing a report on your dog’s ancestry, this test offers detailed information including personality traits and health concerns for the dominant breeds in your dog’s heritage.
Group of dogs in the back of a car.

How can I find out what breed my dog is from a picture?

If you prefer not to invest in a DNA test, you can select an app that helps identify the breed of your dog based on a scanned photo. While not as accurate as DNA tests, the apps claim to be “quite accurate” based on the quality of the photos. Here are three popular free apps that help identify dog breeds. It’s fun to use all three and compare the results.

  • The Dog Scanner: Breed Recognition app identifies more than 370 dog breeds. It also provides feedback on the different breeds along with percentages that are in your mixed dog’s heritage.
  • The Puppy.ai Dog Breed Detector app scans your dog’s image and provides results in seconds. It also gives a percentage breakdown of the possible breeds in your dog’s heritage.
  • The DogSnap app provides feedback on your dog’s breed makeup along with the physical traits and temperament information on each of those breeds. It also offers fun video challenges you can enter with your dog.

In addition to providing valuable health information, knowing your dog’s ancestry helps with training, behaviorists say. Once you know the breeds in your mixed dog’s lineage, you can start seeing his personality traits as normal for a particular breed type and not as a behavioral problem. So, for example, if your dog has some border collie in his background, he might enjoy herding family members. You can use positive-motivation training to redirect his behavior while also understanding that your dog is using instincts inherited from his ancestors.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mental health service dogs 101: What you need to know about alert dogs, emotional support animals, and others
Find out about the different types of mental health service dogs
A therapy dog wearing their harness sits and looks to the side

For many pet owners and animal lovers, simply having a four-legged friend around can make the worst days a little better. They can single-handedly coax you out of bed in the morning, and they're the perfect outlet to talk or cry to when things are too much to take on alone. That's the power of unconditional love!
Of course, animals like dogs can do so much more for their owners' mental health. That's why some pups make the perfect candidates as mental health services dogs, such as emotional support animals (ESAs), psychiatric service dogs (PSDs), or even therapy dogs. Before you get lost in all the fancy terms, though, let's run through what these service animals do, and how they differ from one another. The details might surprise you!
Here's everything you need to know about the different kinds of service dogs for mental health.

Emotional support animals aren't trained for specific tasks, but they provide lots of love and comfort
Despite being wonderfully helpful to those who need them, emotional support animals can also be controversial because of the lack of regulation in the industry. There are countless online organizations that claim to offer ESA certification (for a large amount of money, too), but the only true way to have your pet licensed is to get a "prescription" from your psychologist or psychiatrist.

Read more
5 most common Bernese mountain dog health issues and what to do about them
What you should know about health issues before bringing home a Bernese mountain dog
Man holds his Bernese mountain dog outside

Choosing the perfect breed of dog for your family is nearly as hard as choosing to get a pet in the first place. When weighing the options, the health of the animal and its pedigree should enter into your decision. You want your new furry friend to stick around for a good long time!
While one of the most lovable breeds out there, Bernese mountain dogs also have one of the shortest life spans of only about 8 to 10 years. These gentle giants come with a few issues that can be managed with proper care and a little bit of genetic testing. Here are five of the most common Bernese mountain dog health issues.

Hip and elbow dysplasia
These dreaded conditions are particularly prevalent in large breeds like Berners and can contribute to stark reductions in the quality of life for pups. The good news is that there are a number of breeding programs that attempt to correct for both with careful study to pick the perfect pups for continuing the line.

Read more
Should you get a health and dog DNA kit? Here’s what you need to know about this new trend
Get some insight into your pet with a dog DNA kit
Corgi walks next to the water outside

Dog breed reveal parties might be the new trend, but is a dog DNA kit worth it? After all, how much information do you really get from one of these? And which tests work the best for the price? It's good to ask a few of these questions and do some research before buying one — they aren't cheap and you want to make sure you get the correct breed and health data so you can make informed decisions about your pet. This is what you should know before buying one for your pup.

What do DNA and dog health testing kits tell you (and what don't they)?
Dog DNA kits work similarly to human ones. The companies have the genetic makeup of many different breeds in their database that they then can match to your beastie. That means a number of official pups with papers got to give their DNA to help you connect your animal to them.

Read more