E-Vet Clinic - Dog Health Care

The Border Collie is the smartest breed! I know I am biased, but there is some proof, scientists actually studied it. To find the smartest breeds, scientists tested each breed based on learning a series of new commands. Breeds were then ranked according to how many repetitions it took for them to understand and obey the first command.

For a list of the top ten smartest breeds and the list of the ten dumbest breeds out of the 80 tested check out one of my favorite blogs The Life of My Dog and their post here —> 10 Smartest Dog Breeds and…um…10 Least Smart Dog Breeds

It came to my attention this past week that some of you do not read the comments about my posts…LOL. In the post What’s My Dog? I had received a comment and a good discussion about DNA testing your mixed dog to see what breed it is made up of, from a representative of The Canine Heritage Breed Test. In all fairness to both companies offering this type of test I will post Theresa’s comment here so those of you that do not take the time to read or post in the comments section can read about it.

There is another do-it-youself test already on the market called The Canine Heritage Breed Test. The pet owner can order the kit on-line. It comes with a little soft brush that is used to take a cheek swab of the dog which then is mailed to the lab. In about 4-6 weeks, the mystery is revealed in the form of a certificate. Right now the test can identify 38 breeds but the company will expanding that to over 100 this fall. The test is only $65 plus shipping and handling! Go to www.canineheritage.com

I had questioned the accuracy of this test, which uses cheek cells instead of blood; however after further research done by me it seems that UC-Davis concluded that DNA testing is accurate with either type of sample.

One of the advantages that the Canine Heritage Test has would be cost since you do it yourself. In Theresa’s support of the Canine Heritage Test another advantage she mentions is that it is less invasive than a blood draw and that they do not believe that an invasive and possibly painful method such as drawing blood is necessary for this non-medical purpose. However, this can be overcome by having the Wisdom Panel Breed Test done at the same time you are having the annual blood tests for a wellness exam or heartworm check.

In either case I think it is an interesting test that could solve some dog owners curiosity.

OK you all know that my dog is a Border Collie named Meme, but this is not about her but rather about a website called www.whatsmydog.com

And more specifically it is about what is available at that website. How about the age old question for those of you that have mixed breeds - what is your dog? Is he a poodle mix, a collie mix, no - a beagle mix, Oh the heck with it, he is just a Heinz 57! Well no more, now you can have your veterinarian do a blood test called the Wisdom Panel and have it tested against 130 recognized AKC breeds to determine what your dog is with a much better accuracy than a bunch of people looking at your dog and saying well he looks like an Italian Greyhound.

The test is around $150 plus whatever your vet charges to draw a blood sample and is provided by the Mars Veterinary Division…Yes the same Mars that makes candy bars has a veterinary division.

So go check it out and ask your vet if they would be willing to do the test. For all intense and purposes it is mainly a curiosity thing but some vets will use it to help with breed specific diseases. From my perspective I do not know how helpful that would be because the dog truly is not a specific breed but rather a mixed breed with different genetics and has the benefit of what is called hybrid vigor, so I am not so sure if this test that will determine genetically the breeds your dog is would actually be helpful in genetic based diseases.

Anyway curosity has got me thinking about one of my clients dogs that I have been teasing for a couple years now that it is part Sharpei. I think I will help defray the costs to prove I am right! LOL.