Six years ago Suzanne Brocks of Fresno decided to breed her female Chocolate Labrador with a friend's male Chocolate Labrador. The breeding was successful, but a couple of days later the Brocks caught a neighbor dog in their backyard with their dog. "So at that point we weren’t sure what had happened if anything, so we’re very concerned, but still the puppies were great and eleven puppies was a big litter and a lot of fun, but it was definitely puppies all over the yard," said Brocks.

Although both parents were chocolate Labs, all of the puppies were black Labs. Brocks wasn't sure whether another male had gotten to Jessie, but six years ago there was no way to tell. Now there is.

"Now they've discovered the canine genome so we know all the amino acid sequences that makeup a dog and now they can study that and they've associated different gene markers with different breeds," said Dr. Cheryl Waterhouse, owner of Waterhouse Animal Hospital.

The result is a new test developed through the analysis of 19 million DNA markers from more than 13-thousand dogs. Mars Veterinary, the company that maintains the database, claims the test has a 95 percent accuracy rate for detecting the breeds represented in a dog. In other words, it is sensitive enough to detect 95 percent of the material that is there. But the interpretation of the data, or the positive predictive value, is 84 percent.

With the help of Dr. Waterhouse we tried out the new test on two dogs. One of the dogs is a black lab named Miles, who is the offspring of Jessie, Suzanne Brocks chocolate lab. Miles looks nothing like his mother. The other dog is a wiry looking mutt named Trixie Lou, who was rescued by veterinary technician Erin Brown four years ago. Brown has no idea what Trixie Lou is. "I would guess some kind of terrier, maybe a pug or a Pekingese cross," said Brown.

The DNA test requires a small blood sample which Dr. Waterhouse drew from Trixie and Miles. The samples are then sent to the Mars Veterinary lab for analysis. "This is a brand new test. There have been some tests that have come out in the last couple months that is a cheek swab test and they can test for only 30 breeds. But with this newer test we draw blood and send it into Mars that has 130 breeds as their data base," said Dr. Waterhouse. "It's very exciting. You know really a neat thing to tell what breeds are in a certain dog and it gives us an idea of what diseases you know we may have to watch out for."

Five weeks later, we received the results. Between Miles and Trixie, seven different breeds of dogs were represented. We assembled representatives of each breed in the hospital waiting room: A Shih Tzu, Labrador, Dachshund, Pointer, Border Collie, Great Pyrenees and Pekingese. Waterhouse's employees tried guessing which breed matched which dog. Hospital volunteer Bonnie Waters guessed Trixie was a Cairn Terrier mix. A veterinary assistant thought Miles might be a cross between a Lab and a Pointer.

"I'm going to say Shih Tzu and Pekingese," said Brown, when asked what breeds she thought Trixie might be. "My luck it's probably going to be the Pointer and the Great Pyrenees," she laughed. Brown was correct. The DNA test results showed little Trixie Lou was mostly Shih Tzu, but she also showed traces of Pekingese, Pointer and Great Pyrenees, a 130 pound dog about the size of a Saint Bernard.

"I don't know I'm not surprised. All dogs came from somewhere. The Pyrenees and Pointer is shocking," laughed Brown.

In addition to Labrador, Miles' owner Bob Wilson guessed Border Collie and Pointer. He was right about the Border Collie, of which there was a trace. But there was also a trace of Dachshund. "Dachshund? Are you kidding me? No way! Oh, poor Miles," laughed Wilson.

Suzanne Brocks was also surprised. "A Dachshund, you're kidding! Oh my gosh, that is really funny! I could see the Border Collie and her white spots on her belly, but Dachshund, that blows me away!"

Because the results showed only traces of the other breeds, chances are Jessie had only one mate, the chocolate Lab. When Jessie was bred with the same male a year later, the puppies from her second litter all resembled her. But somewhere in her blood line there was a Border Collie and a Dachshund, which could account for the way Miles looks so different from his parents.
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Obviously he doesn't look like a Dachshund, which was quite surprising. Maybe it's just a chemical process in his body that's Dachshund or maybe it's just a liver lobe that's Dachshund. Maybe not something externally," explained Dr. Waterhouse.

As entertaining as it is to find out what's in your mix or your pure bred, there is also a serious side. Veterinarians may someday be able to use the information to diagnose health problems that affect specific breeds and prevent or better treat serious or life threatening diseases and illnesses.

Cost for the doggie DNA test ranges from $100 to $200. The Waterhouse Animal Hospital in Fresno charges $135.