Dog Genetics

by Dr. Kristopher J. Irizarry, PhD | Apr 30, 2013

The field of genetics has provided a number of insights into physiological basis of dogs and dog breeds and, in the process, we have realized that some of our ideas about dogs are not scientifically founded. What

The canine genome was sequenced in publicly released in December of 2005, since that time many genetic studies have been conducted whereby saliva or blood from members of specific breeds is used to look for shared genes among members of the same breed. Some of these findings have elucidated genes associated with health problems while other studies have identified specific genes that are associated with specific breed defining visual traits such as coat color, coat length, body size and head shape, to name a few. 

Interestingly, many people try to determine the breed composition of a mixed breed dog by looking at visual traits and mentally assigning those traits to different breeds. This practice has been accepted for quite some time, decades, maybe even hundreds of years. However, what genetics tells us is that visually assigning breed doesn