how to tell what breed of dog you have

What breed is my dog? (4 ways to notice out)

• Wisdom Panel™ Team
• Casey Knox, DVM

Have you always wondered, "What breed is my canis familiaris?"

From satisfying your curiosity to ameliorate understanding your pet so you lot tin can provide tailored care, there are several benefits to figuring out which breeds make upward your mystery mix.

Your veterinarian (or the shelter staff, if y'all adopted) may offer ideas about your pup's ancestry. But when judging by visual cues alone, fifty-fifty experts misidentify a dog's breed nigh 75% of the time.

And so, in this post, yous'll larn 4 methods for discerning your doggo's breed.

1. Compare your pup's physical traits to other breeds.

When trying to figure out a dog's breed, most people beginning by looking. Such an approach is rather straightforward and only requires a chip of fourth dimension and research. But information technology'due south certainly non the almost accurate style to place your pup's breed.

After all, physical appearance can be misleading due to how dogs inherit traits. And that means fifty-fifty experts may estimate wrong—as Dr. Angela Hughes did when predicting Toby's breed mix in the video below.

If you'd like to try your hand at visual identification, brand a list of your canis familiaris's notable physical characteristics—also called "phenotype"—such every bit:

• Head and muzzle shape and length (e.g., short and flat, narrow and pointed)
• Ear shape and carriage (due east.g., pointed and cock, folded or droopy)
• Tail blazon (e.thou., naturally bobbed, long and curled)
• Torso build and size (e.1000., muscular and mighty, tall and slender)
• Coat texture, colour, length, and pattern (e.grand., wiry, short, solid, spotted)

In general, you should prioritize clues in your dog's shape (AKA, morphology) over their color or coat type because the sometime are a improve reflection of your canis familiaris's total ancestry. Colors and coat types, on the other mitt, are the consequence of single genes. And when hundreds of breeds share the aforementioned coat color genes, guessing breeds gets a lot harder!

So, look at your dog'due south head shape, tail railroad vehicle, and ear shape and size first. For example, does your pup take a:

• Heavily boned and blocky caput? That's mutual for guard dog breeds.
• Long and narrow nose? Collie, German Shepherd Dog, Dachshund, or Doberman might be likely.
• Curly tail? That may mean an aboriginal breed, though there are exceptions (e.g., Pomeranian).
• High-set ears? That likely rules out a sporting brood similar a Labrador Retriever.
• Enlarged ears? Think hounds or sporting breeds (e.g., spaniels, retrievers, pointers, setters).

Ane morphology "gotcha" to proceed in listen:

A single gene causes brusque legs, and 40+ breeds (not just Dachshund, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and Basset hound) carry it. For example, the Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, and Yorkshire Terrier often carry the trait. Merely most people don't consider such breeds when they call back "short legs."

Besides the to a higher place, be sure to write downward any unique features, as well as distinct personality traits and behaviors. Does your domestic dog love water? Do they try to "herd" people and other animals? These are great clues!

Once yous accept your list, it'south time for some investigative work. Get-go searching online for dogs that friction match your pup. Once you've identified a few potential candidates, browse our brood library for canis familiaris facts and photos to learn more about them.

Guessing by looks alone can be fun, only information technology's not foolproof. Later on all, some genetic traits are recessive, so your pup may not evidence visible signs of every ancestor.

2. Accept a dog breed identification quiz.

Don't have time for all the research required by the first approach? Online dog breed quizzes accept most of the legwork out of visual identification. Afterwards answering a few simple questions about your dog's advent and traits, you'll become a list of possible matches.

Like the option above, quizzes rely on visual cues. So, they probably won't get the ancestry 100% correct—especially if several breeds make upward your mix. Still, they're pretty fun to take.

Many quizzes similar this exist. But as the world'due south leading dog DNA service, we decided to make our own! It's short—you just have to answer three questions most your dog's ears, tail, and head shape.

Take the dog breed quiz →

3. Download a domestic dog breed identifier app.

There are a few gratis apps that utilize auto learning algorithms to predict a dog's breed mix based on a photo. Every bit a result, this option isn't much more accurate than the previous two since figuring out breed based on looks alone can be tricky.

To give you an idea of how tricky, here'due south a quick test:Which of the following dogs exercise you think has Border Collie in its recent ancestry?

The correct reply is #two. Did you lot judge right?

Let'southward try again:Which of the following dogs accept a Labrador Retriever as a close relative?

Believe it or not, the correct answer is #3. Non sure almost you, but that would've been our last estimate! And it probable would have stumped an algorithm, besides.

Though far from perfect, breed identifier apps—similar the quizzes—can yield agreeable results. If you want to give this approach a shot, here'south an app we tried.

iv. Use a dog DNA test.

The methods above may be entertaining. But if you truly want to exist confident about your pup'southward brood make-upwardly, there'due south actually just one choice: a canis familiaris DNA test. This option looks past your pup's outward appearance and uses genetic clues to determine their ancestry.

For the highest accuracy, y'all'll desire a exam with a sizable reference sample database. Why? Considering DNA test algorithms compare submitted genetic samples against other samples in a database to determine the all-time friction match. Then, a bigger puddle of samples makes a exam "smarter." And that means more reliable results.

Using the largest domestic dog breed database in the world, Wisdom Panel™ tests screen for 350+ breeds, types, and varieties. As a result, nosotros tin can identify breeds that other services don't even test for.

We besides report brood mix down to one%, trace ancestry back three generations, test for health weather condition and traits, and more!

Acquire more than about domestic dog Deoxyribonucleic acid testing →

The best manner to figure out your dog'southward breed?

To demonstrate the differences between these four approaches, permit'southward use Koda, the pup pictured to a higher place, every bit an instance.

Similar nearly dog owners, Koda'due south parents commencement used visual and behavioral cues to guess his breed background. They predicted he was a mix of:

• Siberian Husky (considering of his coat color and markings)
• Labrador Retriever (considering he loves h2o and playing fetch)
• German Shepherd (because of his build)

Next Koda's parents took the "What'due south my canis familiaris?" quiz, which returned the following breed results:

• Miniature Schnauzer
• Chesapeake Bay Retriever
• Labrador Retriever

Equally you tin come across, things are already getting a flake inconsistent! But expect—information technology gets better. The "Domestic dog Scanner" app predicted Koda was a mix of:

• Perro de Presa Mallorquin
• Siberian Husky
• German Shepherd
• Carolina Dog

Eager for a more definitive answer, Koda's parents finally used a Wisdom Panel™ Premium domestic dog Dna exam. And afterwards evaluating his genetic contour, the test revealed Koda was function:

• Siberian Husky (26%)
• American Staffordshire Terrier (14%)
• Akita (13%)
• Labrador Retriever (13%)
• Gilt Retriever (13%)
• Kishu Ken (6%)
• Mudi (6%)
• Grub Chow (4%)
• White Swiss Shepherd (two%)
• Finnish Lapphund (ane%)
• Drever (1%)
• Norwegian Buhund (ane%)

Equally you tin encounter, each of the visual identification methods guessedsome breeds correctly. But they several missed others or fifty-fifty wrongly predicted a few.

Still, the dog Dna examination provided the near consummate, nigh authentic picture of Koda's breed background—allowing his parents to understand him ameliorate. Suddenly, it was articulate where Koda's protective tendencies came from (Akita, AmStaff). And his dense coat was no longer a mystery (Chow Chow, Akita, Husky).

As added benefits, Koda's DNA exam ruled out life-threatening genetic health conditions (whew!) and gave his parents ideas for activities and training techniques he'd bask.

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Source: https://www.wisdompanel.com/en-us/blog/breed-identifier

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