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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  Oh, Nancy, that is fascinating. It can't tell whether a dog had "Yorkshire Terrier" and "Chihuahua" ancestry or anythings like that? Do you have some source document links to read? I remember watching a TV show where dogs' genetics were guessed by "experts" and then DNA tests supposedly told them there was Terrier, Beagle and Bernese Mountain Dog in its immediate ancestry. And see posts here and articles online all the time talking about how they can tell you your dog's heritage or breed type. Wow. |
The tests are based upon taking blood samples of the main breeds and comparing a new blood sample to those breeds, so you get a cluster type of effect, the dog is MOSTLY xyz. Eventually, as more and more samples are gathered the results become more absolute, but that’s only assuming everyone was honest and careful. It really not the type of test that most scientists hold a lot of faith in, but it does give us some information, and that information builds other information over time. However, it’s not the type of DNA test where they are breaking down the Yorkie DNA code. You know, where they actually see the string of DNA and can see
how Yorkies are different than Shih Tzu's. Maybe someday, but dogs are much more difficult to break than many other species. I’ve heard that it’s fairly accurate at telling us, Maury Povitch style, if the father is the father, ect. I haven't done much research lately, so I don't have the best links, but there's a lot of information out there just google, Mars DNA testing.