By
Brenley Goertzen,
a writer at the Strategist covering clothing basics and bath and body.
She joined the Strategist as a junior writer in 2022 after interning at the site.
My family has rescued many dogs from local shelters and humane societies, and I have always delighted in learning their breed makeup through DNA testing. Most at-home dog DNA tests begin with a cheek swab, which collects cells from inside a dog’s mouth; DNA is extracted from those cells. Your furry friend’s DNA is then examined and compared with reference samples from dogs whose breeds are already known, according to Dr. Audrey Ruple, D.V.M., a veterinarian and chair of the Fetch Pet Veterinary Advisory Board. “This comparison is used to estimate which breeds or broader ancestral populations are the closest matches to the dog’s DNA. The result isn’t definitive: It’s an estimate based on the company’s reference database, which is why two companies may report somewhat different breed percentages for the same dog,” Ruple tells me.
