Instructions
Find out if your vet offers the Wisdom Panel test. Call and ask your vet directly, or visit the What's My Dog? website and search for vets who do the test in your area. If your vet does not offer the test, What's My Dog? offers a letter that you can either print and give to your vet or email to your vet. Additionally, Mars Veterinary provides a form you can fill out to have the site contact your vet directly. See Resources below for the links.
Take your dog to the vet to have the test done. Your vet will take a small sample of your dog’s blood. Costs for the Wisdom Panel test vary between $100 and $200, depending on your vet and how much she charges for a visit.
Send the results back to the Mars Veterinary laboratory for testing and analysis. The Wisdom Panel detects 134 different American Kennel Club recognized breeds. Results from the blood test typically take 2 to 3 weeks to arrive. Results will be sent directly to the pet owner. Your vet can also be sent a copy of the results.
Interpret your results. The first two pages of your results will explain that dogs won’t always have the physical characteristics of the breeds in their genetic history. A dog that has German shepherd in its genetic history won’t necessarily have German shepherd markings. The next pages look at what your dog is actually composed of. It will tell you which breed traits you should see (these are the breeds that it contains a significant amount of), which genetic traits you may see and which breeds you have a slight chance of seeing traits from (these are breeds that the sample shows only trace amounts of).
How to Find a Dog's Breed With the Wisdom Panel MX
Many owners of mixed breed dogs wonder what breeds their dogs really are. As well as satisfying curiosity, knowing what breed your dog is can help you and your vet identify potential health conditions that are inherent in certain breeds. For those owners of mixed breed dogs, the Wisdom Panel MX blood test is one type of test that allows owners to satisfy their curiosity.