A letter from reader Patty Yates about getting answers to something mutt owners have been thinking about for decades:

I recently received a ‘Doggie DNA” results test on Bogey as I was curious as to what breed he really was. I was surprised to learn he was not Chow/Golden Retriever mix but Parson Russell Terrier, Afghan Hound & Chinese Shar-Pei.

I didn’t know if you knew about this wonderful service that EDP Biotech.com provided.

The DNA test would cost approximately $65.

You can also ask your local vet for recommendations on a DNA testing facility for you.

This letter comes at a time when I’ve been thinking about getting a doggie DNA test for Bo. He too is a Chow/Golden mix, or so we believe. You see, he’s stubborn and has to have things his way but always friendly. If that doesn’t say Chow-Golden I don’t know what does, but based on Patty’s story, I may be wrong.

The question I ask myself is “Do I really want to know the results?” What if I find out he has German Shepherd in his background? Will I forever wonder if his great, great, great, grandparents were Nazi sympathizers? Or what if his ancestors dipped into the Chihuahua gene pool? Will I subconsciously start treating him like a lap dog rather than the 65 lb paper weight he truly is?

So many questions, so little time.

I’m anxious to hear others’ experience with DNA testing. Pass along your results in the comments section.

This post comes from Dogster member and friend Randi Sachs. She’s the guardian of one of our favorite dogs, Ripley. Ripley, come visit Dogster HQ again soon!

A few weeks ago we were at the vet for a routine visit, and I decided to take the plunge on this new doggie DNA test that can identify up to 134 breeds in a mixed-breed’s ancestry after analyzing a blood sample.

What it boils down to is that Ripley is considered to be a multi-generational “Outbred” dog. They could find barely any trace of any pedigreed breeds in her blood work, which means that she is the result of many generations of mutts breeding with each other.

The breed they found with highest confidence (although it was still only a trace of evidence) was German Shepherd! Otherwise, they found low-confidence traces of Golden Retriever, Chow Chow, Chinese Shar-Pei and Sealyham Terrier.

End result, Ripley is truly one of a kind… and she is not a Lab mix at all! She’s a super-mutt who possibly gets her intelligence and focus from her German Shepherd ancestry way back when.

Has your dog had a DNA test? What were the results?