June 22, 2008

DENVER -- New scientific inroads are going to the dogs, making it possible to decipher what’s a mutt.

To the untrained eye, Bridget looks like a lab. but she is so much more.

“She is five different things and none more than 20 percent,” owner Marianne Mattson said. “So Bridget is a true mutt.”

Mattson found Bridget four years ago, when she was just a puppy, at the pound. Bridget was rescued after a torrential Florida hurricane that also destroyed her papers.

“So no one had any idea, so all we could do is guess,” Mattson said.

Fast-forward to today and the guessing game is over.

A simple blood test can determine the genetic make-up of your pup.

“To try to determine what breed your mixed breed dog might be or which breed is most important in his lineage,” said Dr. Lee Woods of why people would want to do a canine DNA test.

In Boulder, Colo., the home of Woods’ clinic, residents joke there are more dogs than people, which means there are a lot of dogs without a clearly known identity.

While DNA testing has been out for couple years, it has only been promoted to the general public in the last six months or so.

“We started this two to three months ago and offered it to our clients as an interest piece, really,” Woods said.

The tests are available through most veterinary clinics and cost about $150, with the results taking about three weeks to process.

As for it’s benefits, Mattson says, “it’s really helped me to understand her better.”

The DNA test revealed Bridget is a mix of Irish setter, Labrador, chow-chow, German shepherd and dachshund.

“I kind of expected the lab, but in some ways I was really excited to find she is a true mutt,” Mattson said. “So it’s helped me to understand her and also it makes her more special.”

Pet owners say the genetic testing is helpful in knowing what to expect behaviorally and medically from their mutts, but Dr. Woods says no matter which way you consider it, it’s a crapshoot.

“So consequently, individuals who have problems and have children can have children who are completely free of those problems -- and it’s the same with any animals … two legged, four legged, beaks, wings and tails,” Woods said.

As far as Mattson is concerned, her setter-lab-chow-shepherd-dachshund is as perfect as they come.

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