We're curious about our ancestry...and now people want to know about man’s best friend's genetic makeup.
In the past decade, Wisdom Health reports it has now genetically tested over 1.1 million dogs worldwide.
Houston Pet Talk magazine publisher and editor Michelle Mantor said DNA testing helps understand your pooch's natural tendencies, help identify genetic conditions and lower return rate at shelters because of a bad match.
"If we better understood the genetic tendencies of the dog in advance, then the adopter could better understand if that's the dog that would fit into my lifestyle or is that the type of dog that I'm looking for," said Mantor. "I think it's really fun that we can kind of find out what the heritage of our dog and utilize anything from medical treatment to the games that we play with them to make their lives happier and healthier."
The downside, humans can misuse or read too much into gene test results—which runs about $125 for the full panel.
FYI, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, dogs have 39 pairs.