Late last winter, I swabbed the inside of my dog's cheek with a Q-tip-sized bristle-brush and sent it off with $65 to the labs of MetaMorphix. The life sciences company in Belstville, Md., had just launched something called the Canine Heritage Breed Test, and I was curious to discover exactly what breeds braided through the DNA of my Seattle Animal Shelter dog. (I've always identified Lulu as a Huskador, a mix of Husky and Labrador Retriever.)

Unfortunately, MetaMorphix found no statistically significant matches between Lulu's sample and their then-database of 38 of the most popular American Kennel Club breeds. They promised to retest Lulu when they had more breeds to test against.

Meanwhile, a second company jumped into the breach. After reading my story about the results, Mars Veterinary in Rockville, Md., offered to plumb Lulu's identity secrets for free. According to Mars, the Wisdom Panel Mixed Breed Analysis test detects as many as 130 breeds. Based on a blood sample drawn by my vet, Lulu is in large part Labrador and German Shepherd, and, to a lesser extent, Brittany. The Brittany kind of throws me but in the right light with a duck in her mouth, I can see it.

I'm writing about this now, because yesterday I got a certificate of DNA breed analysis from the Canine Heritage retest. The second saliva analysis still offered no primary matches, but this time Lulu appeared to have a significant degree of Labrador Retriever. The only other match "in the mix" was, apparently, Yorkshire Terrier. I know genes are funny things, but looking at my 65-pound, Germador Spanherd and trying to identify traces of a six-pound, snub-nosed lap dog with long glossy hair, I'm doubtful.

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