Scientific Results: Comparing owner reported and genetic breed identification reveals high concordance in a large cohort from the Dog Aging Project

Author

Courtney L. Sexton

Where was it published?

Scientific Reports
Nature

 What is this paper about?

Like people, dogs have many traits that make them unique individuals. They also have some traits and characteristics that they share with other dogs. Many of these shared features are what we look at when grouping dogs into breeds, like in calling a dog a Labrador or a Poodle. Breeds are determined by dogs’ genes, or their ancestry. Knowing a dog’s ancestry can give clues as to how we might expect a certain dog to look, what interests them (like chasing squirrels or swimming), and how they might behave in certain situations. But sometimes, people might not know the exact breed of their dog, especially if it’s a mix.

Our team looked at data from over 5,600 dogs to see how often the breed or breeds owners reported their dog to be compared to what a DNA test showed. They found that 80% of the time, owners got it right. When owners didn’t agree with the DNA results, it was usually because the breed wasn’t in the DNA test’s list, or the dog had a mix of breeds that were very similar.

This study shows that most people have a pretty good idea of their dog’s breed. This is good news for people when it comes to understanding those ancestry-related traits in their dog, and it’s especially helpful for scientists who study dogs and rely on information from their owners to learn how breed affects things like health and behavior.

What do these results mean for me and my dog?

You probably know your dog better than you think. Most people’s guesses about their dog’s breed were pretty close to what the DNA test showed.

• If your dog is a purebred, you’re very likely right about it.
• If your dog is a mixed breed, your guesses may not be perfect, but you’re often at least partly correct.
• If the DNA results surprised you, it doesn’t mean you were wrong—it might just be that the test can’t always detect every breed, or your dog’s ancestry is more complicated than it looks.

Therefore, your input is valuable and valid. Researchers can generally trust what owners report about their dogs’ breeds. Even when the owner’s guesses aren’t exact, they still provide helpful information for science. This helps the Dog Aging Project link breed-related traits (like health risks, size, or behavior) to real-world outcomes. Thus, your participation is helping science in a big way, and your guesses about your dog’s background are more reliable than you might think!

Where can I learn more?

Sexton, C.L., Reichel, C., Keyser, A. et al. Comparing owner reported and genetic breed identification reveals high concordance in a large cohort from the Dog Aging Project. Sci Rep 15, 30493 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15095-5

Abstract

Breed is a ubiquitous classifier for both companion and working dogs, with profound implications for perceived and/or anticipated behavior, cognition, physiology, athleticism, and “temperament”. Owners, breeders, shelters and others are frequently asked to report on the known or suspected breed(s) of their dogs in various scenarios affecting dog and human wellbeing. However, there is a paucity of research on breed reporting accuracy. Using Dog Aging Project data, we compare genetic breed results with owner-reported ancestry for 5673 dogs. We find that 80% of dog owners identified their dog’s breed as matching the genetic reports. Among those few who reported disagreement with the genetic results, the majority indicated having dogs belonging to a breed not included in the reference panel. Additional causes for the 6% of samples reported as disagreeable include a stricter owner definition of match for single-breed dogs (e.g. 99.9% vs 100%) and genetic results showing a mix of two closely-related breeds for an owner-reported single-breed dog. Our findings indicate that people are usually aware of their dog’s genetic ancestry, which is important for the validity of using breed as a covariate in population-level studies, and for managing life history outcomes for dogs relative to breed-related traits and biases.