Breeding & research / DNA testing / Coverage
What a canine DNA panel actually tests
Start with the variant list, not the biggest number on the box. A panel gives answers about specified targets.
Keep a question sheet ↓
“Clear on everything” sounds wonderfully complete. On a DNA report, it needs a second sentence: everything that this version of this test examined. A panel can provide useful information about inherited variants without clearing a dog of every inherited disease.
The practical task is to connect each reported result to a named variant, its interpretation and the question you still need answered. You don’t need to memorize every gene. You do need to know what was tested.
Look closer
Check what is actually included.
A variant is a particular change in DNA. A gene can contain different variants, and a condition can have more than one genetic cause. A count of variants is therefore not automatically a count of diseases, and neither count tells you how useful a panel is for your dog.
Open the current test list and save the version or date alongside the report. The UC Davis VGL dog-test directory illustrates why the details matter: health, coat and other tests have different purposes. Ask about the tests relevant to your breed and family history.
If two panels use the same disease label, check whether they examine the same variant. If the report omits the exact target, ask the laboratory for a description you and your veterinarian can interpret.
Look closer
Separate detection from clinical meaning.
Keep this distinction
A result needs a route to interpretation.
| What the test examines | What the report can establish | The next question |
|---|---|---|
| A named causal variant | Whether the tested variant was detected, subject to test performance. | Does this variant have established clinical relevance in this dog’s background? |
| A linked marker or risk association | A marker or association used to infer status or risk. | How strong is the association, and where was it validated? |
| Clinical screening | A finding from an examination or other clinical test. | What does that finding mean with this dog’s history? |
Original reference map informed by Marie Abitbol, Genetic testing in dogs, Chapter II, §II.2–3, PDF p7, and Amy Young (2023), UC Davis: what testing can tell you, “The Limits” and “The Future.”
A test can perform well at detecting its target while the clinical meaning of that target remains less certain in a particular breed or background. Those are two questions: “Did the test measure this accurately?” and “What does this finding predict here?”
Abitbol’s chapter distinguishes direct tests, linked-marker tests and genotype–phenotype relationships. That last term means the relationship between a DNA result and what happens in the dog. The chapter provides useful concepts; its historical test counts and product landscape are not a current shopping list. Read §II.2–4, PDF pp7–8.
Look closer
Read large screens at the variant level.
Donner and colleagues’ 2018 commercial-sample study screened selected Mendelian disease variants. The full headline sample was not tested for every target; 96,514 dogs received the full 152-variant screen. The corrected supplementary table identifies the variants examined. Read the study methods and the 2019 correction.
Their 2023 follow-up expanded the screen and examined clinical records for a subset. Nine variants added later were tested in a smaller subset of 46,062 samples. The clinical subset was young: median age at last visit was 1.17 years. A missing late-onset diagnosis at that age cannot establish lifelong absence of disease. Read Study sample, Genotyping and the clinical-data limitations.
These studies help investigate where variants occur and how findings relate to recorded disease. Voluntary commercial samples and the authors’ company affiliations belong in the interpretation. They do not establish that today’s largest panel is the best panel for every dog.
Look closer
Keep “clear” attached to its target.
For a concrete example, an N/N result on the VGL PRA-prcd test means the tested PRCD variant is absent. It does not exclude other genetic forms of progressive retinal atrophy. The laboratory’s interpretation makes that distinction explicit.
Ask what remains outside the panel: other variants, conditions with complex inheritance and clinical screening that is still relevant. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s breeding soundness chapter places screening within a broader history and examination. The report is useful evidence to bring to that assessment.
When discussing results with a family, use specific wording: “The report did not detect these tested variants.” Then show the report, the test list and the additional health information. That gives the family something clearer than a sweeping health guarantee.
Keep the useful part
Audit a panel before relying on it.
Use one sheet for a panel, then add a separate line or page for each result that needs clarification. Notes stay in this tab. Export them before closing to keep a copy.
Original blank reading aid. No information is sent to an account. This sheet records questions; it does not calculate breeding suitability.
Follow the evidence
Read the original sources.
- UC Davis VGL: dog tests
- UC Davis VGL: PRA-prcd
- Donner et al. (2018), 152-variant screen
- Donner et al. (2019), corrected variant table
- Donner et al. (2023), clinical relevance
- Marie Abitbol, Genetic testing in dogs, Chapter II
- Amy Young (2023), UC Davis: what testing can tell you
- Merck Veterinary Manual: breeding soundness examination
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