How long before we discard visual breed identification?

How long before we discard visual breed identification? A new survey confirms that even dog experts can’t tell just by looking.
Posted on November 7, 2012 by admin

In the 1960’s, John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller showed that mixed breed dogs may bear little or no resemblance to their purebred ancestors.[i] In 2009, Dr. Victoria Voith and colleagues from Western University published a short report indicating a low agreement between the identification of breeds of dogs by adoption agencies and DNA identification of the same dogs.[ii]

The Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine has also been looking systematically into the problem of visual breed identification of dogs of unknown origin. A survey conducted at four Florida animal shelters confirmed the unreliability of visual breed identification, thus calling into question yet again its use for dog adoption, lost and found, and regulation.[iii]

The Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program conducted a new and expanded survey during the summer of 2012.[iv] An array of dog experts – breeders, trainers, groomers, veterinarians, shelter staff, rescuers and others –offered their best guesses as to the breeds in the dogs in a series of photographs. More than 5,000 completed the survey. Their visual assessments were then compared to DNA breed profiles of the dogs.

Each dog in the survey had at least 25% of a single breed in its DNA profile. A response was considered accurate if it named any of the breeds DNA analysis had detected in the dog, no matter how many other breeds had been detected, and whether or not the breed guessed was a predominant breed in the dog, or only had been detected in a trace amount. Since, in almost every dog multiple breeds had been detected, there were lots of opportunities to be correct.