Tag archives: Canine Genetic Services

Paw Print Genetics is excited to tell you about 15 new tests that were just launched!  Among these new tests are three new trait tests that cause light colored dogs in various breeds. These new traits are sable in Cocker spaniels, white in Alaskan and Siberian huskies, and cream in Australian cattle dogs. What’s super interesting is that these new tests all involved DNA changes in the E locus.  Most are already familiar with the E (extension) locus, as DNA changes or variation in the MC1R gene inhibits the production of the black pigment, eumelanin, and allows the yellow/red pigment to show (phaeomelanin) and causes the coat color to be light, such as apricot in poodles, yellow in Labradors, and red in Irish Setters.  For the specific breeds mentioned above, you can now test specifically for the E^h variation found in some sable Cocker spaniels, or the e² variation found in cream colored Australian Cattle dogs, or the e³ variation found in Alaskan and Siberian huskies. For all other breeds, you can just continue to order the common E locus variant to find out if your dog carries for yellow. Remember, white/yellow/red ...

If you are like me, 2021 is a welcomed sight. As you all experienced, 2020 was full of challenges related to COVID-19. At Paw Print Genetics, some of us have been working from home since March and really miss being able to get together with our colleagues. The laboratory needed to go to different shifts to allow for social distancing, which really put a strain on our turn-around times. We have experienced delays in getting laboratory reagents that allow us to do our testing, as they are being used by other laboratories for COVID testing, and the US Postal Service has been struggling even before the holidays to deliver our kits and your samples in a timely manner.

Even with these challenges, I have kept track of what I like to call the COVID silver linings. First, in Washington State, veterinary services were deemed essential business so although many restaurants and gyms were forced to close, Paw Print Genetics (PPG) remained open. This meant that we were able to serve our customers and keep our staff employed. Even with social distancing and shift work, we were able to meet our published turnaround times for more than 90% of cases! In ...

Have you ever wondered why we chose AskUs@pawprintgenetics.com to be our contact email address? In addition to offering the highest accuracy in the industry, at Paw Print Genetics, customer service is At Your Service! We want you to ask questions prior to ordering or after receiving your results because we know that genetic testing can sometimes be confusing.

We consider our customers to be part of our family and treat them as such. When a customer is in need of help when placing an order or trying to understand their results, our expert staff is here, ready to help. You can always count on us to respond to your emails or answer your phone calls, even on weekends and holidays! That is because we understand that your dog's results are important to you, and you are important to us. There is no such thing as too small of a question.

Our one-of-a-kind client services staff is here to help by answering your email or phone call, helping to understand our ordering process, or even placing your order.  Our team members, along with our expert geneticists and veterinarians, are pleased to help you. No excuses, no complaints, just ...

At Paw Print Genetics, we are often asked this question: “Why do I need to send in a sample on the dam if I just want to know the father of my pups?”. The simple answer is because we need to compare the DNA of the pup to both parents in order to confidently confirm or exclude a potential sire.  Here is an example that helps explain why we need both parents for parentage testing. Keep in mind that a pup receives half of its DNA from its mom and half of its DNA from its dad, so for every marker that we examine, the pup has one allele (gene copy) from mom and one allele (gene copy) from dad.

For parentage (paternity) testing, we use a set of 99 informative markers to confirm or exclude a potential sire. For each marker, we get two results because the pup has two sets of DNA, one from the mom and one from the dad. The two alleles are each assigned a number based on their DNA sequence.  For example, for marker “A”, the pup might be 1,3; one allele has sequence 1 and the other allele has ...

Coat color genetics can be very confusing. There are many different genes that can contribute to the overall coat color in a dog and for each gene, there can be different mutations that can contribute to color variations.  The B locus (or gene) is responsible for many of the brown coat colors seen in dogs (also referred to as chocolate or red, depending on the breed).  When performing genetic testing of the B locus, the test result is determined by examining three specific locations within the B gene of a dog, known as the b^c, b^d, and b^s. The overall B locus genotype for a dog is determined by the combination of genotypes (variations) present at the b^c, b^d, and b^s loci (locations within the B gene). 

For most genes in the dog, there are two copies of that gene, one inherited from the mom and one inherited from the dad.  The B locus is no exception in that although both parents have two copies of the B locus, the mom contributes only one copy of the B locus to each of her pups, randomly selected from her two B alleles that she carries ...

Everyone at Paw Print Genetics^TM is excited about our grand opening and bringing our clinical genetic testing services to the canine community.  As discussed in the last blog by founder and CEO, Dr. Lisa Shaffer, a great deal of time and care has gone into ensuring the quality and accuracy of our testing.  I cannot stress enough how incredibly important this validation process is and the need for the laboratory to have checks and balances to truly make certain that your canine genetic test results are accurate.

Several years ago, a friend ordered genetic testing to determine if all of the puppies her black male produced would be black or if he would have the potential to produce the other colors found in the breed.  She had several individuals who were interested in using her male but a portion of these were only interested in using him if he could produce more colors in his puppies than only black.  After paying and waiting for the results, she received the news from the laboratory that did the testing that he would only sire black puppies and informed the interested parties of this result.  Several of ...