Breed Free

For the individual owner, playing the ‘breed id game’ is another way to bond with their pet. Trying to guess the various combinations that might make up their dog’s unique genetic mix is a lot of fun. There are even DNA tests that give a snapshot of this information.     

Guessing at breeds is a far more serious issue for animal welfare professionals. Thanks to years of academic research (don't worry, we will dive deeper into that later) we know that the visual identification of dog breeds is highly inaccurate. Without DNA test results or breed papers we don't know what is in a dog's DNA. And guessing leads to inaccurate behavior predictions based on those arbitrary breed labels.

The vast majority of dogs in shelters are of mixed breed heritage, unique concoctions of two or more breeds.     Whether or not a breed label accurately reflects a dog’s genetic makeup doesn’t really matter when it comes to helping match dogs with potential adopters. What matters most is a dog's personality and individual lifestyle needs, things that cannot accurately be predicted based on looks or genetic makeup. Dogs are complex individuals whose behavior is influenced by many internal and external factors. This is why It's important to view all dogs, regardless of whether they’re ‘pure,' ‘mixed’ breed, or of unknown origin, as individuals.