Genetic testing has gone to the dogs

I flew cross country this weekend and saw in the on-flight magazine that I could submit a sample of a cheek swab from my dog to a lab and they would determine her genetic background or breed mix. How sad that all this data is looking for a use as real information.

For most of the human medical conditions I am aware of the data from additional genetic information does not add nearly as much as we once thought. Rather, we are still best using the phenotypic infomation (about some sort of physiological expression of a tendency) or we take it into consideration as part of an algorighm that remains unproven.

I have a White dog. She is pictured here in her new disposable booties to keep her paws from freezing. If you pass her on the street tell her how good she looks she is a little sensitive on the topic.

Look-a-like for Lacy the dog in cold weather booties

Thanks to Ano Lobb for the good questions about genetic testing-- its uses and value that were put forward in his blog on JustMeans (click here)  Short article on genome sequencing