To date, Wisdom Panel™ has DNA-tested more than five million pets and built the largest dog DNA database. That means there’s a good chance some of your dog’s genetic family members are part of the Wisdom Panel pack.
That’s why we’re thrilled to offer Relatives—an easy way for you to see your pup’s extended pack, compare test results, view photos, and more.
Let’s take a quick tour.
How to find your dog’s relatives.
When you visit the Relatives tab of your dog’s Wisdom Panel™ results, you’ll see how many genetic relatives are currently matched. Those relatives are grouped into three types: close, extended, and distant.
Here’s a brief definition of each:
- Close relatives share 20% or more DNA. This group includes parents, offspring, and siblings. It may also include grandparents, grandpups, half-siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.
- Extended relatives share 5–19% of the same DNA. Examples of these family members include first cousins and the “greats” (great-grandparents, great-nephews, great-aunts, etc.), as well as half-uncles, half-aunts, half-nieces, and half-nephews.
- Distant relatives have 1–4% DNA in common with your pup. So, this is a rather large family group that includes relationships beyond (and occasionally well beyond) first cousins.
Note: These categories refer to the percentage of DNA that is identical by descent (i.e., comes from shared ancestors). For instance, a parent and their pup would show 50% because the offspring inherited half of their DNA from each parent.
For each relative listed, you’ll see a brief overview of information, including a profile photo if one has been uploaded, the dog’s name, and what percentage of DNA they share with your pup. You’ll also see the dog’s approximate location—handy info if you’re wondering if your dog is related to other dogs in the area (and for reunion planning purposes, of course).
How to contact your dog’s relatives.
Sending a message to your dog’s relatives is easy. Simply click on a relative to go to their individual page, which contains additional info about the dog’s genetic results. From this page, you’ll see a button that allows you to email the dog’s pet parent. Click or tap that button and the lines of communication are officially open!
The science: Making accurate matches.
If you trace virtually any breed back to its origin, you’re likely to find a population bottleneck. Establishing a distinct breed often requires some degree of inbreeding to refine and reinforce particular features or traits. As a result, dogs within a breed ultimately come from the same ancestors.
And if you’re trying to identify a dog’s more recent relatives, this early genetic link can be misleading. So, when scanning our database for your pup’s family, we filter out the shorter DNA segments often shared among dogs of the same breed.
That means you get more accurate estimates of true family relationships.
And because we’ve DNA-tested more than 2x as many dogs as leading competitors, you’re more likely to find those true family relationships with Wisdom Panel™.
Relatives is available for Breed Discovery, Essential, and Premium customers. (If you don’t want to participate, you can opt out via the sharing settings in your dog’s profile.) Please note, this feature is not currently included in Complete for Cats.
