Guides
Each guide answers one question completely, using checks you can make in seconds on the water.
What a Coat Actually Tells You
Coat is one of the few visible features with a simple genetic basis, which makes it useful for narrowing a mix — and useless for naming one.
3 min read
Cropped Ears and Docked Tails Are Not Breed Features
Both are cosmetic surgery performed on puppies, both are illegal across most of Europe, and both make breed identification harder than it needs to be.
3 min read
Dog DNA Tests: What They Get Right
Major ancestry is reasonably reliable, small percentages are noise, and the health panel is the part actually worth paying for.
3 min read
Flat-Faced Dogs: What the Shape Costs
The flat face is the breed standard and the disease at the same time. Most affected dogs are visibly struggling and their owners describe it as normal for the breed.
3 min read
Border Collie or Australian Shepherd? Look at the Tail
A Border Collie has a full low-set tail with an upward swirl. An Aussie usually has a bob or nothing. Then the ears and the coat confirm it.
3 min read
'Pit Bull' Is Not a Breed
It covers several distinct breeds and a great many mixed dogs, it is applied on appearance, and in some places it determines whether a dog is legal to own.
3 min read
Husky or Malamute? The Tail Settles It
A husky's tail curves up in a sickle; a malamute's plumes over the back. Blue eyes are common in one and disqualifying in the other.
3 min read
Guessing a Dog's Breed From Its Looks Mostly Does Not Work
Shelter staff guesses agree with DNA well under half the time. That is not a trivia point — breed labels affect adoption, insurance, tenancy and in some places legality.
3 min read