Applied Dog Genomics

While the concept of interspecies kinship foregrounds partial connections across species difference, breed as a form of cultivated subspecies difference is also reckoned with as people seek to understand and care for their companion animals. This includes those whose companion animals are defined as mixed breed. This article explores the continued salience of breed as a way of knowing companion dogs in a context in which purity and pedigree is no longer the dominant framing of their value. It does so through a focus on companion dog cultures in the US and new forms of breed knowledge that are offered by genetic tests that provide a breakdown of the breeds in a mixed-breed dog’s background. In this applied science of canine genetics, the mixed-breed is made into a new resource for extracting profit, through the suggestion that people’s care for and relationships with their mixed-breed dog are enhanced by knowing their breed background. This promise depends, however, on eliding the complex and contested significance of breed for understanding dogs, both in canine behavioural science and among dog people. Investigating what lies behind the familiar question of “What breed is your dog?” through a focus on these tests suggests that interests in knowing the breeds in a mixed-breed dog reflect the continued cultural hold of modern breed imaginaries of fixing and mixing—the appeal of named and contained categories of dog diversity and fascination with the outcome of crossing—and with origin stories, not only for people, but also for dogs.