Every dog DNA test starts the same way: a cheek swab in the post. What happens next is where they differ. Most tests read a chip — a fixed list of a few hundred thousand DNA positions chosen in advance. ProsperK9 sequences the whole genome, about 30 million positions, and keeps the sequence on file. This page sets out what that difference means in practice, where the tests are the same, and where a chip test is genuinely enough.

The short version

• Breed and health screening: all three do it well. Chips are good at what they were built for.
• Re-analysis for life: only a stored genome can be re-read when the science moves. A chip result is final the day it is printed.
• AI Health Advisor and a summary for your vet: only ProsperK9, because it needs the genome plus your dog's records to work from.
• Price: within about $20–40 of each other. The difference is what you own afterwards.

Side by side

Competitor figures from their public product pages, September 2026; prices vary with promotions. Marker counts are the companies' own descriptions of their chips.

Where the tests are the same

Breed composition and screening for known inherited conditions are what chips were designed for, and Embark and Wisdom Panel both do them well, with larger breed reference lists than ours. If all you want is a breed pie chart and the standard health panel, any of the three will give you a sound answer. We would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.

Where a stored genome changes things

It keeps improving. A chip can only ever answer the questions that were printed on it. A whole genome is a complete record, and every time our analysis improves — a new condition, a better breed model, a new section of the report — it is applied to every dog we have ever sequenced, free. This is not a promise on a page: in September 2026 we rebuilt our analysis and every customer from 2024 received twelve new sections from the swab they sent two years earlier.

It sees what chips cannot. Reading the whole genome lets us check every chromosome for missing or extra pieces, find rare variants that appear on no chip anywhere, and read hard-to-measure genes directly rather than inferring them from nearby markers.

It can advise on your dog. Because the genome is on file alongside the health notes, vet records and photos you add, the report's AI Health Advisor can answer questions about your dog — "is there anything the vet should know before anesthesia?", "could genetics be behind the limping?" — from your dog's own data, and end with what to raise with your vet. It is not a veterinarian and does not diagnose; it makes your vet visits better prepared. A one-page Summary for your vet comes with it. See a real report and the Advisor →

What no dog DNA test can do

None of these tests diagnoses disease. A "two copies" result is a genetic predisposition to discuss with your veterinarian, not a verdict; a "clear" result covers the variants that were tested, not every possible cause. Breed percentages below a few percent are estimates in every test, ours included — that is why our report shows its confidence alongside each finding rather than hiding it.

Which one should you buy?

• You want a breed answer and the standard health panel, once: any of the three.
• Your dog is a rescue or a mix with an unknown story: ProsperK9 — whole-genome ancestry traced chromosome by chromosome handles village-dog and mixed ancestry rather than forcing a breed label.
• You want the report to keep growing, and something to bring to the vet: ProsperK9. That is the product.

Breed + Health Test — $180

Shipping both ways included. Results online in 2–6 weeks, then for the life of your dog.