I got sucked in by a FB ad for the Embark Dog Age Test and now it has me wondering.
We adopted my dog in May 2012. At the time, the shelter estimated his age at around 2 yrs old. That would make him 13ish this year. I have always wondered how accurate their guesstimate was, as they had no history on him.
I’m wondering how valid the Embark age test might be, and if it would be worth the $159 price tag.
Any thoughts?
Huh. Well, there’s some solid science behind using methylation to determine age, in both humans and canines. Actual calendar time isn’t the only thing that impacts that, and I’m not sure if the data is really there to pin down DOB to a range of a few months like they claim. But the test isn’t entirely hogwash.
It does seem kinda pricy for the info you get.
Here’s a really interesting paper about this sort of thing:
I would pay $159 for such a test on my mare and the two donkeys, each of whom could be in their 20s or 30s, but who knows. The vet has given up trying to age them. He just says, “Old! They’re all old!”
Agreed. We’re pretty certain he’s in the 12-13 year age range. I’m not sure it’s worth the price to try to pin it down further than that.
His breed’s average life expectancy is 12-15 yrs, so he’s a fairly old man at any rate.
I agree! If I had a 10 yr lifespan guesstimate it would be totally worth it!
My husband feels similar to your vet about our dog. He’s old! What does it really matter if he’s 12 or 13?
I would just like to know, but probably not at a $159 price tag.
Do you know his breed for sure? The breed breakdown can be really fascinating too.
I did Embark’s testing for my dogs, because at the time I got the kits, they were the least expensive way to screen for a couple specific health conditions we were looking for.
The age information was very close to what I knew to be the age of the dogs.
The health information was pretty fascinating, and worth the price. My boy ended up being enrolled in a couple studies as a result, and I get update info every so often from them, so that’s cool.
I don’t think I’d spend that much for a dog I’ve already owned for 11 years.
I have seen some results from the age test. It seems to break it down to three month intervals, but it also looks like they have a bell curve chart on some or all results saying that the guessed age is within X% of probability, with ages a few months in either direction at the ends of the bell curve. You might like to read through this “ask me anything” Reddit thread that Embark hosted specifically about the age test: https://www.reddit.com/r/DoggyDNA/comments/y290rx/were_embark_veterinary_ama_about_our_new_age_test/
Here’s one reply: We have a median absolute error of 3.2 months, which means we estimate date-of-birth within ± 3.2 months for 50% of dogs. Our confidence grows to 70% at ±5 months and we capture almost all of the population (92%) at ±10 months. Let us know if we can help decode the stats further. Check out our accuracy explainer here for more in the weeds details! -Erin W.
That is really interesting @Mango20. Thank you for sharing that. I think if there was a larger age range that we were unsure of his true age, it would definitely be worth it.
I will definitely check out the Reddit thread!
I do! He is a very specific and somewhat rare breed of hunting dog. He came from a breed-specific rescue and he was turned into the rescue by his hunter, who said he was no good. I have his intake pictures. So no real questions about his breed.
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