Guides for breeders and owners.
Plain-language explanations and real product examples for the decisions behind an animal record or breeding plan.
Articles
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For original analyses and methods, explore AnimalTrace Research.
AnimalTrace in practice
Reading results
How to read a genetic test result
What N/N, N/H, and carrier mean on a horse or dog DNA report, why one copy can mean different things, and what a "clear" result covers.
Read articleWhy a DNA result needs its source
A useful genetic result keeps the animal, exact test, issuing lab, and original report together. Here is what our public-page research taught us and how AnimalTrace handles the record.
Read articleWhat a genetic test can't tell you
Direct and linked tests, breed relevance, incomplete penetrance, and polygenic traits: the limits worth knowing before a DNA result decides a breeding.
Read articleWhen two DNA reports disagree
Two reports for the same animal don't match? Check they tested the same variant, translate the notation, confirm it's the same animal, then ask the labs.
Read articleBreeding and records terms, explained
Plain definitions of the terms on DNA reports and animal paperwork: carrier, clear, genotype, COI, Coggins, health certificates, and more.
Read articleBefore a breeding
Five checks before you order a breeding DNA panel
Choose DNA tests that fit your dog or horse: start with breed guidance, check each variant, and plan how the results will be recorded.
Read articleWhat goes into an AnimalTrace pairing check
How AnimalTrace brings together lab results, inheritance, pedigree, and the gaps in the record to make a potential pairing easier to evaluate.
Read articleHow to keep a breeding plan current
What breeding research and changing records mean for a match, a watch, and the future of a line.
Read articleRecessive-risk pairing, before you breed
Screen a mating for recessive risk before you breed: what carrier and clear results mean, and how to rule out affected pairings ahead of time.
Read articleHow to use a Punnett square for a pairing
The four-box grid behind every carrier-risk calculation, how to read it for recessive and dominant conditions, and why one in four is not a quota.
Read articleInbreeding coefficient, explained
What the inbreeding coefficient (COI) actually measures, how it's computed from a pedigree, and why it matters before a pairing.
Read articleWhy pedigree and genomic COI can give different numbers
What published dog and horse studies show about pedigree depth, DNA-based inbreeding estimates, and interpreting two different COI values.
Read articlePopular sire syndrome, and how to avoid it
How one heavily used male narrows a breed, what effective population size measures, and the practical checks that keep a line from closing in on itself.
Read articleHow DNA parentage verification works
What it means when a sire qualifies or is excluded, why exclusion is the stronger of the two results, and what to do when a parent does not qualify.
Read articleRecords and sales
Records to have ready when you sell a horse
The papers buyers and officials ask for when a horse changes hands in the US: registration, Coggins, health certificate, health history, and test results.
Read articleRecords to have ready when you sell a puppy
The paperwork a puppy should go home with in the US: registration, vaccination and deworming records, a vet check, parents' results, and the contract.
Read articleFor labs
Where your report goes after you issue it
A result leaves the lab as a report and reaches a buyer as one word. How AnimalTrace keeps your lab named, your report attached, and your result usable.
Read articleWhy labs end up building a customer app
The requests that arrive after a result ships, why they turn into a product the lab never meant to build, and where an integration point makes more sense.
Read articlePut your own records to work.
Bring in your animals' reports for free, then check pairings with Client Pro.