Affordable doggie products that were best in show

Would you pay $79.99 to find out whether Bowser was part-Schnauzer? Or any other kind of breed? A company at the recent NYC Pet Show was hawking its doggie DNA test. You take a cheek swab of your mutt and mail the sample back to the lab. Three weeks later you have three generations of your hound's hereditary history. The results might explain why your dog digs a lot, chases birds, or drinks toilet water (oh wait, many do that.) "It helps with training and behavior," Elizabeth Sourk, a spokeswoman for the Wisdom Panel Insights Dog DNA Test, told WalletPop.

The company said it offers the best value because its test includes about 170 breeds, more than any other cheek swab application. WalletPop found a test from BioPet for $59.99 but it tracked ancestry from just 62 breeds.

When WalletPop suggested that the test could also determine whether that pricey pooch you purchased is really a purebred, Sourk said, "People do that but ours is not intended to do that."