We Tried It: A Dog DNA Test that Helps Determine a Canine's Real Age

Courtesy Liz Sporkin

Update: Since the publication of this story, Embark has paused the sale and processing of its Age Test. According to Embark, the company recently discovered that the Age Test was not meeting Embark's scientific standards. To learn more about the issue and how Embark is resolving it, visit the company's website

What It Is: Embark's Dog Age Test

Who Tried It: PEOPLE Editor Elizabeth Sporkin

When my husband and I adopted our dog, Joey, from a New Jersey shelter in 2016,  he was so delicate he required a special diet, so bossy he needed weeks of training, and so cute he was the inspiration for PEOPLE's annual World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest.

A dog DNA test that helps determine the different breeds that make up a pup showed that Joey is 75 percent chihuahua and 12 percent beagle, but one attribute that eluded us was his age. He was found as a stray in Tennessee and had recently recovered from an unspecified health condition that left his fur streaked with gray when we adopted him.

Joey's online profile listed him as two years old, but as we left the shelter with our new family member in tow, the adoption counselor called out, "By the way, this dog's not two. We think he's between four and eight." So, was Joey a young adult or a middle-aged man? We asked the vet but got no answer.

"We can estimate a dog's age by the condition of his teeth," the vet said. "His teeth look pretty good, but he's no puppy."

Courtesy Liz Sporkin

Fast forward six years, and, according to the shelter's estimate, Joey would now be between 10 and 14. He's starting to have some pain in his legs, and he's fussier about his food. Could he be a super senior? Leave it to the Internet to read my mind. Up popped an Instagram ad for Embark's Dog Age Test, which promised to take a pet's DNA and determine the animal's age. It also promised accuracy within a six-month time frame and that the test would estimate Joey's actual birthday.

I ordered a test for $159, swabbed Joey's cheek, filled out a questionnaire to activate the kit, and sent the swab back to Embark to be tested. Meanwhile, to find out more, I called Adam Boyko, Embark's cofounder and chief science officer. A geneticist with a Ph.D. in biology, Boyko launched the company that Forbes compared to "a 23andMe for dogs" in 2015 as a startup at Cornell University, where he is a professor of canine genomics.

RELATED: DNA Test Reveals that Tenn. Dog Adopted as a Friend for Visually-Impaired Pup Is Pet's Sister

The age test, which debuted this fall, measures clocklike changes in DNA molecules to determine when a dog was born. Before offering it to the public, Embark's scientists tested it on 600 purebred and mixed-breed dogs — encompassing 100 breeds and mixes — with known ages ranging from 6 months to 18 years. Boyko says these tests resulted in ages that were accurate within five months. "Our mission is dog health," he says. "Results can answer questions like, 'Why is my dog not going on long walks?' or 'Is my dog's leg pain arthritis or a joint injury?'"

Courtesy Liz Sporkin

Joey's results arrived within a few weeks. His age was estimated at 10 years and two months, and he was given an approximate birthdate of Sept. 8, 2012. I was overjoyed, knowing that Joey may have more years ahead of him than I had expected. But was this test too good to be true?

RELATED: DNA Test Reveals Chicago Family's New Rescue Dog from Texas Is a Cousin of Their Late Pet

One of the questions in the activation kit — and it is optional — is to estimate your dog's age. Could Embark have used my answer to tell me what I wanted to hear? Boyko laughs and says no, adding that others have wondered the same thing. Some customers have even tried to trick Embark to prove their point. "We've had people who've swabbed themselves and sent it in," Boyco says. "The results come back, 'Not a dog.'"

In the end, Embark's products — they also have ancestry and health DNA tests — offer the same information about rescue dogs that dog breeders can offer about purebred pooches.

"If you unlock genetics," says Boyko, "you're not disadvantaged by a dog that has no known history."