Edit: I guess I should clarify a little more. It is AKC’s way of proving that the parents that you registered the littter with are really the parents. If the AKC has a reason to believe that a breeder is using a different stud than the one listed as the father, than they come in and test the parents of the litter. If the test comes back that the sire is not the listed sire than the owner of the litter is suspended from AKC privelages for a certain amount of time. If it happens again in a certain amount of time than they lose AKC privelages all together. It’s their way of ensuring the purebred lineage of every registered dog.

There is the DNA profile for determining parentage. And stud dog that sires more than three litters is required by the AKC to have a profile done.

Then there is testing for certain disease markers. For example, if I want to test one of my Bassets for Basset Hound Thrombopathia, I need to send in a blood sampleto the researchers who have located the area where that gene defect occurs, and they can positively tell me whether my dog is clear, carrier or affected.

Many of the disease markers are breed specific. For example, you can test for vonWillibrand’s disease for Scottish Terriers, but they haven’t yet located it for Basset Hounds.