Why did my swab fail?

Even if you followed the steps and swabbed correctly, there's a small chance your dog's swab mail fail. Here's why:

When we first receive your sample we extract your dog’s DNA and run it through our custom-built SNP chip. 

After looking at our genetic markers we are able to provide you with your dog's results!

Most results are released within 2-4 weeks from the time we scan your swab at our facility but many results are finalized even sooner!

Why it (sometimes) doesn't work

Most commonly, a swab fails because there is not enough DNA in the sample.

Alternatively, your swab is contaminated. This can happen if you swab your dog right after they have shared their food, water, or toys with their brother, sister, or friends, or the swab was dropped onto a heavily contaminated surface.

• This is rare, but our quality checks can immediately identify if a sample contains more than one set of DNA - A sample contaminated with another dog’s DNA will have duplicate sets of some chromosomes and that’s very easy to catch! It’s also impossible to complete results using a sample with multiple sets of DNA so the sample will fail the quality checks.

Please note: If the swab does fail, we can issue a free replacement so that you can try again.

Have questions? Your MyEmbark account includes information about your dog's sample status, your dog's results, and many other helpful resources. Log in to your account here!