Lisa Peterson

Embark was founded with the mission to end preventable diseases in dogs. To help achieve this, Embark’s dog DNA tests use a research-grade microarray. This allows us to provide the most accurate and comprehensive results on the market, as well as to conduct ongoing research and make new genetic discoveries to further canine health. Meet...

Dog fanciers are passionate about their breeds and the unique attributes that define breed type, characteristics, and temperament. Generations of careful breeding and selection have helped to refine these breed-specific traits and allow everyone to enjoy the remarkable variation that is represented in hundreds of purebred dog breeds. At Embark, we celebrate and support the...

Every Embark test screens ALT activity (via a GPT genetic variant)– one of several values your veterinarian measures on routine blood work to gauge your dog’s liver health. To best leverage your dog’s GPT result in his or her health care, it’s important to understand how your vet can use this clinical tool to establish a baseline...

DNA testing can help improve your dog’s life and your breeding program. But did you know it can also help improve the vitality of the breed itself? Breeders who use Embark don’t just get a DNA report. They get their dog’s genetic raw data to share with researchers, health organizations, breed clubs, and others working...

Every day, our brave service men and women stand ready to protect us. But for many, the hardest battle is the one they face after returning home: post traumatic stress (PTSD). When this happens, who stands ready to protect them? Often, it’s a service dog. Since June is National PTSD Awareness Month, we wanted to...

You’ve Embark-tested your dog and received the most informative DNA results available. Now, how do you use those results to help find potential mates to complement your breeding goals? Enter Matchmaker Embark’s advanced, custom breeding tool that makes it easy to assess inherited disease mutations in potential mates and view predicted average litter COI. Discover all...

DNA Testing is rapidly growing among breeders, giving them increasingly detailed information to manage and improve the genetic health, diversity, and physical traits of their breeding lines. Given the importance of these test results to the health of not only each dog but also that of future generations of dogs, we believe it’s critical to...

Embark’s Professional Team strives to provide you with the most useful, most actionable test results. To best leverage these results, it’s useful to understand the basics of genetics and what factors need to be considered when applying test results to a breeding program. Genetics can be simple or complex, and both are actual scientific terms...

Coat color genetics can be fun and interesting at the same time. This is because there seems to be an exception to every rule, and the veterinary genetics community still has a lot to discover about coat color. Learning about the inheritance of coat colors can be incredibly rewarding as it is an opportunity to...

It is well-established that genetic diversity has been declining in many dog breeds over the past two centuries, as a result of strong selection on a number of specific traits, combined in some cases with reductions in breed population sizes at certain points in history as well as popular sire effects. This is not only...

What is Degenerative Myelopathy (DM)? A disease of mature dogs, Degenerative Myelopathy(DM) is a progressive, degenerative disorder of the spinal cord that causes muscle wasting and gait abnormalities. Affected dogs do not usually show signs until they are at least 8 years old when the nerves that supply the hind limbs begin degenerating.  At first,...

North American Grey Wolves were once always grey, but now some are black. Why? Dive into how the introduction of domestic dogs from Asia changed the makeup of wolves, forever. Dogs and wolves share much in common  Did you know that it’s because of dogs that some members of the American Gray Wolf population have...