Unwrap The Mystery Of Your Dog's Breed History This Holiday Season

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ This holiday season, give your dog the gift of Wisdom and help dig up breed insights that could help you be smarter about caring for your pet. Wisdom Panel 2.0, the at-home, do-it-yourself dog DNA test kit, is the ultimate gift for the dog (and the owner) that has everything.

Wisdom Panel 2.0 provides dog owners with a quick and convenient way to test their dog's DNA so it can be used to identify breeds that make up a mixed breed dog; inform the parental ancestry of a "designer" dog; or show whether a dog matches the profile of known purebred dogs in the Wisdom Panel database.The state-of-the-art Wisdom Panel 2.0 offers unprecedented accuracy by testing for more than 200 breeds and varieties, including 100 percent of American Kennel Club registered breeds. Armed with breed insights, the test can give owners valuable insights on behavior questions and may help owners have a better relationship with their dog and take better care of their dog's health.

Obvious and not-so-obvious physical traits plus behaviors like digging, herding and barking can all come from the various breeds in a dog's family tree. Once an owner understands a dog's natural tendencies, it makes it possible to create a tailored training, exercise and nutrition program to fit his one-of-a-kind needs, plus it may help owners work with their veterinarians to be on the lookout for certain diseases they never would have expected without knowing their dog's genetic history.

"Treating your pet with the gift of knowledge is a very special gift you can provide this holiday," said Dr. Angela Hughes, DVM, Ph.D., veterinary genetics research manager at Wisdom Panel . "It's not only about satisfying your curiosity. The smarter you are about your dog's past, the smarter you can be about his future."

Wisdom Panel 2.0 is available at www.wisdompanel.com for $79.99. Order the test on Cyber Monday (December 2) or December 6 through December 24, and receive a special holiday savings. The test kit includes "do-it-yourself" cheek swabs, allowing owners to simply administer the test at home and mail back the sample in a pre-paid package. Within three weeks of receipt of the swab sample, dog owners will be emailed an official Ancestry Report revealing their dog's genetic background. The report for Wisdom Panel 2.0 allows dog owners to upload a photo of their dog onto www.wisdompanel.com for inclusion on their report. Additionally, the Wisdom Panel 2.0 Ancestry Report offers new advancements that provide:

• Breed ancestry identification back to great-grandparents for mixed breed dogs
• Breed comparison of suspected purebred dog to the profile of known purebred dogs in the Wisdom Panel database
• Illustration that a dog is a true 50/50 hybrid of two purebred parents for designer dogs
• Adult weight range prediction to help make appropriate nutrition and diet choices
• Breed insights to help provide a better training program, understand behavior, and create an effective care and wellness plan.

About Wisdom Panel

Wisdom Panel is a division of MARS Incorporated, a company known for innovative consumer and pet food brands that are trusted by people around the world. Its mission is to facilitate responsible pet care by enlightening pet owners and communities with valuable insights into their pets as individuals through innovative, science-based discoveries. For nearly a decade, Wisdom Panel has researched and developed state-of-the-art genetic tests for mixed-breed dogs, revolutionizing personalized pet care. By discovering a mixed-breed dog's ancestry, pet owners and veterinarians can work together to tailor wellness programs that fit the one-of-a-kind needs of a mixed-breed dog. For more information, visit www.wisdompanel.com.

About Mars, Incorporated

In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars' first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the objective of creating a "mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders" this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion, six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 72,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.

Mars brands include: Petcare PEDIGREE , ROYAL CANIN , WHISKAS , KITEKAT , BANFIELD Pet Hospital and NUTRO ; Chocolate M&M'S , SNICKERS , DOVE , GALAXY , MARS , MILKY WAY and TWIX ; Wrigley DOUBLEMINT , EXTRA , ORBIT and 5 chewing gums, SKITTLES and STARBURST candies, and ALTOIDS AND LIFESAVERS mints. Food UNCLE BEN'S , DOLMIO , EBLY , MASTERFOODS , SEEDS OF CHANGE and ROYCO ; Drinks ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY, KLIX and FLAVIA ; Symbioscience COCOAVIA and WISDOM PANEL

For more information, please visit www.mars.com. Follow us: facebook.com/mars, twitter.com/marsglobal, youtube.com/mars.

SOURCE Wisdom Panel