What does pedigree mean for a dog

How to ReadAnd UseA Dogs Pedigree

Your dogs pedigree is essentially the family tree for your dog. Perusing your dogs pedigree, you may notice some names that re-occur, possibly because they were popular sires of their day.

Perhaps you will notice certain dogs with a lot of AKC titles, such as Champion (CH), Field Champion (FC), Companion Dog (CD), or one of many others before or after the registered name. The pedigree may also tell you if a dog was imported from another country, has DNA on file, has certain health clearances, or even what color it was.

Certain first names may be repeated. Dog naming conventions might have the breeders kennel name preceding the rest of the name, as in Royaltys Sir Pantsalot. In this case Royalty is the kennel name. Less often the kennel name is last, or sometimes the last name is used to denote the new owners kennel name. So Sir Pantsalot of Royalty was probably bred by Royalty kennels. Royalty Sir Pantsalot of Shady Acres was probably bred by Royalty and owned by Shady Acres. Knowing the kennel names behind your dog enables you to know your dogs line, or family within the breed. It also helps you find related dogs should you wish to add a new dog to your family.

Sometimes breeders will use litter themes, perhaps naming all the puppies in one litter after rock stars or planets, for example; or may use a litter letter, so all registered names in the litter start with the same letter. Having a litter theme or letter is useful for identifying possible littermates in a pedigree.

If you have access to books about your breed you may find photos of your dogs ancestors in them. If you Google the names, especially ones that have a lot of titles or seem to have been popular sires, you may find some famous dogs in the mix.

Understanding the pedigree can help you better appreciate your dogs unique ancestry, better understand their place in breed history, and if you plan to breed, better choose the optimal breeding partner.

A Dogs AKC Ancestry Pedigree

Three types of AKC pedigrees are available: A printed Certified Pedigree, which is an official document needed if you plan to export a dog or their frozen semen; an online Research Pedigree that you can print yourself, but may not be accepted as an official document by other canine registries; and an Export Pedigree; which merges into all the information required to obtain registration with foreign kennel clubs into one document. All contain the same essential information and are read the same way.

The AKC pedigree is a traditional ancestry pedigree, meaning it is a record of your dogs direct ancestors, reading from your dog on the left through successive generations branching to the right.

If you start with your dog at the left, you can read each progressive generation to the right. The two names to the right of your dog are your dogs sire (on top) and dam (on the bottom), which is carried out through every generation. You will sometimes hear people talking about the tail-male or sire line, which means the top line of the entire pedigree, which is made up of only sires; or the tail-female or dam line, which is the bottom line of the entire pedigree and made up of only dams.

Go back one generation and you have sire and dam; the next generation you have their sires and damsyour dogs grandparentsand the next generation is your dogs great-grandparents, and so on. For many of the older breeds, the only thing preventing you from tracing every ancestor back to the 1800s is the size of your paper, as the number quickly gets out of hand!

You may notice certain dogs names are repeated multiple times in the pedigree. In fact, if you traced the pedigree back far enough, it would probably trace back to fewer than 100 founding dogs for each breed.

Other Types of Dog Pedigrees

The traditional ancestry pedigree is a valuable breeding tool for determining the depth of pedigree. This is a term used to describe the traits and assets of the ancestors in the first three or four generations (usually the 14 ancestors in the first three generations). Are they mostly Champions? Do most have certain health clearances? This information about the direct ancestors can be very important.

Equally important is the breadth of pedigree. In this case, the siblings of each of your dogs ancestors are also considered. Even if the direct ancestors have good hips, for example, what if none of their littermates do? That changes the picture. The breadth of pedigree gives you more information than the depth of pedigree, but it can get complicated to absorb everything. In some cases, you have to balance the information from the depth of pedigree with that from the breadth of pedigree to make your best breeding decision. Obviously, the ideal case is to have both strong depth and breadth of pedigree.

You can also consult a pedigree of your dogs descendants. This would originate with your dog and list offspring and their offspring for several generations. This descendant pedigree can also yield valuable information, especially if you are considering a dog for breeding. What if they have clear hips, but most of their progeny dont? Again, you may need to balance this information with other pros and cons related to the pedigree, and again, it can get complicated.

The best way to combine all the information from direct ancestors, siblings, and descendants into one pedigree is to use a trait or symbol pedigree, which is often used in medical and genetic research. In such a pedigree, males are shown as squares and females as circles. Horizontal lines connect breeding pairs, and vertical lines reach down to their offspring. Dogs affected with the trait of interest are colored dark; those unaffected are uncolored; those known to be carriers may be colored half-and-half. Such pedigrees are typically used to determine if a trait is passed on in a dominant or recessive or even sex-linked mode of inheritance.

Your dogs pedigree is a valuable research tool as well as an important record of the breeding decisions that led to your dogs existence. Its something to be studied and cherishedtruly a point of pride and a perk of being a purebred.

Importance of Pedigree Papers

Pedigree papers are proof that a dog is purebred with evidence to prove it.

Pedigree papers can be thought of as the birth certificate of a dog. Pedigree papers are essentially the family tree of a dog showing at least three to five generations back or more. Pedigree papers start with the most recent dog in the ancestry and go further back into its lineage, starting off with the puppys parents labelled as 'Sire', the father, and 'Dam' the mother.

Pedigree papers include:

• Name of the registered owner of the puppy
• The pedigree name of the puppy
• The breed of the puppy
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Colour
• The country of origin (what country the puppy was bred)
• Microchip number of the puppy
• Name of the person who bred the puppy
• Registration date of the litter
• The Dogs Australia state body member that issued the pedigree papers
• The date the pedigree papers were issued

Not only do pedigree papers show lineage but they also show the credentials of your puppys ancestors, be it through show or dog performance and sports titles, which may be titled into the pedigree names of those dogs. Pedigree papers also show prefixes attached to the dogs in the family tree, which identify other breeders who bred those dogs. This shows how vast the information on the pedigree papers are.

Pedigree papers mean more than just the lineage of dogs. When owners look at pedigree papers they are not just looking at a piece of paper, but a piece of history. The dogs that lived, combined, and ultimately led to the puppy they are holding today!

The pedigree names that appear on pedigree papers can also be searched online which may bring up more information going further back into the lineage of your dog, or even images of those dogs.

In Australia, the oldest genuine, authentic, and globally recognised pedigree papers, are those issued by Dogs Australia, formerly known as the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC), established in 1958. Therefore, its important that prospective puppy owners source from a Dogs Australia registered breeder (hyperlink to dogs Australia breeder directory).

All puppies bred from a Dogs Australia registered breeder are issued with a set of pedigree papers by breeders. Both parents of the litter also have pedigree papers. Purchasing a pedigree dog bred by a Dogs Australia registered breeder, increases your chance of owning a well-bred purebred dog, where only the worthy and best examples of that breed have been combined by breeders to produce offspring that is sound in mind, body, and health as possible.

Purchase A Pedigree

An AKC Pedigree is a printed or electronic document that displays the lineage of an AKC dog and important information about the ancestors in a dogs family tree.

The AKC is pleased to offer these pedigree products:

Printed Certified Pedigrees

Handsomely printed, our AKC Certified Pedigree is available online with up to 4- generations. A certified pedigree includes an embossed gold AKC seal, which certifies that your dogs pedigree has been compiled from official Stud Book records and is an authentic AKC document. Showcase your dogs pedigree by selecting our framed AKC Certified Pedigree.

To register or show your dog in a foreign country, you will need an AKC Certified Export Pedigree. Our export pedigree provides all of the same information as a standard certified pedigree, but also includes the ownership information needed to register or show your dog in a foreign country.For detailed certified pedigree information, click here.

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Online Research Pedigrees

All online research pedigrees are viewed on the web and are available for any AKC-registered dog, 24 hours a day. An online research pedigree includes complete information about dogs in the pedigree, including competition titles and any related health information available (i.e., OFA). For detailed research pedigree information, click here.

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Common Abbreviations in Pedigrees

The abundance of abbreviations before or after a dogs name in a pedigree are likely to confuse the new dog owner or prospective puppy buyer. Following a list of the most common abbreviations with no claim to completeness.For the stud book abbreviations please refer to this post.

1) What is important?Most important are the health results, e.g. a unilateral deaf dog can have a bunch of titles, but you probably still dont want it in your dogs pedigree.2) What is important for me?Next you should know which abilities you expect from your dog, a lot of what can be expected you can read from the Working Titles.

Health Results

BAER +/+ both sides hearing*BAER +/- or -/+ unilateral deaf*BAER -/- bilateral deafHips Excellent (OFA) A1 (FCI) BVA 0-4 (UK/Australia) normal (former German) - (Netherlands until 2004)Hips Good (OFA) A2 (FCI) BVA 5-10 (UK/Australia) normal (former German) - (Netherlands until 2004)Hips Fair (OFA) B1 (FCI) BVA 11-18 (UK/Australia) normal (former German) Tc (Netherlands until 2004)Hips Borderline (OFA) B2 (FCI) BVA 19-25 (UK/Australia) fast normal (former German) Tc (Netherlands until 2004)*Hips Mild (OFA) C (FCI) BVA 26-35 (UK/Australia) leicht (former German) +/- (Netherlands until 2004)*Hips Moderate (OFA) -D (FCI) BVA 36-50 (UK/Australia) mittel (former German) + (Netherlands until 2004)*Hips Severe (OFA) E (FCI) BVA 51-106 (UK/Australia) schwer (former German) ++ (Netherlands until 2004)Elbows Grade 0 unaffected*Elbows Grade I mild changes*Elbows Grade II moderate changes*Elbows Grade III severe changes

*Results with this asterisk should NEVER appear in a pedigree, dogs with this condition must be excluded from the breeding program

Though for comparative purpose here the BVA values are summed up, usually both hips are given separately, as even if only one hip is dysplastic, the overall grade is dysplastic. The same is true for FCI results: Hips A/C does not mean B but C!!!

Show Titles

CH ChampionGCH or Gr CH Grand ChampionC.I.B. International Beauty Champion (FCI)C.I.E. International Show Champion (FCI)C.I.T. International Working Champion (FCI)Sh Ch (UK Show Champion)BIS Best in Show (achievement, not a title)

Working Titles

C.I.C. International Race Champion (FCI)C.I.AG. International Agility Champion (FCI)C.I.OB. International Obedience Champion (FCI)C.I.TR. International Herding Champion (FCI)JH Junior Hunter (AKC)SH Senior Hunter (AKC)MH Master Hunter (AKC)FC Field Champion (AKC)

Cumulative Titles of Show and Working

C.I.B.T. Cumulative Title of International Beauty and Working Champion (FCI)DC or DUAL CH Show and Field Champion (AKC)

Read here the Regulations for the FCI International ChampionshipRead here the complete list of AKC titles