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Dogs

Video walkthrough: Watch on Loom (link coming soon)

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Dogs is the heart of BreederBuddy — your complete record for every dog in your program. Whether it’s an active breeding dog, a puppy, or a dog you’ve retired, every profile lives here with everything attached to it in one place.

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What You Can Do Here

• Add and manage individual dog profiles with photos, breed, color, registration numbers, and microchip
• Import OFA health certificates by uploading a PDF — BreederBuddy reads the test, result, cert number, and dates automatically
• Track health tests, weight history, heat cycles, and titles
• Record genetics and view a full pedigree going back multiple generations
• Invite other breeders as co-owners of a specific dog
• Drop in Embark, Paw Print Genetics or Wisdom Panel reports, OFA results, vet paperwork, or a pedigree chart and let Buddy fill in the dog’s records for you
• Attach documents, log events, and track expenses tied to a specific dog
• Share a dog’s public profile, gallery, or health information with buyers or co-owners

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How It Works

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Adding a Dog

1. Go to Dogs in the left menu (under Breeding Program).
2. Click Add Dog in the top right. (Adding your very first dog? BreederBuddy opens a short guided walkthrough instead — answer each step, then click Create Dog. You can switch to the basic form anytime with Use basic form instead, and reopen the walkthrough from the basic form with Need help? Walk me through this.)
3. Fill in the Primary Details: Name (required), Call Name, Type (required — Active Breeding Dog, Puppy, Retired, Pet / Other, or Deceased), Sex (required), Date of Birth, Breed, and Collar Color.
4. Optionally link a Sire, Dam, and Owner under Relationships.
5. Click Create Dog. You land on the dog’s profile, where you can add photos, registration numbers, health records, and everything else.

Adding a puppy from one of your litters? Add it from that litter’s page with Add New Puppy instead, so it stays linked to the litter and its parents.

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Importing Dogs from a Spreadsheet (CSV)

Bringing in a whole roster at once? Next to the Add Dog button there’s a small cloud icon (hover text: Import/Export Dogs).

1. Go to Dogs in the left menu and click the cloud icon next to Add Dog.
2. Choose Bulk CSV Import, then click Import from CSV.
3. Click Download Template to get a ready-made CSV with every supported column, fill it in, and drop the file into the upload box.
4. Click Import Dogs. You’ll get a results summary showing how many dogs, litters, contacts, and breeds were created.

Only two columns are required: Name and Type (Puppy, Active Breeding Dog, Retired, Pet / Other, or Deceased). The template also supports call name, DOB, sex, owner details, microchip, registration numbers, color, breed, size, sale price, market status, tags, notes, and litter/sire/dam names — BreederBuddy links litters and parents by name automatically. Prefer not to wrangle a spreadsheet? Choose Import with Buddy in the same menu and drop in whatever file you have — Buddy reads it and builds the import for you to review. See Importing Your Data. The same menu also lists Import from External Registry. Registry imports (K9-Data.org, OFA / CHIC, AKC Marketplace, Paw Print Genetics) are marked Coming soon and can’t be used yet — for now, add outside sires and dams with Add Dog or let Buddy read their paperwork.

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Importing Paperwork into One Dog’s Profile

Already have a dog set up and a stack of paperwork for them? Open the dog’s profile and click Import with Buddy at the top.

1. Drop up to 5 files — Embark, Paw Print Genetics or Wisdom Panel reports, OFA results, vet records, registrations, pedigree charts, spreadsheets, or photos.
2. Buddy reads them and files everything onto that dog: a DNA report becomes a genetics panel (plus its DNA-test COI), OFA and vet results become health records, and a pedigree chart builds out the family tree.
3. Review what Buddy found and approve it. Nothing is saved until you approve, and one click undoes an import.

Buddy imports need an active plan and have a monthly allowance — the window shows how many you have left this month.

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Viewing a Dog’s Profile

Each dog has its own detail page with tabs grouped along the side:

• Profile — Details, Titles & Achievements
• Care & Evaluation — Health, Certifications (OFA & health testing), Weight, Aptitude & Neonatal (puppies), Heat Cycles and Whelping Watch (females who aren’t puppies)
• Breeding & Lineage — Relationships, Genetics, Pedigree
• Media & Files — Gallery, Attachments
• Records & Operations — Events, Finances

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Health Certifications (OFA & More)

The Certifications tab is where you store OFA, PennHIP, Embark, and other health-testing records. The fastest way to add one is to upload the PDF. BreederBuddy reads it and fills in the test type, result, cert number, and dates for you. Upload a DNA panel report with the same button and Buddy reads the whole report instead: once you approve its review, each result is saved and the dog’s Genetics tab is filled in. See the Health Certifications doc for the full walkthrough.

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Co-ownership Invites

If another breeder co-owns a dog with you, you can give them full access to that dog’s record:

1. Open the dog’s profile.
2. Click the Share icon next to the dog’s name and choose Invite co-owner.
3. Enter their Owner Email and (optionally) their Kennel / Organization Name, then click Send Invite.
4. They’ll get an invite — once they accept, they can view and edit everything for that dog.

If the dog is already co-owned, the same menu shows Manage co-owners instead, which takes you to the Co-owners page. See the Co-owners doc for more.

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Generating AKC Paperwork

When it’s time to register a dog or litter, head to Document Manager in the left menu. You can generate pre-filled AKC Ownership Records, AKC Litter Records, and the UKC Litter Registration, drag fields around if needed, and download the PDF. See Document Manager.

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Custom Registration Labels

If you work with multiple registries (AKC, UKC, CKC, etc.), you can customize what each registration field is called for your whole organization in Settings → Preferences. Your custom labels show up everywhere on dog profiles, contracts, and forms.

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Health Records (Vaccines, Deworming, Vet Visits)

Vaccines, dewormings, vet visits, and other medical history live on the dog’s Health tab. (OFA and other health testing go on the Certifications tab instead.)

1. Open the dog’s profile and click the Health tab (in the Care & Evaluation group on the side).
2. Find the right section (Vaccinations, Prevention / Deworming, Veterinarian Appointments, Health Tests, Breedings, Grooming, or Other Records) and click its + Add button (for example + Add Vaccination).
3. Fill in the name, Date, and Administered By, plus any optional details like Expires On, brand, or lot number.
4. Gave the same thing to other dogs too? Click Log this for more dogs at the bottom of the form. Search by name or use the Adults, Puppies, Littermates and Sex filters, then check off every dog it applies to (Check all shown ticks the whole list, and Shift-click ticks a run of rows). Each dog you check gets its own copy of the record.
5. Click Save. The record shows in its section, newest first.
6. BreederBuddy then asks Create Follow-up Reminder? Click Yes, Create Follow-up to put the next dose on your calendar, or Skip for Now.

The reminder date is pre-filled (one year out for vaccinations, two weeks for deworming), and you can change it before you save. To add one later, click the calendar-plus icon next to any record. Use the pencil icon to edit a record. Vaccinating a whole litter? Use Log this for more dogs and the Littermates filter, or do it from the litter’s Puppies tab with Add Bulk Health Records. See Litters. Breedings are always added one dog at a time.

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Printing Health Records, Vaccines, and Weights

1. Open the dog’s profile and go to the Health tab.
2. Click Export PDF Report at the top right. The Export Health Record PDF window opens.
3. Tick only the sections you want. For a vaccine-only printout, click Clear all, then tick Vaccinations. Tick Weight History to add their weights.
4. Leave Include parents ticked to print the sire and dam on the report, or untick it.
5. Click Generate PDF. The PDF downloads, ready to print or email to a buyer or vet.

For a puppy’s go-home paperwork, the litter’s Puppies tab has a Print for owner button on each puppy, and Export Health PDFs does the whole litter at once.

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Spay/Neuter Estimate

BreederBuddy shows an estimated spay/neuter date for every dog whose Type is Puppy and who has a Date of Birth (whatever their Fertility says). It appears in the Spay / Neuter Estimate box on the puppy’s Health tab, on the health PDF, and under Fertility while you’re in Edit Details. It’s on by default and uses 10 months after birth.

1. Go to Settings → Preferences.
2. Scroll to Health estimates.
3. Change Spay/neuter estimate (months) to the age your vet recommends (one number, from 1 to 36), or switch Spay/neuter estimate off.

The change applies to every puppy. You can also change it from the gear icon on a puppy’s Spay / Neuter Estimate box on the Health tab.

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Archiving or Deleting a Dog

When a dog leaves your program (sold, placed, retired), archive them instead of deleting. Archived dogs keep every record and stay searchable — they just move out of your main list. To archive a dog:

1. Open the dog’s profile.
2. Click Edit Details.
3. Scroll down and check Archive from main workflow.
4. Hit Save.

Archived dogs appear in the Archived, Retired & Deceased section at the bottom of your Dogs list. To unarchive, open the dog, click Edit Details, and uncheck the box. A couple of helpful nudges: if you archive a puppy who isn’t marked sold yet, BreederBuddy asks if you’d also like to mark them Went home (Sold). And if you mark a puppy Sold without archiving, it offers to archive for you.

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Hiding Sold, Placed, or Transferred Dogs

Your main Dogs list hides archived, Retired, and Deceased dogs. A puppy marked Went home (Sold) or given an owner still shows until you archive them. So to clear out dogs who have left your program, archive them (steps above). You don’t need to create a fake buyer.

• To see only the puppies who have gone home, click Placed under Puppy status in the Dog Finder at the top of the list.
• To find an archived dog later, scroll to the Archived, Retired & Deceased section at the bottom of the Dogs page, or type their name in the Search box.
• Archiving also takes the dog off your website.

To permanently delete a dog instead, open the dog’s profile, click the three-dot menu at the top right, and choose Delete. This is permanent and removes the dog from associated records — archive whenever you can.

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Changing a Dog’s Type (Puppy to Breeding Dog, Retired, Deceased)

A dog’s Type controls how BreederBuddy treats them, and changing it is always the same three clicks:

1. Open the dog’s profile.
2. Click Edit Details.
3. Change Type to Active Breeding Dog, Puppy, Retired, Pet / Other, or Deceased, then hit Save.

That’s how you graduate a puppy you’re keeping into an Active Breeding Dog (their profile gains Heat Cycles and breeding features), retire a dog, or mark one deceased. There’s no separate “convert” button — the Type dropdown is it. Retired and Deceased dogs move to the Archived, Retired & Deceased section at the bottom of your Dogs list, with every record kept exactly as it was. Lost a puppy or a dog? Set Type to Deceased rather than deleting them. Their records, litter, and family tree stay intact, and they can still be picked as a Sire or Dam for pedigrees. There’s no separate date-of-passing field, so if you want the date on file, add it as an Other record on their Health tab.

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The Owner Field, and What “Reserved” Means

The Owner (under Relationships on Edit Details, and on the Relationships tab) is the contact who has the dog: a buyer, a guardian home, or another person. It’s picked from your Contacts. A puppy is reserved the moment a contact becomes its owner. That one step is what the rest of BreederBuddy watches: the puppy’s page and the litter’s puppy list read “Reserved for Sarah Miller · goes home Dec 1”, the buyer’s contact card says the same, your activity feed gets a line, your website shows the puppy as reserved, and a Go-home email series can offer to start.

• Your own dog? Leave Owner empty. You don’t need to add yourself.
• To reserve a puppy: on the litter’s Puppies tab, click Reserve for a buyer under the puppy’s name (or Change buyer once there is one), pick the contact, and click Save. The same button is on the puppy’s Relationships tab. For an adult dog the button still says Assign Owner.
• Brand-new buyer? The litter’s Reserve for a buyer window only lists contacts you already have. Use the button on the puppy’s Relationships tab instead, which has Create New Contact, or add the buyer under Contacts first.
• Mark as Reserved? Right after you pick the buyer, BreederBuddy asks whether to set the puppy’s Market Status to Reserved. Click Mark as Reserved, or Not now to leave the status alone. Tick Always do this when I add a buyer and it stops asking; you can change that any time under Settings → Preferences.
• Status first, buyer second: if you set Market Status to Reserved or Went home (Sold) on a puppy with no owner, the buyer picker opens and asks who it’s reserved for. You can skip it, but the puppy then shows as reserved for nobody.
• To clear an owner (for example, a sale fell through): open the dog’s profile, click Edit Details, click Clear next to the Owner under Relationships, and hit Save. The Relationships tab now says “No owner assigned”, and BreederBuddy offers to set the status back to Available.

Guardian homes: set the guardian family as the dog’s Owner. If the contact’s Type is Guardian Family, BreederBuddy knows it isn’t a sale: the puppy is offered Retained instead of Reserved, the puppy list reads “Guardian home: Sarah Miller”, your activity feed records “Bella placed with Sarah Miller (guardian home)”, and it is never started on a buyer email series by itself. For an adult placed with a guardian, keep Type as Active Breeding Dog. Contracts has a ready-made Guardian Home Agreement template. Another breeder: when the owner’s Type is Breeder, BreederBuddy asks whether the puppy is Reserved (sold to them) or Retained (co-owned or staying in your program). A Business contact as owner changes nothing.

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Go-Home Date

Puppies inherit their litter’s go-home date (see Litters). If one puppy goes home on a different day, open their Edit Details and set Go-home date; leave it blank to use the litter’s. The puppy’s page shows “goes home Dec 1” (with a ~ while it’s still an estimate), and the calendar, your website and any email series follow it.

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Adding Photos (Including From Your Phone)

1. Open the dog’s profile and click the Gallery tab (in the Media & Files group).
2. Click the Add photos tile. On a phone, this lets you take a picture or pick from your photo library. On a computer, you can also drag photos straight onto the gallery.
3. The photos upload and appear in the gallery. Use the icons on each photo to set it as the profile picture, show or hide it on your website, or delete it.

For a puppy, open the puppy’s own profile first (from the litter’s Puppies tab, click the open profile arrow), so the photos go on that puppy instead of the whole litter. Documents like PDFs go on the Attachments tab. See Attachments.

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Managing Your Breed List

The Breed dropdown on every dog (and on outside dogs in your pedigrees) uses your saved breed list.

1. Open any dog’s profile and click Edit Details.
2. Click Manage Breeds right under the Breed field. (It’s also in Settings → Preferences next to Default Breed.)
3. Type the breed in Add a new breed and click Add Breed. Use Edit to rename a breed or Delete to remove one.

Renaming a breed updates every dog using it. Deleting one clears that breed from any dog that had it.

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Showing or Hiding a Dog on Your Website

Whether a dog appears on your public website and Programs page is controlled per dog:

1. Open the dog’s profile and click Edit Details.
2. Scroll to Display Settings.
3. Check or uncheck Public?, then hit Save. The Description field in the same section is what appears under the dog’s name and photo on your site.

To manage several at once, go to Content Manager in the left menu — the Dogs tab shows every dog with a Public / Hidden toggle on each card, so you can publish or unpublish with one click.

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Linking Parents and Birth Litters

• Sire and Dam: open the dog’s profile, click Edit Details, and pick them under Relationships — or use the Relationships tab’s Assign Sire / Assign Dam buttons.
• The Relationships tab also shows the dog’s Owner, their Siblings (full and half), the Litters they’ve been a parent in, and their Offspring. On a dog who isn’t a puppy, Add Litter with (their name) starts a new litter with them already filled in.
• Dogs born from one of your litters get their sire, dam, and date of birth from the litter automatically, so those fields are locked on the dog and say so. To change them, update the litter record itself.
• To put a dog you already added into its birth litter, go through the litter: open the litter’s Puppies tab and click Link Existing Puppy in the Toolbox. There’s no litter picker on the dog’s own profile. Linking sets the dog’s sire, dam, and date of birth from the litter, replacing what was there.
• Sire or dam missing from the dropdown? The Sire and Dam lists only show dogs with the right Sex whose Type is Active Breeding Dog, Retired, or Deceased. Puppies and Pet / Other dogs don’t appear, so change the parent’s Type first.

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Recording Weights and Temperatures

Weights live on the Weight tab of every dog’s profile (under Care & Evaluation):

1. Open the dog’s profile and go to the Weight tab.
2. Click Add New Weight.
3. Enter the weight and the Date Recorded, then save.

While you type, BreederBuddy compares the new weight with the last one and warns you if it’s lower, with the difference and percentage. You’ll see a growth chart plus a full history table, where the Age column shows how many weeks old the dog was at each weigh-in (when they have a date of birth). Use Change Preferred Unit to switch between pounds, ounces, kilograms, and grams. For a litter of puppies, you can also log and compare weights right from the litter’s puppy list, and daily puppy weights are part of the Neonatal Check-In. Temperatures are for expecting moms. Every female (who isn’t a puppy) has a Whelping Watch tab on her profile — it’s also on her litter’s page:

1. Open the Whelping Watch tab.
2. Click Add Reading and enter her temperature, date and time, and any notes.

Log a few readings a day in the final week or two of pregnancy. BreederBuddy learns her normal baseline and alerts you when it spots the temperature drop that usually means whelping is 12–24 hours away. Use Change Unit to switch between °F and °C.

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Sharing a Dog’s Profile

You can generate a private link for a dog’s profile, useful for sending to potential buyers, vets, or co-owners. The page shows the dog’s main photo, their details, every gallery photo, health records, weight history, and attachments, laid out like a portfolio.

1. Open the dog’s profile.
2. Click the Share icon next to the dog’s name and choose Share profile.
3. Choose what to include (profile details, health records, gallery photos, weight chart, attachments). Untick anything you’d rather keep private.
4. Pick how long the link should stay active and click Generate Share URL.
5. Copy the link and send it. Anyone with the link can view it without logging in.

All of the dog’s gallery photos are included unless you untick them. Health records include the Breeding group by default, which can name other people’s dogs (like an outside female your stud covered), so untick that group if it’s private. Tests on the Certifications tab aren’t part of a profile share link. To stop sharing, open the same window and click Disable URL.

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Key Terms

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Tips & Common Questions

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Still Have Questions?

We’re here to help. If something isn’t working the way you expect, or you’d just like to share feedback, reach out to us anytime through the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. We read every message and genuinely want to hear from you — your questions help us make BreederBuddy better for every breeder.