Dog Pedigree Software: What to Record, How Deep, and How to Share It

Dog pedigree software records each dog's sire and dam and follows them back, so an ancestor entered once appears in every pedigree it belongs to. In BreederBuddy you link your own dogs, import paper pedigrees from a photo or PDF, add outside ancestors, view 3 to 6 generations with a pedigree COI, and share a link or print a PDF.

Dog pedigree software keeps each dog's sire and dam on its record and follows those links back through the generations, so an ancestor you enter once appears in every pedigree that includes it. Done well, it gives you one family tree to check before a breeding, send to a buyer and print for a puppy packet.

Paper and spreadsheets work until the same grandsire gets typed two ways, or a buyer asks about the dam's side and the certificate is at home. Below: what a working pedigree holds, and how BreederBuddy builds, checks and shares one.

What a pedigree should record, and how deep

A useful pedigree records who each ancestor is (registered name and number), then what that dog proved (titles and health clearances), for as many generations as you can document.

Names and titles. Copy the registered name exactly, kennel prefix and all, and keep the call name separate. Pick one rule for titles (as printed on the papers is easiest) and stick to it, because inconsistent titles are how one dog turns into two records.

Health clearances on ancestors. Every normal result submitted to OFA is public in its online database, so you can check a grandsire before you breed to his son. For many tests, though, the owner decides whether an abnormal result goes public, and a CHIC number means the breed's required tests were done and released, not that every result was normal. A missing result is not a clear result, so ask the owner for copies.

How many generations to keep

Keep at least the four generations an AKC certified pedigree shows, and more when you can. Four generations hold 30 ancestors, five hold 62 and six hold 126, and many of them belong to other breeders. Depth matters most for breeding decisions: a coefficient of inbreeding only counts the common ancestors you've recorded, so a great-great-grandsire shared by both sides doesn't show on a three-generation pedigree. When you buy a dog or use an outside stud, ask for the deepest pedigree the owner has.

Step 1: Link parents between your own dogs

A pedigree is each dog's sire and dam followed back, so it starts with your own dogs.

1. Open the dog from Dogs and click Edit Details. Put the registered name in Name, the everyday name in Call Name, and fill in the two registration number fields. You can rename those fields for your registries in Settings, under Preferences.
2. Under Relationships, pick the Sire and Dam and click Save. The lists show dogs of the right sex whose Type is Active Breeding Dog, Retired or Deceased, so mark a dog who has died Deceased rather than deleting her.
3. Repeat for each parent, back as far as your own dogs go.

Your own dogs keep titles on the Titles & Achievements tab (Add title) and health results on the Certifications tab, where the import button reads an OFA certificate PDF and fills in the test, result, certificate number and dates for you to check. What else to keep on each dog is in dog breeding record keeping software.

Puppies you add from a litter with Add New Puppy get the litter's sire and dam, locked on the puppy, and its birth date. That's how the sire's and dam's pedigrees combine: build each parent's once, and every puppy from the pairing inherits both sides. Entered a puppy before its litter? Link Existing Puppy, in the Toolbox on the litter's Puppies tab, moves it into the litter and sets its parents and birth date to match. The puppy's Relationships tab then lists its parents, its owner, and its full and half siblings.

Step 2: Import a pedigree from a photo or PDF

If the pedigree exists on paper, Buddy can read a photo or PDF of the chart and build the tree for you to check, so you don't type 30 ancestors by hand.

1. Open Buddy Intake in the left menu, or click Import with Buddy at the top of a dog's profile.
2. Drop in the chart, up to 5 files at a time: a registry certificate, a stud owner's PDF or a phone photo.
3. Review the tree, laid out like the chart. Dogs you already have are matched by registration number or name. Each new ancestor is marked Reference only (an outside dog) or New in your program; switch with Reference or My program, or click Skip.
4. Click Approve & Import. Nothing is saved before that, and Undo this import reverses it.

Buddy copies names as printed, titles included, and reads up to four generations. A dog that appears twice with the same registration number becomes one record, so linebreeding stays visible. Imports come with a monthly allowance on every plan. More in importing records from almost any file with Buddy.

Step 3: Add outside sires, dams and ancestors by hand

Ancestors you don't own go in as outside dogs: records that live in your pedigrees without crowding your Dogs list.

1. Open Pedigree Viewer in the left menu (under Tools & Analytics), or the Pedigree tab on a dog's profile. If it asks for a pedigree profile first, click Create Profile.
2. Click Assign on the Current Sire or Current Dam card. For older ancestors, click an empty Add Ancestor box in the tree. A box further back reads Add closer parent first until the dog in front of it is filled.
3. Search by name or registration number. Your dogs and Outside dogs already in your pedigrees are listed together; click Select on the right one.
4. Not listed? Click Add "name" as a new outside sire (or dam). Fill in Name with the registered name, plus the registration number, Color and Breed. More details (optional) holds the call name, date of birth, microchip, notes and a photo. Click Add sire or Add dam.

As you type, BreederBuddy looks for a record that's already the same dog: the same name (leading titles such as CH or GCH ignored) or the same registration number. Click Use this one, or It's a different dog if it isn't. A grandsire typed twice counts as two unrelated dogs, so the COI misses him. To fix doubles you already have, open the External pedigree catalog just under the title on the Dogs page. Merge (or Merge with...) folds one copy into the other, and every pedigree using it switches over.

Outside dogs have no Titles or Certifications tab. Keep their titles in the registered name as printed, and put OFA or CHIC numbers in Notes, which don't print on the PDF or show on a share link.

When another breeder owns the dog, open Breeder (optional) as you add it and enter their kennel and email. That invites them to co-own the dog on BreederBuddy; once they accept, you both see a Co-owned badge. Invites sent to you wait in the Pedigree Invites panel under Received: click Review Shared Dogs, then Match to Existing Dog, Create New Dog Record or Reject All. Linking shares your dog's basic details, microchip and registration numbers included, with the breeder who invited you. Stud dog management covers the rest of standing a stud for other programs.

Reading the tree and the pedigree COI

The tree shows 3 to 6 generations, and the COI card always works from up to 8.

Pick the generations in the Depth dropdown. Each box shows the dog's photo, name and registration number, marked In Program or External, and opens its details in the side panel when clicked.

The This Dog's Pedigree COI card (marked Beta) reads Not yet until both parents are assigned. Then it gives the percentage, a textbook comparison, how many generations it rests on, and how many of the 510 ancestor slots in 8 generations are filled. Unknown ancestors count as unrelated, so the figure is a floor that rises as you add generations.

In the Step 3 screenshot, one outside sire, entered once, fills three of the puppy's eight recorded slots. That's why Unique ancestors counts 6 different dogs, and why three generations already put the COI at 18.75%. For a pair you haven't bred yet, Genetics Forecast gives a projected offspring COI. How the number is worked out and how to use it is in coefficient of inbreeding in dogs.

Sharing a pedigree link and printing a certificate

A share link lets a buyer explore the live pedigree with no account, and a PDF gives you a one-page certificate to print or attach.

1. Open the pedigree and click Share URL.
2. Click Create Share URL, then Copy, and paste the link into an email, a post or a page on your website.
3. Click Open Public View to check it. Disable Link stops sharing; Regenerate retires the old link and gives you a new one.

Viewers can switch between 3 and 6 generations and click any dog for its details and photos. Those details include registration and microchip numbers, and for your own dogs, every result on the Certifications tab, so look over what's there before you send the link. The COI stays in your account; it isn't on the link or the PDF.

For paper, click Export PDF. Choose a Layout, Classic (photos and detail lines on each ancestor) or Minimal (Names Only), and a Style: Classic Parchment, Botanical Ivory, Midnight Heirloom or Blank Page. It prints the depth you're viewing on one landscape page. Document Manager makes the same Pedigree Certificate for any of your dogs at 3, 4 or 5 generations. Either way it's printed from your records; when a buyer needs official paperwork, order a certified pedigree from the registry.

What to look for in dog pedigree software

Hold any pedigree tool against these jobs:

• One record per ancestor, with a duplicate check on name and registration number
• Parent links that carry through to every puppy from a pairing
• A tree you can take to at least five or six generations
• A COI that says what it rests on and treats missing ancestors honestly
• Titles and health clearances attached to the dogs that earned them
• A way to bring in paper pedigrees without retyping them
• A share link and a printable certificate, with a preview of what each one shows

Getting started

Pedigrees, outside dogs, the COI card, share links and PDF certificates are part of every plan, starting with Standard at $30/month or $300/year. Pro is $60/month or $600/year and adds a kennel website built from your records. Every plan has a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. Start with your main stud's sire and dam, then see the genetics and pedigree tools.