When you begin your search for a responsible breeder one of the first, if not the first document you should inspect is a written pedigree for any puppy or planned breeding that you would be considering. A pedigree, or family tree, can be confusing for even experienced show folk. To a novice, the piece of paper containing the names of a dog's ancestors with their titles and health clearances can seem overwhelming. Here is a 'map' to help you through the maze.

Here is a basic pedigree -

Sample Pedigree 1
Parents Grand-Parents Great-Grand Parents Gr, Gr Grand-Parents
Bobby	Murrey	Austin	Kelsey
			Arista
		Rose	Scots
			Sky
	Dancer	Weaver	Teddy
			Belle
		Hop	Sammy
			Kate
Singer	Spunky	Billy	Jesse
			Betsey
		Pepsi	Zipper
			Chic
	Princess	Travis	Blaze
			Glory
		Sassy	TJ
			Ally

When you look at a pedigree the father's information will always be on the top and the mother's on the bottom. So in our sample pedigree number 1 Bobby is the father and Singer the mother. Murrey is the paternal grandfather with Dancer the paternal grandmother. Spunky is the maternal grandfather and Princess is the maternal grandmother.

In addition to the dogs names, most breeders will include other information on the pedigree such as health clearances, and titles earned. Here's the same pedigree (for a Golden Retriever) from above with all of the titles and health information added.

Sample Pedigree 1
Parents Grand-Parents Great-Grand Parents Gr, Gr Grand-Parents
Ch. Bobby, CDX, JH, TD, SDHF OFA - Good, CERF, Heart Clear, Elbows Normal	Ch. Murrey, OS, SDHF OFA - Good, Heart and Eyes Clear.	Ch. Austin, OS, SDHF OFA & Eyes Clear	Ch. Kelsey OFA & Eyes Clear
			Am.Can. Ch. Arista OFA & Eyes Clear
		Ch. Rose, CD OFA Heart & Eyes Clear	Ch. Scots OFA & Eyes Clear
			Sky OFA & Eyes Clear
	Ch. Dancer OFA - Good, Heart and Eyes Clear	Ch. Weaver OFA, Heart & Eyes Clear	Ch. Teddy OFA & Eyes Clear
			Ch. Belle OFA & Eyes Clear
		Hops OFA & Eyes Clear	Ch. Sammy, CD, TD OFA & Eyes Clear
			Kate, CDX, TD, OS OFA & Eyes Clear
Singer OFA - Good, PennHip 0.28/0.31, CERF, Heart Clear, Thyroid Normal	Ch. Spunky, JH, WCX OFA-Good, Heart & Eyes Clear	Ch. Billy OFA & Eyes Clear	Am.Can.Ber.Jap. Ch. Jesse, OS OFA & Eyes Clear
			Betsey OFA & Eyes Clear
		Ch. Pepsi	Am.Can.Ch. Zipper OFA & Eyes Clear
			Am.Can. Ch. Chic OFA & Eyes Clear
	Princess, NA OFA-Good, Heart Clear, CERF, OFA-Thyroid Normal	Ch. Travis OFA & Eyes Clear	Ch. Blaze OFA & Eyes Clear
			Glory OFA & Eyes Clear
		Sassy (major ptd) OFA & Eyes Clear	Ch. TJ OFA & Eyes Clear
			Ch. Ally OFA & Eyes Clear

Let's take a dog from this pedigree and analyze it's achievements using the glossary of terms at the end of this article. We'll look at "Bobby", the father of the litter.

Looking at Bobby's titles we can tell that he has obtained a conformation Championship (the Ch. by convention written in red), and is entered into the Show Dog Hall Of Fame (the SDHF) by having competed at the Best of Breed and Group level of competition. He has attained a median level obedience title (the CDX). He has also earned a Tracking title (the TD), and a hunting title (the JH). Bobby is a very accomplished dog and a credit to his breed, his owner and breeder.

Now let's look at his health clearances. He has been found clear of both hip and elbow dysplasia as evidenced by the OFA - Good, and the Normal Elbow rating. He has been found to have no hereditary eye disorders as shown by the CERF clearance. The dog has also be examined by a cardiologist and has been found to be free of any obvious cardiac abnormalities.

One very important thing to note in this pedigree. As a whole, the majority of the animals have been examined and found free of hereditary diseases.

Here's another sample pedigree. This time for a Shetland Sheepdog. In some breeds there are potentially serious problems associated with certain color combinations (in shelties it's the possibility that a dog could inherit a double merle gene) so the pedigree for those breeds often includes detailed information about the colors of the dog's ancestors.

Sample Pedigree 2
Parents Grand-Parents Great-Grand Parents Gr, Gr Grand-Parents
Astro CD OFA97G, CERF Sbl & Wh (sire)	CH Sport CERF Sbl & Wh	CH Louie OFA54, CERF Sbl & Wh	Player Sbl &Wh
			CH Bells CERF Sbl & wh
		Fling CERF Sbl & Wh	CH Merry CERF Sbl & Wh
			Lonnie CERF Sbl & Wh
	Pumpkin CERF Sbl & Wh	CH Gil CD OFA57, CERF Sbl & Wh	CH Peter Sbl & Wh
			CH Dusty Sbl & Wh
		Dahlia CERF Sbl & Wh	CH Peter Sbl & Wh
			CH Lady CERF Sbl & Wh
U-CD Storm CDX, NA, CGC, TT CERF Blk, Wh	CH Dale, CD CERF Blk,Wh&Tn (Can)	CH Stopper CERF Blk, Wh, Tn	Reggie OFA33, CERF Sbl & Wh
			Foxy Blk, Wh & Tn
		Classy CERF Blk, Wh, Tn (Can)	Commander Sbl & Wh (Can)
			Corey Sbl & Wh
	Ch. Angel CERF Sbl & Wh	Peanut CERF Blk, Wh & Tn	Timmy CERF Bl Mrl Wh & Tn
			Shell Blk, Wh & Tn
		Dusty Sbl & Wh	CH Jupiter CD Sbl & Wh
			Heather Sbl & Wh

As we did above let's look at one dog out of this pedigree and it's accomplishments. We'll take the mother Storm.

Storm has obtained several titles in performance areas, obedience (the U-CD and CDX) and agility (the NA). She has also attained a CGC (the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Certificate), and has also been Temperament Tested (the TT).

Shelties are often subject to hereditary eye problems. By looking at this pedigree you can see that the majority of the dogs have been examined by a Canine Opthamologist and are free of hereditary eye disorders.

In this pedigree there are some good examples of other things you will need to look at and consider in making your final decisions. For example, breeding a merle Sheltie to another merle Sheltie can result in physical defects. In this pedigree you can easily see that such a breeding has not occured.

Another item to note is that the paternal grandmother "Pumpkin" is the result of a brother/sister in-breeding. For a more complete discussion on the topic of in-breeding please follow this link.

Another consideration is that a number of the great-great grandparents don't have eye clearances even though eye problems are common in the breed. In this case, the majority of the dogs without clearances listed were from the early-mid 70's and before CERF and opthamologic testing was easily available.

If you have a question about something you see in a pedigree a knowledgeable breeder will be able to answer your questions. If they can't then you should consider another breeder.

Now we'll consider the pedigree of an imported German Shepherd.

Sample Pedigree 3
Parents Grand-Parents Great-Grand Parents Gr, Gr Grand-Parents
Lad SchH3	Erik, SchH3 "a"	Albert SchH3 FH "a"	Cherry. SchH3
			Heidi, SchH1
		Britta SchH3 FH INT	Tempest, SchH3
			Elke, SchH1
	Bianka, SchH3	Bernie, SchH2 "A"	Albert SchH3 FH "a"
			Reina, SchH1
		Brittany, SchH1	Hans, SchH3
			Gurta, SchH1
Tuja, SchH1, Kkl 2	Feger, SchH3 "a"	Bernie, SchH2 "A"	Albert SchH3 FH "a"
			Reina, SchH1
		Brittany, SchH1	Hans, SchH3
			Gurta, SchH1
	Nickie, SchH3 "a"	Axel, SchH3 "a"	Albert SchH3 FH "a"
			Stella, SchH1
		Isis, SchH1 "a"	Ben, SchH2
			Amy, SchH1

This pedigree shows line-breeding (which is discussed in more detail here and a breeding based mostly on performance. Schutzhund consists of 3 parts, obedience, tracking and protection with each level getting increasingly more difficult. Under the german SV system the breed has a "breed warden" that monitors and approves all breedings. To gain approval the dog much meet certain standards in terms of conformation, performance and soundness (hip evaluations).

The "a" indicates the dogs hips have been evaluated for hip dysplasia and is breedable under their requirements. The "a" rating will vary from the equivalent to an OFA Excellent to an OFA Fair.

For our final sample pedigree. Let's look at a pedigree for an Akita that was sold in a pet shop and advertised as coming from Champion lines.

Sample Pedigree 4
Parents Grand-Parents Great-Grand Parents Gr, Gr Grand-Parents
Charger	Goto	Ch. Tugger OFA	Pewter
			Kamona
		Nugget	Ch. Gourmet
			Sue
	Rose	Smoke	Shoga
			Kiko
		Toshua OFA	Brandy
			Ro
Nika	Upah	Yukon	Knight
			Babe
		Jasmine	Kato
			Rosie
	Bet	Yoko	Bosco
			Yona
		Hillside	Ben
			Rocky

Unlike our previous examples, few of the dogs in the pedigree have any titles or health clearances.

We hope that we've given you some guidance in reading a pedigree, the wide variety of titles available make it important for you to talk to a breeder as to what their concerns are (for their breed and lines) as well as their goals. The pedigree should be your starting point for discussion rather than proof of quality.

Listed below is the meaning of most of the abbreviations you might find on a pedigree.

Conformation -

Titles

Ch. = Champion of Record

Other Non-titled awards

HOF or SDHF = Hall of Fame

BIS = Best in Show

BISS = Best in Specialty Show

Obedience -

Titles

CD = Companion Dog

CDX = Companion Dog Excellent

UD = Utility Dog

UDX = Utility Dog Excellent

UDT = Utility Dog Tracking Dog

UDTDX = Utility Dog Tracking

Dog Excellent

UDXTD = Utility Dog Excellent

Tracking Dog

UDXTDX = Utility Dog Excellent

Tracking Dog Excellent

UDVST = Utility Dog Variable

Surface Tracking

UDXVST= Utility Dog Excellent

Variable Surface

Tracking

OTCH = Obedience Trial Champion

Other Non-titled awards

HIT = High In Trial

HC = High Combined

Agility

Titles -

NA - Novice Agility

NAJ - Novice Agility Jumpers

OA - Open Agility

OAJ - Open Agility Jumpers

AX - Agility Excellent

AXJ - Agility Excellent Jumpers

MX - Master Agility Excellent

MXJ - Master Agility Jumper

Field

JH - Junior Hunter

SH - Senior Hunter

MH - Master Hunter

FC - Field Trial Champion

AFC - Amateur Field Trial Champion

DC - Dual Champion (Ch & FC)

NAFC - National Amateur Field Champion

NFC - National Field Champion

Tracking -

TD - Tracking Dog

TDX - Tracking Dog Excellent

VST - Variable Surface Tracking

Herding -

HD - Herding Tested

PT - Pre-Trial Tested

HS - Herding Started

HI - Herding Intermediate

HX - Herding Excellent

Coursing -

JC - Junior Courser

SC - Senior Courser

MC- Master Courser

Earthdog -

JE - Junior Earthdog

SE - Senior Earthdog

ME - Master Earthdog

Other -

TT - Temperament Tested

CGC - Canine Good Citizen

Titles can be earned in any number of country's and listed below are the abbreviations for the ones you are most likely to see.

Am. - American

Can. - Canadian

Mex. - Mexican

Ber. - Bermuda

Jap. - Japanese

Aus. - Australian

Int. - International

There is an organization called the United Kennel Club which offers it's own trials/titles.

There are a wide variety of other sports available for competition such as Shutzhund, French Ring and other Protection type training. A brief listing of the available titles are:

Schutzhund

SchHA - Introduction to Schutzhund w/o tracking

Bh - Basic companion dog

WH - Watchdog test for basic alertness

AD - Endurance test for fundamental fitness

SchH1 - Preliminary Schutzhund qualification in

tracking, obedience and protection

SchH2 - More advanced work in all 3 areas

SchH3 - Masters level work in all 3 areas

FH1 - More advanced Tracking

FH2 - Greater Tracking challenge

IPO1 - International Trial Rules - similar to

Schutzhund but with some variations

IPO2 - More advanced work in all 3 areas

IPO3 - The competition level of IPO

Additional SV Titles

BpDH1&2 - Railway Police Dog

BIH - Blind Leader Dog

DH - Service Dog

HGH - Herding Dog

LwH - Avalanche Dog

PFP1 & PFP2 - Police Tracking Dog

PH - Police Dog

PSP1,2&3 - Police Guard Dog

RtH - Rescue Dog

ZFH - Customs Tracking Dog

ZH1,2,&3 - Customs Dog

In addition -

Each breeds parent club will also often provide additional titles that can be earned. Some will pertain to the breeds purpose such as:

WC or WD titles which usually stand for Working Certificate or Working Dog and are indicative or the dogs having the natural abilities the breed was bred for.

Other titles may pertain to the dogs ability to compete in a variety of areas. These usually have the term Versaility in them. Such as VC = Versatility Certificate.

Even others will deal with the dogs ability to produce titled offspring. Some examples are:

ROM - Reward of Merit

or

OS or OD - Outstanding Sire or Outstanding

Dam. Dogs with any of these

Titles has produced a number of

titled offspring.

Health Clearances -

Orthopedic Clearances

Hip Dysplasia

OFA - Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (Hip evaluations)

Ratings - Excellent, Good, or Fair

PennHip - Distraction Index & absence of DJD

(degenerative joint disease)

"A" Stamping - SV system of grading hip dysplasia

Elbow Dysplasia -

OFA - Normal (no other ratings)

Eyes

CERF - Canine Eye Registry Foundation ( Eye Clearances )

Eyes Clear - Dog has been examined by a certified Canine Opthamologist and is clear of hereditary defects.

Heart

Heart Clear - The dog has been examined by a board

certified Canine Cardiologist and no evidence of hereditary defects was found.

VWD - VonWillebrands Disease - A form of canine hemophilia.

Thyroid - The dog has been tested and found to have

normal thyroid levels