How to Do a Pedigree Chart

If you own a purebred or a pedigreed mixed breed, you may wish to make a pedigree chart showing your dog's ancestry. If your dog is registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC), the United Kennel Club (UKC) or another kennel club, you can purchase your dog's pedigree directly. However putting together your dog's ancestry tree will give you a feeling of accomplishment.

Some websites will generate a pedigree online for free and either mail them to you or give you a quick link to a JPEG or GIF of the pedigree so you can save it and put it on your website or print it out.

Things You'll Need

  • Dog's ancestor list
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Instructions

  1. Drawing a Multigenerational Pedigree

    • 1

      Turn the paper lengthwise, so that it is longer than it is tall. Place your dog's full registered name in the top left-hand corner of the paper.

    • 2

      With a ruler, measure and mark the paper at one-third the vertical height and two-thirds the vertical height on the far left-hand side of the page. Write the registered names of your dog's parents and any titles associated with them on the paper at those marks. The sire should be one-third down the page and to the left, written horizontally. The dam's name needs to be placed two-thirds down the paper, to the left and written horizontally.

    • 3

      Draw a line horizontally from the end of each name about 1-inch across. Draw a light guideline vertically across the page to guide your measurements on the right end of the horizontal lines. Now measure the page vertically with the ruler and draw four horizontal 3-inch lines at an equal distance from each other.

      Erase the guideline from the top of the page to the first horizontal line, between the second and third horizontal line and between the fourth horizontal line and the end of the page. Darken the remaining lines.

    • 4

      Fill in your dog's grandparents, starting with the sire's father on the first horizontal line and the sire's mother on the second horizontal line. The dam's father goes on the third line and the dam's mother goes on the fourth line. List their registered names and any titles associated with them.

    • 5

      Draw a 1-inch horizontal line from each of the grandparent's names to the right. With a ruler, draw a 2-inch vertical line so that it makes a "T" with each horizontal line.

    • 6

      Draw four horizontal, equidistant, 3-inch lines coming from the "T" so that one line is on the top and bottom of the "T" line and two are in the middle. These will be your dog's great-grandparents. Fill each of them in, in a male-female pair.