Pedigree Papers & Registered Breeders

How to ensure you’re buying what you think you’re buying - a guide to helping you make informed decisions when purchasing your next puppy.

A bit of background...

Formed in 1958, the Australian National Kennel Council Ltd (ANKC Ltd) is the peak body in Australia responsible for promoting breeding, showing, trialing, obedience, and other canine-related activities and the ownership of temperamentally and physically sound purebred dogs by individuals across Australia. The ANKC has State Bodies who ‘oversee’ the rules and regulations, and provide member services. These state bodies are DogsQLD, DogsNSW, DogsVIC, DogsACT, DogsSA, DogsTAS, DogsWest and DogsNT. The ANKC is also the ONLY Australian canine registry recognised worldwide and is an associate member of the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale), the World Canine Organisation. ANKC Certified Pedigree Papers are important as this the only Canine Registry recognized in Australia with all the various Councils in all States and Territories.

Pedigree Papers

ANKC Pedigree papers (images below) are issued to registered breeders upon application through their state body. Only ANKC registered breeders can issue you with these papers. An ANKC Pedigree is a certified copy of a dogs ‘family tree’. When you purchase a pedigree dog, you are purchasing predictable breed traits i.e. how a dog should act which is very important for a family pet or simply a lover of a certain breed. When a breeder chooses to cross with another breed then that predictability is removed - not all breeds go well together.

Unfortunately, particularly with ‘greeders’ trying to cash in on the current COVID19 related puppy shortage, many new puppy owners are finding out ‘after the fact’ that their new family member is not what they were ‘sold’. Unfortunately, unless the breeder and the puppies parents were registered with the ANKC State body, you cannot be issued with pedigree papers for your puppy. Therefore asking to see a current prefix membership card is important to ensure the breeder you are purchasing your pup from can, and is bound by rules and regulations to, issue you with Pedigree Papers.

Registered Breeders

ANKC Registered Breeders will be able to show you their membership to the ANKC State body (eg Dogs Victoria, Dogs NSW, Dogs Qld). Request to see this card if you are looking to purchase a puppy from a breeder - if they cannot, or will not, I encourage you to phone or email the ANKC State body and ask if they are currently registered. Contact details for each state body are available on the ANKC Website - http://ankc.org.au/ContactUs/?id=1087

An ANKC registered breeder can NOT offer you a pup without papers, all puppies in a litter must be registered, on either of the two ANKC Registries for Purebred Dogs:

Main Registry – This is the registry for dogs for Conformation Showing and breeding.

Limited Registry – This is the registry for dogs that are not suitable for Conformation Showing or breeding.

Both Registries allow you to participate in sporting events.

There are a number of other (non ANKC) registries ‘popping up’ in Australia....these registries DO NOT require that the parents of your pup are purebred to ‘register’ it....so a pup registered by one of these other registries as a ‘Beagle’ could in fact be half beagle, quarter beagle, or zero beagle but ‘look’ like a beagle in someone’s opinion!!!

Many State Governments here in Australia have introduced Breeder Identification programs over recent years eg Victoria has the Pet Exchange Register (PER) and Queensland has the Breeder Identification Number (BIN). Essentially these programs provide a number to anyone who breeds, sells, gives away a dog, regardless of whether it is a registered breeder or ‘old mate’ down the road whose crossbreds mated and had puppies. The supply number (BIN, PER etc) stays with a puppy/dog for life and it identifies who bred the dog. While people are technically ‘registered’ with their respective State Government, and they may use this in their advertising, they cannot issue you with pedigree papers unless they are ANKC registered breeders as well.

Getting what you're after...

In short, the ONLY way to ensure that you are actually purchasing a PUREBRED puppy - if that’s what you are wanting - is to buy from a breeder who is registered with the ANKC, and can provide proof of this, along with proof of the parents registrations!