Papers & Pedigree:
While many people are well informed as to what papers are and what a pedigree
is, just as many are misinformed and don't quite understand or are misled as
to exactly what is meant by these two terms. I hope this article clarifies it
somewhat for those who fall into the later group.
Let's talk about a pedigree first. Quite simply, a pedigree is a record of the ancestors of your Siberian Husky. This would include the father (sire), the mother (dam), grandsire, granddam, great-grandsire and so on. Every dog, purebred or not, has a pedigree. To most pet owners a pedigree is meaningless. To those that show in confirmation and have a rigid breeding program, an accurate pedigree becomes quite valuable to the information it can provide. The main function of the American Kennel Club and other similar registries is to do just that- keep track of a dogs ancestory in a reliable and accurate manner. For a registration fee, the AKC will record the name of your Siberian Husky and pedigree information. The AKC registration certificate (papers) you received means that your Siberian Husky's information is kept on file in the AKC's records. For another fee, around $25.00 at the time of this writing, the AKC can provide you with a pedigree. There is a myriad of other pedigree services that do the same thing for far less of a fee and they gather their information to prepare the pedigree from stud books sold by the AKC for that purpose.
The AKC records the name of your choice of the Siberian Husky to be registered (25 characters or less and no duplicate names). This certificate will show the color, sex, parentage, date of birth, breeder and owner and any titles the dog has won in AKC-sanctioned shows. When applying for registration, AKC relies on breeders and owners to be honest. This is very important. If the breeder of your Siberian Husky has given the AKC false information, the pedigree on your Siberian Husky may not be correct. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible for the AKC to verify all this information individually, although the AKC is striving for better accuracy with the recent use of DNA testing. Unless you personally know and trust the breeder, you really have no way of knowing if your Siberian Husky is really the one recorded on his registration papers.
Papers & Quality
Any dog that meets AKC's requirements for registration may be registered and receive "papers". The papers do not tell you if the Siberian Husky is of good quality or if it really is or even looks like what a Siberian Husky is supposed to be. All it can tell you is that your dog is registered with them as a Siberian Husky and that its records are on file. Many people misunderstand this very important point. Many poor quality Siberian Husky not bred to the standard are AKC registered. You can't judge the quality of your Siberian Husky from looking only at his or her registration papers or pedigree. When puppies are whelped and the breeder registers the litter with the AKC, they in turn will send a blue slip(papers) for each puppy in the litter. When the time comes, the breeder will sign the puppy over to the buyer, who then can optionally register that individual puppy in his name for a fee of $8.00 and is sent a registration certificate back usually within 3 weeks with their name and their chosen name of the Siberian Husky. Cost of litter registration to the breeder is now $18.00 at the time of this writing.
AKC registration means that the parents of the Siberian Husky were registered as Siberian Husky or it could also mean that an unethical breeder lied or was mistaken about the breeding that produced the litter. Registration itself is neither a guarantee nor even an indication of quality. No one examines the parents or the puppies to see if they really qualify to be registered as Siberian Husky, and the AKC has to depend on breeders to be honest when applying for a litter registration. Some unethical breeders apply for registration forms for puppies that have died or were never born, and they then use these certificates on puppies of doubtful parentage. Others will buy unused registration papers at local flea markets for about double what they cost the breeder originally. To complicate matters further, a female Siberian Husky can be impregnated by different male dogs during her fertile cycle and if the dogs are not watched closely some puppies in the litter may have different fathers than other puppies of the same litter. In kennels where males and females of different breeds typically run together, mixed breed puppies can and will be registered as purebred if they look close to what the breed should look like. This is not uncommon with puppymills or breeders who have several breeds, and has led these breeders to be investigated by the AKC and later to be DNA tested to prove parentage when the puppy has grown from looking like a Siberian Husky into an adult looking like a Poodle, Bichon or a combination of all. At that point, the AKC, at their discretion, might investigate and might revoke the litter registration if the puppies or adult dogs do not have the appearance of a Siberian Husky or do not pass the DNA testing done by their inspectors. With this in mind, you now know that a pedigree can only tell you what the breeder told the AKC as to who the ancestors were - it can't tell you if they were of good quality, bad quality, what they looked like or whether they had inherited health or temperament problems, had a history of heart disease or liver shunts. It won't tell you any of this.
If you purchased your Siberian Husky for a companion pet, you probably aren't concerned about finding out more about his or her family. If you intend to breed or show your Siberian Husky, however, getting accurate information about his or her background can be very important. You'll need to do much more than just look at the names on its pedigree. To find out more about the Siberian Husky in a particular pedigree, you should visit the breeder to see the sire and dam. The breeder should be able to tell you where to find the grandparents as well. To get more information on the Siberian Husky further back in the pedigree, you might try to find reliable books and magazines about the Siberian Husky breed. You may even want to contact the American Siberian Husky Association to find veteran breeders who can give the history on the Siberian Husky in the pedigree now deceased. Pictures can only tell you part of the story. You need to talk to those people who have firsthand knowledge of what the ancestors of the Siberian Husky in question were really like.
Is a Registered Champion Siberian Husky of exceptional quality?
CH. is the abbreviation for champion. If you look at a pedigree these are the ones usually written in red. The more red, the better the Siberian Husky-right? Not necessarily. An AKC Champion Siberian Husky is one that has defeated enough other Siberian Husky at their sanctioned shows to win the required number of points to achieve the title (at the time of this writing being 15). The required number of dogs and bitches to be defeated varies with each breed and district (which State the show is held in). It can be easier to become a champion in some breeds more than others. Is a Champion Siberian Husky of exceptional quality? Sometimes but not necessarily. A Champion Siberian Husky is only as good as the Siberian Husky competition at the particular show that day when they won the points. In areas where the competition is poor, a Siberian Husky may be just slightly above average for his or her breed. He or she may not be able to achieve its title in places where the competition is tougher. A Championship title also can't tell you if the Siberian Husky was of good breeding or if he or she had inherited defects that were passed on to their offspring. Only firsthand knowledge from people who actually knew the Siberian Husky can tell you that. Some exhibitors make Champions of their Siberian Husky only by competing against others from its own kennel. The exhibitors in this category are clearly only fooling themselves and those that later do not check out the history behind that particular CH title.
In closing, a pedigree is a tool to help breeders produce better Siberian Husky. It's just piece of information to be used as a starting point for research. A pedigree by itself really doesn't mean much unless one knows what the other Siberian Husky in the pedigree were really like. To a pet owner, look at the Siberian Husky. If its the look and temperament you're after and the Siberian Husky is healthy and the breeder is reputable, go for it. If its a show potential Siberian Husky you're after, the pedigree and papers should and will be much more meaningful to you. [back]
YOU WANT A
HUSKY?  Are you interested in buying a Siberian Husky? Then, you've already heard how marvelous they are. We think you should also be told that they do have their shortcomings [more]... |
SIBERIAN HUSKY
HISTORY Native to Siberia, the Siberian Husky was brought to Alaska in 1909. The Siberian Husky was originated by the Chukchi people of NE Asia as an endurance sled dog. [more]... |
COAT &
GROOMING The Siberian Husky is a fairly easy dog to care for. He is by nature fastidiously clean and is typically free from odor and parasites. They clean groom like cats. [more]... |
