Pedigrees offer an organized list of the ancestors of an individual whether he or she be a domesticated animal, canine or person. It lists ancestor names in rank order depending on the closeness of the ancestor to the individual about whom the pedigree is written. In people this is sometimes called a “Family Tree”. In dogs and most animals like horses and cattle it is called a Pedigree. Usually written graphically in rank order from left to right, it can list all sorts of information about the ancestor. Registry information, birth date, sex and color are just a few of the bits of data that can be found.

The most obvious answer to this question for the Tibetan Spaniel owner is the Tibbies.net database and this answer will be explored later in more detail. However, most breeds of dog do not have such a wide open research mode available to them. Other means are available with considerably more depth of inquiry, and considerably more effort expended. Good sources include The AKC Stud Book Register, the AKC Pedigree Service, private Pedigree Services, Foreign Country Stud Book registers, Breed Club Year Books both foreign and native, and private collections of pedigree records.