• Ancestors

  
  There are many ways to portray ancestory. The standard pedigree is the most usual. However, family trees and lineages are also very useful as the can show many associations not previously noticed in a standard pedigree.
  

  • Pedigrees
  • Lineages
  • Family trees

• Breeding Plans

  
  Many types of breeding programs are used in producing animals, such as inbreeding- its variations such as closebreeding and linebreeding- outcrossing, crossbreeding and hybridization. Today we must also include cloning as well.

  • Inbreeding
  • Closebreeding
  • Linebreeding
  • Crossbreeding
  • Outcrossing
  • Hybrid
  • Clone

The most standard form of ancestory portrayal is the pedigree. It is the one usually handed out with with new purchases and is found on some registration papers.

Pedigrees are limited by the number of generations shown and by the size of paper on which they are printed. Even though realtively simple, they can be daunting to read and the amount of names included in each suceeding generation adds to the confusion.

The animal is listed on the far left of the pedigree with its sire above and dam below. The same formula is followed for the sire's relatives on the top side of the page and the dam's relatives on the bottom side.

Most pedigrees are 4 or 5 generations on a standard size piece of paper. Each generation adds exponentially to the number of names on the page.