A pedigree is a list of the parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc of an animal. Pedigrees are useful when planning a breeding program. Knowing your dog's ancestry, and the ancestry of the dog you are considering breeding to, is necessary to help you determine how closely related the dogs are. Sometimes dogs that seem unrelated in the first few generations end up with the same dog numerous times in the fourth or fifth.

It is an indispensable tool for dog breeders, especially for purebred dogs, since the breeders almost always have to deal with Inbreeding due to the ClosedStudBooks and ArtificialSelection.

 SeppalaSiberianSleddog identified by the WCAC have pedigrees that goes back to LeonhardSeppala dogs, a hundred years ago, excepting the ones with new blood of Landrace dogs from Siberia.