A pedigree is a family tree for your animal. It shows the lineage going back through the generations, so you can see where your animal comes from.

On BestInShow, pedigrees can display up to four generations:

1. Parents — the sire (father) and dam (mother).
2. Grandparents — the parents of the sire and dam.
3. Great-grandparents — one more generation back.
4. Great-great-grandparents — the furthest generation shown.

Each generation is connected through sire (father) and dam (mother) links. If an ancestor has a profile on BestInShow, you can click through to view their page, photos, and their own pedigree.

To see an animal's family tree:

1. Go to the animal's profile page.
2. Click the Pedigree tab.

On desktop, the pedigree tree displays horizontally from left to right, with the animal on the left and ancestors branching out to the right.

On mobile, the tree stacks vertically so you can scroll through it easily on a smaller screen.

If an ancestor has a profile photo, you'll see their picture in each node of the tree. Click on any ancestor's name to visit their profile.

Only the animal's owner can edit the pedigree. If you own the animal, here's how to get started:

1. Go to the animal's profile and click the Pedigree tab.
2. Click the Edit Pedigree button.

This opens a dedicated editing page where you can add or remove parents for any generation. Changes are saved as you make them — there's no separate "Save" step.

Adding a parent to the pedigree is straightforward. Here's the step-by-step process:

1. On the pedigree edit page, find the empty sire (father) or dam (mother) slot you want to fill.
2. Click on the empty slot. A search window will open.
3. The search automatically filters results by gender and animal type, so you'll only see animals that can be a valid parent.
4. Type at least 2 characters to start searching.
5. Select the parent from the search results.
6. The parent is added immediately — you'll see it appear in the pedigree tree right away.

If the parent you're looking for doesn't appear in the search results, it may not have a profile on BestInShow yet. See the next section for how to create one.

If the parent you need doesn't exist on BestInShow yet, you can create it right from the pedigree editor without leaving the page.

1. Click on the empty parent slot to open the search window.
2. At the bottom of the search window, click "Create new animal instead".
3. This opens the Add Animal form, already pre-filled with the correct gender and animal type.
4. Fill in the name and any other details you know, then click Save.
5. The new animal is automatically linked as the parent in the pedigree.

This is especially handy when you're building out a full pedigree and need to add ancestors that aren't on the site yet.

Made a mistake or need to correct a pedigree? You can remove a parent link at any time.

1. On the pedigree (either the edit page or the view page), find the parent you want to remove.
2. Click the small X button next to the parent's name.
3. You'll see a confirmation: "Remove? Yes / No".
4. Click Yes to confirm.

This removes the family link only. The parent's profile is not deleted — it still exists on BestInShow as its own animal. You're just disconnecting the parent-child relationship.

Below the pedigree tree, you'll find a list of descendants (offspring) for the animal. If you own the parent animal, you can remove a descendant link.

1. Scroll down below the pedigree tree to see the descendants list.
2. Find the descendant you want to unlink.
3. Click the X button next to their name.
4. Confirm by clicking Yes when prompted.

Just like removing a parent, this only removes the family link. The descendant's profile stays on the site.

To keep pedigrees accurate, BestInShow has a few common-sense rules in place. If something doesn't work when you're editing a pedigree, one of these rules is probably why:

• Gender matters. Males can only be listed as sires (fathers). Females can only be listed as dams (mothers). The search automatically filters by gender to help with this.
• Same animal type. The parent must be the same type of animal as the child. For example, a dog can't have a cat listed as a parent.
• No circular family trees. An animal can't be its own ancestor. If adding a parent would create a loop in the family tree, BestInShow won't allow it.
• One parent per slot. You can't overwrite an existing parent directly. If you need to change a parent, remove the current one first, then add the new one.

These rules are there to help keep your pedigree data clean and trustworthy. If you run into a situation that doesn't seem right, double-check the gender and animal type of the animal you're trying to add.

Pedigree editing permissions are designed to be fair and flexible. Here's who can do what:

• The animal's owner can add or remove parents on their animal's pedigree.
• The owner of a parent animal can remove their animal from someone else's pedigree. This means if someone incorrectly lists your animal as a parent, you can fix it yourself.
• Descendant links can be removed from the pedigree view tab by the owner of either the parent or the descendant animal.

In short: you always have control over your own animals. Nobody can permanently link your animal into a pedigree without your ability to undo it.

Below the pedigree tree on any animal's Pedigree tab, you'll find a descendants section. This shows all the known offspring of the animal — any animal on BestInShow that lists this animal as a sire or dam.

The descendant list is built automatically. Whenever someone adds your animal as a parent in their animal's pedigree, that animal will appear here as a descendant.

If the list is long, don't worry — just scroll down. More descendants load automatically as you scroll, so you don't have to click through pages.