What is the International Working Dog Registry?

The International Working Dog Registry (IWDR) is an online registry where dog owners can add, edit, and view electronically stored records on their dogs. 

  • Track ancestral records for as many generations as needed – the IWDR produces pedigrees and allows you to manage, track and measure your entire breeding colony.
  • If others in your community use the IWDR, they can share data records with you to assist in your breeding decisions.
  • Store both health and work performance information on individual dogs. These health and work performance measurements are known as phenotypes.

Why are phenotypes important?

  • Phenotypes (observable traits) allow you to make breeder selection decisions based off desired traits – traditional selection over the past few centuries using phenotypes shaped ancestral dogs into today’s modern breeds.
  • Today, we can measure the important aspects of health, behavior, and performance on each young dog and its relatives, including littermates, full- or half-siblings, parents, grandparents, and even more distant ancestors.
  • The IWDR allows breeders to record data on phenotype, and helps put these measurements into context to decide among alternative young dogs exactly which ones will be kept for breeding.

Estimated Breeding Values

  • Selection using EBVs is more advanced. The same phenotype measurements for aspects of health, behavior and performance are combined in a second step that includes pedigree relationships.
  • The numeric value produced by this second step estimates each dog’s relative genetic worth as a breeder for a particular trait or characteristic.
  • These estimates are known as estimated breeding values (EBVs), and they are the most accurate way known to describe genetic potential of each young dog as a possible breeder. The key to producing accurate EBVs is to begin the process with accurately recorded pedigree relationships and accurately measured phenotypes on most dogs in a population.

Find out more about how the IWDR helps you use Estimated Breeding Values to get the most out of your breeding decisions here.