If you’re buying a puppy, it’s a good idea to check the breeder’s affix (kennel name) and the puppy’s pedigree to build a picture of who you are buying from and what’s behind the breeding of the dogs. To do so, ask the breeder for:

• Their ‘affix’ (kennel name)
• Registered name of dam (mother)
• Registered name of sire (father)

While KC registration is no guarantee of good health or responsible breeding, it is the only way at the moment to track the breeding history of dogs that are registered. Bear in mind that some unethical breeders no longer register all puppies born as Kennel Club rules now state:

“A bitch to produce a litter a maximum of four times in her lifetime, not before the age of 12 months and not after the age of 8 years. Additionally bitches should not normally be allowed to produce more than one litter in a 12-month period.”

There are three main ways to research an affix or specific dogs:

• Ask around for more info from independent third parties
• Look up the affix and the dogs in the Kennel Club database
• If the breeder claims to be involved in showing, look them up their show results

Ask around for more info

One you have the affix and / or registered names of the mother and father, you can ask other IG owners for more information. You can do this privately in confidence by contacting us, or the Italian Greyhound Club.

You can also ask on Italian Greyhound groups on social media such as The United Kingdom Italian Greyhound Society. If owners have had bad experiences of breeders, e.g. serious health issues, they are usually willing to share their experiences to help others.

Look up the affix (kennel name) in the KC database

If a breeder has an affix with the Kennel Club, you will be able to see every dog registered to that affix in the Kennel Club database. Use the search under “Health Test Results Finder” on the Kennel Club website.

The results can give you a picture of how many dogs and different breeds a breeder is breeding, and over what time period. If there are a large number of dogs registered under the affix over a relatively short period of time then it’s an indication that the breeder is breeding large numbers of puppies.

Look up a sire or dam in the KC database

If you have the registered names of the mother and/or father of a puppy, look them up in the Kennel Club registration database to find out more about their breeding history, and also the breeding history of the grandparents and great-grand parents to build a picture of their background.

The listing for each dog will show various bits of information about each dog, including a pedigree (which you click on to go back many generations), and any puppies produced by the dog. Take a look not just at the mother and father of the puppy, but also the grand and great-grand parents.

Pedigrees are not easy to navigate and you can always contact us or the Italian Greyhound Club for help.

Looking up show results

If a breeder claims to be involved in showing then you can search for their dogs in the results published on the two websites that deal with almost every championship show in the country:

• Higham Press
• Fosse Data

Select show type as ‘Championship Show’, if available specifiy breed as “Italian Greyhound” , and then simply click through to ‘Toy Group’ and then the results for Italian Greyhounds. If the breeder / their dogs are coming up in the results then you are able to verify that they show and see what kind of successes they’ve had in the show ring. You may not be looking for a show dog but if a breeder is lying about showing and their successes then it should be a red flag to avoid them.