Papers and registration please

In the world of animal breeding, the word "papers" is a slang term for any papered documentation that might accompany an animal. It's a very general term and doesn't really stand for any thing in particular. Papers can refer to a printed copy of a pedigree, a registration certificate, records of any show winnings, even veterinary records, importation documents, or a bill of sale. People some times ask if an animal comes with papers because they don't know what they should actually be asking for. They have heard this terminology before, and assume this some how equates to a quality animal and hence they should be asking for it. "Papers" don't always mean quality, but if you want to ask for them when buying a rabbit, at least know what sort of papers you want to be asking for and why. Here are two examples of the pieces of paper that are most likely to accompany a rabbit, a pedigree and registration, and what they signify. 

A pedigree is a summary of the breeding history of the rabbit. It is created by the rabbit's breeder and it can be printed or hand written. To see an example of what one looks like, visit our previous post: "What is a pedigree?". It is essentially your rabbit's family tree. It is not an official document and says nothing about the quality of the animal. It simply means that the breeder kept at least a basic form of breeding records, a good bare minimum that you should expect of every breeder no matter what they breed or why. It really says more about the caliber of the breeder you are dealing with and the effort they put into their breeding program rather than the quality of the particular animal. An animal can be pedigreed and be of horrific quality. Remember, a pedigree is just a family tree, every one has a family tree. An animal could also be of very high quality and for a number of reasons not come with a pedigree. Some times paper work gets lost when animals change hands, some times the paper work is not included in the sale for a reason. Some breeders sell high quality animals without their pedigrees in order to stop possible competition. Some breeders don't include pedigrees as a means of dissuading the buyer from breeding an animal they know is not of breeding quality. Some will sell poor quality animals out of their pedigreed stock without pedigrees in order to not have their names associated with the poor quality animal. Some breeders also treat pedigrees as an extra source of income and charge extra for them (reputable breeders do not do this and you should be weary of breeders who expect you to pay extra for a piece of paper that costs a few cents and about 2 minutes worth of effort to make). They might sell a poor quality animal with a pedigree if the buyer was willing to pay extra while at the same time selling a much higher quality animal without a pedigree only because the buyer didn't want to pay more. So the mere fact that a rabbit comes with one, says absolutely nothing about the quality of that animal. You should always judge the animal in front of you based on it's own merits and how closely it resembles the breed standard. Even the rabbit's background on it's pedigree isn't always good indication of the rabbit's quality. Not all good quality animals always produce other quality animals. In fact even a very high quality animal can produce terrible quality animals while on occasion a poor quality animal can in fact produce a very good quality one. Breeding is very dependant on making proper matches and even then still subject to how the genetic dice will roll. Coming from high quality parents does increase the odds that the animal will itself be of at least decent quality, but it is never a guarantee.

You may occasionally come across animals being advertised as coming from pedigreed stock but not being pedigreed themselves. Consider this a red flag! It means the person is breeding un-pedigreed animals but is attempting to sell them on the merit of them coming from a pedigreed background. It's a sales tactic designed to imply quality to an uneducated buyer. These can be poor quality animals that were sold without pedigrees specifically because they were not of good breeding quality. While a quality breeder may on occasion use an un-pedigreed animal or one that has a partial pedigree if the animal is of very good quality, an honest breeder will not try to spin or sugar coat this with deceiving terminology. A good breeder will sell these animals on the merit of their quality, which should be the real reason why they chose to breed an animal which is missing their pedigree information in the first place. Buying from some one who breeds any thing they can get their hands on is a good indication you are dealing with some one who cares more about making sales than producing good quality animals. Even if you are just looking for a pet, this is the type of breeder you should be avoiding.

Additionally, all pedigrees are not created equal. The real value of having a pedigree lies in the information it contains. Some pedigrees can be very simple, including only names and colours of the animals. Some might even be missing some of the descendants. A proper complete pedigree should include all of the descendants in the previous 3 generations and for each of them list their colour, weight, and the animal's ear identification. All of this information is needed if you want to register your rabbit or if you want to make educated breeding decisions in the future. It's also nice to see the birthdates for each animal. If you can see that a rabbit was successfully breeding and was a few years old, it's some what of an indication of good health and good fertility. Both are very important to have in a quality breeding program.

Finally, a pedigree is only as good as the person who wrote it. It is not uncommon for breeders to incorrectly label the colours of the animals they breed. If incorrect colours are marked for a few of the rabbits, that makes the overall information unreliable and for breeding purposes the pedigree becomes next to worthless. Some pedigrees can be incorrect due to copying errors. Some pedigrees begin to miss information because a breeder was too lazy to copy every thing over. Others get fudged on purpose. 

An ARBA Certificate of Registration.
The reverse side includes the 
rabbit's pedigree and other 
important information.

A registration certificate means that the rabbit has been officially registered with ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association), an organization similar to a national kennel club such as the AKC or CKC for dogs. A rabbit can be pedigreed but not registered, but a rabbit can not be registered if they do not have a pedigree. For registration purposes, that pedigree also has to meet certain minimum requirements. You can read about those in my previous article, "What is a complete pedigree". 

In order to become registered with ARBA, the rabbit has to be a minimum of 6 months of age. Unlike with dogs where any offspring of registered parents can automatically be registered, the ARBA registration is granted by merit only. The registration status of the parents has no influence here. Registering a dog simply requires filling out and submitting a form, while in order for a rabbit to be registered, it must first pass an in person inspection performed by an ARBA registrar. This person physically checks the rabbit to ensure it meets all of the the requirements of the breed standard for their breed, that they are of a recognized colour variety for that breed, and that they do not have any major disqualifying faults in their appearance or build. The rabbit must also have an identifying ear tattoo which matches the information presented in their pedigree. This tattoo can be any combination of letters or numbers but may not include any special characters.  If the rabbit passes the inspection, their pedigree and registration form can then be submitted and the registrar tattoos this rabbit with a special "R" tattoo or a registration number in the right ear to signify that it has passed the inspection. If you are shopping for a rabbit and come across one that has been registered, this holds a bit more merit than a rabbit simply being pedigreed. Unlike a simple pedigree, the registration papers do in fact imply that the rabbit meets a certain minimum bar of quality which has been verified by a trained inspector. The rabbit being registered informs you that it was free of disqualifying traits at the time of the registration and that it met the minimum requirements for it's breed. It does not guarantee that the animal is of excellent quality, it simply means that the animal meets the minimum of the breed standard. While rabbits do not have to be registered and do not have to have a pedigree in order to participate in rabbit shows, registered rabbits are eligible to "bank" multiple show wins and earn a Grand Champion title.