Kennel record templates

A record you cannot find is not really a record — and the field you leave out today is the question you will be unable to answer in five years.

Dog card — one per dog, started on arrival

• Registered name, call name, registry and registration number
• Microchip or tattoo number, and the database the identity is registered in
• Date of birth, breeder, sire and dam with their registration numbers
• Sex, color, coat, adult weight range, permanent identifying marks
• How the dog came to you: date, source, terms, and any co-ownership or lease agreement
• Health screening, line by line: scheme, date, result, certificate number, examining veterinarian
• Vaccinations and parasite treatments: product, date, batch number where available
• For bitches, reproductive history: each season, each mating, each whelping, with outcomes
• For males used at stud: date, bitch, outcome, and the terms agreed
• Insurance: insurer, policy number, type of cover, renewal date
• Exit line: date and reason — sale, rehoming, retirement, death — and cause of death where known

Litter card — one per litter, closed only when the last puppy has left

• Litter identifier and the registry litter number once issued
• Dam and sire with registration numbers and relevant screening results
• Mating dates, progesterone results, and method: natural, fresh, chilled or frozen insemination
• Expected and actual whelping dates, duration of each stage, and mode of delivery
• Veterinary involvement: what was given or done, by whom, and at what time
• Each puppy: sex, birth weight, markings, collar color, microchip number
• Numbers born alive and stillborn, recorded separately
• Deaths: date, age in days, apparent cause, and whether a post-mortem was carried out
• Each puppy’s destination: buyer reference, date of transfer, contract version
• A cross-reference to the neonatal weight chart rather than a second copy of the weights

Health journal — one running record per dog

• Date, and the reason you are writing an entry
• What you observed, in plain description, before any interpretation
• Temperature, weight, appetite, stools and discharge where they are relevant
• Who was consulted — practice, out-of-hours service, nurse — and what was advised
• The diagnosis, if one was given, and whether it was presumptive or confirmed
• Treatment, outcome, and the date the problem resolved
• A flag for whether the finding is relevant to future breeding decisions

Medication log — one line per dose

• Animal, date and time
• Product name and active substance
• Strength, dose given and route
• Batch number and expiry date
• The prescribing or advising veterinarian
• Who administered it, with initials
• Any repeat or review date
• Adverse reaction: yes or no, with detail if yes

Visitor and movement log

• Date and time in, date and time out
• Name and one contact detail for each visitor
• Purpose of the visit: viewing, delivery, maintenance, veterinary, mating
• Declared contact with other dogs or premises in the preceding days
• Which areas were entered, and whether protective clothing or footwear was used
• Dogs leaving and returning: show, stud visit, clinic, import, with return date and the date any isolation period ended
• A cross-reference to hygiene, quarantine and disease control for the rules the log is there to evidence

Buyer register

• Buyer reference number, used in the litter card in place of the name
• Name, address, telephone and email
• Puppy identity: microchip number, registered name, date of transfer
• Contract version and date signed, with payments recorded consistently with your accounts
• Documents handed over: registration certificate, screening results, vaccination record, insurance cover note, written guidance
• Consent recorded: whether the buyer agreed to later follow-up, and by which channel
• Date the details were last confirmed, and the review date at which you will delete or minimize the record

Using it well

The templates are not the point; the habit is. Records that are written at the moment of the event are accurate, and records written up on Sunday evening are a reconstruction. Keep the medication log and the health journal physically where the dogs are, and reserve the computer for the summaries you will search later. Where a field does not apply, write that it does not apply rather than leaving a blank, because a blank is ambiguous five years on and an explicit nothing is not.

Retention is the part most breeders get wrong in both directions. Veterinary and breeding records are generally worth keeping far longer than the legal minimum in your country, because they are the raw material for evaluating a combination once the offspring are grown. Personal data about buyers is the opposite case: under the European data protection framework, personal data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary, and kept no longer than necessary. Separating the buyer register from the litter card, and referring between them by reference number, lets you keep the breeding history indefinitely while reviewing the contact details on a schedule.

Retention rules differ by place and scheme, and a few examples show the range. In the United States, USDA-licensed dealers must keep their records for at least one year after a dog leaves, and Texas requires licensed breeders to keep them for two years, counted from the later of the last entry or the animal leaving the facility. England’s licensing guidance asks for at least three years. If you are not sure which rule applies to you, follow the longest one.

Keep a printed copy as well as a digital one. The AKC’s inspection program expects hard-copy ownership and litter records, and a record of each dog’s identification (microchip, tattoo or tag), on paper. A printed binder also keeps working when a phone or laptop does not.

Finally, decide now who else can read these records if you cannot. A record system only one person can navigate fails exactly when it is needed. Store the files in one named place, write that place into your emergency plan, and keep one printed index page with it.

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Sources & further reading

1. The Royal Kennel Club — Kennel Club announces registrations model update and closure of the Assured Breeders Scheme (July 2024). royalkennelclub.com
2. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs — Dog breeding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities. gov.uk
3. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Responsibilities of Licensed Breeders. tdlr.texas.gov
4. Information Commissioner’s Office — A guide to the data protection principles. ico.org.uk
5. eCFR (USA) — 9 CFR 2.75 Records: Dealers and exhibitors. ecfr.gov
6. eCFR (USA) — 9 CFR 2.80 Records, disposition. ecfr.gov
7. American Kennel Club — Inspection FAQs. akc.org
8. European Commission — Principles of the GDPR. commission.europa.eu

Where evidence is limited, recommendations rest on established practice and expert judgment, and may be updated as knowledge develops. Record-keeping duties, retention periods and data protection rules are set nationally and are changing in several regions, so treat the examples above as illustrations of how such rules are framed rather than as requirements that apply to you. Confirm what you must keep, and for how long, with your own registry, your licensing authority and, where personal data is involved, your national data protection authority.

Next steps

• Read next: Economics and budgeting for a kennel.
• Related: Record-keeping and documentation for breeders.
• Return to the area hub: Running a kennel: operations, records and resilience.