HOW TO REGISTER A DOG WITHOUT PAPERS | Both parents are unregistered

I have bought dogs before without registration papers and have done hours of research on how to register them without knowing if the parents are registered or not or having any pedigree information on the parents.

I will breakdown how to register a purebred dog that has no papers at all. I currently have three dogs that had no papers at all and was eventually able to get all three registered successfully.

After doing some research, the only registry that I could find that allows an unpapered dog to be registered is the CKC or THE CONTINENTAL KENNEL CLUB. This is done by using their PAW Program!

The PAW Program, otherwise known as the PICTURE AND WITNESS PROGRAM is one that the CKC provides to register a purebred dog without any papers whatsoever! According to the CKC’s website, “It was put into place to allow valuable lost genetic lines to be reintroduced to a breed population in an effort to combat dwindling gene pools and population bottlenecks found in many pure breeds today.”

When I purchased Zeze, one of my toy poodles, She did not come with any papers at all and her parents did not have any papers as well. Here is how I was able to register Zeze using the PAW Program.

STEP 1: DNA TESTING

The first thing that I did was to have DNA testing done on Zeze. I did this because I wanted to be certain that she is 100% purebred since it was my goal to breed her in the future. Bear in mind that if you do not plan to breed or show your dog then it may not be worth going through the hassle of registering it! 

The DNA test that I did was through the company Embark and I used their BREED AND HEALTH test kit. 

The results from EMBARK took about 4 weeks to come back but once they were in proving the purebred status of Zeze then I went ahead and started on her PAW Application. This brings us to step 2!

STEP 2: GETTING STARTED ON THE PAW APPLICATION

For a successful application, CKC has some minimum requirements that need to be met and I will break each one down here:

Firstly, you will need to measure your dog’s HEIGHT, WEIGHT, AND LENGTH. 

Then, the application must also be accompanied by FIVE specific photographs which I must say must’ve been the most difficult part of the application process. This was because it was a bit challenging to capture these photos even with an adult dog!

Photos should show: 

1. HEAD PROFILE
2. BODY PROFILE (Both left and right sides)
3. FRONT BODY AND REAR BODY

These photos were the original photos I took of Zeze that I sent in with her application. One main requirement is that the photos MUST be printed on photo-quality paper and should not be edited. Which means no filters or photoshop.

There are other requirements that your dog should meet for a successful registration, I will link the application in the description below that outlines these requirements. One important one is that your dog should be at least a YEAR old before submitting this application.

Another important aspect of your application is that it should include three signatures! Yours as the owner and two witnesses to further verify the purebred status of the dog.  

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