This project is a mobile application on Android geared towards enthusiasts, hobbyists and heritage animal breeders. This application is a visual family-tree based, genealogical overview of all the user’s animals over time. It is intended to be a lightweight application that can be run on any android platform using a visually lightweight UX to simplify and streamline the task of genealogy bookkeeping.
This application will be used by those who are looking for a way to easily view all of their past and previous animals, and calculate their inbreeding coefficient, a common concern in small breeders. This application is not intended to be used on a very large scale or by corporate animal breeders, nor is it intended to be used for genetic haplotyping by agricultural scientists.
The app is being commissioned by the American Kennel Club in order to better track family trees in registered and small breeders, to combat increasing inbreeding issues, as well as to better track animals after they have been rehomed to new owners out of contact with the original breeders. In addition, scientists and agricultural statistics analysist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have expressed their interest in the app and its potential to increase the pool of genetically valuable animal stock at the consumer level. Several other stakeholders have expressed interest in the application, acknowledging that there has been unfilled gap in the tech application market for animal genealogy since the 1980s.
The primary users of this app are the breeders themselves. The primary stakeholders in the development in the app will be the American Kennel Club, and likely any other kennel club or species registry that wishes to adopt this application for use. Other users and stakeholders of the app may include, but are not limited to: clients who which to peruse their animal’s heritage before buying, Purebreed clubs, farmers and ranchers who keep livestock, small private breeding companies, specialists in animal artificial insemination, breeding industry consultants, biology and genetics teachers, etc. For the sake of analysis, the project will focus on the following users and stakeholders: small and reputable breeders of varying species, customers of breeders, ranchers of large livestock, and pedigree club breeders, and the American Kennel Club. The following table will identify these key stakeholders and users, and relevant information that may impact the design and use of the app. (See Fig. 1)
The following user research methods were chosen to research the problem of animal genealogy: Interview (Ask) , Historical Analysis (Learn) , and Competitive Product Survey (Learn).
Because of the niche nature of animal breeding and the long-term nature of the practice, it is very difficult to put into practice many of the methods from the Look and Try categories of IDEO methods. Since the demographic of animal breeders targeted by this app is made up of mostly enthusiasts and registered, established single breeders, it is much more viable to utilize methods from the Ask category. However, it was difficult to contact established breeders and veterinarians on short notice. Therefore, only one Ask IDEO method was employed. In contrast, because there is a well recorded tradition of animal breeding due to the establishment of many kennel clubs, purebred registries, and agricultural livestock syndicates, it is significantly easier to look into historical records of breeding methods and habits, utilizing the Historical Analysis method. In addition, because this app is aimed at a very specific niche market, it is very easy to research any direct product competitors available to animal breeders. Thus, the Competitive Product Survey was chosen as a counterpart to the historical nature of the Historical Analysis method.
TICA issued family tree
The task of tracking animal genealogy is often that of a mental exercise, and it is difficult to observe this during the mundane everyday tasks and routine of taking care of various animals. As learned from secondary research, many animal breeders are from older generations and may use their own proprietary methods of keeping track of their breeding stock by hand. It is important to know what access to technology these people have and if they would even be willing to attempt to move their (possibly decades or more) of breeding logs into an electronic form. Furthermore, it may be difficult to find breeders willing to show us their logs, and breeders of farm animals mostly live too far away for us to physically meet them.
The interview was conducted on a cat breeder registered under TICA (The International Cat Association) known to a group member through family.
Q: How do you keep track of the genealogy of your animals?
- Just going to do it by hand.
Q: What issues do you have with this method?
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When a cat registered through TICA, only the parents of the cat are listed, and a full genealogy is only available through them at a cost.
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Usually only 5 generations of a cat's genealogy are tracked through TICA.
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Cannot request genealogy of a cat that you do not own, except by contacting the breeder/owner of the cat.
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Usually want more than 3 generations of separation.
Q: What would you like a genealogy app to do for you?
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Literally anything above the bare minimum would be better than using TICA.
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Must mail everything into TICA, if you are outside of the US, you must pull out American currency from the bank and send it to them as payment.
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It can be difficult to find other breeders - much information is spread by word of mouth.
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Very hard to verify that other breeders are actually registered purebreds. Q: Have you ever had any issues with inbreeding?
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No, but because most breeder info is passed by word of mouth, it is very easy to scam other breeders into cross-breeding with unregistered cats.
Q: Do you think these issues could have been avoided with a proper genetic history of your animals?
- Yes, absolutely.
TICA certificates
Additional Notes
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Many breeders are our parents age and are not as proficient with technology.
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Maybe have a website and mobile app.
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TICA has a list of breeders in alphabetical order, but no other information on the breeder or their location.
Summary: During this interview with a cat breeder, we learned that, for the cat breeding registry TICA, much of the pedigree information that is necessary for the operation of breeders is very difficult to obtain, and sometimes impossible. There is a large problem with finding the reputability of breeders and whether their animals are registered or not, and the information that can be found is very slow to communicate. It seems that most breeder information is passed by word of both because there are no adequate listings for registered breeders under the TICA. Most breeders are an older generation, which may suggest why these communication methods have worked for so long; however, there is demand for an animal genealogy app because there is nothing else available.
Reflection: This method worked very well for us as it helped to reveal the full extent of just how hard it currently is for breeders to manage their animals and keep inbreeding to a minimum. Next time, I would like to interview someone breeding a different animal and ask them more in-depth questions regarding the purebreed certification system that applies to their species.
This method compares features of an industry and practices at different levels of scale in the animal genealogy field. This method helps identify trends and cycles of product use and customer behavior; in this case, the use and effect of registries and record keeping in animal genealogy, and its relevance to dog owners. Modern styles of breeding imply extensive record keeping, and so the use of historical analysis offers a uniquely detailed outlook on breeding trends over the last century. The historical analysis was conducted using statistical genetic studies of pedigree stock in different species (primarily dogs) to determine common trends and a possible connection of inbreeding coefficient and time. This was done to determine the effectiveness and relevance that this app would have in the animal breeding field.
The historical analysis and dissemination of the roles humans have played in the genetic diversity of heritage and purebred species is as follows:
The practice of animal breeding is irrevocably tied to the development of human agricultural civilization and animal domestication1. However, modern animal breeding as we know it today, at both the hobbyist and industrial scale, came into being around the 19th century with agricultural revolution and emergence of pedigree breeding. Long practiced though never formalized, the 19th century saw the establishment of modern kennel clubs, breed standards, and the foundation of today’s animal husbandry practices.
Purebreeding animals is, to many, an extension of the mentality of the late Victorian era, where purebred dogs were bred from a narrow set of ancestors2 for their “purity”, representing a narrow percentage of the population’s “goodness” being extenuated into further offspring. This attitude finds it’s reflections in todays approach to purebred eugenics; being accused of following "a breeding paradigm that is anachronistic in the light of modern genetic knowledge, and that first arose out of a misinterpretation of Darwin and an enthusiasm for social theories that have long been discredited as scientifically insupportable and morally questionable.”3
Today, the word pedigree has come to mean an animal that has had its ancestry recorded, often tracked by major registries. Pedigree animal regardless of species, often suffer from health defects and issues from genetic issues amplified by repeated inbreeding in the pursuit of certain desirable traits. Though there has been regulation put into place by major registries to help prevent these issues from an ethical standpoint, the nature of pedigree and heritage breeding is that the gene pool will constantly shrink and eventually suffer from inbreeding depression, even collapse of the breed, without introduction of outside stock to diversify the genetic pool.
Due to the historical origins from which the practice of purebred animals originated, the contemporary practice of breeding under a registry remains much the same as it was in the Victorian era, though breeders today take greater care to avoid inbreeding if possible. However, practices such the overuse of show winners as popular sires, or mating between related animals, have changed little over the years and further diversity loss4, evidence for which is given using the following inbreeding coefficient trends.
In academic studies of population structure and inbreeding from pedigree dogs, there were extremely inbred dogs in nine out of ten breeds examined, corresponding to about eight generations. For seven out of ten breeds, >90% of unique genetic variants are lost over six generations5, genetic diversity that is crucial to the vitality of successive generations. Additionally, every breed examined, the inbreed coefficient is assumed to be 0 from founding members—a number that is unrealistic because the history of most breeds, and dogs themselves, extends far beyond the breed founders in known records.6 As time increases, there are additional generations of ancestors recorded, and so the inbreeding coefficient tends to increase. This is a trend that is roughly constant over generations regardless of breed, indicating little change in mating patterns7 and thus, the breeding practices of pedigree breeders. A similar practice in livestock breeding with an emphasis on milk-production has produced a number of health problems in cows.8
Pedigree analysis studies have concluded that as a consequence of historical genetic bottlenecks, many breeds of different speeds have experienced considerable diversity loss, particularly purebred dogs. The popular sire phenomenon is one of the most problematic breeding practices, and the practice should be limited such as carefully limiting the number of offspring litters and loosening genetic barriers to promote genetic variability, crossing similar breeds to introduce diversity.9
Insurance companies providing health insurance for dogs determine the premium based on dog ancestry, and so pedigree dogs often require very high premiums because of poor genetics in the greed. 48% of animal veterinarians actually advise against clients choosing certain pedigree dog breeds because of their predisposed health issues.
Summary: The traditional attitudes in pedigree breeding has carried forward into contemporary practice, and has led to dangerous lack of diversity in many species, particularly in dog breeding. This has ripples beyond the breeding club field, as pet insurance providers and pet owners are also affected by the lack of healthy genetic stock within breeds. An application that could easily calculate the inbreeding coefficient between animals of many breeders, small and professional breeders, would be a very useful tool in helping to prevent any more loss of diversity.
Reflection: This method went well because there is a significant amount of academic research into the practice of traditional purebreeding and heritage breeding methods on the genetic diversity of animals. However, the wealth of this information is directed towards dog breeds and livestock, and next time it would be helpful to diversify the scope of information to include other animals such as cats, reptiles, and small animals.
1 Davis SJM, Valla FR. Evidence for domestication of the dog 12,000 years ago in the Natufian of Israel. Nature. 1978;276:608–10.
2 Jane M. Dobson, “Breed-Predispositions to Cancer in Pedigree Dogs,” ISRN Veterinary Science, vol. 2013, Article ID 941275, 23 pages, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/941275
3 Budiansky", Stephen (2000), The Truth About Dogs; an Inquiry into the Ancestry, Social Conventions, Mental Habits, and Moral Fiber of Canis familiaris, New York, U.S.A.: Viking Penguin, p. 35, ISBN 0-670-89272-6
4 Vet J. 2011 Aug;189(2):177-82. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.06.016. Epub 2011 Jul 6.
5 Calboli FCF, Sampson J, Fretwell N, Balding DJ. Population Structure and Inbreeding From Pedigree Analysis of Purebred Dogs. Genetics. 2008;179(1):593-601. doi:10.1534/genetics.107.084954.
6 5
7 5
8 Johansson, I., & Rendel, J. (1968). Genetics and animal breeding. Genetics and animal breeding.
9 Grégoire Leroy, Genetic diversity, inbreeding and breeding practices in dogs: Results from pedigree analyses, The Veterinary Journal, Volume 189, Issue 2, August 2011, Pages 177-182, ISSN 1090-0233, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.06.016. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023311002309) Keywords: Canine; Inherited disorders; Pedigree analysis; Genetic diversity; Breeding
This IDEO method compares, collects, and evaluates the product’s competition in order to understand performance standards, functional requirements, and scope. In this case, the products being evaluated are other pieces of software that could possibly be used for animal genealogy tracking.
The majority of animal genealogy software and applications available to the public are dated pieces of software that run on clunky, esoteric interfaces that are both difficult to learn and master. Some popular software choices for animal genealogy and family tree applications are reviewed below:
a) Kintraks
Kintraks is one of the first results that comes up in a Google Search for “animal geneaology software”. It is a “animal record system which is useful for any breeder or animal enthusiast”. The host website is visually dated, as are the system requirements for the software: Minimum Pentium II processor or equivalent, 64mb RAM. These are both signs of old software that may no longer be relevant or receive updates. The visual design and requirements of the website point to a software release date in the mid-1990s.
Fig 3. Kintrak website, showing dated visual graphics that appear to be from the late 1990s-early 2000s.
The Kintrak software itself has a similar dated look in addition to a confusing interface. Each different tabbed section has a different, unintuitive UI. Furthermore, there are no functions to visually overview the animals that you own and their relations to each other. However, there are many different features of the program that allow it to act as both a genealogy app and a financial spreadsheet app.
Fig 4. Kintrak software interface, showing tabs for each feature and a current spreadsheet.
b) GenoPro
GenoPro is a genealogy software that allows the user to creative family trees, arranged in a graph-like page. This program is not specifically geared towards animal geneaology, rather the practice of genealogy in general.
GenoPro is a visual oriented piece of software, with multiple tools allowing the user to create many different and types of connections within a family tree on an open main canvas. The interface is visually dated and cluttered, with an exceedingly confusing double menu toolset that looks daunting both to learn and master. Fig 5, shows a demo family tree/character connection map that shows the many different types of connections available. There are limited navigation tools available to move around the map if it gets to a large size, and the zoom navigation is choppy and not very useful for view adjustments.
Fig 5. GenoPro software demo showing a family tree arrangement using the characters of the Harry PotterTM universe.
c) ZooEasy
ZooEasy is a program designed for managing dog breeding data, for dog pedigrees, selecting breeding pairs, and recording medical results and genetic information such as a traits, litter and birth data, ancestors, descendants, and further blood relationships. The website for ZooEasy is polished and modern, but there are almost no actual pictures of the running software itself, despite having a very long list of “included features” on the website. Upon further inspection and a trial of the software, the ZooEasy software is much less modern and intuitive than its own website, possessing the same aged UI and clanky interface issues as Kintrak.
Fig 6. ZooEasy website homepage, offering a clean and modern look that implies the same for its software product.
Fig 7. Interface on the ZooEasy software for entering pet entries.
There is also no visual overview of the family tree genealogy, and the only overview of the animal genealogy is presented in spreadsheet form that is vaguely formatted to represent pairings and litters. However, this formatting presents issues when dealing with multiple sires, litters, or mating couples, which are all common breeding practices.
Fig 8: Overview of animal genealogy in ZooEasy, utilizing a spreadsheet-esque interface.
d) Pedigraph
Pedigraph is a visual genealogy program that is able to draw pedigrees with complex inbreeding structures over multiple generations and large populations. Pedigraph offers summarization features, extraction of individual pedigrees, inbreeding calculation, and more.
Pedigraph is a visual based program meant for the visualization of large family trees. The interface is rather simple, with the family tree being automatically generated. However, this program appears to geared towards an academic usage, with applications into large-scale pedigree breed drawings for usage in genetic research.
Fig 9. A sample pedigree drawing based on a swine melanoma population of full swine pedigree with offspring summarization method 1.
Summary: In conclusion, the majority of the software available for animal genealogists and breeders that looking to keep track of their animals is very limited, and most of it is outdated and lacks intuitive design. There is some genealogy software available for visual family tree mapping available, but most of it appears to be for large scale genetic tree visualization, not for pedigree breeders.
Reflection: This method went well because there is a wealth of information about animal genealogy software to be had on the internet. However, it was difficult to adequate test each program without having the actual knowledge and expertise of how an animal breeder would manipulate the software. Next time, it would be also useful to employ a Look or Ask method and ask a breeder to try out the software for themselves.
In the app, breeders would their animals and select another animal that they would like to breed with. The animal breeder would see information regarding the pet they wish to breed with and can see the distance of the other animal. The animal breeder would then be able to contact and discuss with the other breeder. You can also use this App to create a Genealogy for the animals you have and to create a history.
To identify the users, we noticed that the users we are targeting are animal breeders. We had an interview with an animal breeder and found out that it is difficult for animal breeders to find any information regarding information about other animals they wish to breed with. We are creating an genealogy database app for animal breeders. To use the app, users would need to register and create a profile. Once they create their profile they can add their animals and relevant breeding history, such as ancestry, family trees, and registry certificates. They can track their animal’s history from that point onwards through other breeders, even if the animal is passed to a different breeder. If the user wants to breed their own animals with another breeder’s animals, they can match the animals within the app, similar to an animal “tinder”, feature profiles for possible compatible matches. The user can search for other breeders in their area and can specify a range within to search.
This app looks to cover the majority of small animal breeders, agricultural ranchers, and purebred registered breeders. This app is not intended for corporate or industry usage, nor is it intended for genetic haplotype mapping and research.
Primary users: pet owners, breeders
Secondary users: possible breeder customers, future pet owners, club registry applicant screeners
Exclude: industrial scale breeding involving large-scale operations, genetic researchers
Task I : User wants to add single pet entry to database. They user would be specified to add a single entry after creating an account with detailed history of the pet.
Task II: User wishes to calculate the inbreeding coefficient of two of his own animals. They wants to find out whether two animals that they think area match have a low inbreeding coefficient within his family hierarchy.
Task III: User wants to connect to other breeders and search for a “match” for a specific pet. The user has determined that their own animals have too high of a inbreeding coefficient to produce a healthy litter. The user wishes to find another animal from a different breeder within 25km of his current location in order to introduce genetic diversity into his breeding stock. He wants to find an animal with the lowest possible inbreeding coefficient.
Description of step: User registering / Signing up Does the user have the knowledge/training to do this? Ok Comments Solution:
Description of step: User wants to add a single pet entry to database Does the user have the knowledge/training to do this? Should have one data base for each entry Comments Solution: Shouldn’t be difficult but might get complicated if more then one entry.
Description of step: User wishes to calculate the inbreeding coefficient of two of his own animals Does the user have the knowledge/training to do this? None should be able to search to see if possible Comments Solution: Should be able to breed since breeders usually know if two animals can breed since they have a history of the animal.
Description of step: User wants to connect to other breeders and search for a “match” for a specific pet Does the user have the knowledge/training to do this? No but should be able to since there will be an option to choose from a list Comments Solution: Should be discussed with the breeders to see if appropriate.