Our role is to focus on what’s best for dogs and we do this by:

• Ensuring the integrity of our registry,
• Monitoring our Registers and data for health trends within breeds,
• Developing mandatory and recommended tests before dogs can be included in our Registers and,
• Monitoring our members for compliance with our Rules, Codes and Policies.

You can find the application form here

You can find the application form here

We have dual breeder memberships for people who live at the same address

There is no waiting time to register a litter after your Breeder membership is activated.    

It’s important for your kennel name (prefix) to be unique to you as this name is what your puppies will be known by. The MDBA investigates as many prefix names as possible to be as sure as we can be that when a prefix is approved, you are the only one using it worldwide. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not easy to find a prefix that is not already taken by someone else. We recommend reading through the prefix rules in the MDBA Rules carefully to make sure your chosen name fits the criteria. Please understand we are trying our hardest to help you to get this part of our breeder membership sorted.

Yes. Anyone can join the MDBA as an Associate member as long as they agree to our Associate member Rules, Codes and Policies.

Yes. The MDBA welcomes the inclusion of cross-dogs into our community. However, for a dog to be registered on the Companion Dog Register, if it is over 12 months of age, it must be desexed or neutered, unless the MDBA gives an approval for an exemption .

Dogs who are registered in the Companion Dog Register can participate in MDBA events, and as an Associate Member you can get the benefit of MDBA membership and services.

Your membership cannot be activated until we have received all of the information we need to proceed. This includes you having an approved prefix, providing us with a photo for inclusion on your membership card and, in some cases, completing an induction course. Once we have all the information, we are required to collect we can activate your membership.

The MDBA membership team activates your membership access when they receive notice of payments and you have emailed us all the information needed to complete your renewal. If you feel you have provided all of the information to us you can email [email protected].

Everything that is mailed out from the MDBA is sent with a tracking number to be sure mail is not lost. You are sent an email with the tracking information.  If mail is returned because of an error in the address that you have given us or because mail has not been picked up from the post office, we feel we have done all in our power to get it to you and have it delivered. That is why we need to charge the postage fee to resend mail. If the error is caused by the MDBA office, we pay to resend the mail.

You will receive an email explaining what we need to complete the activation. Please check your junk folder.

Dual membership allows two people who reside at the same address to enjoy the benefits of MDBA membership without having to pay for two full-price member fees, as dual membership is significantly cheaper than two single memberships.

The MDBA offers members this option as a way to reduce their cost of membership and not be impacted by any changes to your membership fees for the duration of your membership term.

No, it is not. An MDBA Breeder Member card is intended to help our Breeder members identify themselves to other MDBA Breeder members, the public, local councils and puppy buyers as proof of their current MDBA membership. A license to breed dogs is often provided by local councils.

The MDBA takes a strong view that dogs should be as healthy as possible and that any harmful genetic diseases should be eliminated from breeds wherever possible. We use a range of strategies to achieve this which includes breed research programs. See our strategies here.

A Breeder member has up until a puppy is 6 months old before they must register it. Additionally, the MDBA can take up to 35 business days to process a registration from payment to posting out a pedigree to the breeder. The MDBA has no control over how long the postal service takes to deliver mail and no control over how long a Breeder member takes to post the pedigree to the puppy buyers.

Pedigrees are sent to the breeder so they can make sure the information on the pedigree is true and correct. If there are any errors then these can be corrected before the pedigree is sent to the puppy buyer. Not all puppies are registered in the new owner’s name at the time of registration; therefore, the MDBA has no details of where to send the pedigree papers. Additionally, there may be privacy concerns from puppy buyers who do not want their personal details being sent to a third party.

A registration certificate contains the name of the dog being registered and may include the parent’s names, but there is no ancestry listed. A Registration Certificate is provided for dogs where the Breeder Member has requested it, for dogs on the Extension or Preservation register or for dogs in our Companion Dog register.

A pedigree lists the names, qualifications and some health details of all dogs in the ancestry for the last 4 generations. A registration certificate is often treated as a birth certificate, whereas the pedigree is a family tree document.

A restricted pedigree is one that is notarised “NOT FOR BREEDING,” which means the Breeder member has determined and you have agreed that the dog must not be bred. An “OPEN” pedigree is for dogs where the Breeder member has determined that the dog can be used for breeding.

Yes, it can. A dog with a restricted registration can be upgraded but only if the Breeder Member who sold the puppy approves of the upgrade. Open pedigrees can only be downgraded by the owner of the dog. The MDBA Board may upgrade or downgrade a dog’s registration status under extenuating circumstances.

It is always a good idea to have all your dog’s documents in your name. This can help if your dog ever becomes lost or there are any disputes over its ownership. We can always search our registry using a dog’s microchip number to verify who the dog’s owner is. It is also a good idea to let us know your change of address if you move house.

If your dog has an Open pedigree and you ever want to breed with it or enter some of the MDBA events, it will be much easier if you are already listed as the dog’s owner in our system.

This is a really easy process. To transfer your dog, look on the back of your dog’s original pedigree certificate or certificate if registration that you got from the breeder and fill in the back then post it to the MDBA office. The MDBA address details and how to pay are on the back of your pedigree or certificate of registration papers.

You don’t need to be an MDBA member to transfer your puppy into your name. However, if you plan to breed, or attend MDBA events with your dog, you will need to become either a Breeder member or an Associate member. You can become a member here and receive member discounts on your transfer fees.

You should also register your dog with your local council. You should have received documentation from the breeder which will allow you to change the microchip details into your name.

If a dog’s original certificate of registration or pedigree certificate has been lost, stolen or destroyed, the dog’s current owner/s can request replacement papers. Only the dog’s current owner/s can apply for duplicate papers.

Unfortunately, because the ownership of a dog is considered a civil matter, in the case that a dog or their certificate has been stolen, owners may want to consider seeking legal assistance to determine how to pursue their rights in a court of law. The MDBA will uphold all decisions made in a court of law once the court decision documentation has been provided.

The MDBA strongly advises a dog’s registered owner to NOT laminate their dog’s certificate of registration or their pedigree certificate. Once a certificate has been laminated it is impossible for the current owner to sign the back of the certificate to transfer ownership should the need arise.

However, if the certificate is laminated, the new owner can submit the original registration certificate, a written and a signed document from the dog’s current registered owner on the certificate authorising the dog to be transferred. This signed document MUST include the dog’s name and MDBA registration number, the date the new owner purchased the dog, the new owner’s name and address and the name and signature of the current registered owner