I'm hoping to add a very special puppy to our household in a few months' time and have spent probably far too many hours researching the pedigree to nine generations, and selected lines from there which I've traced so far over 110 years. I've been very moved looking at the history of our breed, thinking about the people who bred and loved these wonderful dogs. I feel very privileged to follow in their footsteps in a very ordinary way and am so grateful to those who have created the archive and catalogued the photos so carefully.

My breed has a worldwide archive too...it is a very valuable tool if researching certain lines etc.

We have one too and it is fascinating. For instance, I randomly found out that not one but two of my dogs (unrelated) ancestor was actually owned by a distant uncle of mine!!