# Co-owning for breeding



## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

I have a really nice female pup who I'd like to breed in future. The potential buyer is open to co-ownership, but it seems to me like there are tons of landmines. I need the pup titled in a working venue prior to breeding, and the new owner has no experience with dog training. Although she does intend to train and work the puppy. So what if she doesn't want to title after all?

Also, if the puppy in future meets all breeding standard (title, temperament, health tests) how would the whole process work? I know if it were my dog, I wouldn't want to send her away to someone for 8-9 weeks until the litter is weaned. But raising a litter is a ton of work and I can imagine the co-owner would have reservations about raising a litter in the house. 

And there are expenses with the litter, like vet, stud fee, new carpet (yup, despite my best efforts) and time off work. So that's another point of issue. Who pays?

And then, once puppies are ready to be sold, who takes care of screening buyers? And all the time that takes?

It seems like a mess. I'm thinking if I want to breed this puppy in future, I might as well hang on to her, unless she was going to a very close friend who has been in the breed for a while. Thoughts, experiences?


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Personally, I would hang on to her for now.

I've seen so many co-ownerships go south, I won't even begin to describe the scenarios. It seems to work well when both people have experience with the breed, both have similar goals, both understand the time and financial commitment necessary to achieve those goals, but finding this sort of buyer let alone someone willing to co-own seems quite rare.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I'll give you my experience as the puppy buyer in this very scenario. 

_MY_ breeder had a really nice female pup that she thought she _might_ want to breed in the future. She also wanted her titled (this is an ASL puppy, so an AKC championship). She offered her to me, on a co-ownership, and I had never had a show dog before. I was desperate to have this puppy from the moment I laid eyes on her, and never in a million years thought she would want to place her. I thought she would keep her and show her herself.

I bought that puppy on a co-ownership, showed her to her AKC championship (and also points toward her Grand Championship). Good temperament, OFA good, etc, etc. She wanted to breed her to a dog she co-owns, I said okay. If I had said no, she would have respected my wishes, since first and foremost, this lovely dog is my pet, and she told me that from the get go.

We bred her. I took my girl to her house about 2 weeks before the litter was due, and she stayed out there until the puppies were about 9 weeks old. I visited her and the litter every couple of days. My dog was used to being out there visiting and boarding, so it was not stressful for her. She loves it out there. Oh, she had 5 healthy puppies, and 3 were spoken for before they hit the ground.

My breeder is an artist, and works out of her house in the country. She is home all the time and is able to whelp a litter and do all the work of crate training, socializing with children, etc. She screened the puppy buyers, with my input. She required references that were not relatives. They all went to what I would consider good homes, and I frankly don't worry about them. I see 3 of them on a regular basis. One lives on a dairy goat farm (they had a dog from my breeder years ago and was very pleased). One went to a pet home with children. One is training in SAR, and the other two were kept, by the two of us, as show prospects. 

As far as expenses, we split the litter. Any money left over after paying the vet bills for mom (ultrasound, progesterone tests, etc) and puppies (food, vax, worming, etc) was divided between us. I'm here to tell you, it's not the big profit the public thinks it is, LOL!

Would I do it again? I don't know. I was so worried about something going wrong with my girl or the puppies (nothing did) that I was a nervous wreck. Through it all though, my breeder has become one of my very best friends, so this whole experience was positive for me. I think you would have to know someone VERY well to attempt this with your puppy buyer.


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

If you give someone a puppy on co-ownership....keep the mindset that you have given away that pup and will get nothing back....if you do - it is a bonus.....people have good intentions, will agree to do certain things...but life happens and often the situation changes and what ever was agreed to happen, does not happen. And you loose a ton of money and the dog.

Lee


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

wolfstraum said:


> If you give someone a puppy on co-ownership....keep the mindset that you have given away that pup and will get nothing back....if you do - it is a bonus.....people have good intentions, will agree to do certain things...but life happens and often the situation changes and what ever was agreed to happen, does not happen. And you loose a ton of money and the dog.
> 
> Lee


Absolutely. I could've changed my mind _anywhere along the way_, from showing her, to finishing her, to breeding my dog. While it works for me and my breeder, I honestly would tell someone else not to risk it.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

Wow, thanks for your terrific input! I does sound like that if I want to breed her in future, my best bet is to keep the female in-house. Of course the drawback is more expense, time, effort, with training, titling, and so on, and multiple dogs. On the plus side, my partner who is willing to take on a lot of the work with her, and she'll be mostly his dog in our family. Here's her photo- 10 weeks old.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

I also see what you are saying, Wolfstraum. Someone can sign a co-owner agreement for breeding with all the best intentions, but life happens. Maybe training the dog isn't their thing, they run out of time, the dog has a few glitches and they aren't able or willing to work through them to get a title.

Even with a contract, there could be legal hang-ups. Going at it legally would be incredibly stressful and may not end well. They paid for the dog, after all, and co-owner agreement non-withstanding, it is their dog, not mine. 

Even with good friends, things have and do go south with co-ownership, or so I've heard. And I don't really know the buyer aside from puppy-buyer screening. So I think, if I want to keep the possibility of breeding this girl in future, I'll need to hang on to her. If not, sell her with no expectations. Thanks!


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