# How do breeders handle limited/full registeration?



## GSD Fan (Sep 20, 2010)

When looking at breeder sites, I notice some breeders sell puppies with limited registeration and some offer full registeration but for extra money. So, let's say a person wants to buy a puppy and is looking for a show dog, not looking to breed. You can't show without full registeration, so how would a breeder go about that? Do they charge the extra money, even though the person isn't going to breed the dog? Or is it all or nothing, if you're going to get full registeration, I expect you're going to breed the puppy produced from the kennel? What I don't get is, why do dogs have to be fully registered to show?


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## Achielles UD (May 26, 2001)

Full registration is required for conformation showing. The purpose of showing in conformation is generally proving you have a dog worthing of perpetuating the breed (breeding). So there really would be no point in showing a dog under limited registration because the puppies wouldn't be registrable.

All performance venues (agility, obedience, herding, tracking) just require registration (limited is allowed as is PAL and All-American - though all-american are limited to venues agility and obedience/rally). So you can "show" your dog in these events under limited and never have a problem. 

Different breeders will offer the limited vs full to weed out those just wanting a cheaper dog they can have puppies with. The higher price on the full registration is to discourage those not wanting to show, just breed because the price is higher and puppies wouldn't be registrable if the dog was sold under limited registration.

Hope that makes more sense.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

A lot of breeders I've seen sell all their puppies on limited, and then change it to full once you have fulfilled certain requirements, like hip x-rays and/or performance title.


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## W.Oliver (Aug 26, 2007)

Emoore said:


> A lot of breeders I've seen sell all their puppies on limited, and then change it to full once you have fulfilled certain requirements, like hip x-rays and/or performance title.


+1 regarding my experience as well...which may be more reflective of working lines.


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

We bought from a show breeder, and we could have gotten full registration if Niko had proven show-worthy. But we knew from the outset that we did not want to show, so we went with limited registration and had him neutered. He was still the same price as any puppy she would have sold, but we paid less when we sent in his paperwork to the AKC. I think it was in our contract that we would only be able to do full registration if we indeed started showing him, but regardless we were not allowed to breed him with out her approval.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

I sold my puppies on a limited registration with the option to change to full at 2+ years of age if the pup OFA'd and had a training title. If the buyer wanted a show pup, and it was someone I knew and could keep an eye on, they could get a full registration with a co-ownership with me. If they showed to dog so many times and it OFA'd at 2, I would sign off as a co-owner. All of the puppies sold for the same price, and the only addtional cost was to AKC for the changes. I never had a buyer come back to me wanting the limited registration changed to full, and I had one co-ownership where the buyer gave me back the dog at two. (In that case the buyer claimed he wasn't much of a show dog -- my handler picked him up for me and showed him that weekend. He was Winners Dog both days!)


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Depends on the breeder. I wan full reg. whether I intend to show or breed or not, and I haven't really had trouble getting it. I just talked with the breeder specifically about my goals and my reasons, and it's never been an issue even with a breeder that normally sells puppies with limited registration. I've never had to pay more for it (and wouldn't).


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Andaka said:


> I sold my puppies on a limited registration with the option to change to full at 2+ years of age if the pup OFA'd and had a training title.


What good is waiting until the dog is two years old? Just asking. Most people I know are showing their dogs at 6 months, and many finish before the dog is 2 years old. Maybe GSDs are different.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

OFA's can't be done til 2, and by then titles may or may not have been earned.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

BlackPuppy said:


> What good is waiting until the dog is two years old? Just asking. Most people I know are showing their dogs at 6 months, and many finish before the dog is 2 years old. Maybe GSDs are different.


Keep reading. If the buyer wanted to show the dog, they could purchase the pup on a co-ownership until the dog turns 2 and is OFA'd. Then I would sign off of the papers. In GSD's, some young dogs finish, but most don't finish until they are 3 or older.


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