Thoughts on co-owning a dog - Page 4

It means as long as you both have no problems with your arrangement, he will let you do what you want. Of course, if things change or you disagree at a later point, "in name only" goes right out the window.

If you have to pay full price for the dog, then just buy it outright.  Work out an arrangement for puppies out of the dog if the dog is breedworthy, can be titled and shown.  Sounds like the breeder gets the cake and eats it too. 

Echo, If you are paying for the dog.  Own it outright.  The name on the papers is who owns the dog in a court of law.  I'm a bit confused on what he wants.  I have never had to pay for a dog AND do a co-ownership.  No money should be exchanged in a co.  That is just odd in my books.  The whole idea on a co-ownership is equal in = equal out.  In your specific case i would say just buy the dog.  Then there are no strings attached.

Echo, as much as I have enjoyed the co-ownerships I have had and still have, I think I would back out of this one. It is not to your advantage to pay full price for a dog and still co-own it.

I want to be careful here to not cast any doubt on the intentions of this breeder as he may well be a very ethical person. I'm not going to speculate the reason for these terms or how this breeder would act if anything went wrong. None of us can know that. I'm just saying that it would not be something  I'd agree to myself unless there is more offered by the breeder like helping to pay some expenses. 

I assume you are new to the breed, so I think it would be prudent for you to consider buying a dog outright and try to find a trainer to help you if you decide to show and title the dog. In a few years you will be better informed and more able to decide if a co-ownership is right for you.

Good luck.......

If he is on the papers, he has legal rights to the dog. 

Better to have only your name on the papers and a contract with liquidated damages if either of you breaches the contract. 

Regardless of if you co-own or not, the breeder should be there for you PERIOD and stand behind his dogs and want to see his customers excel with his dogs.

Him having his name on the dog merely guarantees he gets whatever he wants at your expense (emotional and financial)

If you want to be successful in show/breed/sport, you dont need a co-owner to do that. You'll learn more on your own consulting with other people in the breed and sport, than you will having a breeder co-own with you that seems to have the time to train you and give you all the info and pay for shows etc, but does not have the time to do it on his own? If he has this massive amount of time to dedicate to a novice handler, why cant he show and title the dog on his own?

Personally, I wouldnt do it. You will have more support and help and on the spot advice and mentoring from people in a local SCH club, and at shows. People that will not sugar coat it if they dont believe the dog will turn out, where the breeder may be more biased...and you put a ton of money/effort into a dog with minimal result.

Like i said earlier, your breeder should be THERE for you to help you, regardless of if his name is on the dog or not. Period.

And if youre paying $$$ for the dog, so you can do all the work and split profit...how fair is that to you?

there is a breeder here where I live that does several co-ownerships with females, HOWEVER, he only does it with very close friends who only keep the dog as a "pet", the breeder will take the dog for a couple of months to title it, and every 2 years, he takes the dog to breed (hence pays for titling and vet costs). I think the relationship with the breeder is the main thing that makes it work. If the female ends up being too much for the family, breeder buys back at original price. Works for them, but I don't believe it works for most people.
I personally would not do it, but it works for some people.

So from what I understand (I am hoping to get clarification on things this weekend) I pay full pet price (buying a dog with breeding rights would be twice as much) for the dog. He will pay all entry fees for show/title. He will also help compensate me with training. I have a feeling he has been burned by people just wanting a to make money from the puppies and they don't take proper care of the dog (I saw one of his dogs come back after being in a pet home and it was pretty clear they weren't feeding this dog how they should). I know he has had and does have several co-owned dogs who live "pet" lives in a home and then they come to his house once a year for breeding and whelping. I have met a couple of these people and they seem very happy with the arrangement and speak very highly of him (even the people that weren't taking care of the dog properly). These people I am sure are just wanting a free dog as he pays for and does everything.

He recently has had 4 females that he has had to stop breeding for various reasons and he is looking to keep 3 females from this current litter because they are from great lines and because the last litter he breed from this female/male he didn't keep any of the pups and I think he is kicking himself for that now that he can see the way they have turned out. So, I know and he knows that he doesn't have time to work with 3 females. He males himself available every Saturday for training but I am planning on going to training/seminars/shows on my own. I know the biggest thing he wants out of this is a titled dog so I know he will help and support me doing that.  I am sure he would allow me to outright buy a puppy from this current breeding however, I am sure he will be keeping the "best" three for himself. I also don't think he will be breeding this particular female again. She is 6 and that is the age where he usually puts a stop to the breeding.

Plus I am not 100% confidant that I want to do the breeding/whelping but I do want to learn and whelp a few litters to see if it is something I want to do more of. I am very confidant that I want to do more training/titling and seems to me that if you are able to put a few titles on a dog and they are a good representation of the breed mentally and physically then it is kind of a waste not to breed them. I think I need to get a real clear picture on what he finds breed worthy and make sure it matches what I also think is breed worthy.

I think I am just rambling. Let me know if there is anything that sounds "off" or like it doesn't sound like something that is normally done.

That sounds better to me. You have a lot to think about. I think it's good that you have talked to others who co-own with him. I've said all I can think of that would be helpful to you. Trust  your instincts about the man, not only the deal. Good luck.

NO.  I've been there done that -most recently with a very close friend, who ended up screwing me big time and getting a very expensive free dog in exchange for "nada" on their part.  Needless to say, when I finally confronted this person about the failure to honor their side of the (written and signed) contractual agreement, the friendship went out the window.   Co-owning a dog means trusting someone 100% to honor their side of whatever agreement is made.  If you can't trust your very good trusted friend, who can you trust?  Answer: absolutely noone.  I'll never enter into any co-ownership agreement again, ever.  If I need a dog titled I will pay to get it titled - if I can't afford to buy a dog outright I'll make payments or borrow or simply not buy the dog.  Co-ownership - not worth ruining a good friendship or even a trusted relationship of any kind over a dog.

molly