Those of you that do co own, do you sell pup for the same price as the other pups ? Half price, give other breaks ? Usually ask for one or two pups back ? Pick first or more stud dogs. Would like to hear from some who have had good luck with this and have had several co owns that worked. Oh, and do you sign off later completely ?

Don't do it. If the puppy is worth co-owning KEEP IT. You will never be sorry if you keep the puppy yourself and are able to make the decisions but most co owns are not worth the hassle. Unless you have previously co owned with this person with no issues, think long and hard about this decision.

I'm tired of people "trashing" co-ownerships of dogs. When entering into a co-own you need to select (breeder and new owner)wisely and know the persons involved. I have had marvelous co-owns!!!! I co-own a few and I have not been sorry for doing so in the least.

When you are a person who doesn't breed often and can't run on several puppies in a litter, a co-own is a good option to have available to yourself without losing an entire generation.

My co-owns have had terms that work out for both myself and the new owner. You need to know your co-owner and have good communication about what your goal/hopes are for the dog/people involved. If you're going to build in tons of criteria and "gotta do's" then as a breeder you need to just keep the dog and raise it up for yourself.

Co-owns do work for both parties involved!


M.

Bonk!

I agree, don't do it.
You can request a puppy back on the sale stipulations without co-owning the girl with her new owner.

It's the "Kiss of Death" for many. Many of us have "Been there Done that" and we know better.

I will second that! DO NOT DO IT!!!!!
You will be signing your rights on that puppy away should the co owner take it upon themselves to decide that they have total control over the dog and what happens to it.
Contracts won't hold up in court as dogs are possessions in the eyes of the law, AKC papers don't mean didley.
So if it's good enough to keep your name on it, keep your name ONLY on it and avoid the hassel.
If it's not, then sell it outright, ask for breeding rights if a male, a puppy(s) back if a female and *hope* the new owner is honorable. If not, then wash your hands of them and learn your lesson.

I know a couple of gals that co-own a few dogs. One of the gals is very nice, loves to train and do things with the dogs the other stays home, gossips
and controls. Now the nice one is becoming so
controlled by the nasty ways of the other that you don't see her out with her dogs as much because the
dominate crabby one tells her when and what she can do with them. She has mentioned that she would like to show more but the other tells her when and where.
I think she wished she would never have entered in to such an arrangement. Think long and hard!

I'm w/ 'M'... co-owns can work indeed. I've had them work...only one that didn't. I lost that bitch to me as I ended up w/ nothing from her. But I learned something from it and I now request more than one puppy back.
You just have to choose carefully who you do it with and get it all in writing. For me, we are close to retiring and I'm doing more co-owns. Hubby wants to travel and this is a way for me not to put my nice ones in pet homes, keep my numbers way down and I am still 'in it'. It is a way for someone who wants something you have or even to get something really decent to start with/go on with/mix in w/ what they are doing in their own program, etc.
I do feel if you have the need to put mega stipulations on, then yeah, you should just keep h/her yourself or you'll probably end up disappointed.

I sell mine for either pet price, lower or nothing.

Add me to the list of one who has had good co-owner experiences. I co-own a couple of dogs that have turned out to just be beloved pets or have not been able to finish CH's but have new friends because of it and the dogs have great homes. I also have a stud dog I co-own and when the co-owner fell upon hard times due to surgery and job loss I stepped in and helped with a huge vet bill but it saved his life so even though it put me in debt it was worth it. I had another good co-ownership with someone on this list (dog is now deceased of old age) and we had no problems. I am currently in another co-ownership with the breeder of a lovely bitch who is now at 10 points, has a JH and is on her way to agility titles as well.

Yes, I am aware of some nasty issues between co-owners including an ongoing lawsuit right now with co-owners of one of the top toy dogs in the country but pick your co-owners carefully and be clear about where you plan to head with a co-ownership. It has worked nicely for me.

I've had both a good and a bad. Fortunately, the good outweighs the bad in more ways than one.

Circumstances can change...making it difficult for either or both parties involved.

Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends LOL.

Get everything in writing, and make sure it's beneficial to both parties involved. It should not be one-sided where only one of the parties benefits time and time again.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

I LOVE MY CO-OWNER. As a matter of fact, my co-owned girl is about two whelp her second litter. Her co-owner keeps saying to bring papers and she'll sign off. But I simply see no reason.

We;ve gone to on to co-own one more (a pup out of my girl) and we both have great fun showing her in bred by.

Be honest, be upfront, and be serious. Get to know people.

I'm never a fan of giving a puppy away. If you don't asign a value, to the wrong person, that makes the dog worthless.

I co-own frequently, occasionally with other breeders, but usually with friends who do not show themselves, but are willing to keep a dog intact and allow me to breed it and show it if I want to. I usually sell a co-owned dog for half price. The co-owned dog is my insurance policy if the pup I keep myself doesn't turn out. All of my co-owners are still friends with me. I did lose one dog as a breeding animal because circumstances with the co-owners required that he be neutered. But, hey. He still had a good home. I could have had him collected if I felt he was important to my breeding program.

I recommend that before you enter into such a relationship, you decide what is more important, the dog or the friendship. If money and the success of your breeding program are more important to you than remaining friends with the people you co-own with (or if the people you co-own with care more about the dog's success than they do about your relationship), then maybe co-owning is not a good option. I think that disagreements about money, breeding and puppy ownership, and showing are the reasons so many co-ownerships come to grief. I've never had an disagreement with a co-owner that involved the dog's welfare; that would be a different matter.

My father always used to say that you should never put money in the stock market that you could not afford to lose. Maybe co-owns should be considered in that light.

I was involved with a co-own with a breeder as the buyer of a show potential. Problem arose due to breeder being to controlling about all the decisions about the dog. To many "got to do's"!! Got to do this, can't do that, you shouldn't do this and I don't think you should do that, it will not work that way you have to do it this way. OMG!!! It was just to much. The breeder could just not let go and wanted puppies back from first litter too. My feelings were I paid the breeders price for this puppy and the puppy was sold to me. I can understand some advice and guideance here and there, but I was not able to deal with the breeder's total power trip about telling me what to do with this puppy all the time. Well I worked my ways and managed to get out of it and the breeder finally signed off on the dog and I walked away. Now I try to avoid all co-owns on either side as buyer or seller.

Co-owns are whatever you make them. Some people simply have pride in their pups and want their name on them when they are shown. With males, maybe they want limited stud privileges. A co-own also preserves the possibility of showing the dog in bred-by if things work out.

Other people ask inflated prices for co-owns, want bitches back for litters or one or more pick puppies, want to choose mates etc. It goes on and on.

You can spot both types a mile away. I think some buyers get so hyped up over the possibility of getting a promising puppy, they agree to absolutely anything. Then they have nobody but themselves to blame.

[You can spot both types a mile away. I think some buyers get so hyped up over the possibility of getting a promising puppy, they agree to absolutely anything. Then they have nobody but themselves to blame.]

This might be true upon initial purchase, but as it has been posted before and in this thread as well it is clear that the reason co-owns do not work for everybody, is because one of the co-owners falls short on their end of the agreement. Making it a not so pleasant experience for all involved.

If a breeder's idea for doing co-owns is to discourage a buyer on an open reg. to breed a dog that does not pass a clearance than the breeder is doing what they can to improve the breed and at the same time give someone an opportunity to get started into showing. If a breeder does a co-own because they want to keep the dog in some type of possession yet still make profit on it as well, that is self fulfilling.

I have had full ownership numerous times with conditions. Breeder assisted in picking studs, and breeder received a pup back of her choice. Twice I have kept pick as it was the wrong sex for the breeder. I would enter into this type of situation again with same breeder. I believe it is all in what you both expect from the relationship.

I have also had several actual co-owns with same breeder. All has worked out well. I trust this person immensely. I have modeled my co-ownerships after what this breeder has offered me. So far it has worked for me. I have a wonderful mentor and someone I can really look up to ... she sets a wonderful example.

I have only had one ugly co-own and sorry to say I was part of the problem. I was young - 20ish - and did not put everything in writing - therefore a HUGE misunderstanding resulted.

Being young and having a top 20 German Shepherd I thought I was quite the up-and-comer. Made my contract ridiculously tight - when the young, with a new baby couple couldn't live up to the contract - I got b*tchy.

Somewhere along the way (thank goodness) I grew up and have never had a bad co-own since. Many of my current co-ownerships are verbal - before anyone shoots me for that - know this - the friendship is always worth more to me than the dog. IF, I ever have to "eat it" on a co-ownership that will be my choice. Nowadays I usually only do co-ownerships with close, close partners and friends. I don't do co-ownerships with strangers.

FWIW
Valerie

I've had a bunch of co-owns and each one of them has been different in terms of how much $ exchanged hands, what might be bartered, whether it was a co-own on paper only or a true sharing of expenses and litters. It was whatever worked for us at the time and what we wanted out of the co-own. All of them but one has been wonderful. There is no magic to it - if you have two rational and reasonable people you will have a good co-own. If one of the people is not rational and/or reasonable, then it could go bad.