I just found out about a situation that I need some advice on. I have a girl that is due to whelp in one week. The sire of the litter belongs to my nephew. We just found out that he sold the dog. We have possession of the dog's AKC paperwork, simply because my nephew is young and can't really be trusted not to lose it. We only found out about the sale because he called wanting to come by and pick up the paperwork. My concern is the registration of the litter. If the new owners send in the paperwork to transfer ownership before/during the time that we try to register the litter, won't this be a red flag to the AKC and possibly cause some issues? We're thinking of talking to the new owners to explain the situation and see if they would mind waiting to transfer ownership until after the pups are born and registered. But if they have a problem with that, what to do? I may be worrying about nothing, but I don't know these people and don't know if I can trust them to sign off on the litter.

Tell them you will keep the papers until the litter is whelped, and your nephew signs off the litter registration. Then, give the papers to the nephew. It's only a week, no big deal to them.

The AKC will want the owner at the time of the breeding to sign off. If the dog has been sold since then, dont worry. The AKC looks at who had the dog at the date of breeding. Call the AKC and they will tell you to not worry.

Yes it is sire's owner at date of breeding that matters for litter registration. Date of whelping owner only matters for mom. If you sold a girl pregnant the people that own her at time of whelping are the litter owners, but owners of girl at time of breeding would be litter breeders.