Co-Ownership of Dogs

Co-ownership is also very popular amongst breeders placing a female puppy with a family on open registration for future showing and breeding. Many times the breeder will place a condition into the contract like receiving a puppy from the first litter before signing full ownership over to the adoptive family. It is very helpful for a breeder when they find a good show home for one of their female offspring because it is very difficult for one breeder to keep and show all the show potential puppies themselves. When the puppy matures and hopefully acquires its championship title the breeder will hopefully receive a quality offspring back in return to carry the lines forward with. By remaining as co-owner the original breeder will be able to apply their kennel name to the new puppy they receive in return and will also show up as co-breeder on the registration paper allowing the original breeder to be able to show the return puppy in bred-by classes thus continuing to move forward with their line of dogs that they have created.

Black & Tan Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Tri Color Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

There is a BIG difference between co-owning a male versus co-owning a female. Both co-owners must sign all paperwork involved in the breeding of a female. But, a male can be used with only one signature so it is more difficult to enforce a co-ownership agreement as far as breeding goes. Many co-ownership agreements are placed in order to protect an offspring from over breeding or not being bred properly. For example: evaluating a planned breeding through health certifications of both the male and female and ancestries along with pedigree research and structural qualities involved in order to try to create a better offspring than the original two dogs you began with. Sometimes a novice breeder will not know the proper steps involved in order to pair the best breeding possible.

With a female the original owner has more say, but with a male each owner is individual so trust becomes are large aspect of co-ownership agreements also.

If a breeder knows they have a promising male and finds the right show home for that dog they may remain as co-owner in order to obtain unlimited stud service and/or continue to have their name on board should the dog become good enough to be "specialled".

Co-ownership of dogs is a very common practice so if you run across it do not be alarmed, but educate yourself before you enter into any contract because AKC does not endorse or promote co-ownerships because situations change and many times a dog's fate can lie in limbo if the owners are not in agreement about a situation.

Ruby Cavalier King Charles Spaniel