Should I ask for full rights or co ownership?

[nabthefool]

So I’m not necessarily new to dog ownership and have lived with 7 dogs in the past 10 years (most were my parents dogs), but I want to start breeding American bullies. I know with some help I could successfully title, health test, find the right pairing, etc for my dog and properly whelp and socialize the puppies…my only thing is I don’t know if I think the breeder will trust me considering this will be not only my first wellbred purebred (and purebred), but it will also be the first dog that I do sports/showing with. Idk what exactly to do and simply want advice

 

[home4good]

@nabthefool Those are actually two different things when dealing with AKC.

Ownership, sole owner or co-own. I co-own all of my dogs with their breeders, so if anything happens to me they have something that shows they should get the animal back. Besides the breeder you could co-own with family members, friends, juniors, pretty much anyone. No limit for number of people that 'own' the animal in AKC that I know of (although there should be).

Registration - Full rights, Limited, Conditional, and others I think. Full rights is required to register litters of puppies from the animal, show in conformation, and probably a couple other things. Limited registration gives the registration for a pure bred dog but does not give the right to register litters/puppies with the AKC.

The first thing you probably need to do is find a breeder that will mentor you in titling a dog in showing. Once you have successfully accomplished that you would have made some contacts for someone to help with breeding.

Also let me point out that the ownership is NOT a legal owner, it is just for AKC paperwork. It does NOT give any legal rights to anyone but it does show the intention of sharing the property.

 

[patricia1990]

@nabthefool I'd ask for co-ownership. But more than anything, make your goals utterly and completely clear. Make it known to the breeder.

AND ask them to mentor your. You'll likely end up breeding your dog under their kennel name, and this is an amazing start.

 

[nabthefool]

@patricia1990 Thank you!

 

[maddox]

@nabthefool If you have no experience, I’d do a co-ownership.

 

[ptom]

@nabthefool There's not one right answer to this.

Personally, I will never do a co-own again except with a family member or one of two best friends. But there are breeds - and I don't know if American Bullies are one- where you absolutely will not get a show quality puppy without one.

All I can say is read the contract REALLY completely and make sure you're okay with it before you put money down, let alone start getting attached to a puppy.

 

[nabthefool]

@ptom I completely understand where you’re coming from. I personally wouldn’t buy from someone I don’t fully trust to give me a high quality puppy. The only thing I’m concerned about is whether or not they’ll actually sell me a puppy. The point of this post is “how do I tell my breeder that I want to get into dog breeding without looking like a byb in my situation”

 

[ptom]

@nabthefool The normal way- you get to know them, and you let them get to know you. Doing performance events with your current dogs is probably the easiest way to get to know people and demonstrate your commitment to the breed.

Hit up shows and events and just start meeting people and networking.

 

[ptom]

@nabthefool (Also, my experience was with someone I *did* fully trust, up to that point. Never again.)

But in general? Your breeder is not going to think you are a bad person for wanting to breed, provided you're involved in dogs and DOING stuff with them, not just breeding to breed.

 

[dukedesu]

@nabthefool Find a successful breeder and mentor that you jive with and go from there. Some breeders require co-owns especially for new folks. I do personally, and if someone doesn’t want to buy from me for that— that is fine.

 

[ninjapirate777]

@nabthefool My advice would be to focus on the breed and learning its nuances with a mentor before you think about breeding. Your first dog, even if its well bred, may not turn out or pass all its health testing. Or as you learn you may decide you prefer different lines than what you have, and would prefer to breed those different lines. This all really takes time.

Immerse yourself in the breed first. Title your dog. Find mentors. Network. When people see you as part of the community they will be more trusting and doors will open up for you. Don’t put all the weight on your first dog… you just don’t know if that dog is going to work out. You can never guarantee a puppy will be show and breeding quality, you can only make a best guess and hope it matures the way you want it to.

I know there’s only a small handful of ethical American Bully breeders. Try to find those people… get references. If you find a good, ethical breeder they will want you to succeed. If you express interest in showing and titling, they should welcome you with open arms. They may or may not want a co-ownership. That’s up to the breeder… but if there’s an ethical breeder who would give me a nice dog and mentorship with a co-ownership I would go for it. Always be honest about your intentions. Approaching a breeder right off the bat and saying you want to breed might be a bit premature… like I said consider focusing on learning the breed, getting to know your mentor, immersing yourself in the community… if you get into the flow with that stuff, the breeding opportunities will come with trust built over time.

 

[christian_violet]

@nabthefool If this will be the first dog you do sports/shows with, will better breeders give you a show-quality puppy?

To be fair, I'm in Canada and am involved with a different breed, so this may not be representative of your situation, but one of the questions I see breeders ask of any non-pet home around here is that they've titled dogs in the past. Not necessarily at a high level, and the "easy" titles are usually fine, but it's generally a requirement that prospective show/sports homes have some experience in that area.

 

[nabthefool]

@christian_violet From what others have said and others that they co-owned with I feel like with a co ownership they would but not full rights sense I haven’t titled a dog