There are many reasons for co-ownership, but when co-owning a new puppy, it is usually the breeder who requests co-ownership and a contract written by the breeder and signed by both parties usually dictates the terms for the entire life of the co-ownership including under what circumstances the co-ownership will end. In the case of co-ownership, it is usually advised that the contract be as detailed as possible, so nothing is left to chance and no misunderstandings will come about; However, it can be difficult to think of every possible scenario that may come about in a dog’s life, so the contract should cover the basics and what the breeder and owner expect to get out of the contract, as well as, what each parties’ responsibilities will be.

The Reasons for Co-ownerships

Co-ownerships are used for show puppies for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes the new owner needs a mentor, so they co-own with the breeder so the breeder can teach them how to groom and show their new show prospect. That is one of the major benefits of co-owning for a new dog show exhibitor or someone who is just new to the breed. The breeder may also share breedings/litters with the new owner and teach them the ropes of breeding a stud dog or raising their first litters.

The major benefit to new owners is that sometimes the breeder may give them a reduced price on the puppy. Typically, a reduced price on the original puppy will come with contract terms that require the owner to give a puppy or stud services back to the breeder. If the breeder is charging you full price for the original puppy and then asking for multiple puppies back when that bitch is bred, they should be paying half of the expenses of the breeding and litter rearing and doing half the work or you may want to consider finding another breeder to work with.

Many breeders now require co-ownerships for all show puppies. They do this to protect the dog from being bred in an unethical manner. Typically once the dog has clearances and a champion title or whatever other requirement is met, the dog will then be signed over to the owner.

The other reason for co-owning is when it is beneficial for showing a top show dog. Many owners need to co-own dogs with their handlers or with backers in order to further their dog’s show career. These types of co-ownerships tend to be beneficial on both sides because backers want to co-own a top dog and owners/breeders need money to advertise and show their nicest dogs.

Pros of Co-ownership for Breeders

1. More control of whether and when female dogs are bred. In reality this only gives you more control over the registration of puppies from the bitch, but most people are not going to breed unless they can register the puppies.
2. The ability to mentor the new puppy owners.
3. The ability to ask for certain responsibilities to be fulfilled by new puppy owners before the dog is fully signed over to them, such as getting the dog’s AKC champion title and completing all of the dog’s required health tests.
4. Sharing in the accomplishments of the puppies you breed and their owners.

Cons of Co-ownership for Breeders

1. The responsibility of mentoring new puppy owners who may or may not want your input.
2. The actions of the new owners are even more of a reflection on you.
3. Dealing with disputes that may arise when owners decide after the fact that they do not like the stipulations in the co-ownership contract.

Pros of Co-ownership for New Puppy Owners

1. May have reduced upfront puppy price.
2. Depending on the contract, the breeder may help you pay for dog show expenses or even help you handle your dog in the show ring.
3. Dog show mentorship with a breeder that has a stake in seeing the puppy succeed. This might include handling instruction, grooming instruction, helping to train your puppy, etc.
4. Breeding Mentorship with an experienced breeder who cares about the puppies. From this you can learn how to manage a stud dog, get breedings done, whelping puppies, raising puppies, etc.

Cons of Co-ownership for New Puppy Owners

1.  The breeder will share in the accolades of anything you accomplish with your puppy.
2. You will have to complete any requirements in the contract in order for your dog to be signed over to you.
3. The breeder may ask for puppies back if you purchased a bitch. This is a fair price to pay if you were given a reduced price on the original puppy. I would be weary of any breeder who charges you full price on a puppy and then asks for a large number of puppies without paying part of the expenses and doing half of the work.
4. There is a risk that you might decide you aren’t happy with the co-ownership after getting into it or have disputes with the breeder. It can be too late to get out of a co-ownership after you are in it. To get out of a co-ownership that is going bad, you may have to talk the breeder into signing the dog over to you (which may cost you money) or you may have to give the dog back to the breeder in order to resolve the situation.

The breeder may ask for breedings back if you purchased a male dog. It does not typically cost you anything to give the breeder breedings back to your male dog and it may help you prove the dog’s ability to sire puppies, so it is up to you to decide whether you feel that is fair and beneficial if you were not given a reduced purchase price on the dog.

Consider carefully the terms of any co-ownership. If you have any doubts or feel that the breeder may be asking for too much, then don’t do it. There are lots of puppies being sold without co-ownerships. Once you’ve taken the puppy home and its become a part of your family, it can be very difficult to get out of a co-ownership.

Puppies can be a lot of work and not everyone is cut out for the training commitment involved. Not only do puppies need housebreaking, which can take weeks or even months, but they also need structure and socializing to become well-mannered dogs. Without appropriate training puppies can turn into dogs that don’t come when called, jump on guests and try to dominate your family. Unsocialized puppies may also turn into dogs that will growl and even bite.

Have you considered rescue?

Whether you want to get a puppy or adult dog consider rescuing a homeless dog from a shelter or dog rescue. Rescues often have mixed breed puppies and sometimes they even get purebred puppies. Dogs from rescues are already spayed/neutered, vaccinated, heartworm tested and dewormed. Dogs from rescues are usually housebroken and are often trained while in foster care. There are rescues for every breed and many all-breed rescues pretty much everywhere.

If you’ve determined that a puppy is right for you, where will it come from?

Why you don’t want that puppy in the window

Pet store puppies often come from puppy mills. Dogs in puppy mills are kept in small cages and bred until they die or worse when they can no longer produce puppies. The resulting puppies are often diseased with both contagious and genetic ailments. Most of these genetic diseases can not be spotted until later in life when the dog you brought home from the pet store goes blind, lame or suddently drops dead of heart disease. To find out more about puppy mills and why you should never support them by buying a puppy from a pet store, visit  stoppuppymills.org.

Newspapers are another place where people often find “purebred” puppies. These puppies are either being sold directly from a puppy mill or by a backyard breeder.

What is a backyard breeder? That is a term used for people who (usually unknowingly) breed a purebred dog that is not of a quality that should be bred and not health tested. These backyard breeders often charge less for puppies, but like most things in life you get what you pay for. Would you still buy a less expensive puppy if you knew that it might go blind from a genetic disease before it reaches two years of age or would you prefer to know that the parents of your new puppy have been tested clear of that disease?

Responsible serious hobby breeders typically do charge more for puppies than you will find in the newspaper. You should expect to pay anywhere from $700-$2000 or more depending on the breed and what region of the country you are in.

Not all puppies are created equal.

Just because your friend or neighbor’s dog is AKC registered doesn’t mean the dog is worth tons of money and should be bred and you should pay them hundreds of dollars for a puppy. Chances are that if the person trying to sell you a puppy got the dog they are breeding from a puppy mill or backyard breeder, the puppies will grow up to barely resemble their breed. What’s the point in buying a purebred dog if it doesn’t even look like the breed that’s listed on the AKC papers?

What is a responsible, reputible dog breeder?

A serious hobby breeder, as they are often called, dedicates their life to the breed. They have done many years of research before breeding and research each breeding carefully. A responsible breeder is breeding to improve their breed and to preserve the integrity of the breed as it was originally intended. They usually don’t make a dime on the litters they produce because not only do they insure that their dogs have the best food and veterinary care, they make sure all the necessary genetic health tests are done, which costs hundreds of dollars per dog. Responsible breeders also put thousands of dollars into showing each of their dogs and often spend money on caesarean sections, artifical inseminations and often transport semen across the country to breed to the dog that is genetically the best choice for their dog. All this may sound silly, but reputible breeders have thought out their breeding plans and have a reason besides money for all of the choices they make. They do what they believe is in the best interest of their dogs.

Here are the other factors you should look for in a reputible breeder:

1. They show their dogs in AKC conformation events to have them judged by an expert against their written breed standard. Visit AKC’s Breeds Website to see the standard for each AKC breed.
   • The point of dog shows is not to prove your dogs are the prettiest or best groomed. Instead, dog shows prove the quality of breeding stock by proving the dog looks like the standard of the breed and has the correct structure necessary to perform the job it was breed for. Correct structure is important for dogs to move efficiently and work all day in the field doing jobs such as retrieving birds or herding sheep.
2. Many breeders also compete in sports such as obedience, agility, rally, field trials, herding trials, etc. to prove their dogs also have the intelligence and natural instinct to actually do the jobs for which they were bred.
3. They do all of the genetic health tests that are required for their breed on all breeding prospects and make that information available to potential puppy buyers.
4. They will give puppy buyers at least a 72 hour health guarantee, so the new owner will have sufficient time to take their new puppy to the vet.
5. They will require by contract that if the new owner can not keep the puppy for any reason it will be returned to them for the life of the dog. Reputible breeders will take back any dog they breed at any time for any reason.
6. Most responsible breeders will not sell you a pet puppy without a clause in the contract requiring you to spay or neuter your new puppy. They will also send your puppy home with AKC limited registration. That means that your puppy is AKC registered and can compete in all events except dog shows and no offspring from your puppy can ever be registered.
7. Reputible breeders know the genetic history of their puppies’ parents, grandparents and probably even great grandparents.
8. Responsible breeders only have a few litters a year.
9. Reputible breeders will have questions for you as a potential puppy buyer. They don’t sell their puppies to just anyone. With only a few litters a year, they can afford to be picky.
10. Responsible breeders typically have only one breed (maybe two in rare cases).
11. A responsible breeder will check up on you and see how the puppy is doing. You can usually expect Christmas cards from them and more importantly, they want you to call them if you have any issues or questions about your new puppy. They will be your support system for the life of the puppy.
12. Of course, a reputible breeder will also make sure your puppy is at least seven weeks of age when it goes home, has its first set of vaccinations and is de-wormed at least once.
13. Any good breeder will also make sure that your puppy has already started being socialized and has been exposed to a variety of sounds, environments, floors, people, crates and started housebreaking.

Your new dog or puppy will be your companion for the rest of its life, which in the case of a young dog or puppy could easily be 15 years or more. If you get your new companion with that in mind, it’s easy to see why you should consider where your puppy comes from very carefully and be willing to pay a little more for a healthy companion.

Responsible serious hobby breeders typically do charge more for puppies than you will find in the newspaper. You should expect to pay anywhere from $700-$2000 or more depending on the breed and what region of the country you are in.

I do not have any puppies or breedings planned, but if you’d like more assistance researching a breed or finding a rescue or breeder, please email me and I will try to point you in the right direction.

Since September 2011, I have fed my dogs chicken and turkey with the bones, pork, beef, and green tripe. They have done very well on it. Their coats are soft and thicker and their teeth are white and clean. I usually feed chicken liver for organs and also provide supplements to replace those organs that are hard to find.

Look at this website before you buy meat: http://rawfeddogs.net/Recipes/
It tells you how to feed it safely. The biggest thing to worry about is some bones are cut up too much at the grocery store, but this site has all the info you need. This website recommends whole chickens, but that’s a lot for a small or medium-sized dog. I’ve fed whole chickens pre-cut a couple pieces at a time, drumsticks, breast meat with or without rib bones, necks, etc with no issues. I just watch them until the bones are all gone. I did three small meals a day at first, so their body had little meals to digest until they were used to the raw.

This website is where I buy the supplements I use: http://www.b-naturals.com/
They also have recipes for cooked and raw diets and lots of informative articles. Their Berte’s Digestive Blend is what I gave my guys. It’s probiotics and digestive enzymes. I now have them on the Berte’s Daily Blend Vitamins because it can be difficult to find a wide variety of organs at the grocery store. I also supplement with Berte’s EPA 180-120 Omega-3 Fish Oil, which is great for skin, coat and immune system.

I also feed my dogs green tripe. Green tripe is basically the stomach and digestive juices of a herbivorous, grass-eating animal, usually a cow. It has a lot of nutrients and is great for dogs. They also love it, but it is smelly and hard to find. You do not want to buy the bleached white tripe at the grocery store either.  It has been stripped of all the great nutrients you want your dog to have.  I have found it through breeder’s co-ops like GreenTripe.Com and through dog food companies that sell canned versions like Tripett.  I’m not sure the canning process doesn’t take out many of the nutrients found in green tripe.  The best place to get fresh green tripe would be the local butcher if you can get them to save it for you.

For now that is all of the information I have. There are great email lists on Yahoo Groups like rawfeeding@yahoogrou?ps.com and Facebook groups like Raw Feeding (RF).

A Caution About Grocery Store Chicken

I buy pretty much all the chicken and other meats I feed my dogs from grocery stores, but there is something to be aware of before shopping for chicken to feed your dogs. About half or more of the chicken in grocery stores is infused or enhanced with saltwater solutions or salty chicken broth.  It will say something like “enhanced with up to 15% chicken broth.” Enhanced chicken may have as much as 440mg sodium per 4 oz. serving. You want to look for meat that is minimally processed with no more than 70mg sodium per serving.

A Note About Switching To Raw From Kibble

Most experienced raw feeders say to switch “cold turkey”.  That’s right – one day your dog eats kibble and the next raw! You don’t want to feed kibble and raw at the same time because raw digests faster than kibble and you don’t want it getting backed up behind kibble in the digestive system…or so I’ve been told.

You want to start with one protein source. Chicken is the easiest and cheapest, so it is a good protein to start with unless you know your dog is allergic to chicken.  Your dog may get diarrhea for about a week after the switch.  I have been told that this is the body eliminating the toxins built up from eating kibble.  In adult dogs, you can give more bones during this time which will help solidify things. Be careful about giving too much bones after your dogs stools are normal because it can cause constipation.  Also, you don’t want young puppies to get too much calcium, so don’t increase their bones beyond 10-15%.  They need to stay at that level, so they don’t grow too fast.  I have found a great, natual product called RuniPoo to help with diarrhea. The Berte’s Digestive Blend from B-Naturals can also help during this transition.

I hope this helps people to understand that it is not too difficult to start feeding raw. After feeding raw for several months, I can not imagine going back to kibble for my dogs.

Tucker, on the other hand, is more low key about tracking, but it’s definitely one of his favorite things to do.  He quarters when he’s tracking, running back and forth trying to find the track.  He will have to learn not to do that before we can move forward towards getting his tracking title.

Jasmine has already learned attention exercises, sit and down and we are practicing every day this week. She loves to work for food, so I know she will love these classes and the exercises she learns.

After her visit to the vet, Jasmine got to go to Petsmart again and get some bully sticks. She said hello to everyone in the store from her grocery basket ride. The cashier even gave her a cookie.

Jasmine has been out and about around town getting socialized since she’s been home with us. She has made several trips out to Petsmart and Lowe’s and always gets lots of attention.  She wasn’t sure what to think of her first trip to Lowe’s until she started getting lots of friendly attention, cookies and a new toy. As you can see she had lots of fun at Petsmart and got some new toys there too. Socialization is very important for all puppies, but especially for welshies since they tend to be reserved.

On Jasmine’s second trip to Petsmart, she got her picture taken with Santa Clause. She didn’t know what to think of the bearded guy holding her, but she wasn’t scared and her big brother, Raiden was with her. Jasmine has now visited with people of all ages and her tail is constantly wagging.

Jasmine and I (Crystal) will start obedience classes at Richmond Dog Obedience Club in January. We are already practicing and can’t wait to get started with formal classes. We will also be starting handling classes in the near future.

Right now, Jasmine is eating a whole chicken thigh three times a day and gaining weight nicely. Now that her system is adjusting to the raw food, we will slowly start adding liver and other meats and leaving more fat and skin on the meats.

They are all a prey model raw diet, which is 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ meat (at least half the organ meat should be liver). We are learning as well go, but right now the easiest way to do this with only four dogs has been to buy a small (5 cubic foot) freezer and fill it with meat from the grocery store. Then, we thaw the food out as we need it. The dogs are mostly eating chicken and turkey parts with bones, ground beef and chicken liver. This is often fondly called “frankenmeats” in the raw feeding community. We will add more meats as we get more acquainted with where to buy meat in our community.

She’s a wild child like her half-sister, Leeloo and her dam, Bay Bay. Right now, we are working in obedience and will be taking her first puppy class as soon as she has had the required vacccinations.

Tucker and Bay Bay’s eight puppies are now six weeks old and have been given temporary nicknames using the theme candy.  They are Air Head (Airy), Twix, Big Red, Twizzler, Kit Kit, Tootsie, Pop Rocks and Sugar.  I went to visit the puppies yesterday and as you can see they are getting around just fine, playing with their siblings and learning to potty on newspaper.  We will announce in a couple weeks which of the puppies will be coming home with us.

I’ve also been reading more and more about reduced vaccination protocols and reactions to vaccinations. In previous years, I’ve always done exactly what my vets told me and gave vaccination boosters yearly, but this no longer seems wise no matter what the average vet says. I’ve done a titer for parvo/distemper on Tucker and if it comes back that he has plenty of immunity to those diseases, we will not be getting his annual booster this year. I am also considering doing the same for Raiden and Leeloo.

As I move towards more healthy ways of maintaining my dogs, I am considering finding a new vet who will be better suited to assist me with the raw diet and reduced vaccines. I will let you know how this search goes and hopefully will find the perfect vet for my dogs.

This past weekend we had a show close to home, which was nice.  No travel and no hotel.  On Saturday, I was a bit nervous.  We won our 12-18 month puppy class, but that was it.  Sunday, June 26th things went a bit differently.  I could feel Leeloo really moving well and moving out to the end of the lead.  She was a bit more confident as was I.  I think I had really gotten used to just being there for experience because when we went back in for Winners Bitch and the judge, Mrs. Jean Fournier pointed to me, I pointed at my chest and said, “Me?”  She said “Yes”, so Leeloo and I went to the front of the line and accepted the Winner’s Bitch ribbon.  That gave her one point towards her championship.  I told Judge Fournier that it was the first point for both of us.  I think I remembered to say “Thank you”.

Then, we came out of the ring and things got more interesting because I completely forgot that I still had Tucker to show in Best of Breed and I had to take Leeloo back in for Best of Winners.  Leeloo and Tucker’s breeder, Carla found an irish setter breeder, Terri Murtagh to show one of them and asked me who she should take, Tucker or Leeloo.  I was with it enough to remember I wanted to stay on Leeloo so she wouldn’t be scared by being handed over to someone she didn’t know.  So Terri took Tucker and we went back in for Best of Breed competition.  Hannah, Leeloo and Tucker’s cousin won BOB, Tucker and Terri won Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed and Leeloo won Best of Winners over her brother, Dillin who had won Winners Dog for a three point major.  That meant Leeloo won a three point major too!  Woohoo!

I walked out of the ring and I didn’t even realize it was a major until Leeloo’s other breeder, Keith told me.  I was so excited that we’d won our first major!  Now we just need one more major and we will have the two required for her championship.  Yay!

The next day on Sunday we NQed in Beginners Novice because Tucker stood up as I was coming back to him during the sit-stay exercise.  He did the same thing at our third obedience trial in Harrisburg, PA the next week, so we know what we need to work on now.  In Rally, we NQed again during our first rally trial in Harrisburg, PA because he wasn’t really paying attention and decided not to heel during the 360 degree turn (Our second NQ).  On the second day of rally in Harrisburg, Tucker did much better and would have gotten a 95, but he didn’t want to lay down, but we got an 85 and our first Q in Rally Novice.

We have rally and obedience trials, a CGC test and run throughs May 6-8, so we will have to get a lot more practice before then so hopefully we will get our last two RN legs and our last two BN legs that weekend.  We need to work on the sit-stay, front, finish, down and heel more than anything else. We also need to work on getting Tucker to respond whether I am offering food as a reward or not.