Older Puppy/Adult Sales and Stud Dog Contracts: Reputable Breeders Share Their Approaches

Reputable breeders nationwide take various approaches when they offer stud dogs services but are fairly consistent about sales contracts for older puppies and/or adult dogs that they sell.

Decades ago, stud dog owners either received a stud fee— the cost of a new puppy— or the pick of the litter. How times have changed!

Breeders now charge either the entire stud fee at the time of service, or a service fee and the remainder of the total stud fee when puppies are born. The latter approach appears to be the current trend.

Some longtime Labrador Retriever breeders don’t use contracts for stud dog services or older puppies/adult dog sales. Others use a one-page contract for sales of adults/older puppies but all want the new owners to agree that they must return their new ward to them if they don’t want the dog anymore- for any reason.

At one end of the spectrum is Kendall Herr of Dickendall Labradors in Gainesville, TX. She’s been breeding Labradors since the late 1960s and an American Kennel Club (AKC) conformation judge for nearly thirty years.

“I don’t do contracts. I try to deal with people I feel comfortable with. There are too many scenarios to put in a contract and if something goes wrong, you treat them like you would like to be treated on a case-by-case basis,” Herr says.

“Things can happen that you never imagine or heard of, that may not be covered and that’s not fair to hide behind a contract there either,” she adds.

OLDER PUPPY/ADULT SALES CONTRACTS

Two longtime breeders, Lisa Nordstog of Snowberry Labradors, Belton, MO, and Sue Willumsen of Willcare Labradors, Kingston, NH, use a concise, one-page contract for sales of older puppies and/or adult dogs. Before this year, Willumsen didn’t use a contract but says that buyers now expect one.

Willumsen has been a Labrador breeder for forty-one years and a conformation judge since 2006. Nordstog, a Labrador sweepstakes conformation judge since 1996, has bred Labradors for the past thirty-one years.

Both say they modify their existing puppy contract for older dog sales. They note that the older pup or adult is sold as a pet, non-breeding animal, and will be registered on an AKC limited registration, which allows for participation in all AKC performance events.

Additionally, if the buyer ever decides to part with the puppy/adult, the breeder will be given the first opportunity to take back the dog at terms equal to those offered to another prospective buyer or new owner.

Both breeders’ contracts also state: “Buyer hereby releases Seller from any liability for acts of the puppy/adults. Dogs are unpredictable and seller cannot warrant or be held responsible for the temperament or actions of the puppy/adult once it has been placed with the Buyer.”

Sally Bell of Borador Labradors, Lewis Center, OH, has bred Labradors for the past fifty-three years and judged Labradors and King Charles Cavalier Spaniels since 1998. She doesn’t have a standard sales contract. She says she “sits down with prospective new owners and writes a personal contract that we both sign. There are so many variables. . …All I really nail people to a cross on is that if they can’t keep the puppy, at any time in its life, it is returned to me.”

She notes that she sells her older puppies/adult canines to people in the Columbus, OH area with whom she feels comfortable— friends or repeat clients— or those referred by other veterinarians to her veterinarian husband.

Similarly, another AKC judge, Judy Schenk Chambers of Ghoststone Labradors in Aurora, OR, places, without a contract, her older puppies and adults with friends whom she knows. She gives the new owners her nineteen-page puppy book which is full of advice and tips ranging from shots to feeding to training and other resources. She’s been breeding Labradors for more than thirty years and judging conformation since 2004.

STUD DOG CONTRACTS

Of the five breeders who were interviewed for this article, all have somewhat different approaches to stud dog services. (Nordstog wasn’t interviewed about her stud dog contract which has been missing since her move from Colorado to Missouri!)

One breeder doesn’t use stud service contracts, three use their own standard contracts, and one writes an individualized agreement. All to a varying degree require proof of health clearances for the bitch and some require a negative brucella blood titer or brucellosis test if the bitch is brought to their property. One breeder charges the entire stud fee upfront while two others charge a service fee ranging from $200 to $400 with the remainder of the stud fee due upon whelping of the puppies. And two give the option of paying the stud service upfront or paying a service fee and the remainder of the stud fee when two live puppies are whelped.

Herr, Bell, Chambers, Willumsen, and Julie Oghigian, DVM, of Montview Labradors, Bozeman, MT, require hips, elbows, and eye clearances. They also require the bitch to be progesterone tested to assist in the correct timing of the breeding.

In addition,

• Herr requests information about test results for EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse), dilute gene (this gene dilutes the dog’s coat and pigment, and shows it is not a purebred Labrador), and a long coat gene which may or may not result in a long coat, as well as any other health tests. She does so in an extensive online form that also requests basic information: the pedigree, a photo, and information about the heat cycle. She has very specific online instructions about progesterone testing and when the bitch will be ready to be bred.

• 

  Bell expects passing standard clearances, including those in the Labrador Panel offered by Paw Prints Genetics, https://www.pawprintgenetics.com/products/breeds/76/

• Chambers requires a negative dilute gene test and offers a $100 reduction in the stud fee if the bitch has had an echocardiogram.
• Willumsen requires clearances included in the Paw Prints Genetics Labrador Panel and strongly suggests an echocardiogram.
• Oghigian requires that the bitch be two years or older.

A small animal veterinarian for more than twenty years, Oghigian does a considerable amount of reproduction work with dogs owned by breeder clients at her Alpenglow Animal Hospital in Bozeman. She’s owned stud dogs since 2005 and  will not accept bitches that are flown in for breeding because with “fresh semen available and artificial insemination practices, there is no valid reason to subject your girls to the stress or risk of a flight.”

Her contract also has three additional provisions:

1. “We do not agree with purposefully breeding mixed breed litters nor do we agree with breeding to promote disqualifying traits such as nonstandard (disqualifying) colors or markings, and will not agree to participate in producing such litters with our dogs.”
2. The bitch owner “agrees that this litter will be sold or placed in screened individual homes and that none will be sold to pet shops, wholesalers or puppy mills, nor will they be abandoned at any time.” She strongly encourages that all companion pets be sold on a Limited Registration with a spay/neuter provision.
3. While the bitch is in heat, the owner agrees to keep her contained. But if the bitch breeds another male, Oghigian is not obligated to sign a litter registration until the parentage of all puppies sired by her stud dog is proven through DNA analysis.

   

Of the breeders interviewed only Herr requires that the entire stud dog fee be paid at the time of the breeding.

Herr explains why she doesn’t use a stud service fee: “A stud dog owner isn’t just collecting semen but trying to shift their days to guess when it needs to be sent, waiting for the call to send, sometimes making a last-minute far drive to drop off the shipment. Many are selling their litters on the merits of the stud dog. To get a stud dog of worth for people to use you have grown out and washed out many dogs, spent a lot of time and money to title your dog, and then the service fee basically helps them to finance their litter. A stud fee used to be the price of the puppy. Now puppies are sold for a lot more than the stud fee.

“If a bitch doesn’t get in whelp, we will breed any of our dogs (except for visiting studs owned by others) to any of the breeder’s bitches at any time until they get a litter,” Herr adds.

Bell says she hasn’t updated her website in fifteen years and doesn’t advertise her studs. She “prefers just to deal with breeders in her small circle of friends.”

However, if a bitch owner whom she doesn’t know asks to breed to one of her studs, she’d ask:

1. Who referred you and why do you want to use my dogs?
2. Tell me about your bitches pedigree and what clearances she has?
3. Do you belong to a dog club?
4. How do you plan to sell your puppies?

“If I like you, I’ll help you,” she says chuckling.

Bell emphasizes that she doesn’t like to be involved in stud dog service. “I’m an unstud person.” It’s best if she knows and likes the owner of the bitch because she is most comfortable with these people.

She requires a $200 service fee plus Fed Ex expenses if semen is shipped. The collection is no problem as “we are really good at it”- noting her husband is a vet and she prefers shipping semen. The rest of the stud fee is due upon the whelping of a litter of two or more live puppies.

Chambers currently gives the bitch owner two options:

1. The stud fee is payable in full at the time of breeding. If a litter of three live puppies doesn’t occur, a second breeding will be offered without an additional stud fee. The offer is good for two years. If the original stud is no longer available, another stud will be substituted. With her approval, the stud services may be transferable to another bitch. OR
2. A service fee of $400 is due at the time of service. The remainder of the stud fee is due within three days of the birth of two live puppies. If two live puppies aren’t born, a repeat breeding is not offered and the service fee is nonrefundable. (The bitch owner doesn’t pay the remainder of the stud fee in that case.) If breeding is done through the use of extended semen, Chambers pays for the shipping containers and extender but the bitch owner pays for all costs of transportation, testing, and insemination.

Willumsen also offers similar options:

1. The entire stud fee is paid upfront but if there aren’t any pups, a repeat service is offered at no additional cost except for shipping and extender fees. OR
2. A $300.00 service fee is paid and the balance of the stud fee is payable when the litter whelps. If the bitch fails to whelp, there is no repeat stud service commitment.

Oghigian requires a $400 nonrefundable upfront service fee, with the remained of the total stud fee payable at the whelping of a litter. Three live puppies at birth constitute a litter. She will honor a request for a repeat breeding upon payment of an additional $400 service fee with adequate notice if the stud is available. The cost of the extenders, shipping boxes, shipping, and boarding if any, are paid by the bitch owner. Two shipments of semen will be sent unless otherwise discussed. Although her contract terms are clear, she may alter her payment requirements for extenuating circumstances because she knows that breeding can be a “heartbreak” hobby.

As illustrated by their approaches and comments, these breeders carefully agree to the use of their stud dogs. Bell also notes that she no longer donates to stud dog service auctions, now a popular way for Labrador clubs to raise funds at their specialty shows. She doesn’t because she has no way of knowing if the individual of the winning bid is a person who will act responsibly— ensuring the selected bitch has the appropriate health clearances and is a good match for the stud dog.

Related posts:

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/puppy-contracts-five-reputable-share-views-breeders-share-their-views/

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/choosing-a-reputable-dog-breeder/