I am currenley in a situation where i am contemplating this situation.. I would be very interested to here any advise you have to offer or any relevent experiences, etc on how it was for yourselves.

Thanks in advance

If it is to be an equal partnership then someone will have to manage the financial side and hold an account into which each partner pays the same amount to be used for the maintenance and campaigning of the dog.  Others are partnerships in name only with the person the dog lives with paying for everything and the other persons name just being on the papers.

You need to draw up an agreement covering every eventuality.  for example will it be lifelong, suppose the person who the dog lives with wants to re home at some point?????

Thanks for all the imput..... much to think about me thinks.

brainless... It is to be like this..... Others are partnerships in name only with the person the dog lives with paying for everything and the other persons name just being on the papers.

Ie dog lives with me always, her affix/name and mine on papers equally... i pay for every thing (vets fee's insurance, show entries food etc.)...as said dog is a gift. (he has great potential) If he reaches said potential,may be used at stud.. which again would be split equally...If he is not going where we hoped said dog would be totally signed over to me, if i desire... or signed over to her if i decide otherwise.

I do think the first twelve months is ok for costs to be covered by me, as he is to be a gift, however after say 12mths i think it should be a joint thing as i will have more than paid the original cost of the pup... and some more.... What are peoples thoughts?

The partnership I am in everything is split 4 ways from the purchase quarantine upkeep and show entries, and the agreement is for 6 years after which the dog maybe be bought out by the person he lives with or another of the partners. 

It is surprising how much just feeding, Insuring and entry fees for shows come to over a period of time.

He had cost us about £3000 until he came out of Quarantine.  We have just 18 sets of CC's and he did the Irish circuit twice and the odd show abroad.  We did not pay for his keepers petrol as he went to shows she was attending anyway.

In five years he has cost an additional £7200, so that is about £1450 a year.

In your position I would pay half the dogs purchase price and share all the costs and stud fees equally (including an allowance for you feeding and training him).  After the period of the partnership ends (set a time), one or other person can buy the  others interest in the dog.

It would be wise to set a value such as not more than the value as a puppy or what have you.

dog lives with me always, her affix/name and mine on papers equally... i pay for every thing (vets fee's insurance, show entries food etc.)...as said dog is a gift. (he has great potential) If he reaches said potential,may be used at stud.. which again would be split equally...If he is not going where we hoped said dog would be totally signed over to me, if i desire... or signed over to her if i decide otherwise.

Tychlo I am in the exact same position as far as partnerships go and I'm very happy with it.  The dog in question is the first one of his breed I've had so being in partnership with his breeder is, IMO, just the same as taking her advice as a mentor anyway (with regards to using him at stud with certain bitches, etc).  I don't really care whose name he's in as long as I have the pleasure of living with him :d  His breeder has been more than fair with me so far.  We both regard him as my dog - it's only the name on the KC registrations that differs :)

Debs

That I would view as a sleeping partnership.  Only down side could be if the other person died, or you fell out and then you would have problems breeding from him.  Also in the posters case where his future is to be decided later, suppose the partner wants to have him after a year.

It is important to set everything down on paper to avoid misunderstandings, especially what happens if one or other of you dies.

A Friend of mine had a dog in partnership and as you say he was her dog in all ways costs etc, but his sires owner (he was a stud fee pup) just had her name on his papers.  He was never used at stud so those issues didn't come into it, and he has since died. 

She stopped showing him after her son was born, and there were no problems over that, but in some cases there could have been, the same as with stud fees, and which bitches to accept.

Sounds a dumb qestion:rolleyes: would i be the sleeping one or the breeder in these circumstances then?

The breeder I would hope if you are the one paying for everything.  This is why you need every eventuality covered by an agreement.  For example suppose you no longer wanted to show, or wanted to have him castrated?

A friend of Friend had a bitch pup on terms.  When the bitch grew up the owners really didn't want to breed from her, they didn't think she had a suitable temperament.

The breeder insisted she wanted her bred from, but the timing wasn't good for the owners, and she was charged a fee for putting it off for a year, and then had to breed a litter the next year from a bitch they thought shouldn't be bred from, and they had to bear the costs too.

So they basically had a bitch for free, then paid the equivalent of a pet puppy for delaying breeding and had to give over two pups, bad bargain for them.

Slightly different situation to a partnership, but similar problems could crop up if not ironed out before hand.

I also knew someone who bought a puppy from a breeder who had the bitch and litter in partnership with life partner, the joint breeders/owners parted company and the other owner wouldn't sign the paperwork for the pups and left the country and the lady had a pup she couldn't register in her name or show.  don't know if it ever got sorted.

Thank you.. your input has help imensley

I would never have a dog in partnership,sadly in some pertnerships one does all the work commitments etc.. and the other takes the glory.
If its not crucial that you share a dog or dogs then I would advise not to.
Some people consider dogs just a means to an end whilst to others their dogs are their pets.
I knew of one Lady who was given a dog  free on terms by a breeder she said she wanted one litter the poor dog ended up having three litters two with ceasarian and  the Lady never had the guts to stand up to the breeder.
I suppose it may work for some people if you can view it as a business arrangement.

U need to draw up and both have signed copies of an agreement on how it will work. Seen plenty of good friends fall out over a 'misunderstanding'

YOu need everything in writing and to be truthful I may even go as far as to say do it legally!!!  Many "best friends" have fallen out doing this kind of thing.

Some people consider dogs just a means to an end whilst to others their dogs are their pets.

The above statement is very much me mattie.... my dogs are my pets before and above showing.