there is a litter whose bloodlines I am interested in and a male puppy who I like the look of very much. However I am not in a position to have another puppy at present. The breeder has suggested I become an co-owner with her. I am just wondering what other peoples agreements involve for doing this type of thing?

The breeder has said that I would pay 50% of the asking price of the puppy. and then 50% of all expenses such as food, vets bills, show entries, training classes, health tests etc. The puppy would live with her. My name would appear in the show catalogue as co-owner and I would be able to use him at stud without any charge. To me this seems like I am paying out an awful lot of money and not getting much back while she is getting to keep her puppy with a lot of his expenses paid.

The owner lives at the other end of the country so I would not be able to see the puppy except at shows. It seems to me that I might just as well let her keep him and pay a stud fee if I do want to use him in the future. Which reminds me she hasn't mentioned what happens to stud fees if he is used at stud. I presume I should be able to expect 50% of those back. I will ask her. But of course at this stage there is no way of knowing if he is likeley to be used at stud. What is the normal arrangement for a co-owned dog? and are there any pitfalls?

I agree with you I see no point in co-ownership outside of family members, or a breeder keeping an interest in one of their breeding once it has moved to a new home, or as in my case where four of us imported a dog (none of us could afford it alone with 6 months Quarantine and importation costs) to be owned jointly for a specified period and we all contributed equally to costs, with a amount for his keep going to the one with whom he lived.

That sounds like a really expensive way to get your name in the catalogue if you know what I mean. Who makes the decisions regarding shows, his future breedings (yes/no) etc?

Personally co-ownership is not for me and i have seen it go so wrong with a sibling of my pup who was sold on co ownership and both breeder and co-owner (pup was to live with co owner) were best friends and so delighted and it was all perfect... until the pup did not develop as the co-owner wanted and she wanted to sell her. The breeder was not in a position to keep her herself so puppy was sold to a third party and the two co-owners will pretty much never speak again.

Tread carefully is all :)

I'm actually surprised that the breeder even wishes to do this, it must be for financial reasons? There are all sorts of reasons for shared ownership for a breeder it is generally in not having the room and needing to spread their wings in other ways, shared ownership sometimes it works but, often it causes problems, but it generally isn't for financial reasons.

There is no benefit here for you, if you really cannot have the pup for yourself right now, I suggest that you just wait and get your own pup at a later time. :-)

If it's just for financial help there may be more problems ahead... I think i would avoid.

I think the breeder would have liked me to have the puppy but when I said I wasn't able to have one at present she came up with this co-ownership scheme. For me there is no point owning a dog unless it lives with me and I can have it as a pet. The costs involved did nothing to tempt me into co-ownership and I just wondered if it was a normal arrangement as I couldn't see any benefit to the owner who didn't have the dog.

This is vanity ownership, common in the US. Nothing in it for the owner but bragging rights. Everything in it for the breeder...it pays their showing expenses.

I have co-owned a few. The male dog we imported we paid 50 % each for of the purchase price and the import costs (which included paying the breeder to keep the pup until the passport was ready, when you had the long wait.) He lives with my friend and she pays all expenses for him including show entries -but then she gets to keep any stud fees and she is the one who keeps rosettes and cards etc. (It says on the KC website that a co-owner can request a copy of a CC, but when I did this nothing ever arrived.) We pay half of the insurance. When I had a litter from him I let her have a pup for free (well two actually but two was because we didn't have enough homes so each had to keep two.) I will still give her a free pup, if she wants one, the next time I use him.

The others have all been bitches and that have been different, as they were not bought in but were co-owned with their breeder. So I didn't pay a penny, but they lived/live with me and therefore I paid all expenses such as food, vets and show entries, and the agreements were in relation to pups; basically the litters being split between us. (As it is a toybreed we are only talking small litters of 3 or 4.)

Sharing the expenses of an import, breeding terms etc is different but the 'having your name on it' and paying for that is a bit like fostering a panda IMO.
All you seem to get is a 'free stud' ...a very expensive stud in the long run.

From an outsider's POV (I don't breed or show), the first question that came to my mind is: what's the point?

You would like a pup, but you'd only get to see him at shows; what if she doesn't go to many?

You'd be paying 50% of everything for a dog you rarely see and don't get to enjoy outside of a show - you're missing the walks, the play, the training, the special moments.  So, what's the point?

Now, I do co-own a dog - my own puppy is co-owned with a friend.  She pays the insurance, I pay everything else and Willow lives with me.  But we did it with her best interests in mind - she's a rescue, she's had a rough start and despite trying to find the right home for her, the right one didn't surface and she was showing signs of becoming a very nervous, reactive dog indeed without just the right handling.  So we talked it over and came to our current arrangement, so that Willow would have the best start in the circumstances and she's turning into quite the confident little madam :-D  But, I get to enjoy the growing, playing, training, walks etc and my friend gets to see her at least once a week and enjoy her too (she would like to have kept her but her current dogs were very stressed by her).

You're buying bragging rights, really. Most people quite rightly prefer a dog to that :)

I own a dog in partnership, but he lives with me. His breeder lives just a few miles away so could visit any time she wanted. I pay for his keep, the show entries, his insurance, in fact everything really. He is the 3rd I've had from her, but the first in partnership. I would walk away from what the OP has described. You could pay for the stud fee instead of co-owning him, and it would be a lot cheaper ;-)