Co-ownership with FHF

First Harmony Farms started Co-owning some dogs with friends and family so that we could try to have a litter of puppies every year without having to own too many dogs personally. As much as we love breeding, we were not willing to live with more dogs than we already owned, which only allowed for an occasional litter. We eventually gave some favorite puppies to family members with the agreement that we get to possibly compete and breed with them. Not every dog/bitch has turned into a breeder, but many of our breeders have lived in other homes. Eventually, we also had some friends interested in co-owns as well. This grew to us having co-owns with a variety of people over the years, some old friends and some became friends over time. We are open to a variety of co-own contracts, but all are for people interested in breeding their dogs/bitches. Other than the occasional breeding, the dog lives with the co-own. With some dogs and if the co-own is interested, the dog/bitch may come back to FHF to board, breed, or show. Most co-owns show themselves, but some have us do the competing and they just help with the training. The benefits to the Buyer are that they get a chance at the first pick puppy from a cross and we will do all the paperwork for getting the dog registered and health tested. Co-owns do have some say on pick of the litter, but we will always pick one of our favorite puppies. This is rarely decided before 7 weeks old. We are also willing to help train and compete the dog to help title it and get Personal Best scores. We love helping new breeders get started but cannot guarantee that we will use the co-owns in our program.  

Price:
This varies depending on the dog, how important the dog is to our breeding program, who is doing all the showing, who is paying entry fees, who is paying for health testing, and how well I know the Buyer. 

Health testing:
FHF will cover any health testing for breeding if done at the Animal Care Clinic in Princeton, IL.  

Male Co-owns:

1. FHF gets a set number of breedings back.
2. FHF retains all breeding rights for their and their co-own dogs
3. FHF shares breeding rights with the buyer if they own females

Buyer can choose to not stud to any other females, offer outside females themselves (if an experienced breeder) or have FHF advertise the stud and split the stud fee equally between FHF and the buyer. 

Female Co-owns: 

1. FHF gets 1-2 puppys back with full registration
2. FHF gets 2 litters back with full registration
3. FHF does have to approve the stud used. 

Registration:
The dog/bitch will usually stay in our name or as a co-own on the papers.

Breeding Requirements:
In order to breed the pup in our name they have to be something that we want to add to our program. Here are some of the questions we ask when making breeding decisions. 

1. Did they pass satisfactory health testing?
2. Do they have a neutral, friendly, or socialite temperament?
3. Are they easily trained compared to other dogs? 
4. Are they athletic?
5. Are they easy to live with for their breed?
6. Does their structure improve our program?
7. Does anyone in our breeding group want a puppy? If not now, in the future? If not, I will let the buyer spay or buy out our co-own. Unfortunately we can't keep any where near as many puppies as we would like. 
8. MAS and ES must be at least 2 years old to breed, BCs 3 or close to 3.