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MAPLESPRING'S
Australian Shepherds
Co-ownership Program
We first and foremost breed for ourselves, to keep our breeding program going. We try to keep only the best from our litters. It is our goal to successfully develop our line and preserve the breed, however there is a limit to how many dogs can live with us in our home, so we can still provide perfect care for them and keep them as happy as possible. We love the idea of all our breeding dogs living in nice family environment as a loved pet and a co-ownership program is offering just that. This program is a way to let all our breeding dogs live with their own families and still participate in our breeding program, We are so happy that this way you help keeping the breed alive.
''Pick of the litter'' puppy
First, let's clarify what a pick of the litter is. ''Pick of the litter'' is a puppy, that the breeder considers to be the best of the entire litter, based on the puppy's conformation, movement, type, temperament... usually this puppy will stay at home and live with the breeder, however it may happen that a breeder can not keep the puppy (to provide a quality life we can not have 20 dogs at home ;-)) or maybe they've found that 2 puppies are of similar quality and have decided that both of them should be a part of their breeding program. If this is the case, the breeder will often try and get their pick of the litter into a co-owner's home, meaning the puppy will officially have 2 owners (the breeder and their new owners), live with the co-owners and return to the breeder on several occassions. When and how often a co-owned puppy visites the breeder varies from situation to situation.
Benefits of co-ownership
Co-ownership benefits both, the breeder and the co-owner.
For the breeder the benefit is quite obvious as they get to preserve and continue their lineage and breeding program, while offering the puppy to grow up in it's own home with it's own family.
But of course there are also benefits for the co-owners. While this does depend on the agreement, the following loosely describes them. The one that is most appealing to most puppy buyers, is the fact that you might get your puppy for a lower price. While you do pay the full ''pethome puppy'' price when you pick your puppy up, we will refund you a part of it after the dog's been used in our breeding program. But still you get the best puppy of the litter for a normal pet puppy price. The next one is that your dog will be fully health tested and you will not have to spend a cent on it, as the breeder will cover the cost of these tests. If you were to be interested in owning a puppy from your dog, you would be moved to the top of the waitlist. The breeder will most likely also take your dog to a couple of shows with them so they can finish their championship, meaning you would have a champion show dog living with you at home and to top it off, as showing requires for a dog to be groomed, you will have a professionally groomed dog after every show weekend. After the dog is retired form showing and the breeder's breeding program, the breeder will cover the cost of spaying/neutering.
Co-owning a puppy
As I've mentioned, every co-ownership is different. It is an individual agreement between us and our puppy buyers. But it always starts with you getting a puppy. This could happen when the puppy is 9 weeks old or later on. It might take the breeder a few more weeks to evaluate wich puppy to keep in their breeding program or maybe a breeder has a 6 months old dog at home that they believe would do better with their own family as an only dog. In either of these cases, when you would pick up your puppy, you wouldn't only be signing the ordinary contract, but a co-ownership agreement as well. After this the puppy lives with you and it becomes part of your family.
After the puppy reaches 4 months of age it is officially old enough to be entered in a dog show. We usually want the puppy to get used to showing so we might take it with us at first just as a part of socialization and later on to compete. The schedule of when the puppy is shown and which show it will be entered to is a part of indiviual agreement. We usually don't show much before the puppy is 9 months old and is old enough to start a junior championship. A male puppy will usually be shown more often than a female puppy. All of the show entries and transport fees are the breeder's responsibility.
At a year old we will do a partial evaluation to see whether the puppy is apropriate to join our breeding program. This is mostly an assesment of their temperament, breed type, movement, conformation... If by any chance your puppy isn't appropriate for breeding, we will sign over the ownership to you and pay for the puppy to be spayed/neutered at the right age. If all goes according to plan, your puppy continues to be occassionnally shown and at aproximatelly 18 months old we will have his hips and elbows X-rayed and evaluated to see if there are any signs of hip or elbow dysplasia. If the results are ok, we will proceed and also do the breed apropriate genetic testing. After this we would take the dog to gain an official breeding license.
We require for any dog of ours to finish a championship, prior to breeding, so before your dog would get bred we would've finished at least one championship on them.
Co-owning a male
After your boy has all the health testing done and has finished at least one championship, recieved his breeding license and reached 2 years of age, we will add him to our program. It might be that we own a female we would use him on, or we will have him available at stud to outside females. Every female that your dog will be bred to must be approved by the breeder. How many times he will be bred is specified in the co-ownership agreement. We might have some of his semen frozen and saved. Your dog will come to the breeder's house for a week when being bred. As mentioned above, we will try and get more championships on him. After we decide to retire him, we will pay for him to be neutered and after that, the full ownership will be signed over to you.
Co-owning a female
After your girl has all the health testing done and has finished at least one championship, recieved her breeding license and reached 2 years of age, we will add her to our program. How many times she will be bred is specified in the co-ownership agreement, it might be only 1 time or maybe we have agreed to breed her up to 3 times. Your female will be bred to a male chosen by the breeder. When she will be in heat, the breeder will take her to the male, or have her at home during the cruital days to perform an artificial insemination. After this she will return home to you and you will be given thorough instrutions on caring for a pregnant female. Around 28th day of pregnancy, the breeder will take her to have pregnancy confirmation via ultrasound. She will again return to you and later on around day 45, she will leave with the breeder. We usually do another ultrasound confirmation around the same time. Your girl will then stay with the breeder for the whelping and raising a litter. You are of course welcome to visit her often. After the puppies are completly weaned and most have left for their new home, you girl returns home to you. We will pay for her to be spayed after her last litter and after this sign over full-ownership to you.
Please note that the infomation above is very generalized and we try our best to make this situatuion to fit the co-owners schedule. The agreements itself are very flexible and we discuss with our puppy buyers what would suit them best.
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