Dog breeders advice?

We have a cav on main registration who we recently bred on the 21st December. We would like her desexed but I agreed with her breeder she could have a pup from her when the time came. Anyway I have not had a scan done on her and we are not sure if she is pregnant. I have her booked in for a check up next week when if pregnant she will be 7weeks.

My concern is I called the owner of the male dog yesterday to let her know how things were going and I said she does not obviously look pregnant and perhaps if she is she may only have a small litter. The male dog owner said well I hope there is more then 1 as we can't cut the pup in half. So this has me thinking what happens if the female only has one pup? When its agreed that the male dog owner gets pick of the litter. It was something we never talked about as we assumed if she did get pregnant she should have more then 1. In this case what would the normal thing be to do?

I would honor my first promise and then make arrangements for some type of compensation to the male dog owners. You can not control how many pups are produced so it is first in best dressed in my eyes.

Thanks for your reply Kazzo. Obviously my dog has not had any pups for me to do a headcount but just not sure what would normally happen in this situation. The male dog owner's price is pick of the litter or $$ to the value of a pup. In the event that she did only have 1 pup that does not seem right that the male dog owner gets it but then its also not right that they miss out. It really would be a better option for our dog to have no pups then 1. I really hope we are not faced with this situation as last night the male dog owner made herself quiet clear she is not missing out. I thought if she were to get the pup that at the very minimum she should offer to rebreed my dog at a later date not that I really want that either or perhaps half the value of the one pup.

So the breeder you got your dog from wants a pup, and so does the male dogs owner? If your dog were to only have one, I'd give it to your dogs breeder and pay the other dogs owner for his services. I'd also research if it makes a difference to the price if the mating is successful or not. There may not be a difference but it seems pretty steep to me to pay her the value of a puppy. She just needs to rock up and let her dog have a good time, you need to look after a pregnant dog and then her puppies - it's not cheap.

Honestly, if you'd planned on keeping a puppy too, I'd put yourself and your dogs breeder before the other.

If the agreement is that she gets a pup, then she gets a pup. That was her price, and you agreed to it. She provided a product/service in terms of her dog covering yours, and her fee for service was a pup or the value of a pup. An unsuccessful mating doesn't negate the fact that she provided the service. Unless her dog didn't cover yours (i'm assuming mating was witnessed) or you can prove that the "fault" for small litter was her dog (limited sperm or similar) then there is no reason she should be penalised. If the agreement had been "x percent of the sale price of the pups" or something which made her payment contingent on pup numbers and sale, maybe it would be different - but her price was either a pup from the litter, or the sale price of a pup. if your dog only has one pup and you want to keep it, then the cost becomes a dollar one for you to pay for the services provided.

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If the agreement is that she gets a pup, then she gets a pup. That was her price, and you agreed to it. She provided a product/service in terms of her dog covering yours, and her fee for service was a pup or the value of a pup. An unsuccessful mating doesn't negate the fact that she provided the service. Unless her dog didn't cover yours (i'm assuming mating was witnessed) or you can prove that the "fault" for small litter was her dog (limited sperm or similar) then there is no reason she should be penalised. If the agreement had been "x percent of the sale price of the pups" or something which made her payment contingent on pup numbers and sale, maybe it would be different - but her price was either a pup from the litter, or the sale price of a pup. if your dog only has one pup and you want to keep it, then the cost becomes a dollar one for you to pay for the services provided.

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Good point. You've essentially entered into a contract, and although it seems unfair now if there's only one pup, you can't really change the conditions of the contract. If you were going to breed her again I'd do things differently next time.

There is no contract just verbal agreement that if she were to fall pregnant then the male dog owner gets pick of the litter. We assumed if she got pregnant she should have a few and there was no mention of what to do if she only had 1. She may not be pregnant and if she is she may have a few and the problem would be solved.

Fingers crossed then that there is no pups or atleast two :)

Did the male dog owner know of the agreement with your dogs breeder before your dogs mated? Or just when you told them you thought there might only be one pup. I think by what you said in your original post they did, just want to check.

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There is no contract just verbal agreement that if she were to fall pregnant then the male dog owner gets pick of the litter. We assumed if she got pregnant she should have a few and there was no mention of what to do if she only had 1. She may not be pregnant and if she is she may have a few and the problem would be solved.

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From a reputation POV (your reputation) i would be erring on the side of treating a verbal agreement in the same way as a contract.

Have you explained to the stud dog that you got your girl on breeding terms from her breeder?

In England (where I'm from) you'd offer pick of the litter to the original breeder, then 2nd pick would go to the stud dog owner. Then you'd get 3rd pick.

If only one puppy then original breeder gets the pup, stud dog owner gets $$ and you're left with nothing.

Breeding terms and pick of litter instead of stud fees is really messy and needs every eventuality written down and agreed before any mating takes place.

Good luck and I hope the whelping goes well.

A verbal agreement is a contract. You have two contracts in place, one with the breeder and one with the stud dog's owner. I'd probably contact VTAC to see if they can offer any assistance on how to resolve this, before talking to both the other parties.