Question about a "no breeding" statment on a sales contract

[outsiders_girl]

On my sales contract, I have a thing where it says "This chin has breeding /show quality parents. They will come with a pedigree, but this does not guarantee that they should be bred." Then it goes on to state the age and weight ect... a chin should be before going into breeding. It also says to be responsible, and if this animal is not of age, weight, size or quality, don't breed him/her.

I have another thing where it says "This chinchilla is NOT to be bred." I go on to say that if they would like to know why this chin isn't to be bred, to contact me ect...

But I have a few questions... I say in the "not to be bred" one that the chin doesn't come with a pedigree (although it may have one)... but IMO, every owner should have the right to the pedigree....but I was wondering if there is a way that I can "enforce" this statement about, "the chin isn't to be bred"... or is all I can do just say that he/she isn't to be bred... and hope that they listen.

I'm getting better quality chins- I'm looking into buying some who have placed in a show and/or have parents who have placed in a show. But there are always some cases that I don't want a kit to be bred- ex: When we had a small kit born, and she had been through a lot... she ended up passing away, but if she lived I probably would of kept her. But if for some reason I couldn't keep her, I would of put her in a home where she was not to be bred, because she would probably be too small and I just thought that after her "fight for life" she deserved to be a pet only. If I would of had to sell her, and I said she wasn't to be bred, and they bred her anyways, is there anything that I could do?

[CorneliusChins]

I seriously don't think there's anything enforcable about the contract, becuase you'd never know if they were to breed or not. I'm sure they'd go to lengths after you said not to breed, to stick away from you when selling kits from the chin. It sucks that there are no real rules with chins and people can breed chins however they want to. I hope that just the act of signing a no breed contract will make people think twice, because they did sign something.. But, who knows.. It's another one of those gut feeling things I guess.. If you don't like the people, don't sell to them - Jessica

[lilchinchilla]

Wouldn't it be some sort of fraud on the part of the buyer, if they purchased a chin, signed a contract not to breed, but did it anyhow? I mean I would think that would be breech of contract.

[Megan.]

I give out pedigree's with my chins, even the non breed able ones i've sold. I do this so the new owner can see who his parents were. I specifically state on the pedigree as well that this animal is not for breeding, and state why it's not for breeding on the pedigree. This is done in bold, and in large letters so each time they look at the ped. this stands out.

[vetchic26]

Working with dogs, people think just because it has papers it can/should be bred and will make them money. AKC even states that AKC registered only means a known mother, known father and known birthdate. It does not say anything for the breed standards or temprament of the dog, but people think it means they have a perfect dog.

I don't have a pedigree nor have I seen one for chins, is there a way you can do an alternate one, sort of like what Megan was saying, one that might say who the parents are, but be very obvious that chin should not be bred.

As far as an enforcable contract, good luck. How would you know if the chin was bred? It would take some freak coincidences for that to happen (ie if you saw the parents of a chin were the chin you didn't want bred). Not much is enforcable, you'd have to prove they did it, and I'm sure you'd have to prove they did it on purpose.

I think the best bet is to ask many questions and like/trust the person buying your chin and be comfortable with them. When I do "rescue" work with dogs (out of my own pocket for just a few dogs), they always go out on a contract. I prefer to keep in contact with the new owners, but you pretty much can't make them do anything.

[outsiders_girl]

I give out pedigree's with my chins, even the non breed able ones i've sold. I do this so the new owner can see who his parents were. I specifically state on the pedigree as well that this animal is not for breeding, and state why it's not for breeding on the pedigree. This is done in bold, and in large letters so each time they look at the ped. this stands out.



Thanks for the advice everyone!

Megan: I can see why it would be a good idea to give out pedigrees with every chin... IMO, every owner has the right to know their chin history... and I like the idea about specifically putting on the ped that it's not to be bred and why...

[Lars]

IMO, it is best to provide all vital AND pedigree info on any animal you offer to another party. If the seller is under the opinion that the animal is sold as PET ONLY or as BREEDING/Show quality, this should also be stated.
As far as calling it a contract, that would imply to me that there is some type of legal agreement, signed and notarized by each party and filed with a lawyer under the laws of the city, state and/or country. I use a purchase agreement. In this agreement, I give all that info to the new owner, and also spells out exactly what is to be expected by BOTH parties. If the sell chooses not to follow the agreement, after the fact and I find out, then I will be hard pressed to deal with that person again.
Vetchic26 has some valid points when speaking of selling dogs. A dog could be sold by a breeder , with an AKC "limited" registration (effectively making it PET ONLY with AKC Papers), but there are OTHER dog registeries (Like APR, etc) that will accept the pedigree of the AKC dog, put APR registration on the dog, and then someone breeds it, selling the pups as purebred and registered. Which they are, but where have you ever seen a APR show???
It all comes down to how honorable the breeder is and what kind of reputation they want to build. Chin registry is like rabbit register (or like SO many other small animals), it is the honor system of the breeder(s). It really pays to know what you are dealing with, and keep great records!

[outsiders_girl]

I guess that calling it a contract is like a legal agreement... and it's not... I have a questionnaire and a sales agreement... I have decided that when ever possilbe, I will give out the ped... but with it stated that the chin should not be bred- but I do have a few pet chins who don't have a ped- in any case, all I can do is make them aware that the chinchilla is not to be bred, and hope that they keep them as a pet...

[jsmyrnov]

The definition of a legal and binding written contract depends on your state. Some states require two witnesses to sign. Some require it to be notarized. Some require to to be printed and signed by a lawyer and some require nothing at all besides something to the tune of, "This is a legal and binding contract." Many states actually only require notification that by signing your name on the dotted line, you are in fact entering into a legal contract. This notification usually is contained within the contract.

Taking legal action on the other hand, is where it gets sticky. Contracts of this size (as in monetary value of the chinchilla) are typically handled in civil court, not criminal. Depending how much time the court would actually want to give you, the other person could just not show up and that's the end of it. You couldn't simply go into their home and take the animal. So you could use that in your contract as somewhat of a threat, but I don't know how much good it would do for you.

For anyone that wishes to question my information, this is according to 5 different lawyers. 3 in Iowa and 1 in Minnisota and 1 in Illinois. We had to contact them about something similar when buying a cat. If you wish to know all of the circumstances surrounding that, please feel free to PM me.

[outsiders_girl]

IMO my thing isn't a contract... it's just a questionnaire they fill out before buying the animal- it has questions like "do you have a chin vet on hand... address?" "what type of feed" ect... it you wish to see it, you can go to www.leesburgchins.teach-nology.com . It's on the site there (I haven't updated in a few weeks though)