Stud fees

Question
Do you pay a stud fee before or after the "coupling", and if after, is it dependent upon it "taking" or do you pay each time they get together, whether it works or not?

Answer
Arrangements do vary depending on the stud dog owner, but the typical stud fee arrangement for Boxers is that you pay the stud fee up front.  (Sometimes you pay half up front, and half by the time the puppies are seven days old.)  If no breeding takes place, the stud fee is returned (sometimes after deducting the stud dog owner's fees for boarding the bitch, vet services that may have been required, etc.)  If a breeding takes place but no litter is conceived, you get a repeat breeding (same bitch, same dog) at the next season for no (or a very minor, again to cover boarding/vet) additional stud fee.

What constitutes a "litter" varies, but in general for Boxers it's two live colored puppies, either born or living to seven days of age.  (Technically if the bitch becomes pregnant, the stud dog has fulfilled his duty - he has no influence on whether the bitch carries to term, or whether her puppies survive past whelping; however most stud dog owners do at least extend their obligation to a live birth.)

In some other breeds a common arrangement is a 'service fee' that is retained so long as a breeding takes place, and then a 'litter fee' or 'per puppy fee' paid after the bitch whelps.  (I'm assuming since this is in the Boxer section you're asking about Boxers, but thought I'd mention it just in case!)

As an aside, I have information and resources on both breeding a Boxer bitch and using a Boxer dog at stud on my website, here:
http://www.newcastleboxers.com/wannabreed.shtml
http://www.newcastleboxers.com/wannastud.shtml

~Jennifer