Stud Service for Boxers and Whelping

Question
First I am having problems, I breed my boxer bitch with a stud boxer in October.  We made a verbal agreement to pick of the litter for stud services.  Were not breeders normally we just wanted to get a puppy from our bitch and then we will have her fixed.  Now the couple that owned the stud are trying to say they get half of the puppies and that is how it should be.  That is unheard of I have breed dogs with my dad and never heard of this type of deal nor did we make that deal.  Everything was verbal.  Could you explain to me that most stud services that I seen it's either a fee or a pick of the litter.  This dog is AKC but never been a show dog.  It's a nice looking stud and I believe that it's fair that they have pick of the litter or I would be willing to give them up to $700.00.  They are saying that isn't the way it works.  Can you help?  Also Whelping is for 7 days, after that the puppies should be much safer to live?  I had their tales cut and dew claws done on the 3rd day will that make it worse for the dogs to survive? thank you

Answer
Hi Debbie. If you made a verbal agreement to pick of the litter, then that it what it should be. You are correct, stud owners either get pick of the litter, or a stud fee. They most certainly aren't entitled to half the litter. It's your dog that is whelping, it's you the owner that is taking care of the pups, and paying for their care. Do not let these people bully you into giving them half the litter, they're not entitled to them, and was not their agreement from the get go. If they refuse to sign the litter registration for the puppies, put in a complaint to the AKC. If you have to sell these pups without papers, so be it. Just don't give them half the litter. They need to keep their word to you. The only way a person may get half the litter is if the breeder sells you a dog on co-ownership, and this is part of the deal. Some breeders will give a female pup, or sell really cheap, on co-ownership as long as they get pick of the female's first litter, sometimes even half of the litter. I've never heard of a stud owner getting half of the pups. As to your second question, I'm not sure what you're saying.:-) As for the tails/dewclaws, most breeders do these on day 3. If you have a smaller puppy, you can wait another day or two to let him catch up a bit, but 3 days is normal.