How to Fill Out and Submit the AKC Lease Notification Form

The AKC Lease Notification form is how you tell the American Kennel Club that the owner of a registered bitch has temporarily transferred her breeding rights to someone else, so that person becomes the official breeder of any litter born during the lease. You download the form from the AKC’s downloadable forms page, fill it in with the bitch’s registration details and specific start and end dates, collect signatures from every owner and every lessee, and mail it with a $50 check or money order to the AKC’s Raleigh office.¹ Credit cards are not accepted on paper forms.²

When You Have to File One

Under AKC registration rules, the breeder of a dog is whoever owned the dam when she was bred, unless the dam was leased, in which case the lessee is the breeder.³ If a bitch is leased at the time of whelping, the lessee is also the litter owner, and only the lessee can register that litter. In either situation the Lease Notification has to be on file with the AKC, or the litter registration application will be rejected.

Two boundaries worth knowing before you start. The AKC does not accept lease notifications for male dogs. It also does not accept leases filed to let someone else enter a dog in shows, obedience trials, or other AKC events; the right to exhibit stays with the actual owner.³

What to Gather Before You Fill It Out

Have this in front of you:

The bitch’s full AKC-registered name and her AKC registration number, exactly as they appear on her registration certificate.
The full name and mailing address of every registered owner. If the bitch is co-owned, every co-owner must be listed and must sign.³
The full name and mailing address of each lessee and co-lessee.
A specific lease start date and a specific end date. Every lease must have a termination date, and both dates must appear on the form.³

If the bitch has more than two co-owners and the form runs out of signature lines, use the AKC’s separate Additional Signature Form and submit it with the Lease Notification.⁴

One eligibility check before you go further. A bitch with limited registration status cannot usefully be leased, because any litters she produces are ineligible for AKC registration.⁵ The original breeder who sold her would have to revoke the limited registration first; the AKC charges $25 for that.¹ Imported bitches have their own prerequisite: any foreign-born dog registered with the AKC on or after March 1, 2006 must have a DNA profile on file before her first AKC-registered litter can be recorded.⁶ Sort both of these out before the breeding, not after the puppies arrive.

Filling Out the Form

Download the Lease Notification from the AKC’s downloadable forms page under the registration section.⁷ A separate version exists for Foundation Stock Service breeds, so grab the one that matches your bitch’s registration type.

Complete every field in ink. Enter the bitch’s registered name exactly as it reads on her certificate; a minor spelling difference will slow things down. Write in the start and end dates, then have every owner and every lessee sign.

Here is the detail people miss most often. If an owner wants to also be listed as the breeder of litters born during the lease, that person’s name must appear in both the owner section and the lessee section of the form.² Signing only as an owner does not carry you over as a breeder of the litter.

Where to Mail It and How to Pay

The AKC fee schedule lists “Record Lease of Bitch Agreement” at $50.00, nonrefundable, and subject to change without notice.¹ Pay by check or money order made out to “The American Kennel Club.” Credit card numbers on paper forms are no longer accepted, because of payment-card-industry security rules.² A submission mailed without the correct payment will be returned.

Mail the completed form and payment to:

The American Kennel Club
8051 Arco Corporate Dr Ste 100
Raleigh, NC 27617-3390²

Supporting documents can also be faxed to 919-816-4232, marked “Attn: Registry Research,” or emailed as scans to altreg@akc.org with “Registry Research” in the subject line.⁸ Keep a copy of everything you send. The AKC also recommends that both the owner and lessee each keep a signed copy of the full private lease agreement between them; the Lease Notification records the arrangement with the AKC but does not substitute for a written contract.³

What You Get Back

Once the AKC processes the notification, it sends confirmation to both the owner and the lessee. That confirmation is the lessee’s proof of authority to sign litter registration applications for puppies produced by the bitch during the lease period.² Without an approved Lease Notification on file, a litter application signed by the lessee will be rejected.

Keep your confirmation letter with your breeding records. You will need the lease details again when you fill out the litter registration application.

Extending or Ending the Lease

Every lease carries a termination date on the original form. When that date passes, the lease ends automatically and breeding rights revert to the owner with no further paperwork.

To push the end date back, use the AKC’s dedicated Request for Extension form, available on the same downloadable forms page as the Lease Notification.⁷ That is simpler than filing a new Lease Notification from scratch. If the two parties agree to end the arrangement early, notify the AKC in writing so the records show the real end date; otherwise the lessee will still appear as the authorized breeder for any litter whelped before the original termination date.

1
American Kennel Club. Fee Schedule
2
American Kennel Club. AKC Foundation Stock Service Lease Notification
3
American Kennel Club. AKC Procedures for Registration Matters – Section: V. Leasing a Bitch
4
American Kennel Club. Additional Signature Form
5
American Kennel Club. AKC Procedures for Registration Matters
6
American Kennel Club. Special Litter Registration Application
7
American Kennel Club. Downloadable Forms
8
American Kennel Club. Frequently Asked Questions