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Contracts

Video walkthrough: Watch on Loom (link coming soon)
Contracts lets you create your own legal contract templates and send them to buyers for signing — all inside BreederBuddy. No separate e-signature tool needed. Once signed, the contract is stored on the record automatically.

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What You Can Do Here

  • Start from a ready-made template (puppy sales, deposit, health guarantee, guardian home, and more) or write your own
  • Create reusable contract templates with your own terms and conditions
  • Send a contract to a buyer for electronic signature
  • Send a preview copy when you just want someone to read the contract, with no signature asked for
  • Include external sire or dam details on the contract for litters where you don’t own the other parent
  • Jump between a contract template and the buyer requests sent from it with one click
  • Track which contracts have been sent, signed, or are still waiting
  • Store signed contracts attached to the relevant dog and buyer
  • Review a full history of all contract requests sent

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How It Works

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Creating a Contract Template

  1. Go to Contracts in the left menu (under Sales).
  2. Click Add New Contract at the top right.
  3. Pick a starting point. Click Use this template on one of the ready-made templates (for example Puppy Sales & Health Guarantee, Puppy Deposit / Reservation, Health Guarantee, Spay/Neuter & Limited Registration, Guardian Home Agreement, or Stud Service Agreement), or click Start from a blank contract.
  4. Give it a Contract Title and edit the Terms & Conditions so they fit your program. Templates are starting points, not legal advice, so review them for your state and breed.
  5. Under Dog Fields to Include, tick the dog details you want printed on the contract (name, date of birth, microchip, registration numbers, sire and dam, and so on).
  6. Click Save. The template appears on your Contracts page, ready to reuse for every buyer.

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What the Ready-Made Templates Cover

Each one fills in your kennel name and the buyer’s name. All but the deposit template also fill in the dog’s breed (and the sales and health templates its date of birth). Every template is yours to edit.

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Sending a Contract for Signing

  1. Open the contract template you want to use.
  2. Click Send Contract to Customer at the top of the page.
  3. Choose the buyer under Customer, then pick the dog this contract is for. The dog is required whenever your contract’s wording pulls in dog details (like ${dog.breed}), which every ready-made template except Puppy Deposit / Reservation does. A contract with no dog details can go out without one.
  4. Fill in any custom variable values BreederBuddy asks for (like a price or pickup date).
  5. Click Save to send. BreederBuddy emails the buyer a secure link to review and sign (and a copy to their Secondary Email, if their contact has one). If you picked a dog the buyer doesn’t own yet, BreederBuddy asks Set Owner? so you can make them the owner in one click.
  6. The request now shows on the template’s Requests tab. When the buyer signs, it’s marked signed and everyone with a login on your account gets an email with a link to the signed PDF (plus a phone notification if you use the BreederBuddy mobile app). The buyer gets a receipt email with their own download link.
You can also send a contract from the buyer’s contact page (Financial & Contracts → Contract Requests → Send Contract), or from a litter’s Journey tab.

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How Buyers Sign

  1. The buyer opens the link in their email (or from their Buyer Portal).
  2. If the template has Require email verification for this contract turned on, they enter the 6-digit verification code from their email first.
  3. They read the contract, type their name in Your Name, and sign in Sign Below: draw it with a finger or mouse, or click Use Typed Signature to sign with their typed name instead.
  4. They submit, and see Contract Signed! No account or password is needed.
The signed PDF ends with an Electronic signature record: the contract title, a reference number, the signer’s name and email, the exact signing time (in UTC), and the IP address and device they signed from. It’s kept with the signed document as proof of who signed and when.

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Sending a Preview Instead of a Signature Request

Sometimes you want someone to read a contract without being asked to sign it — a buyer who is still deciding, a guardian home weighing the terms, or a friend giving your wording a second look.
  1. Start the send the same way, from Send Contract to Customer.
  2. At the bottom of the send window, tick Send as a preview only (no signature required).
  3. Send it.
They get the same secure link, but the email says here is your contract preview, and the page shows the full contract with no signature box at the bottom. Nothing about it is binding, and there is no way for them to sign it even if they try. Previews show up on the Requests tab with a blue preview badge so you can tell them apart at a glance. When your buyer is ready to commit, delete the preview and send the contract again with the box unticked.

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Tracking Signatures

Each contract template has a Requests tab that shows every time that contract has been sent out — who it was sent to, when, whether it’s been signed, and whether the email was delivered. Each request also shows its Verification Code, in case a buyer can’t find theirs. Clicking a request highlights it; you can jump straight back to the template from a request, too. To send the email again, click the resend (envelope) button on that request. You can also see every contract request for one buyer on their contact page under Financial & Contracts → Contract Requests.

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External Sire or Dam

If the contract is for a puppy from a litter where you don’t own one of the parents, add the ${dog.external_sire_name} or ${dog.external_dam_name} variable to your contract text. It fills in the outside sire’s or dam’s name from the puppy’s record, so you don’t need a dog profile for them.

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Printing or Downloading a Contract

If you’d like a paper copy — for in-person signings or your own files:
  1. Open the contract template and go to the Requests tab.
  2. Click Download Printable PDF.
  3. Optionally pick a customer and/or dog to prefill their details, and fill in any variable values. Leave both empty for a blank form with signature boxes.
  4. Click Download Printable PDF to save it, then print it like any PDF.
For contracts that were signed electronically, each signed request on the Requests tab has its own Download PDF button. Requests still waiting on a signature show View Contract instead.

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Using Variables (Auto-Filled Fields)

Variables are placeholders you type into your contract text that get filled in automatically — so one template works for every puppy and buyer.
  1. While editing your template’s Terms & Conditions, type a placeholder like ${dog.name} or ${purchase_price} right into the text.
  2. Once complete, the placeholder turns into a colored chip. (To change one later, delete the chip and retype it.)
  3. The Contract Variables panel below the editor lists every placeholder it detects. Expand Variable Legend & Library to browse the full list you can use.
There are two kinds:
  • Automatic variables pull straight from your records — for example ${dog.name}, ${dog.registration_number_1}, ${dog.sale_price}, ${contact.full_name}, ${contact.full_address}, or ${organization.name}. They fill in from the dog and buyer you pick when sending or downloading the contract.
  • Custom variables are anything you name yourself, like ${purchase_price} or ${pickup_date}. BreederBuddy asks you to type in each custom value when you send the contract or download a printable copy.

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Key Terms

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Tips & Common Questions

Your kennel logo is added automatically — every generated contract shows your organization’s profile picture at the top, above your kennel name. To set or change it, open Settings (click your profile picture in the top-right corner) and click the camera button on the profile picture at the top of the page. There’s no separate logo upload inside the contract editor.
Yes. Click Add New Contract, choose Start from a blank contract, and paste your contract’s text into Terms & Conditions. Add a Contract Title and click Save. It now works like any other template: send it with Send Contract to Customer and the buyer signs it online. To have names, dog details, and prices fill in for you, swap the blanks in your text for variables (see “Using Variables” above). You can’t upload a PDF or Word file to be signed. If you just need to share a finished document with a buyer, add it to their contact’s Attachments so it shows in their Buyer Portal for download (it won’t be signable there).
You don’t sign separately. When the buyer signs, BreederBuddy fills in the Breeder / Seller signature with your name automatically, using the first and last name of the account owner (the first login on your account, set in Settings → My Profile). On an account with several team members, that’s the owner’s name, not the name of whoever sent the contract. The signed PDF shows both signatures and the signing date. Printable PDFs you download for paper signing have blank signature lines for both of you.
No. Each contract keeps the exact wording it had when you sent it. Your edits apply to contracts you send from then on. To get the new version to someone who hasn’t signed yet, delete their request on the Requests tab and send the contract again.
No. Buyers only type their name and sign. Fill in anything that changes per buyer yourself when you send it: put a custom variable like ${puppy_sex} or ${pickup_date} in your text, and BreederBuddy asks you for each value when you click Send Contract to Customer. Agree on the choice with the buyer first, then send.
The top of every contract shows your kennel name and picture, your business address and website if you’ve added them, and the account owner’s email and phone number. The phone number and name come from Settings → My Profile. The email is the one the account owner signs in with. If you need that changed, message us in the chat. To show a different email in the body of the contract, type it into your text instead of using the ${organization.owner_email} variable.
Not at once. Contracts go to one buyer at a time, so each one is tied to that buyer and their puppy. Send each with Send Contract to Customer, or from the buyer’s contact page under Financial & Contracts → Contract Requests.
Correct the email on their contact first (Contacts → open them → Edit Details → Save). Then open the contract, go to the Requests tab, and click the envelope button on their request. The resend always goes to the email that’s on their contact now.
Open the contract and go to its Requests tab. Each request shows whether it’s signed, still waiting, or a preview, and whether the email was delivered. To see everything for one buyer, open them in Contacts and go to Financial & Contracts → Contract Requests.
It’s a custom variable, ${serviceMethod}, in the Stud Service Agreement template. It’s where you say how the breeding will happen, for example “natural cover”, “fresh chilled AI”, or “frozen AI”. BreederBuddy asks you to type it in each time you send or print that contract. If you always use the same method, replace the variable in your template’s text with the words themselves.
Yes — you can create as many contract templates as you need. For example, a standard puppy contract, a guardian home agreement, or a co-own contract.
There’s no duplicate button right now. To reuse a template as a starting point, open the existing one, copy the contract text, then click Add New Contract, choose Start from a blank contract, and paste it in.
Yes — tick Send as a preview only (no signature required) at the bottom of the send window. They get the same secure link, but the email says it’s a preview and the page has no signature box. It’s useful for a buyer who is still deciding, or for a second pair of eyes on your terms. When they’re ready to go ahead, delete the preview from the Requests tab and send the contract again with the box unticked.
No. Buyers receive a link by email and sign by typing their name and either drawing their signature or using their typed name. No account or password needed.
Open the contract template and go to the Requests tab. Each request shows whether the email was delivered and lists the buyer’s Verification Code, so you can read it to them. Double-check the buyer’s email address on their contact, ask them to look in spam, then click the resend button on the request. If you don’t want buyers to need a code at all, untick Require email verification for this contract on the template.
Signed contracts are stored under the contract template’s Requests tab (click Download PDF) and are also accessible from the buyer’s contact profile under Contract Requests. BreederBuddy also saves the signed PDF to the buyer’s Attachments tab and, if the contract was for a dog, to that dog’s Attachments tab.

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Still Have Questions?

We’re here to help. If something isn’t working the way you expect, or you’d like to have a discussion around a certain topic, please reach out to us anytime through the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. Thank you.