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Pick of the litter


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Hi! How can u choose which puppy will be the one that is for you? I am looking for a BC that will do well in obdience and agility but that will be a pet/companion for me and my retriever first. I have been told you are best to buy a conformation type BC as they are more relaxed and calm and that working stock do not make good pets at all. Are there any tests you can carry out on a pup to see if its temprement is suitable?

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Guest Anonymous

Am I annoying yet?
1) watch how the pup interacts with the rest of the litter. Is it attacking everybody, just hanging out, or hanging back hiding in the corner.
2) pick the pup up and roll it on it's back. Does it whine and squirm to get away, does it squirm a little then lay there, does it lay there fearfully.
3)if you can bring your kids along to see how the puppy reacts to the kids and how the kids react to the puppy
I don't want to be a know it all :oops: But I just went through the same thing just a short while ago.... unfortunatly I found this forum only after I got Hazel and I instead did a lot of reading and talked to a lot of people. This is just so much easier.... and as for advice goes... always take it with a grain of salt, especially mine as I am only novice who likes to try and help! :lol:

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Guest Anonymous

opps forgot to tell you the results! :oops: The middle answere is what you want. And I am not saying that the other two wont do, but this is how I tested my dog and this was the advice I heard the most as far as picking the pup. It was simply said that the first of the answers would most likely be a dominant dog and the last of the answers would be very submissive, possibly shy. (the last thing you want with children is a shy dog, as they tend to bite in fear...the worst kind of biting.... :( ) The first thing Hazel did as she was released to meet us with her siblings was run to me and chew on my shoe laces (she still likes shoes.... sigh)
As I said I am only a novice so please take a few more replies to see what you get.
And now I will shut up. :wink:

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='Axel']Hi! How can u choose which puppy will be the one that is for you? I am looking for a BC that will do well in obdience and agility but that will be a pet/companion for me and my retriever first. I have been told you are best to buy a conformation type BC as they are more relaxed and calm and that working stock do not make good pets at all. Are there any tests you can carry out on a pup to see if its temprement is suitable?[/quote]
There are tests that indicate aptitudes. One site that has the standard test is [url]http://www.doglogic.com/PuppyAptitudeTest.htm[/url]
For the sports you indicate you also want a dog that has good conformation so its body can hold up to the stress and strains of such competition actions as the dog will be required to perform. A dog with a compulsion to work might be hard to live with unless it has a job every day to do.
Personally I'd go looking for a breeder who breeds obedience titled dogs as well as conformation champions and LISTEN to the breed about which dog might be right for you.
As a breeder I never let people pick a pup - I interview them and tell them if I have a pup that might suit them (or not!) and then let pup and people meet. After living practically in the whelping box for 8-12 weeks and knowing all the generations leading up to the litter I figure I have the best shot at knowing who will suit each pup - so far no prescreened buyers have disagreed :wink:

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I know nothing about BC's so please forgive me if I am way off base here. I suspect that it is similar to GSD's working vs show. You have already stated that you will give the dog a job to do. I would get familiar with the breed standard and then either find a working line that has good conformationor or a showline that produces good workers. These can be few and far between. Yes, the working lines will most likely need a job to do, but most dogs can channel their drives though they may need to be shown you are Alpha. If you get a pup and raise him properly you should have no problem. Some showline breeders you have to watch because they sometimes breed with disregard for temperment. Working line breeders pay more attention to temperment because dogs with bad nerves and temperments do not work as well. JMO

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

:lol: hi I select a lot of puppies as I train them to do herding .I think the main think to look at is your own personality .If your a strong confident person your best with a more outgoing puppy as it will not be intimidated by you .If your a quieter person you many be better off with a more timid pup or you maybe someone in between. I certainly wouldnt recommend the breeder to pick a pup for you as I feel this is one of the most important moments of bonding for you in a pup.Sometimes people give me their pups to train and there personality clashes with mine and it becomes a struggle to train the dog .Anyway good luck in your search

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='working koolie']:lol: hi I select a lot of puppies as I train them to do herding .I think the main think to look at is your own personality .If your a strong confident person your best with a more outgoing puppy as it will not be intimidated by you .If your a quieter person you many be better off with a more timid pup or you maybe someone in between. I certainly wouldnt recommend the breeder to pick a pup for you as I feel this is one of the most important moments of bonding for you in a pup.Sometimes people give me their pups to train and there personality clashes with mine and it becomes a struggle to train the dog .Anyway good luck in your search[/quote]

If the breeder knows what they are doing they can do a better job of picking a pup out for you than you can because they will have thoroughly screened you before you ever even see the pups as well as knowing all of the pups individual abilities and tendencies.
I as a breeder have refused 5 times the purchased price (counted as cash into my unwilling hand and handed right back) for one of my pups because I knew it was the wrong temperament for the home that wanted it. The people later came back and paid the normal price for the right pup and adored it for the next 13 years. I would no more let a novice pick out their own pup than I would let a novice tell me which pup I should take to fit into my home out of a litter of pups they cannot tell apart except by color.
Its a shame you take on dogs you cannot properly handle to train - often it ruins the dog's performance to have a poor handler like that. Adapatability is the key to training - a softer dog requires softer handling and a harder dog requires more handling and more fun and more of everything.

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Guest Anonymous

It's not hard to pick the puppy that is for you........even out of a big litter of pups you can just look at them watch them for a while and see which one steals your heart. That's what I did.

When we went and looked at the litter McKenzie came from....there were 4 pups left. 2 of them went pee on the floor as soon as they were in the house. Then 1 of them went on the rug. Those three started barking and figting. McKenzie went and sat under the table with the cat.....and wagged her tail. She was a little shy but when I picked her up she warmed up quickly. I really liked that she liked cats, because we had one.....It was love at first sight! I know this is not really what you guys were talking about but I was reading this and got to thinking back to when we got McKenzie.....I thought it was a sweet story

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Dear guest,
For your information I have yet to get a dog I could not train for herding .The reason I get these dogs is to help owners get started in herding I dont appreciate your assumption I could not train these dogs as I can addapt to the appropriate personality not a problem what I was actually saying was that I have my own favourite personalities and I find them more enjoyable to train this does not mean I dont train others anyway. I have breed my own litters and would not be so pompas to assume that only I am superior and I have to choose someone lifelong friend. I love the way all the negative people in this forum are guests.

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='working koolie']Dear guest,
For your information I have yet to get a dog I could not train for herding .The reason I get these dogs is to help owners get started in herding I dont appreciate your assumption I could not train these dogs as I can addapt to the appropriate personality not a problem what I was actually saying was that I have my own favourite personalities and I find them more enjoyable to train this does not mean I dont train others anyway. I have breed my own litters and would not be so pompas to assume that only I am superior and I have to choose someone lifelong friend. I love the way all the negative people in this forum are guests.[/quote]
Well I for one 'love' the way the worst misbreeders all seem to be named members.
You said that the personalities interfered with the dog's training - any trainer worth their salary is not concerned with personality they are concerned with training methods that work for each individual dog. If you don't know your pups well enough to decide which home will be best for them and don't bother to screen homes to make sure the pup you choose will suit them it makes perfectly clear what kind of breeder you are.

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I just would like to say that my last pup (my first GSD) I let the breeder pic him for me. I told her what I wanted him for and how much experience I had previously with dogs. She knew the pups better than I did and picked the right one for me. It worked out great, though I had my reservations about it at first. She told me if I was not satisfied I could get another pup but we didn't have a problem. I would deffinatly do this again. One thing, this would not work if the breeder was not trustworthy. Also, I had a specific job in mind and was looking for certain traits.

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Dear Guest,
For your information yes I do adapt my training methods according to the dog . I offer a money back guarntee to all my puppies and as yet have never had one returned and yes I have a data base with all the owners details and contact them from time to time as I consider them to be friends I am also the register for a club of this breed . If I am asked to help with selection of a pup I certainly can point them in the right direction but I think most people have enough instinct to select the right pup When people are purchasing a puppy from me they usually get it for working purposes and each working job requires a different personality but with you being the expert you would know all about herding and the different roles dogs play in this . I would also like to make it clear that i am not a fulltime breeder I breed for my own stocks and requirements and each of my puppies are a much loved and well planned addition but of course I forgot your the expert you would already know that

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='working koolie']
snpi but I think most people have enough instinct to select the right pup
snip sarcasm[/quote]

Most people do not - as witness the thousands and thousands of animals dumped at shelters each day many of which are 'working herding' breed dogs. Instinct is a far cry from knowledge as anyone who trains herding dogs should know. Any good breeder should know the pups better than any buyer could and any good breeder should know the buyer well enough to know which pup should suit them. Its all a matter of knowing what you are doing...vs making pups for money.

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Dear Guest I do not make pups for money and anyone who has reared a healthy litter would know that the costs involved in raising a litter just about outweigh the price recieved for the pups 90% of my pups go to farming homes to work therefor the owners quite often work with them all day and it is probable that they know enough about dogs to select their own pups with a particular job in mind .The pups are selected by personality for particular jobs eg. paddock work ,yard work . I personally have knocked back potentual buyers for being idiots and not suitable for owning dogs so dont preach to me when you dont know what your talking about.[/quote]

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