What Are Your Top Criteria for Choosing a Puppy?

Chris

Chris

Premium Member
I thought it might be interesting to talk about everyone's top criteria for choosing a Sheltie. Yes, we love our rehomed Shelties (the late, great Annie Laurie and our precious Penelope Rose, not to mention Loki the Papillion). But in this case, I'm focusing on selecting a puppy from a breeder. Three of ours -- Layla. Bitsy Boodle, and Colonel Underpants -- we simply lucked into. I was looking for a Sheltie and stumbled onto what was then one of the top breeders in the country. Call it fate, call it serendipity -- I call it a combination of The Good Shepherd and dumb luck! :lol:

I am always looking toward the next puppy. I'm pragmatic, and Layla is approaching 13. She's healthy as can be, but I know the day will come. :(( We volunteer at Walter Reed, and Layla is also the Church Dog, beloved by the children we work with there. So I know I seek a very special Sheltie, gentle, intelligent, kind and long-lived. I've been looking at many lines: I go to the National and Westminster, work our Sheltie Club shows, and discuss pros and cons with my knowledgeable friends. I try to meet as many Sheltie people as I can!

When I like a breeder's Shelties' temperament and look, I try to get to know them personally (I love making Sheltie friends :hugs). I go online to check how long their Shelties live. Right now, I know two breeders whose Shelties are everything I believe to epitomize the best in the breed (in temperament and, a nice-to-have for a non-show person, appearance) and whose dogs live long and healthy lives. God willing and the creek dont rise, it'll be a while before I'm in the market. But being retired military and a former Girl Scout, I believe in being prepared!

So what's your philosophy? :smile2:
 
since we do performance, I would love to learn how to evaluate the puppy's structure and how that might change as the puppy grows. I have been fortunate that the puppies that I have gotten from breeders are all put together pretty well but that is not due to my knowledge. they all thankfully have decent temperaments too- again luckily since all but Dixie were picked mainly by looks:winkgrin:
 
Both of my puppies have chosen me. With Sophie we weren't even looking for a puppy but we met her and I knew she was mine. With Lucy I was kind of looking. I knew I wanted a girl with white on her face... Found Lucy online and immediately knew she was mine. She was also born on the day Sophie passed so I felt like Sophie picked her out for me.
 
Temperament, temperament and temperament! After that, since I show, pedigree and conformation. Conformation can be hard to evaluate until a puppy is older, and I've found even a good puppy temperament can change, which makes pedigree so important. To see what a puppy will be like as an adult, look at the parents and beyond. Another rule: health testing, both parents.
 
I'm the non-performance/non-sports voice here--pet only. Temperment, temperment, temperment and biddability--preferably with toys as well as food. I personality tested my other puppies with the Volhard test and they were exactly what I was looking for in personality--gentle and extremely biddable, loved training. I was too busy to do Rally, therapy, or other with them, so they were just fantastic pets who loved, loved. loved to train.
When I got Beau I took the breeder word for it that he was stable, confident and calm. I didn't ask about biddable. Well, food is really his only reinforcer, and he gets bored very quickly with training. He is also very reactive. Yes, he is confident--he loves to be the boss and will climb onto, jump over, etc anything. But I had ideas to use him for therapy, that will not work out. I love him to pieces and have learned alot with him, once I had him would never trade him but will never just adopt another puppy by breeder's word, their definition may be very different from mine.
 
Echoing what the others have said (temperament, structure, biddability) --but wanted to add a few things:

- Health Testing (for our breed, I love parents with CHIC numbers, which means OFA hips and eyes). I also really like to see MDR1, OFA elbows, DMS, thyroid, and VWD.
- An open/honest breeder. I'm a big proponent of knowing why two dogs were bred. What are their strengths? Their weaknesses? What are they like in the house? Outside? Having a breeder that is open to those kinds of probing questions is really important. My goal is to build a relationship that will last the lifetime of the dog and then some.

And then this one is SO important to me but maybe not something everyone thinks of:
- I like breeders who do something with their dogs. Conformation, agility, obedience, something. I want to know why they're breeding, and what they're seeking to create or improving by breeding.
 
Gotta admit, my two puppies I didn't think about. Miko was going to be a pet, so whoever had puppies that I felt good about (aka, not a BYB). The fact that the woman cried when she was getting his stuff together, let me know I made the right choice (I'm sure other factors went into that, but I loved it). He was perfect, so I can't complain. One day, when looking for a second puppy, we went to the local Sheltie show and OMG, all the barking!!! I went to see Miko's breeder (the person I bought him from was he co-breeder, so I never met the actual breeder of his line), and there she was, with 6 dogs (or thereabouts), all quiet. 1 barked at me, the rest, were just wagging their tails. 2 I think were debarked. I knew I made the right choice to go back. Honestly, the lack of barking is what sold me on Miko and the breeder.

Today, it'd still be barking, I really hate a lot of barking for no reason (barking at the wind or a leaf aren't reasons I agree with, haha). Of course good breeder, health testing and temperament. If I was to do agility again, structure, drive, and biddability (but not cray cray - you know what I mean), and a lot more. When it's a pet only and I don't expect to do anything, I don't care, as long as the breeder is a good person and responsible, I'm fine with it. Dogs are their individual selves, but I feel like, "dogs are what you make of them". Does that make sense? Having a Weim now, OMG, makes me rethink so many thing regarding what I'd want, what I don't want in a dog.
 
Very interesting topic!

Only my first two Shelties came as puppies - with Skye (1987), we asked for a large sable girl; there were 2. Went on gut instinct in about 20 seconds with Skye, and she was labeled "Best of Dog" in our books. We didn't know enough to ask about genetic testing, etc, but I did get to meet both parents and yes, the breeder cried when we took her home, complete with a Christmas stocking with toys etc. in it. Skye was super healthy, loved agility, was just an all around fabulous dog, and was almost 15 when she passed.

Asta, well, we asked again (different breeder) for a big girl, and there she was! We met her littermates too but they were spoken for anyway for showing. When we met Asta, all the puppies ran around and completely ignored us. We were so surprised and sad, and hesitant to take her, thinking she might not bond with us. The co-breeder had isolated the pups in the house until they were 9 weeks old, so they had seen/experienced NOTHING. The breeder we saw her with was upset about that and was trying to make up for lost time. We actually left without her, with the breeder promising some "isolation therapy". She isolated her for two hours, and when she finally went back to get her, Asta leaped into her arms and covered her with kisses. She called us and said she'd be fine in a few days with us.

So we drove back to get her, with hope and trepidation, but trusting the breeder (25 years) and it worked out great. By the next day she knew her name, bonded with Skye and us, and was a completely different puppy. She turned out to be so loving and wonderful.

So, dumb luck?

Ally came at 1.5 years from Asta's breeder, Brooke at 7 from a different kennel, then Faith at 2 and Eli at 1. With Eli, we feel like we got a puppy with all the hard work already done! :lol:
 
I go for the puppy that chooses me. It's a lifetime commitment, and I feel the animal should have some say in that arrangement. I mean honestly, I love all puppies and dogs and cats and kittens. The cutest puppy in Annabelle's litter wanted NOTHING to do with me, thank you very much. Annabelle was turning herself inside out for my attention. It's been a great match.
 
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