Just a little question to all you showing people. How did you go about buying a puppy to show? Did you get them at 8-12 weeks or manage to buy an older puppy that had already been shown? What you you advise as the best way, judging from your own experiences? I'm just curious!!!!!!! ( or nosey)

Our breeder determined the potential of the puppies, but obviously nothing is guarranteed.We primarily wanted to extend the family,if Taiko becomes successful in show then thats a bonus.An experienced breeder will have a fair idea on the quality of the pups.IMO a dog is part of the family,the dogs happiness is very important and far outweighs a cup/rosette/title and a puppy deserves a loving permanent home from as early as possible, I wouldn't rehome an older pup purely because it was good merchandise.
Julie :)

Well i never bought a show puppy from anyone until it was 6 months old and usually past the teething/gangly stage then you could always roughly see what you are getting.I never sold a puppy under 6 months for show neither always kept the best 2-3 pups from the litter until i knew they were good enough to show then i'd sell them onto people who wanted a potential show dog.Its a long way to do things but you very rarely get any comebacks this way and the dog 99% of the time turns out to be a good steady show dog & quite a bit of training has been put into the puppy beforehand as well which helps novices & beginners alike.:)
Jenny.

My! Jenny you take your showing very seriously - what breed. Ja:)kie

Well unfortunately i do not breed now:( gave up the hobby 4 years ago but all is not lost i am going back into the hobby next year when we move as i still have 2 of my original dogs left and i know where i can get a very good bitch back out of one of my bitchs:) I used to have Rottweillers,Akitas,Airedales & Mini Schnauzers (we had very large kennels) but the breed i'll be starting up in again is the Mini's as they were always my Favorite and alot of work went into breeding the lines.We are moving to Fort William In Scotland so when i'm settled i may start showing again within 2 years.
Jenny Killibeag.

Few breeders these days are int the position of being able to run on pups. Also once I had kept a pup that long it wouldn't be going anywhere, as they are too much part of the family.

I found it hard enough letting go of pups I had kept for export, or ones where there were holidays booked!

I will stear people with an interest in showing to the pups showing most promise. I would never want to sell a pup as a show dog first. It is a companion first and foremost, and any show potential or carreer are a bonus!

Have several very nice pups better than those I kept, or some that are winning in purely pet homes.

Sometimes the owners of the wrong pups want to show!!!

Hi Brainless,
I can understand your point there, we have 15acres so running pups onto that age was fine for us but it was hard letting them go at the end of the day but they all got good homes & the secret is never to breed to many litters or keep over amount of adult dogs that wouldn't be used in your breeding/showing program that way you always have room to run on what you think are potential show dogs:)
Bye
Jenny Killibeag.

I have already reached my maximum allocation, and will be having to wait for a second litter from my youngest until I can keep another one, and even then will still probably have too many.

I live in a suburban house with 60 foot garden, and live on tenderhooks while I rear pups, afraid of any excess noise caused by pups, hence tend to breed in Winter!

My comfortable maximum number of dogs is 4! At present I have a 10 1/2 year old, a nearly 8 year old, a 5 year old, 3 year old, and a 1/4 share of a 1 year old male who doesn't live with me! That gives me two entire bitches.

The male will hopefully be the sire of the next one I keep in about 18 months to two years! This is the reason my Champion bitch is about to be mated, but I am not keeping a pup, pick going to the owner of the potential sire.

I would love to be in the position to be able to be in more control of my breeding lines, but do the best with what I am able to do.

I sent a bitch to Australia where she has done well, being the top winner in her breed one year, and bred on well, with her one of her first litter also getting her Title. Her owner, who is an experienced breeder with a successful line built up over 20 years, is only allowed to keep 4 Adult edogs at a time. A felow breeder in a differnt neighbourhood is allowed to keep 5, and also has a sucfcessful Kennel.

I am glad that we do not mostly face such exact restrictions on numbers of dogs kept, but must be reasonqable in what we allow ourselves to keep, based on our circumstances and location.

Agree with all that Barbara. If they get much past 12 weeks I can't let go. There are many shining exceptions of course but on the whole I'd rather my pups don't got to serious show people. I like working/companion homes best, followed by companion only homes. You do sell the odd pup to a pet person who then gets the show bug. It happened with one of mine and the owner now has and breeds hounds I'm envious of :).

Until this year I've been in the same position as you and haven't been able to take a litter because I had so many oldies. It meant that I missed out on using Flea & Rath and I'd have loved pups from them, but although I have the space I think you can only give individual attention to so many.

Jewel if you can find someone who will sell a 6 month old puppy your luck will be in. In my breed very few older show quality pups come up for sale and when they do they are usually very expensive.
If I am selling a puppy to people interested in showing I always point out the best puppies in the litter, in my opinion, but say they are show potential. No one knows for sure how an 8 week old puppy will turn out, if they did everyone would be showing champions and no one would make a mistake.

In buying a puppy from another persons litter I try to look for certain breed characteristics while keeping in mind that different lines throw different sorts of puppies.
I am still learning and accept I always will be learning.

Sharon
Bullywood Bull Terriers

Eye colour is something still changing at 8 wks old and this is a significant feature in show dogs I believe so how is this overcome when chooseing a puppy for showing?
Ted

Would you let pick of litter go to a person who will be showing for the first time? Or would you rather the puppy went to an established breeder?

Debbie

Whoever had registered an interest with the litter first!

if i havepicks booked then i try to make sure they get the best in thelitter, however its not always that simple, you can have a couple to choose from that each excell in different virtues, so i point these out, the good and not so good in each, its then thereprefference on the day----i do however keep pups on if not booked that i want to see how they turn out, if i think they ave potential, id then try and find a show home for them, :D

Hi all,

My thoughts and slightly off original poster is,

I don' t really honestly think breeding is for me for many reasons ( I am a poop bag) but most people I talk to say they only get possibly one real cracker out of a litter so they naturally want to keep it or sell it on to someone with more experience, money etc.

So doe this mean I should just ride my time out and hope someone will give me a break with a cracker although I would be suprised if this every happened or do you really think you have to use the best you have and try to improve through breeding.

I am really just thinking out loud and interested in what some of you were like or what made you eventually breed.

BFN

Pam

ted, if you take a puppy of 8 weeks into the light you can see the dark coming in behind the blue if the eyes are going to e dark, -hazel or lighter eyes will have a greeny or grey colour to them

thanks for that info dizzy
ted

Thanks for all of your replies :)