At what age can you tell if a young puppy has potential for the show ring.   I know that poor diet and exercise play a part in ruining a good pup but if they are soundly constructed at, for example, 12 weeks, why can this all change by the time they've reached 6 months? 

sarah

You are judging potetial by past expereince of the developemtn of the parents, other litters etc.  Of course different lines and individuals can develop quite differently to what you are used to, especially if you have used and outcross.

For example my breed is considered quite slow maturing, especialy the Norwegian lines.

You would expect a young male especially to at some point to be maybe a bit rangy or light in body and shallow in chest, but by four years old chest will drop, the body and head broaden etc.

Now this same type looking finished at 6 months could well become heavy and coarse by maturity.

I spoke to a breeder overseas and she is used to pups chests being at their final position by 12 weeks!!!  Now for her a shallow chested pup at 6 months seems wrong.

You also have to be aware how pups in the breed and generally develop.  For example at 6 to 8 months a lot of pups in my breed wil go bum high, until they drop into their stifles.  They can also be narrow across the chest, causing them to toe out, some will broaden (sometimes not), but genrally they get wider again if they had good width in chest as babies.

Traditionally in my breed in the UK breeders selected their pups at 6 weeks.  I prefer 7 weeks as the odd pup can seem low on leg in my expereince at 6 weeks compared to littermates but by 7 to 8 weeks mine seem to have levelled out in development.  After 12 weeks I wouldn't like to select from a litter I hadn't watched developing.

It can only be an educated guess, but the more educated and experienced yo7u are in yoru breed and lines the better chance you have of guessing right.

That's really interesting Brainless - thanks.

The reason I'm wondering is because we kept a bitch out of our recent litter and she is now 12 weeks old.   She comes from good lines and we were careful when we chose the stud dog to compliment our bitch.  Construction wise she is sound but I'm just wondering how much can go wrong in the next few months.

I have a similar breed to Brainless & agree with her comments. One thing I would add is that I would never attempt to assess my breed at 4-6 weeks as, at that age, they appear to have no necks & no legs!!!!!! Just occasionally, I do believe you can tell a good'un while it's still wet - don't ask me how, you just have a feeling!
At 7-8 weeks, you can judge proportions & balance pretty well, but it's only an experienced owner who can tell whether a puppy will end up with a decent head or not.
Nothing beats experience in how your breed develops. If my breed looks "finished", especially in head, at 6 months, chances are it will be over the top at 2 and a real ugly duckling can turn into a beauty - eventually!

In Pomeranian's it's very hard.  I've had them where they've looked outstanding at 12 weeks and top breeders have thought so to and then at 6 months they've had a sudden growth spurt and they are awful!

There again we've also had the ugliest of dogs, that have gone to pet homes, we've seen them again at around 9 months of age and they've been some of the nicest dogs around.

In Spanish I kept Anton my nearly 3 year old, he was gorgeous and still is in my eyes :d  Then at 8 months his legs stretched and stretched and then at 14 months he had another spurt :d  He's got the most wonderful head, body and temperament and he looks so small when he's sat down, then when he stands up he just keeps going taller and taller!

I wouldn't swap him for anything though because his temperament is quite a rarity, extremely outgoing and he loves absolutely everyone, so I'm not upset that his legs forgot to stop growing :d

"they appear to have no necks & no legs!!!!!! "  Love it and so true, though maybe ours have more neck

They remind me of weebles at this age, you know "weebles wobble but they don't fall down":rolleyes:

Cavaliers are tricky too - the gorgeous 10 week old puppy can often look like an English cocker at 4 or 5 months, particularly in tricolours. And 6 or 8 month olds are often a bit high at the back end if their legs don't all grow at the same rate. And of course you get the scrawny teenager look! :rolleyes: