How do experienced breeders choose which puppy they want to keep? A couple of people have told me that they can see the potential show winner as soon as the  pups are born. My pups are now a week old and although they no longer look like bedraggled rats, they are still very different from the eventual adult. Their bodies are too big, their legs are still very short. Their ears are nowhere near where (I hope) they will finish up.
do people wait until 7-8 weeks to pick their puppy, do you run a couple on? Is there an age when you can look at a puppy and see how it might look as an adult. Does it vary with the breed? Do you go with the puppy your heart say or the one your head says is better? and do you regret it if you don't follow your heart.
And what about working ability. do lively puppies make lively adults. Will a quiet pup change as it grows?

Sometimes, just sometimes there's one that appeals to me when they are born and if that happens I rarely change my mind but normally I start REALLY looking between 5-6 weeks old.  My 6 weeks I know which one or two will be the pet quality pups - because I tend to line breed and so they're all very similar, and I then spend the next 2 weeks nit picking between the rest.

For the first couple of years I always relied on experienced breeders to help me select the best pup to keep because it's a completely different skill to pick pups than to judge adults eh?

Temperament, as in quiet or outgoing, needs to be assessed when the pup is on its own and not in the litter.  One that appears quiet in the litter can well be a hooligan when the top pup isn't there! :)

Said it all WestCoast.

Most important would be the point about getting someone good at picking a puppy to tell you which and........ why.

Not an expert at all but with the litter we just had I wanted a bitch and there were only two very different from each other and I knew which was the one I wanted to keep from about week 2.

Puppies go through every possible stage from birth to 8 weeks. I often think mine look great at 5 weeks then by 6 weeks they looks awful, then back together again by 7 weeks. I generally pick at 7.5 weeks but where there are a couple I run them on till 12 weeks BUT generally I can pick what I want at 7.5 weeks. 

It's very much breed dependent. At birth I can eliminate some as potential show dogs, and again at 3 weeks. After that it starts to get more difficult, with the hearing test at 5 or 6 weeks possibly ruling out others. By 7 weeks personalities should be becoming clearer, showing which might have that essential sparkle.

It isn't easy. In my breed it's abut 6-7 weeks when we pick. For my first litter I had help -I had several very experienced breeders/judges come to view the pups and as most voted for one particular pup, that was the one I kept -and then did a fair bit of winning with. For the second litter however nobody was able to come at the right time so I had to do it myself. I had just two bitches in the litter. I wanted one for showing, and a lady wanted one for agility, perhaps to show now and then. I picked mine and she was happy enough with the other. Well once they were fully mature it became obvious that hers is by FAR the better show dog, but she is too slow for agility, whereas mine is really speedy and bouncy and would be perfect for agility -which I have no interest in! Typical -it's not like we want to swap after years, after all........ But it was a lesson learned and next time I picked one that had all I wanted.
(As a foonote, the bitch for agility is now mainly being shown -her owner has been unwell recently and has been told by her doctor to NOT do agility due to her health, so in that sense it worked out in the end after all. Mine I'm now doing obedience with. :) )

I like to wind my friend up by asking her which one she would sell to a total newcomer, because that's what she did with me, and Henry got a CC at 14 months old! But when Ellie had a litter, there was only 2, and my friend picked the older one from about 2 days old as the best one, and he is winning quite well in America, specially considering he is novice owner/handled! So when I hopefully have my next litter in the winter I'll certainly ask her opinion among other expert friends, as well as trying to learn how to pick for myself.

My first litter had only 4 puppies and just one bitch so I knew which one I was going to keep. The best of the dog puppies went to a pet home where he is never shown. A real shame as he is gorgeous. I kept him until last as he was the one I would have kept if I hadn't desperately wanted a bitch. My girl has turned out very well but does not like breed showing. She does love agility though and would do very well if she wasn't handicapped by her handler.
This time I have 4 bitches to choose from but the pup who stands out to me so far is another dog.

Hi Marianne,
how soon did you notice the difference in the activity levels of the pups? When you think back can you remeber if one was more active than the other? I want to keep one of my pups for agility and that is more important to me than the showing so  any suggestions people have for recognising the most active pups would be great

You need to take them away from the litter individually between 6-7 weeks to assess their temperament on their own.  Their apparent personalities affect and are affected by each other.

thanks, I have a sheet on puppy aptitude testing and was going to try that. and will also make sure i spend time with each puppy individually away from the others.

Take care with 'puppy aptitude testing'. I've seen some examples which are bordering on cruelty, and others where the puppy's response (according to the scoring system) was no predictor of how the pup would behave as an adult.

here is a link to the testing I was going to use. http://www.volhard.com/pages/pat.php. I have to say I wasn't keen on the bit where you test the touch sensitivity so wasn't going to do that bit, but the rest seems ok. Was going to get one of my daughters to help me do it so they should be safe enough with us.

When i chose my pup i had my eye on one of them from the off. As it was i was allowed to have him, though i did do some of these tests, though not the touch ones. I did some very basic bits and both boys were as good as each other and neither displayed either end of the scoring system and i feel that i have picked well so far. He is a lovely boy to live with and train atm. He is due into the ring for the first time at the end of August, so we'll start to see then if he is cut out for the show ring. But as a pet he is great.

Hi Marianne,
how soon did you notice the difference in the activity levels of the pups? When you think back can you remeber if one was more active than the other?

With the two bitches (the one I kept and the one that went to an agility home) unfortunately there WAS no difference at all when they were pups, it did not become apparent until they were adults. However in every litter I have always had one or two pups that were WAY more active than the rest, and those ones have always gone to working homes. With those I've noticed it as early as 4-5 weeks.

Blimy it sounds like a minefield.
I'd be a dead loss picking a champ. I picked my pup as he was the biggest and boldest, and he nipped OH! OH picked his because his markings were so distinctive a bit spot of black in a white ruff.

Both have come on to be huge dogs for their breed, dead loss here. I would love a show dog but as Im getting older I would love to learn to be a handler for someone.

i will be getting the breeder of my bitch and the other main breeder in the country to have a look they may not be able to come round and see but pictures and videos will have to do, but in kooikerhondje markings play a big part in showing and height so the smaller and more orange the better, but i will wait until the pups are atleast 4-7 weeks to pick, i might even wait until the last minute.
i know of breeders keeping pups until 3-6 months before selling and they will see how they do in the ring, but you can be hard to sell them the longer you leave.