What influences you? Do you pick a dog with as many Champions in it's pedigree as possible? A kennel with a proven track record and interest in showing?

Champ numbers used to impress me when I first thought about breeding till I realised that non champs could produce excellant examples of the breed too, some champs do not produce nice offspring. Some very good dogs get shown and are placed each time out but for one reason or another never get 3CC's to reach champ status, it depends on who they are up against and how "facey" the judges are it has been shown under.

I ignore statements of X number of champs in 5 generation pedigree, I research the best I can all the dogs on the pedigree, having mentors who have been in the breed for decades helps, there will be the odd dog who they know nothing about who may have been a one off breeding from a pet, they won't have an affix to help you in your research either.

The biggest hurdle I found at the start was getting breeders to trust me with a show/breed quality bitch pup, could have as many males as I liked, luckily after nearly 2 yrs I found a breeder who realised we all had to start somewhere and gave me a chance with one of their bitches and 10 months later a second one.

To pick a show quality pup you look at the conformation of the parents and grandparents if possible as well as the pups you have been interested in, unfortunately a pup who looks spot on at 8-12 weeks can go seriously wrong for various reasons after that but this is the risk you take as I found out with the bitch I kept from my first litter, she was small and dainty like her dam but at one year old looked more like a ferret than a dachsie so has never been shown or bred from, the first pick bitch went her dams breeder and has been shown lightly and been placed each time.

The problem you will have is dealing with a breeder such a long way away, are you planning on going over to see the pups and get your hands on them or are you hoping the breeder is going to pick the right pup for you?

That's a lot to think about! Thanks!

I have no interest in breeding and would prefer a male dog. I was going to visit when collecting the pup and hopefully choose then (i know some may be gone by then) with the breeder's help and from litter photos prior to visiting...

"Picking a show quality pup" TBH I don't think you can, the experienced breeder may be able to take a good shot at the best in a litter they have bred but in general unless you have an intimate knowledge of how that particular line develops and what to ignore and what to insist on at any given age you can only pick a pup with promise and don't believe anyone who say a pup is of show quality at two or three months they just wont know.

As said before so much can go wrong as a pup matures ....Ask how many breeders have let the wrong pup go if they cant run a couple on !!!!! to be honest at 8weeks or so you can only hope to get show potential .sometimes a promising puppy doesnt fulfil its potential and other times the ugly duckling matures into a swan !

A case in point, I have just had a call from someone in my breed who had one of my pups, to show, and hopefully to use in their breeding program.

Everyone agreed which was pick bitch, yet she has not come on as hoped, and at 13 months isn't going to markedly improve.

We have agreed as she wanted her to breed on from that this would not take her forward, and she has had a lovely potential home come up from someone who recently lost their oldie, and she will go on a months trial with my blessing. 

She has never re-homed a dog, but she already has more dogs and non show/breeding ones as it is, and will need to bring another bitch in due to her younger bitches not breeding and time running out with the only one young enough for a first litter.

If things don't work out then I will have her back to re-home.

Yes, we can all get it wrong or right as the case may be & my last 2 bought in pups have not been a success & have been rehomed as per aggreement, when bought from their breeders. I/we have 5 here who are our ex show/breeding pets & remain their final days here but when one is limited with numbers..it's not easy!! I am intending to have a litter after a 3 year wait very soon & hope I make the right decision..as long as I get a girly!!
Even the top kennels get it wrong at times & I have heard them admit it...

> as I found out with the bitch I kept from my first litter, she was small and dainty like her dam but at one year old looked more like a ferret than a dachsie so has never been shown or bred from

We've all done it!  Like the boy I kept with the fabulous head that was going to be a real hot one!  The breed standard for my breed is up to 6lbs.  This boy grew and grew, and is big enough to pull a chariot!  :-)

Funnily enough, he is still with me as a much loved pet, but he was used just the once on an oversized bitch.  I wouldn't have asked anyone else to try the mating, but I have myself the most gorgeous bitch out of that mating, and she is well within breed standard.  So, sometimes (not always I know), keeping the wrong show dog can have an unexpected outcome.  :-)

In my breed (same as Brainless) from most litters more than one pup will finish up in the show ring so it is easy to watch how they grow and it is surprising how often the breeder does not keep the best, one would expect them to but often one of the others (same sex) will IMO be a better animal but then again that depends on my perception and understanding of the breed standard.

Find a breeder you trust to help you pick and keep fingers tightly crossed! :-D

bought the most fantastic or so me and the breeder thought bitch and she did some winning in open and champ puppy classes but then she never grew on so that was the end of her showing and we now do agility and flyball with her, so it is sometimes the luck of the draw

> Everyone agreed which was pick bitch, yet she has not come on as hoped, and at 13 months isn't going to markedly improve.

Out of interest, what has/hasn't happened compared to how she looked as a baby? If you don't mind me asking :)

Primarily her front movement is not her fortune, her mother who was out of an out cross breeding I made in Finland was a bit sloppy in front as a youngster, but she is worse, being more upright in pasterns and a little short in upperarm.  The upperarm and the bones of the stifle are the last to finish growing so she may improve somewhat. 

She also sadly reacted badly to her puppy vaccinations and developed serious hay fever type symptoms.  It got so bad that at one point her eyelids were so swollen they caused an eye abscess and scarring of the eye surface and thickening of the eyelid.

She still hasn't come into season at 13 months of age, when the average age is 8 - 10 months with some of mine being even earlier.

Things seem to have settled down with the sensitivities, but we don't know what to do re her puppy booster now due, but if she is boostered it won't be with Duramune!

So all things considered her being a brood bitch may not be the best thing for her as who knows how the stress of pregnancy and motherhood may manifest itself.

Both her parents have been bred from before without issues in the puppies, and the sire is a grandsire too, with nothing untoward, and no issues with the other 7 pups in that litter.

As the Americans say breeding can be a crap shoot.

I hope to have better luck with keeping a puppy from her mothers last litter at the end of the year, the chosen sire is particularly good in movement, though a lazy showman.