LOOK AT THE WHOLE DOG !

Most people look at one aspect of a puppy and make their decisions i.e. head, rears, top lines and so on. You must look at the entire dog and then look for standard worthy attributes. In grading puppies it is much easier if you have an "eye" for what you are looking for in a breed. Now, an "eye" for a dog means that you have a picture in your mind of your ideal animal of a certain breed and you can imagine that this puppy has those attributes. Many breeders can do this evaluation at birth and then wait for any standard faults to come to maturity. There are those breeders who cannot do this and must wait for any standard faults to appear. Many breeders must wait till the dogs are 12-14 months old before they can tell if they are show potential. You must be able to make decisions with puppies and then be able to live with your mistakes. If you cannot live with your mistakes you cannot succeed and continue to learn. All of us in dogs must learn on a daily basis and must learn that we can overlook one thing or another for the sake of something else in a dog. We have breeders who are headhunters and those who are rear conscious. There are those who want to see a silhouette from the side, those who want this and that kind of movement. All of this can make a good puppy or it can make a middle of the road puppy. YOU MUST LOOK AT THE WHOLE DOG.

Now, let us put some hard facts into play. One cannot breed with their heart in one dog or another. You can own a dog and be really fond of that dog and still know it is not for a breeding program. You must devoid yourself of heart strings and use your head when breeding dogs. Not every dog is a good breedable animal. There used to be an old saying." No matter who owned the dog, if it was good for their bitch they found that dog". HOWEVER, IN DOGS TODAY THIS DOES NOT ALWAYS HAPPEN AND PERSONALITIES DO COME INTO PLAY AND I DO MEAN PEOPLE'S PERSONALITIES.

Now, back to puppy selection.

I look for personality and bone structure first. By bone structure, I mean, front, legs, rear and head shape. You can use a roll of white paper and wet the puppy's feet and let them walk down the paper to see their gait. Have someone call the puppy and then watch it walk and leave it's footprints. The puppies must be up on their feet good for this test.

Watch the interactions of the puppies. Is this puppy outgoing and always wanting you to pick it up? Or does it go to the back of the puppy pen and say, "come and get me"? Next I look for length of the hocks and crooks or lack thereof. You should be able to tell angulations and if the puppy shows signs of knuckling over in front.

The top line should be firm not dippy or soft. Now consider ears. Are they large enough? Are they placed in the right position? Now look at the head shape and find how the cheeks look and around the eyes. Are the eyes big enough? There is such a thing as bulging eyes and pig eyes. I then place my attention on the length of back. Is the puppy going to be long enough and have the right angulations on the length of back? What does angulation mean? To quote the AKC Complete Dog Book, "It means the angles formed by the appendicular skeleton, including the forequarters, arm, forearm, wrist, pastern, toes and hindquarters, thigh, second thigh, hock, rear pastern and toes". IT MEANS THE WHOLE DOG.

Mind you, you must take in consideration, bite, eye color, shape of the feet and yes, tail set and carriage. I don't like to see puppies with level bites as they can go over or under. It is a risky chance. Eye color changes and do not start with light eyes as they are something you do not want in your gene pool. Splayed feet are another thing to try and avoid.

Well, if you notice I did not mention color. But you should be aware that some markings are flashy and do have an extra look when viewed in the ring. Then, of course, one must always remember that it takes the same amount of time, effort and money to raise a good litter as it does to raise a mediocre one.