Baby Puppies

[Seraphina]

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Just looking at threads of little baby puppies and the different ones that people sellect as their pick of the litter. What are the criteria you sellect your puppy by?

 

[wildhare]

first thing look at the "picture" - you need to have seen several litters and

how they develop from this stage (though it can and does fool a lot of people)

then you start with the feet (where the rubber meets the road so to speak)

I like a good tight foot both front and rear - from there you need the shock

absorbers - good strong legs with sufficient bone to hold the muscle mass

that will develop - then the shoulders and hips next - if you are looking for

sheer speed I would pick one with a little streighter shoulders - if you are

looking for long low stride at the trot - look for more laid back shoulders -

look for hip to pin bone not too steep - chest at 5 to 10 weeks should be

at or just below the elbows - I believe the loin should be a little longer

at this age - I prefer a little longer body - neck should flow nicely into the

shoulder not at sharp angle - neck should have a natural arch while standing

free - top line at this age should not have much arch - a slight arch to the

topline will develope as maturity nears - head I would look for some width

between the ears - large roundish eyes - the darker the better - nice

round tipped ears - rather heavy at this point - good length of muzzle

to head and a good strong underjaw - then last but not least -

if it is to be a show dog - just got to have an attitude - what I call the "tood"

its the "look at me - I'm the best damned thing you ever saw"

in the show ring that tood can get you the win in many a tight contest -

dwight

 

[Vicky]

My own pups i hum and argh for about 6 weeks before evntually resorting to ipp dipp doo :- " Anyone else's litter i can tell you there and then which i'd pick, simply on looks, attitude and a bit of the old gut instinct.

 

[saraquele]

with this litter of mine it was easy !!!!

i only wanted to keep a bitch , she only had one , problem solved (w00t)

it must be so hard but i suppose experience , knowing your own line etc would play a big part .

 

[JAX]

You throw them all up in the air together , which ever one lands on top is going to be `top dog ` (w00t)

Only Kidding

 

[*Lesley*]

I just pick the one I like(which is usually all of them) with Callie and Sienna they were the only ones left so that was easy, with Spry I spotted her from from the litter day 1 of being born with the 2 heart shapes on her back but wasnt having her then ,it just so happened we decided to get another and lampy said I could have pick of litter so it had to be her :wub:

and I didnt pick Kane he picked me :huggles: although he did have a lot of help from a few on here they know who they are :- "

If I ever have a litter then god help me, I have no idea how I would choose just one :unsure: :sweating:

 

[zilloot]

I like to see pups 'square on their feet' and confident, even the iggies. If they turn elbows out or hocks in I'm not keen. Even at 5-6 weeks they should have free movement and use their legs from the shoulder and hip. I like to see well fed babies too and wouldn't touch a 'weedy' puppy. And I don't like to see 'massive' bone because whippets are just getting TOO BIG!

Stacked, you get an idea of proportion and what something will grow in to; correct angles in the shoulder and back leg, and for the whippets covering a lot of ground while standing. Colour tends to be last consideration for me. An old-wives-tale is that a long tail or a long body are signs of a good whippet pup!

Finally a pup just grabs your eye as it moves around. Two of the ones I picked from whole litters because they 'held my eye' turned out to be very good winners. :cheers:

Having said all that; one pup (which I'll not name) just didn't do it for me as a baby, several things about it I wasn't keen on, and it has turned out just fine!! :thumbsup:

 

[Seraphina]

Thanks Wildhare and Zilloot for the detail description. I also spend lot of time looking at my puppies; I first look for the pup that just stands out and looks nicely balanced. The next important thing i look for is angulation, i do like them to be rather overangulated as they will only get more upright as they grow, so if they a bit upright now, they will be very upright later (at least that is in the lines i own). And i spend lot of time throwing toys across the lawn and watch them move I will not keep a puppy which toes in or out in front, but I have seen a puppy slightly hocky who ended up with nice rear.

 

[aslan]

When I have actually picked the pup I wanted for myself I have picked on movement. In my early litters I was soft ... and worried about not being able to sell them all ... and let buyers take their choice and I kept what was left in a number of cases. Layla, Pippin (bless her little soul wherever she may be), Dino and Aime were all picked primarily for their movement. Angulation, topline, head, bone, etc all come next for me.

There are some obvious things that would signify pups as pets early on ... toeing in/out, cow hocks, pointy topline, steep croup etc. But we all know that some ugly ducklings can turn into beautiful swans (and vice versa). I had a pup once that did 16 shows in Baby Puppy and won 14 Baby Puppy in Group (and a couple of Baby Puppy in Show) awards. And at 7 mths his ears went up like a Pharoah Hound and stayed that way. So you just do your best and hope for the best.