Choosing which puppy from a litter - advice please!

[dogsblog]

So yesterday we went to view puppies, we were on the breeders waiting list, happy with breeder etc etc, all okay with that. We want a boy and there were 2 to choose from - but we just could not decide which one! They are only 3 weeks old and all black, so breeder had "marked" the 2 boys for us. As soon as we went in one of the marked boys came up to us immediately (there were 7 pups in all), DH said well he doesn't know he is still to be "picked" so he has chosen us, but I think it is more cats that "choose" you, isn't it the case that if a dog comes up to you immediately, he is dominant?! The other boy was bigger, but not particularly interested in us at all, he seemed very laid back, other pups were pulling his ears etc and he was not worried, but is that a sign that he is too shy? Is he being "bullied" - DH said the fact that he was bigger probably meant no, he obviously could get to mum's food so could not be too docile. The smaller one was very noisy too, didn't stop yapping and crying. He stopped when I picked him up, does that mean anything - i.e. he will want constant attention!! I held them both in my arms, both struggled slightly but then relaxed, when I held the shy one up he seemed to go a bit stiff. It was just so confusing, we do want a fairly placid pup but obviously don't want one that will be nervous or may have anxiety, I don't think he did, think it was just the case that they had woken up and probably if we saw them half an hour later their roles may be completely reversed. Breeder said she felt that the shyer one may be better, but I felt like we didn't do half the tests we should have done. We are going back again at the weekend to see them again, and just see the two of them on their own. Breeder said she will observe them both and see but she said they are so young, it is hard to tell - she had a pup from a previous litter who was very quiet but turned out to be a nutter - definitely don't want that. I know once you choose you just go with it and never know what the other one could have been like, but any advice/thoughts on what we could do at the weekend as we do have to choose one then!! Thanks.

Meant to add, the smaller noisier one just seemed more "puppyish", wagged his tail more and seemed more curious, but that is not to say the other one is not like that too, just not when we saw him. I really have no gut instinct about which one at all! Help!

I think you're making too much of the pup's behaviour. They're only 3 weeks old!

Whichever pup you choose will become your dog - it is up to you to train your dog. My dog was a nutter at first (most puppies are!) but with training and lots of exercise and love she was very placid unless she saw a squirrel

I think it will be a few weeks yet until you can see real personalities.

Our current dog, the fourth we've had of this breed, was the one who rushed up to my husband and begged him to pick her up. She is lovely, but quite 'forward'. She has needed firm yet sensitive handling to encourage her to be gentle with people (terrier breed). Ideally I would go for a pup in the middle of the pack who is friendly and interested in me, not hanging back and looking nervous, but perhaps not the one pushing through to the front to get the attention first of all.

I love our dog, but I have had to work hard with her to get her the way she is now. I did not have this issue with the other three in the same breed we had.

I chose the first pup who came up to me, i viewed at 7 weeks so they were all very alert. I sat and watched all the pups for an hour, some were very noisy, some were a bit too playful for my liking (lots of growling). The pup i chose was less playful but very alert, he seemed to like human company as much as (if not more) than dog company, he sat on my lap for a cuddle for quite a while and wasn't nippy (like some of the others), he was also the biggest pup in the litter so seemed very helthy (so i thought).

We have had our pup at home for almost 6 weeks now, he has been easy to train (will sit, lie down, wait and has a good recal), he is a bit clingy and deffently likes my company more than my other dog (which isnt such a great thing as i thought they would keep each other company and cut down on the seperation anxiety).

I think it depends what you are looking for, to us it was important that we didn't have a nippy, hyper puppy as both dd's are a bit jumpy and hate being jumped on and nipped. We also wanted a dog that was easy to train as we hope this dog will become a assistant dog for dd2 (who has ASD). I think we made the right choice though it hasn't been all good (i dont think you can pick the perfect pup), when we viewed the pups the one we chose seemed very healthy, sadly we have had lots of issues and he has been in and out of the vets since we got him (seems much better now though).

That is what I was wondering, as they are only 3 weeks is it too early to know anything about them really, I do realise that we will get the pup at 8 weeks and lay down the ground rules from day 1, train how we want etc, but surely their nature plays a part?

We chose from three bitches. We rejected the forward one who ran up immediately and the shy one who hung back and took the one who was curious but not overly so and she was a nice colour too. Turns out she is a complete loon who is very forward and will approach and and all dogs or people. I am not sure it is easy to tell what the pup will be like some months down the line. With training our pup is turning out to be a complete treasure.

oh and our pup is now quite nervious and not as forthcoming so just shows that they change a lot in the first 10 weeks.

I think the key is training, mixing the dog early and laying down ground rules early. Also a lot depends on breed, some breeds are just harder to train than others, my pup is a lab x collie and seems (so far) easy to train, my other dog is a Staffie and although she's a lovely dog she is crazy and doesnt do anything she's told .

Ideally we would choose the "middle" one, and choose later on in their lives, but we have to choose now, and these 2 seemed to be extreme ends of the personality spectrum, well, for the time we saw them.

Abra - as you said, don't pick the one who rushes forward but not the one that hangs back either, well these 2 did exactly those 2 things!

Maybe I am over thinking it, as I said, we could see them again today and they would have swapped personalities! I think I am leaning towards the bigger, quieter one but wondering if he was actually "okay" - at least the other one showed proper puppy behaviour, iyswim.

I don't expect to get the perfect puppy, and I know it involves a lot of training and it does depend on how you are with them, bit like children really, but like children they can have the same parents and be completely different. We just want to have a gut instinct and be happy with our choice, it's a big commitment after all!

Is there anything I could do to "test" or are they too young?

I am sure that big boy would have no problems telling them off if the chewing bothered him!

I am not sure you can really test them when they are so young. But even seeing them a few days later can make a big difference. Sometimes just having been fed or woken up makes them look more or less lively.

And the way you bring them up will make a big difference. Like my dog now--she's pretty soft and gentle. My husband chose her so perhaps his gut feeling was actually working and he knew we could manage her. I think the fact you are so committed and keen to get this right speaks volumes about your chances of making whichever pup you choose the right one for your family. You're taking it seriously, not just rushing in. This is a very good sign.

Ds chose our puppy and he went for the one who immeadiately came to nosy at us and proceeded to get up to all sorts of mischief like wandering under the cooker and trying to run off with my handbag which was six times his size

Ours was the second smallest in a litter of seven but instantly seemed to have a bivg personality.

Now approaching 7 months he is still fairly similar - outgoing, curious and a little bit cheeky - a typical terrier really. Bit he has picked up clicker training and housetrained like a dream in less than a month. His slightly independent streak meant he slept fine from day one alone too though he favours being close by in the day. I think the downside is that I can see recall training is a long way from secure.

I'm glad we went with our puppy. He is so confident, adaptable and easy going whatever situation you throw him in.

Recall training with a terrier is always going to be a bigger struggle than it is with other breeds. They are just bred to go off and chase vermin, with little human management or intervention. Just as well they make us laugh, little monkeys.

Thanks Abra, your terrier sounds like a real character! So how old was she when you chose her (or she chose your DH!).

Marne - sorry about your dog's health, hope all is okay now?

Fan - how old when you chose your pup?

It is something we have gone into in depth about re crate training, general training etc, but this is our first family dog so we don't know too much about the choosing, with my cat she just came over and took to me straight away, and I just knew she was the one. Cats are picky though so they do definitely choose you, dogs are friendly to everyone so one that isn't may have an issue/health problem. Can they have "issues" at 3 weeks old?!!

DH thinks as he is bigger he probably is not "bullied" but just chilled out, or is it that he is so unbothered as to have problems? One other thing, I held him for a while and then put him down and he was shaking a bit, but breeder thinks he just got a bit cold - he probably was but not sure.

I think if I knew he was "okay" I would go for him, but I think the other one displayed more natural behaviour like wagging his tail more, being friendly and yapping constantly. Thinking about the yapping I thought ooh no he will do that constantly at night!! I am sure they all do though!

So think my question is: do we go for a more confident one that we have to "calm" down or a placid one that may be too anxious and scared, and we have to build up, as it's our first dog not sure we could deal with too much confidence! They are labs, so will grow to be big and strong!

I am sure when he had dogs as children we just acquired them with no thought whatsoever, it is all a bit "precious" these days. My FIL was telling me he went to buy a fireplace years ago and there was a pet shop next door, a little pup came running up to them and they ended up buying him and not the fireplace! Can you imagine?! He lived to 15, what a grand dog he was! I guess it is like children, you never know what you will get. I have one placid, compliant dd who is confident and friendly and one shy, quiet dd2 who would never say boo to a goose, until you get to know her and realise she is determined, stubborn and never takes no for an answer! Think that is making me think dog might turn out like that as well, iyswim!

She was ten weeks. Usually we have had pups at about eight/eight-and-a-half. The plus side was that she was very happy to leave her mother and siblings. No separation problems. The downside was that we did miss a week or ten days of 'calming and gentling'.

But she is a softie now. Last night while my son and I were watching a Physics revision video she kept insisting that it would be a better plan for her to lie on our laps and be stroked instead.

I was given the choice of 9 pups, took me ages to choose in the end I asked the breeders DC's if they had any favourites and chose that one. Went back 6 months later to buy another one lol but wasn't given a choice as she was the last left, so much easier and the 2nd dog has a much better nature than the one I chose

our boy was chosen by ds1 at around 5 weeks and i think he made a really good choice for us. he chose the really laid back one who was also the biggest of the litter and his personality has stuck. he is still huge 2.5 years later but he really is the calmest gentle giant. he didn't even go into the mad chewing everything stage like i expected. he seemed to bypass adolesence and i can honestly say he is the prefect dog for us. i couldn't have designed him better. he doesn't even like walking in the rain so if it's lashing he wont go out meaning we dont have to go either if we dont want. i had wanted to choose the puppy that bounded up to us and was very cute and playful but i'm so glad we didn't. we got ours when ds2 was 1 year old and they are best friends. ddog is so gentle and docile. ds2 sleeps on top of him on the sofa and walks him on the lead (he is 3 now). ddog just lets it all happen.

he is also best friends with our younger cat. they sleep together too. it looks funny as he is so huge and she is so small.

pics on my profile for evidence

OK Booyhoo I want your dog!! He looks gorgeous, and his nature is exactly what I would like, so can I just have him please?! I can feel your big fat NO from here!

I did notice neither of the pups chewed, one of the others was constantly nibbling at the breeders laces and fingers, but I suppose again you can't read too much into it. I shall go along at the weekend and see whether they are the same or totally reversed in character, we are going to see them with siblings but also just the two of them so we can really compare. Also the breeder may have more idea by then as we have asked her to look out for us. It's so hard, but mega exciting!!

My pup was 6 weeks when we chose him. Everyone is looking for different things in a dog hence the range still bred but his lively nature is a bonus for us as we have an equally lively 7 yr old ds and I think he would have made a shy quiet dog miserable. As it is we are happy to be out with him lots and he is happy to join in noisy games of football.

Abra he is great off lead in the woods when it is just us. As yet (aware this may change!) he has little interest in furries. He kept a respectful distance at the weekend from my uncles cat and rabbits during a 3 night stay this weekend though he kept play bowing at the bunnies! He left the chickens well alone after getting pecked after going to sniff the fence! I did supervise though just in case. He just bolts after people or other dogs if I am not quick enough to put him on lead as he thinks he is everyones best mate.

I think I am a comfirmed terrier lover now. Furry chasing or not, they are so much fun!

fan you're lucky if you've got a terrier that is good with small furries , my Patterdale embarrasses me regularly with his attempts to eat all the local cat population and there's no way he could go off lead in a wooded area !

I think my mums cat got in early when he was 9 weeks old! She hissed and spat when he first walked in and rhat was it, he just accepted his place! He wags his tail and cries to try and get her to play sometimes but never approaches her. She will now lay on the opposite end of the same sofa now though. When my uncles cat came in he just sat down and tail wagged.

We have a hamster and dog gets in his bed if he is in his ball. He watches but if the daft ham goes up which he often does, the dog moves!

I would never rely on this state of affairs lasting though, he has a minder in tow when in furry company!

Mine has spent the last 2.5 yrs trying to liberate the rabbit so he can eat him . We had to dog proof the hutch with a huge wooden bar . Stupid rabbit thinks he could take him on so is not the least bit frightened . He did manage to kill a pigeon in the garden once and now just seems to have some kind of blood lust , I have to be very wary when he's off lead .

Fan - think breeder suggested quieter dog to us as my dds are fairly calm and quiet, although not always like that and obviously up for being out and about and playing with a puppy! I love hearing about your dogs, they all sound like so much fun, think ours will be fine with any animals as breeder has geese, chickens and cats so they will be allowed out and about with them soon, here's hoping as my cat is fairly placid but okay with dogs as long as they know their place! But this is why we didn't go for a terrier, although I do love them!

i agree that different qualities suit different families. we just aren't a high energy family and i think ds1's quiet nature is what drew him to the pup he chose. we really are so lucky with him.

and NO you cant have him

i would just go with your instincts. i think you will know which dog is right for you. even if you dont think you know at the time of choosing.

Sorry if I've just missed it somewhere but what sort of puppy are you getting ? BTW I'm just nosey , nothing to say about picking one as we got ours from Battersea so it was take it or leave it !