Oh my goodness, how do I choose which puppy?

[m0therofdragons]

We are hoping to bring a cocker into our family end of August and they were born this weekend. We have first choice - black, chocolate or golden. We will be considering temperament but they’ll be so little it’ll be hard to really get a full idea other than not the most dominant or timid. Which colour would you go for? (So excited)

I need to see a picture before I help

Get one that matches closest to your carpets..
Ime..

.

dh said that. We have mostly dark hard wood floors (karndean) and cream in the living room - cream isn’t an option. I can’t really share a pic as they’re not my puppies. When we bring our boy home I promise I’ll post.

Will you see them before you chose? I always choose the second one to come and investigate. Not sure where I got this from (and no idea if any fact in it), but if you choose the first one to come out of the blbasket/ crate whatever - they are supposed to be the most “dominant” or whatever. So I go with second one.

can I be really rude and ask you how much you are paying? We are looking for a puppy and are being quoted around £3k which seems a crazy amount.

For ten years we had a rotty and picked black hairs out of everything..
Still have a Husky so it's white hairs with everything..
In your shoes I would go cream.
Not as obvious on wood floors!!

Lighter colours are easier to see when you are standing in the garden at 3am waiting for your new pup to do his business!

But I expect when you meet them you will know which is the pup for you.

That said as a kid I had a King Charles caviliar and we just went for the one that came up to me first (I was about 4)! He was a lovely dog.

We are having a cocker also born this weekend, our boy is blue roan, so black and white with bits of grey :)

We are paying £2k but that is the pre covid price as they are from a really strong line. We’re prepared to pay as we know the breeder, she’ll look after him when we go on holiday and will be at the end of the phone for support. I’ve know her for years. Not sure I could justify paying that much for a non kc registered pup from someone I didn’t know.

@EmmaGrundyForPM I was quoted £4950!!! I laughed and said no. That was a cockerpoo and as we really wanted a full cocker there was no chance I’d be swayed.

5k for a glorified mongrel?

It has to be more about the personality, I reckon when you visit them you will know which one to choose, 100%!

Yep @Sunny. 9 in the litter... that’s some profit! She said she’d had 200 enquiries - so how come she had one available for me when I enquired and replied within 30 minutes. I was very suspicious and hugely relieved when friend mentioned her girl was expecting again!

We are paying £2k but that is the pre covid price as they are from a really strong line.
!!! I still think that's a lot Show or working?

At what age do you have to choose? By 5 or 6 weeks you can start to really see what their personalities will be like; it's a bit harder at 3 weeks... My rule of thumb is that the puppy that comes up to you and is relaxed with you is a good pick.

Would you go for bigger or smaller puppy?

Im amazed the breeder is insisting you choose so quickly. I would expect choices yo be made from 4 weeks old, based on first deposit paid to last deposit made.

Are you really buying just on the basis of colour? What about personality and temperament? Physical size and position in the litter can also make a difference.

Are the golden, black and chocolate all solid colours? Roans? Mix colours? That is a very unusual mix within a single litter.

I prefer chocolate but is it usual to have all three colours in a single litter..?

I'm not biased at all.... but clearly you need to choose a golden. We get so many compliments on his beautiful colouring (he's about 14 months now) and he has the nicest, happiest temperament ever.

Reacuing a puppy / dog is a really nice thing to do. There’s thousands of them sitting there waiting for their chance of a family

We were first time dog owners (as adults) and I'd never had a staff before, so we talked with the owners of both the mother and father dogs, about their temperaments, our family dynamic and lifestyle etc. The breeder recommended which pup in the litter would suit us based on their burgeoning personalities, and gently steered us away from the one she knew wasn't for us, no matter how much we wanted him.
I'm
So glad we took her advice.

@FATEdestiny did you read my post? We will be choosing based on temperament and get first choice. As they are a few hours old we only know their colours - solid black, chocolate and golden. The last litter was blue roan, lemon roan and a chocolate. This mum has colourful litters.

The breeder is going to advise us based on what we’ve told her we’re after.

The price is completely top end but from award winning, healthy parents so I’m prepared to pay.

We tried adoption over the last 10 months but we have dc (12 and 8) and 2 cats plus we’re first time owners with an idea on breed (although had some flex but set on size). We also didn’t want an old dog. Anyway, adoption clearly wasn’t for us as the charities never had anything suitable. We’ve done huge amounts of research.

I’m just excited and wondered what you’d choose based on colours. That isn’t how we will actually make our choice.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman these are working the show cockers are £1500 (from a different breeder we were put in touch with).

solid black, chocolate and golden. The last litter was blue roan, lemon roan and a chocolate. This mum has colourful litters
Again, do solid black, chocolate and golden typically show up in a single litter of cocker spaniels?
What colour is the mum?
I am assuming one of the parents is black?
Loads of different colours in a litter I suppose is possibly depending on what colours the parents ‘carry’ but I’d be a little suspicious.

these are working
Eh?
I didn’t think workers came in roan?
I thought that was a colour pattern pretty much exclusively seen in show?
Or does your breeder do both types?

go and visit a few times, play with the puppies and watch them how they interact with their mum. we always go for the most confident one and ended up with very strong dog personalities each time - as we wanted.

whatever temperament you are after in a dog you'll see their personalities if you spend enough time with them - you seem to know the breeder which should help to facilitate a few visits before you chose