Can you spot good obedience candidates when they're puppies?

You can guess about which puppies may be good at obedience when they are very young. I can get an idea at about 5-6 weeks better by 8 week but it is there. Then It still becomes a matter of socialization and training but good temperment sure helps.

For obedience,first I look for a confident outgoing puppy.

I want one that can follow people and toys, mainly they want to be with people and their main focus is what are the people doing.

I want a puppy that will play and tug but not loses its mind. For example, I can rev it up and calm it easily.

I want a puppy that will play with people. I throw a toy they chase it and bring it back naturally. Chasing and playing keep away or run off to play by themselves is not great for obedience. As I find they like to entertain and do what they want more than work with people and are a bit too independent.

I want a food motived dog. But again does not lose it mind.

Not sound sensitive, not touch sensitive and able to take a stressful encounter and not be scarred for life ie emotional resilence. The puppy that falls of a step and worries about it for hours or heaven forbid life is not an obedience prospect.

This is basicly what I want for agility too but the obedience dog is more focused and steadier overall. Good obedience dogs are not nessecarily good agility dogs and vice versa. They can be it more rare. I have trained 5 shelties. My first was a great, in that I mean once in a life obedience dog. He was everything I stated above. He was good at agility but way too methodical for great speed. It may have been me. I base my obedience wish list on him.

It comes down to what type of dog do you like to work with as well. My friend who I often co bred with, likes a totally different kind of dog than I do to live with. A good breeder will help you find the right puppy.

Good luck

 

I'm glad you wrote this question, and that's a nice answer Dr. Shelli I'm going to see my puppies in 2 weeks (they'll be 5 weeks) and I was wondering about that as well. I'll be looking for a pup that would be good for agility and maybe some freestyle.

One more thing I've read to look for, structure-wise, is a pup that trots a lot? I don't know if that's true or not. I've asked for my breeder's help, of course, but I'm trying to educate myself as well

The structure thing probably doesn't apply as much to obedience, though.

 

You want a nice shoulder lay back for the jumping. My boy has a straight front end and at only 5 years old I see the jumping taking its toll.

Shelli had a great answer to looking for an obedience pup. I like what she said, confident, people focused and I like the hungry (greedy, food motivated) pups.

 

Fascinating!! I learned a bunch here.

 

There's several different tests you can find online to assess a puppy. You want the curious, attentive, outgoing, and the one that won't get unhinged by something unusual. However, you don't want to stress the candidates too much during assessment. There's some thought, for example, that the Volhard is too hard on puppies. You can get a pretty good idea of which are headstrong, which are fearful, which are super laid back (send those to service work), and which are overall well balanced by some puppy games and watching the litter play and explore a new area. You also want to look to the one or ones that seem drawn to YOU. There is a component of partnership and when all things are equal, the one drawn to you will work its heart out for you that extra bit. However, after that you need to have good exposure to the world (I don't like the word socialization because it is really exposure). Another thing is to truly understand fear periods and watch for them. Take it easy during fear periods to avoid a long term issue.

 

For me the performance prospect needs at least as good of body structure as the conformation prospect. I might argue better. The difference for me is in the head detail that makes the "show" dog. Beware of the breeder that offers anything non show as performance. There is a difference. You can get away with it little bit more in obedience than agility but jump the bar and high a thousand times during training and it will catch up to you.

I want a nice balance dog with an excellent front(good lay back, good lentgh of upper arm and good prosterum-I will give alittle from my ideal but straight front is a deal breaker) and solid rear(balanced with the front in angles, good rounded croup and short hocks for the legs-the angulation should come from the limb not the length of the hocks). Legs straight and feet all facing same direction. I also like nice tight toes-flat feet is a no for me. Neck and back length play a role too-short necks tend to have less reach and harder time holding their head up during heeling. Long loins and backs seem to have more issues with sit stays.

When the puppy moves the best I cant describe is graceful. They cover ground with little effort(usually a brisk trot) and they run like the wind and seem to have endless energy. A poorly put together puppy gets tired fast. Avoid plodding puppies or those who look like they are dragging their feet or they look like they are tip toeing through the tulips (lack reach and drive usually because they are not put together right). A poor moving dog can do obedience but they will get tired quicker during training and trailing and will not move as well while heeling, sitting or jumping.

It is an art to see all this and I like to sit and watch the puppies for hours as well as put my hands on them. Then it is an educated guess and hope they grow as they should. Thats why the breeder is your best resource. Be very clear about what you want and what you dont and wont except. There are no perfect puppies and this is an ideal. Nor do they need to be perfect to be a fun competition buddy but the more serious and the more competative you want to be the more the closer to the ideal I feel you must be.

 

5 weeks will be a bit early to tell much about structure and movement but you can get an idea of temperment

 

Yes, I kept telling the breeder what I wanted, and she ended up saying it sounded like I was looking for the same thing she was, and was I sure I didn't want to do conformation too? I agree with you, because I don't want to end up with a dog that ends up getting injured. But it's probably hard to get most breeders to part with a quality dog that could do conformation, why would they want to give that to me??--I feel like I'm asking for the world here.

It will be 6 weeks at this point, because she's going out of town. I've been looking at puppies and trying to watch for movement to get ready. But no matter what, I'm going to have to trust her expertise...I can see some things but she's been doing this for over 20 years and is an AKC judge. She says she's just now able to start seeing things, and she thinks we'll be able to see enough by then.

 

Yes it is hard if the dog is truely show quality. But great bodies come in quality dogs that look to be too big, too small , too little bone, dont have enough muzzle, not enough underjaw, have 2 piece heads, big round eyes etc etc which would cause the dog to be not suitable for conformation but excellent for performance. The reality is it is super hard to finish a sheltie without a good head no matter how great the body. But a sheltie with a great head will finish with even a below avg body.

I will submit an example. We had a potential puppy buyer who gave me a long long list of things she wanted. I laughed and said if he is all that, he will stay here. But the puppy while he had an excellent body and great temperment was not enough for a male show dog -he was smaller and lighter in bone and his muzzle not quite enough as a puppy. But I would guess he turned out ok enough for his owners purposes which is a super competitive agility dog.(some will guess who that is). A bit bigger and better head detail and he would still be here.