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

[corbinam]

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.

Doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Shelli is spot on-- be honest with your breeder about what you're looking for, and be willing to wait. It doesn't hurt to share what you want (even if the list is long!) as you never know what might work out. I actually prefer lighter boned dogs for performance than heavier boned, so for me that was a plus (not saying that's right--just personal preference)! You can always make a list, and decide what you're willing to compromise on. For performance (and for agility especially, as Shelli mentioned), structure isn't something you want to mess with.

And while Enzo might struggle in the breed ring because of his head detail, he is a superb agility dog. His reach and drive allows him to have more ground speed than dogs 3"+ taller than him (and in agility, 3" is a lot!), and his temperament gives him all kinds of potential. Maybe one day we'll learn to keep up with him and he'll meet that potential

 

[Justicemom]

Doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Shelli is spot on-- be honest with your breeder about what you're looking for, and be willing to wait. It doesn't hurt to share what you want (even if the list is long!) as you never know what might work out. I actually prefer lighter boned dogs for performance than heavier boned, so for me that was a plus (not saying that's right--just personal preference)! You can always make a list, and decide what you're willing to compromise on. For performance (and for agility especially, as Shelli mentioned), structure isn't something you want to mess with.

And while Enzo might struggle in the breed ring because of his head detail, he is a superb agility dog. His reach and drive allows him to have more ground speed than dogs 3"+ taller than him (and in agility, 3" is a lot!), and his temperament gives him all kinds of potential. Maybe one day we'll learn to keep up with him and he'll meet that potential

He would do well in Europe. I know someone in Austria who saw pictures of him and would take him in a heart beat.

 

[PonyForever]

He would do well in Europe. I know someone in Austria who saw pictures of him and would take him in a heart beat.

Yes, I can see why he'd do well in Europe. I actually like a more European head. I like many American heads too, but IMO a lot of them over here are heading towards being too "heavy". There's one breeder near me that I look at and wonder how their dogs aren't falling over because their heads look so big But hey that's just me. Not all breeders are like that here, and one of the things I liked about the one I chose was that her dogs' heads looked more "moderate" to me.

But anyway, yeah, I hope that I can get a well structured dog out of this litter, and what you said about heads being more important in the show ring than structure kind of made me feel more like I may be able to get it. So thanks for giving me hope The pics of the puppies I've seen so far don't look like they have blocky heads (except for maybe one of them)...but of course I have no idea what I'm looking at, or how different lines mature.

I'm sure I'm WAY overthinking this. As usual But this has been a very informative thread!

 

[PonyForever]

Shelli is spot on-- be honest with your breeder about what you're looking for, and be willing to wait. It doesn't hurt to share what you want (even if the list is long!) as you never know what might work out. I actually prefer lighter boned dogs for performance than heavier boned, so for me that was a plus (not saying that's right--just personal preference)! You can always make a list, and decide what you're willing to compromise on. For performance (and for agility especially, as Shelli mentioned), structure isn't something you want to mess with.

She did ask me if I preferred smaller or larger and I said that if structure/temperament was the same I'd probably go smaller. Because I had heard that light to moderate bone was better for agility?