evaluating newborns

I don't start doing any serious evaluation until about 6 weeks. I am not good enough to evaluate the head on a just born puppy and get anything useful from it. Given I'm doing performance events also, I'm looking at structure, temperament, boldness, ability to problem solve/figure new things out, drive, and speed. By then, that is all starting to come together and give me an idea of where each puppy needs to be.
I haven't bred many litters, but have seen most of the pups, whether in person or pictures, as they have grown up, and with the exception of coat (which I have gotten the least coat twice now :/ ) I've done a pretty good job and have managed to keep the structurally soundest puppy with the drive and speed I want.
I think they can seriously start to go off around 4 months old, and then it is a wait and see game on whether they will come back together or not.

 

interesting, I know they say you can tell right after birth if they have a nice "blocky" head, personally I dont evaluate until atleast 6 weeks of age, and even than sometimes cant fully make up my mind until 8 weeks....but by 10 weeks or so they do sort them selves out if it is close between 2...

If you are on FB there is a great group on there and that would be an awesome question to ask and see the feedback, alot of people on there have been breeding forever!

 

The ones I have loved, have been from minutes after they are born. I knew with Tansy right away that for me, she was going to be special. I never looked back. I just held my breath and watched her grow. And she certainly didn't disappoint. The males are a killer. I have had some stunning dogs that I knew were going to be really nice, only to have them have a size issue or not have all they needed
You know it when you see it. Go to different breeder's websites and look at their show prospects, sometimes they will also post "wee baby pictures" of dogs that have continued on the path to be a great showdog.

 

I apologize in advance for the off-topic comment, but I just searched for 'sheltie breeders' on FB and the result looks nothing like Shelties.

Check it out. Don't worry. It isn't porn.

 

Here is a wonderful place to start...www.sheltiesonline.com. There you will find breeders listed by state, and you can click on what you would like to see.

 

I hope I dont offend anyone but I dont know how anyone pics a pup when they are teeny tiny, I cant tell what they will become. I also think they dont look like a doggie that young.

 

Well in the litters I have seen I know you can see the potential but you never know for sure until later. That is my beginner view. I am getting better at picturing what they will look like as adult the more I see. So I think people who are quite experienced with shelties can probably tell from an early age if a certain puppy is one to watch or not. Of course, final judgement comes later.

But I can tell you, we had one puppy that from the day she was born(and I do mean the second she was born) was a pet. The head instead of being "blocky" was quite tear drop looking. She ended up being cute in her own way but definitely not what we where going for. I looked for a goo head picture of her as a 1-2 day old, but I don't think I could being myself to take one.

I have a few pictures of Birch as a baby in my albums. Here is one at 2 weeks. and then I posted a couple more recent below. 1st one is end of July(10 months)and 2nd one is 7 months.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=412&pictureid=4859

I think his head plans from the side have pretty similar look.

 

I'm not a sheltie breeder but did westies and belgians for years. I can look at the head of a newborn westie and tell you if it has a strong head or is going to be long muzzled or narrow skull accurately. I can also see in the wet newborn what kind of coat it will have, it's earset, pigment and tail set. The rest of the body has to wait until it is older.
The Belgian is a bit more difficult. While I can see if it will have a nice length to it's muzzle, I can't tell if it will be down faced. That's about all I can see but I didn't breed very many litters so wasn't able to compile the kind of data that I did on the westie.
I would imagine that an experienced sheltie breeder would be able to see some things at birth besides colour and the would be waiting to see if the rest of the dog matched up.