Performance breeding

In general, if you want working dog, looks is usually put aside. The most important in working dog is health, imo. I'd first look into health, THEN of course, some predisposition and results of parents - they should be used in sports or as a working dogs. You want active happy "brave" puppy.
Tho, it's about personal preferences. I was the luckiest person when I chose my dog, bc he's pretty awesome in everything he does. He's beautiful sheltie boy and won two shows we took part in.... then he's brilliant when it comes to agility. It's like he was born to do this sport&is absolutely smart, focused BUT also really fast. He's only 17 months old, but many ppl told me that he's really great. You usually just have to go around kennels and try to pick up some, then look at the parents and hope for the best luck. I don't think that anyone can guarantee you what your dog is gonna be like. My dog's mom is doing agility&canistherapy and dad is grand champion at shows. Would I expect this crazy mad thing that I've got coming out of this relation? :lol: Probably not. It was first litter in that little family kennel, so I guess it's not always about reputable big kennels. I'd really just look at kennel who does give puppies a lot of time, they socialize them a lot w/ many ppl, other animals etc. Also because my breeder has agility field behind their house, first time my pup got out was right onto the agility field :lol: That's the way you want it.... haha
So overall- while choosing future dog, I'd deffo look into health, parents, their results and the way they're used, also rather small than big kennel and you know... choose the one that will steal your heart :o
 
Calliesmom said:
at the moment- Dixie is more willing to work with me than Cran. I have been told that boys take a little longer to 'grow up'. and he was such a great puppy :winkgrin:
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Oh I think they definitely take longer to mature. Trax finally started to settle down around 4 years old and now at 5 he's so much better, but I'll take that over a lifetime of *I'll do what I want when I want and you can't stop me!* LOL!
 
ortegah said:
Oh I think they definitely take longer to mature. Trax finally started to settle down around 4 years old and now at 5 he's so much better, but I'll take that over a lifetime of *I'll do what I want when I want and you can't stop me!* LOL!
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4?? I have 2 more years to go:eek2::winkgrin:
 
I am not sure anyone around here are breeding for Performance per say, most have a performance page with succesfull dogs on it, & some have been know to have a good line of dogs that have done well in the agility ring & obedience Rall-o ect, but most are still pure comformation breeders around me especiallly when it comes to shelties. Now BC's are another matter altogether with a lot of breeders
doing both , working , and performance oriented breeding, with many going larger to facilitate cattle hearding Vs sheep, and others going smaller & leaner for speed and agility.

Ive had both My BC auzzie was 27" at the shoulder & 86 lbs, not fat over or overweight Just Big and solid,
by contrast Jake was 23" and 57 lbs much leaner, Speed wise Jake was a tick faster then Auz, but Auz was more controlable
and a faster learner.

Both dogs came from the same breeder out of the same mother Spark who was just your average farm working BC but different dads and were very high drive and trainable working dogs. One litter was for a cattle farmer in alberta, the other for a sheep farmer in Ontario.
 
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ortegah said:
Well that's just how the ones in his line are running. Hopefully you'll have better luck :biggrin2:
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Seeing as how Koji is Trax's Uncle of sorts....I can totally vouch for this maturity thing. Jeez, he turned 4 in May and it's like he's finally starting to pay attention or something! lol. Granted, we had to go back to basics, but still. He's such a puppy at times! So, you're telling me next year will be 100x better? Awesome! Maybe we can get a MACH before he has to retire, lol.

I'm loving this thread.
 
k9kreationz said:
Seeing as how Koji is Trax's Uncle of sorts....I can totally vouch for this maturity thing. Jeez, he turned 4 in May and it's like he's finally starting to pay attention or something! lol. Granted, we had to go back to basics, but still. He's such a puppy at times! So, you're telling me next year will be 100x better? Awesome! Maybe we can get a MACH before he has to retire, lol.

I'm loving this thread.
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Yes! It's totally amazing how much of a difference Trax is this year from last year, I swear! As I tell people, the difference is that people actually tell me how good we did rather than gasping in horror. And yes, people have gasped in horror before at our runs. Sometimes it was because of falling off the dog walk and other times it's because he's run into me and sent me rolling across the floor! :lol:
 
ortegah said:
Oh I think they definitely take longer to mature. Trax finally started to settle down around 4 years old and now at 5 he's so much better, but I'll take that over a lifetime of *I'll do what I want when I want and you can't stop me!* LOL!
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yeah, I have one of those... Che is brilliant when it comes to learning, sometimes I think I just need to tell him and he gets it... but life time of those " Dont wanna dont hafta" moments are never dull... and I am not enough a dog trainer to keep up with my boy so he is always 2 steps ahead...
Now Leo is all about Mommy, much easier to live with...
I hope future breedings will forever remove image of "shy and nervous sheltie " :mad: because they are NOT...
 
Ashley- I have been thinking about this a lot for our next Sheltie (in a year or so!!). We got Riley from a confirmation breeder (apparently). Riley is awesome and has many of the qualities that we wanted: he is bold (not shy), super friendly, and just happy. But he is also slightly reactive with super high drive and doggie ADD, which is not what I planning on since Riley is my hubby's first dog!!. Hopefully he will grow up a bit more :wink2:. He is not difficult to train exactly, but he has a lot of 'don't wanna don't have to' moments and does not have a great deal of handler focus compared with lots of other Shelties. We still love him to bits!

I'm debating on going with a different confirmation breeder or looking specifically for a performance/confirmation breeder. We plan on getting an older pup or young adult dog (1-2 years) for our next, but we may have to get a young pup (oh, darn :o).
 
It's very interesting that you have something like performance/confirmation breeder.

over here it's totally different. here you won't find ANY breeder who officially breeds for performance.

most dogs in germany which are bought for agility are from a breeder, who goes a lot to shows and has it's focus at the looking. people just by there, because years ago some dogs out of this kennel competed at the WC.

my face for example (she got definitly everything I expected from a working dog) is breed by a breeder who does nothing with her dogs except of walking them, etc. (no dogsports at all).

and for me it was totally clear, that I do want a dog from a breed like that. I didn't want a breed, where the breeder does agility. it seems to me like the breeder does have a higher expectance to you in sports, if he does by himself, too.
 
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