Thoughts on picking a pup

[PassinthruOutdoors]

We just went through this back in December and prior to picking out our new pup I was putting way to much on it and once I got there I just went with the one that felt right. The funny part was my wife and son picked Jackson out within a minute but never said anything. It took me about 10 minutes. If you have done your home work on the breeder any pup has what you want in them, now you just have to bring it out - well that is what they keep telling me. Anyway I picked Jackson because he was outgoing, investigated everything, interacted with everyone and he even stole my camera. He just seemed more even keel the the other two (I had first pick of the males). He has only been home for a month but he is every bit of what he was and coming along nicely. My Hannah who is 7 was an easy pick as I had the last pick of the females and she turned out good. My shorthairs I picked somewhere in the middle on both. All 4 pups had good lines and breeders which i why I think I was happy and successful.

Good luck to you.

[grnhd]

Wow this thread is perfectly timed. Thanks for all that took the time to reply. I'm thinking of getting a new pup and the litter that I've chosen has(or had,i dont know if they still have her)one female left. I feel better about her after reading this.

[BenHuntin]

I agree that you should talk to the breeder. Recently I sold my first litter of puppies. I watched the puppies interact with the litter, mother, and myself everyday. A guy called me wanting to buy a puppy for blood trailing. I had a good idea of which puppy would be best for his needs. When he showed up to pick his pup the one I had in mind had already wore himself out playing so he seemed kind of lazy. I explained this to him and asked him to come back to observe them after they rested. When he came back he agreed with me. He sent me a video of the puppy, at 9 weeks old, finding his first deer on a 35 yard blood trail. I guess my point is there is no way to look at a litter and know what you will get or that you could even get an idea of a pups personality by spending 30 minutes observing.

[MIDTNGRNHEAD]

Two and a half years ago we bred a nice female to an FC/AFC male and decided we were going to keep a yellow male and a black female. We let all our puppy customers pick their's and kept the last one of each. Both were Master Hunters at two. Like several others said, select a good breeding, close your eyes and pick one. They're all just little pooping, peeing balls of fur when you carry them home.

[DarrinGreene]

Million ways but this last time I had first pick (after the breeder) and took the one who was the last girl chasing the flirt pole. She's a piece of work. Probably not a house dog. Very high drive, very smart. We'll see overall what she turns out to be. She's 8 1/2 mos now.

I have some baggage from pushing lower drive dogs through a program, and I refuse to do it with a personal dog.