Getting to Choose a New Puppy! - Page 2

Bok,

You have three to choose from, I would let the breeder make suggestion's but you decide.

Take your time and keep your mind and heart open.   The choice will come to you.

I would say whichever you choose will be the right choice.  

I avoid shy, timid puppy's in favor of out going, friendly, active puppy's.   But thats only part of what I look for myself.

For what you have in mind I think you'll be ok.

The cat and puppy should have time to get used to each other from a distance.   Don't force them to get along.   The cat has the advantage so watch out for the puppy until she is older.    One good scratch can cause the loss of an eye, thats my only worry about cats and puppy's.   

Enjoy your new puppy,

Moon's.

Given that you are alone with the three pups with no direction from the breeder.I hope the breeder has a big yard and has already set up obstacles..play prey toys etc.In choosing..do a whistle by your mouth and see whom is most alert and comes to that untaught.Use no hand signals..treats..toys.Be alone with the pups.this will not work if the pups are in a small area as any no matter what breeding will go to a tone.Except for the watchers in the group..But given another atmosphere/enviroment amongst the litter.Their response would more than likely be the same if the breeding was right to begin with.Good Luck with the pup you choose.

Excellent post

Thank you all for your great and helpful input.

In regards to the cat... Not a cat person here, I can take them or leave them, but...

Pup will view it as a part of the pack (althought somewhat detached and on the LOWER rank than him, or so he desires...). Just use common sense, patience and crate, crate, crate.

Let me tell you little story (with pictures!). Whatever you people do, DO NOT feed a stray kitten roast beef, tuna and cheese. Last year, a stray, completely non domesticated cat decided to pitch the tent under the shop in the backyard, make that the nest and have a litter there. Litter was 2 kittens. One was stupid, and will never amount to a hill of beans, but another one was curious, lively and here the curial mostake was made. We fed them!

Well, kittens grew up, the stupid one was gone after a while not to return, the other cat kept hanging around, occasionaly getting a nibble.

The moral of the story... Now, this cat when her time came was reasoning. I am going to have MY litter under the shop int he backyard. Those suckers will do it for my litter too. So, yes, the suckers did. Litter of 4 kittens plus mama, 5 damn cats prowling around the garage, backyard and under the shop.

Puppy GSD comes around... and here are the pictures of thsoe "Encounters of the third kind". he views them as a part of the pack, not that much fun anymore (he used to harrass and mess with kittens for a while, then he matured and doesn't find them all that interesting anymore. NEITHER DO we, but damn things are still loitering. The last picture is the pup the morning after Hurricane Ike hit Houston 8 months ago inspecting the damage with us.

Screw this stupid "inserting the pictures in the window. Here goes on my own site and is guaranteed to show up:

www.txpinball.com/gsd/cats/index.html

Adi

Thank you  Bancroft. However... with all my knowledge of the tests, what to do and how to do it, meticulous preparations, knowing how to read dogs and what to look for, test this, test that, psychology, observations, looking at it with critical eye, seeing the various reactions etc... etc... this is how it turned out. So, don't always listen to me, ha, ha.

Litter of 4, I pick what I want, show up at the breeder's place. I would have liked the litter to be a bit bigger, so I can clearly see the differences, but we got what we got and we gotta work with what we were given. Either that, or pass on the litter, which I wasn't going to do for better or worse.

It's May of this year, Texas heat, I am in shorts and t shirt.. Go look at the pups, breeder leaves me alone, hangs in the background, dam is in her kennel nearby relaxed and looking curiously at us. All 4 littermates come running at me. It's 2 boys and 2 girls. I squat and sit down and call them to me. One boy, who is almost TWICE the size of the other littermates, looks up from whatever they were all doing, covers the ground between us like a bolt of lightning and nips at my outstretched fingers and gives it a tug. I pet him with my other hand, he pulls back harder on my finger.

Only let it go when I wave a rag in front of him, takes it fast, shakes it a few times and settles down gnawing at it besides me. The other 2 littermates came by in the meatime and are all over me, licking hands, waggging tails and going all over trying to lick my face. One last pup just sat down and never came back. Just sat where ever they were and looks from the distance.

Meeting is over. That was at 7 weeks. I come by a week later, same scenario. I was prepared to do this test and that test.

Puppies come out. The big puppy fromt he first meeting is EVEN BIGGER now, like Yao Ming towering over other players. I crouch down and call the pups to me. The first thing that the big pup does since there was no outstretched hads is reach out and bite me in the crotch. He didn't get far below the Equator, most what he gor was shorts.

I ouch for dramatic effect, he looks up and outs, wags his tail and looks at me focused. I shift in the position, he goes at it again and transfers to the rag. Same thing as before, shakes and thrashes, plays tug with me, then wins and settles down nipping at it between his paws.

That's it, meeting over! Close the gates! Meeting adjourned! We're done here. Forget the fancy tests. That's the pup. Let's go home, no further testing is done.

So, I can talk a good deal and I am often correct (often wrong too), but sometimes people and me included don't always do what we preach. Gut feeling is also important as much as science, experience and testing.

Adi

Bok, everyone here gave you really good info. I will share some of my experience with my first working GSD. I did the research, talked to breeders and K9 officers as well as Schutzhund handlers.  I thought I had it all covered. I am used to very hard to train horses so I thought I was prepared. NOT. Talking to people is one thing, actually having the pup and spending 24/7 with it are two entirely different things. How my big male Loki turned out as good as he did is a miracle to his breeding (wonderfully helpful breeder), temperment, my wonderful and talented trainer, my patient husband and great son. It was difficult to say the least the first 18 months. I did crate train him which I would recommend (get a crate big enough for the pup to turn around and stretch out, not too big, you will have to buy bigger crates as the pup grows). Feed pup in crate. definately find a reputable trainer, that is a must, who is willing to work with you and your family, even the youngest. Some other things to remember, good nutrition, good trainer, patience and firmness, and "a tired dog is a good dog".  Good luck

I went and saw the puppies today; They're almost 4 weeks old, and impossible to tell them apart.  The litter is 5 males and 3 females.  Below is a link to a video documenting my visits.

www.youtube.com/watch

I LOVEDTHAT CAT.GOOD LUCK ON YOUR PICK.