Slow to Mature - Page 1

I am hoping that I will hear from all the long time experienced breeders that are very well respected on this site for some advice. I am posting this for a friend, since I do not consider myself an expert.

Has anyone had a male pup that was slow to mature, both mentally and physically. By this I mean even at 10 months he acts just like a 4 or 5 month old pup and physically even though his ears did come up during teething they are still soft and flop when running. Everything that could be done or added to his diet has been done for his ears but his owner just decided to let maturity take care of it. My question is, if you produced and kept back this now stunning pick pup as a future breeding dog, would you just wait and let him mature or if excluded at what age would you make your decision ie: 12, 13, 15 months of age. Keeping in mind this dog willl make an awesome family companion or sport dog or even therepy dog.

Will genitics also play a big part in how fast the dogs mature? Are there some lines that mature very slowly? This dog comes from Yasko, Quando and Ursus lines?

Thanks so much in advance

Debbie

I don't think I would say it's necessarily "lines"  here's the reason why...  I have 3 Male pups from the same litter all are 11 months old,  One still acts like a puppy, and still looks like a pup,  one is high drive and very serious, and maturing physically and mentally in my estimation at an even pace.  The 3rd pup was neutered at 4 months old,  He has matured physically very fast,  however mentally he has some catching up to do but is more mentally mature than the first pup.  So in one litter of 3 Males that we still have here,  all 3 are at different levels of maturity mentally and physically.  I would have to lean more toward individual dogs rather than lines.

I also have a coming 3 yr. old Male that is physically beautiful and Mature,  But he's a big baby,  He's is such a silly and loves playing with puppies, and with us,  He loves his cuddle time.  My Big Male sitka,  Is very Mentally mature has filled out nicely in his structure too,  But is not quite the "baby" that this other dog is.  Again even though they are not related at all,  Makes me still think it's a matter of individual.