I picked Poppy at 12 days, but I did go and visit every 2 weeks until I collected her at 10 weeks.

That is fair xxxxxx

Do you think you had a special bond that built up over those few weeks of visiting?

I had no problem at all in trusting Yogi's breeder to choose which pup from a litter of 8 that she felt was most suited to my lifestyle, and for the training I wanted to do with that pup.

I had already taken her advice in which litter would suit me, as she had two litters that year and one was more likely to be very laidback and less inclined to have the necessary drives to do working trials type training. The other litter (same sire, different dam) were more likely to be high energy, up for it type pups, which is what I wanted.

It certainly didn't diminish the excitement of going down and meeting the sire and dam and the litter of adorable, fluffy pups and bringing mine home with me

I think if you trust your breeder, then there is no probs in having them choose the one they believe is most suited to you.

Chili was picked via photo's , taken by my friend...when she was a tiny thing.



This is when I met her for the 1st time

I picked one of mine at 2 weeks old, repicked at 6 weeks old and then on the day of collection repicked again when the breeder brought 2 pups out and said "one of these is yours, dont know which one". I know Flynn was my 3rd choice and he wasnt actually the ones i'd picked on previous visits, the breeder didnt bother to keep track of who'd picked what.

Jed was picked at 7 weeks old.

I wouldnt like a breeder picking a dog for me. I'm very specific in what I want when it comes to a dogs looks and so would prefer to choose a dog that I liked, not that the breeder thought would suit me better. At the end of the day, the breeder doesnt know me or my capablities.

[QUOTE=Leanne_W;2008317]I picked one of mine at 2 weeks old, repicked at 6 weeks old and then on the day of collection repicked again when the breeder brought 2 pups out and said "one of these is yours, dont know which one". I know Flynn was my 3rd choice and he wasnt actually the ones i'd picked on previous visits, the breeder didnt bother to keep track of who'd picked what.

Jed was picked at 7 weeks old.

I wouldnt like a breeder picking a dog for me. I'm very specific in what I want when it comes to a dogs looks and so would prefer to choose a dog that I liked, not that the breeder thought would suit me better. At the end of the day, the breeder doesnt know me or my capablities.[/QUOTE]

Well in the case of Yogi, you couldn't have chosen between the pups at 8 weeks, they all looked identical , although some were dogs and some were bitches I don't think Yogi's breeder would have minded if I had said I wanted to choose my own pup (I had second choice of dog pup) but after discussing my lifestyle and what I wanted my pup for, I felt she was better qualified than me in choosing the right pup, having known them all since day one and spending time with them all each day.

Never before 6 weeks.

I picked Maddy at 2 weeks (not my choice!) as I was first on the list (for bitches) and I was asked to go and choose then as others were coming to view the litter and would be able to choose before me and I would have the girl who was left, so I decided to go and try my best as I wanted to show her but there's not a lot to go on at that age, she couldn't even stand, and she's unshowable now anyway due to her temp, however, lesson learnt, albeit the hard way but this was before the days of Dogsey!

I chose Star at 6 weeks but was then going purely for temperament as she's a cross so I was more than happy with that, very hard choice though in both cases!

Dusty I was on a reserve list for so she was the last one, I would have chose her anyway, she was the only dapple and the person who was due to have her wanted black and tan, so lucky me!

I met Misty's litter when they were 2 days old, a week before I moved up to live with OH. It was OH's old headkeeper that bred them, and he said I could have the pick of the litter.

Based on what I liked, colourwise, I knew I'd end up taking home either Misty (Black and white) or a black bitch with dipped white feet. I knew that at 2 days old, things could change, but I wanted a bitch, and prefer b&w/black to l&w.

I got see them everyday for the first week and was still keen on Misty and the black bitch. I went home for a week, then moved up permantly, so spent a lot of time with the litter as OH had to go there everyday, to get food for his pheasants.

I had to make my choice when someone came to see the litter (can't remember how old they were), and was interesting in both the pups I liked. I chose Misty, because she was confident, but not really noisy and over confident, like the black bitch.

I don't regret my choice, and I think it really helped that I got to watch her grow and interact with her littermates, and the keepers other dogs.

I hope that if I ever got another dog from a pup, that I can have the same opportunity that I had with Misty.