They very much have a personality at 6 weeks old. At this age guide dogs spend a week with their litter at the breeding centre being assessed. They each get labelled a colour according to their personalities. We never get to know the colours, neither do our supervisors as pups do change and they don't want us to pre-judge but to train the pup we have. But 'purple' pups never make it into the programme at all. They are the shy, more nervous ones. This is because, above all other things, guide dogs need confidence. Confidence to find their way around big, busy cities and confidence to say 'no' to their owner when the owner is saying 'forward' and the dog knows that it's not safe. ...
I waited a year after my old Lab died (in very old age) to get a new pup, but even so in those early weeks with Molly I desperately missed Rolo. Now I love Molly to bits, but she's different from my last dog. I think you just need to prepare yourselves emotionally that every dog has their own personality and finds their way into your heart in their own way. I didn't choose any of my pups as they were all the last ones left in the litters but they've all been lovely. When I went to get Molly I asked xxx which of the pups milling around our feet was mine and was told it was the one halfway up the yard climbing over an old cartwheel! But Molly hasn't turned out to be especially adventurous - she stays near me on off lead walks - so I'm inclined to think it's pot luck!
I didn't get to choose Tatze from the litter as they were all boys with one female and I wanted a female. She couldn't have been better for us, very adaptable and easy going and she adores puppies, of which she's had six staying with her for varied lengths of time. She loves them all, from 7 weeks to 14 months I chose my Darling Boogie (mixed breed) from Battersea dogs home. I was only 18 and had no idea about dogs, but he turned out to be a wonderful pet for 19 happy years. I miss him still. ..
yup thats sort of what i figured....too young to really differentiate differences in personalities. What i thought though was similar to what you said that if you pick them up , how do they handle it .....like do they squirm a lot to get away or settle in, etc . I thought that still may be a good test to see how well they adapt to things like that (not that you'd pick up a 70lb lab and flip them over on their back in a year but to tell how they handle change
Observing the liter and how the pups interact with each other will tell you a lot about their personality.
We had two pups in the litter to choose between. Cooper was the one that came out to see us as soon as they opened the crate. She chose us we think. FWIW, don't read much into the size of the different pups. Cooper was the smallest in the part of the litter that we saw, and we think she was the runt. At 5.5 lbs, She was 2lbs smaller than Tilly at 7 weeks. She grew up to be a large dog, standing 24+" and 85 lbs. Tilly is 21" and 67#
When I got Fred, I asked the Breeder for a black male. I had to wait for him. He was the only black male born in two years. Then when we got Annie, I asked the same breeder for a black female, Annie was the only black female in the litter. Both have been wonderful dogs.
Well, an 8 week old puppy is far more advanced than an 8 week old human. My other observation would be this: I breed ducks and by 8 weeks they most certainly have very different personalities (eg bold or timid, curious or not, always in the lead of the group or always behind, bossy or easy going, loves swimming/prefers dry land..and many more differentiating characteristics).
Like Julie, I'm not convinced that you can determine an adult dog's character from the way that it behaves as a 7-8 week old puppy. As long as you have made all the necessary health-checks then I think it is just a matter of personal preference - which one appeals to you the most. At the end of the day I suspect that there are no 'wrong' choices from a reputable breeder. OH had already decided that she wanted a yellow dog. In the litter that we were interested in there was only one yellow dog so it was simply a matter of whether we (ie OH!) found him appealing. She did and that's how we ended up with Harv. As it happens, the quote below sums him up perfectly ...
I do think at 8 weeks you can tell a bold pup from a nervous pup - I could tell within a few hours Betsy was a very bold puppy. I'm not sure I spotted this when she was with the other puppies though, they were all a happy bundle of puppiness, in a very familiar place, already well socialised to strange humans coming to say hello. The breeder had spotted it, but she had been watching the pups for 8 weeks (and I'm sure the guide dog program does a good evaluation over a week etc.). It might be best to ask the breeder about the characteristics of the puppies...
I'm sure that, as laypeople, we can't - but the Guide Dog experts most certainly can and they test the pups away from the rest of the litter. I don't know the tests but I know there are lots of them done over the course of a week. They spend the rest of their time with the litter, of course. ...
I've been thinking and decided my previous comments were incorrect, but I still think it's very difficult to correctly interpret the behaviour of young puppies. Seeing Molly at 7 weeks heading away from others and exploring was, I think, not a sign of being bold or adventurous, but a sign that she was very scent driven and not too bothered about the company of other dogs (this is all with hindsight of course). I think this because although she's happy to greet other dogs, as a puppy she was never desperate to get to them and training recall from them was fairly easy, much easier than training her to leave something smelly! But I didn't guess this when I first met her. So to the OP I'd say as others have, choose the one you like!
I'm not sure what they mean in the long run, but you can definitely see differences in 7 week old pups. When we got Tilly 10 years ago, we made several trips to see the pups, and by 5 or 6 weeks decided which one we did not want, and which one we did. At that time we could choose between 3 different Chocolate females. The biggest was very quiet and often did not come out with the rest of the pups. There was the runt of the litter which was probably the most rambunctious and Tilly who was medium size, higher energy, and also the darkest Chocolate Lab I've ever seen. When we picked out Cooper a year ago, we only saw the two Chocolate females which the breeder brought to Portland (she had both sold in Portland) and we had first pick. Cooper came running out to see my wife, and the other pup hung back. Pat said Cooper picked her and that was that.
i think we'll be going to pick our girl out in a week or 2 when they are 5 weeks so we'll see what happens! hopefully we time it well that they arent just sleepy and get to see them in action a bit! hoping they let us interact w/ the mom and pop a bit too so we can get an idea what we're possibly in for
Our lovely boy, did come to my hubby so we chose him, we did go to see him about 3 or 4 times, and Busters dad was absolutely Gorgeous and so friendly and loved a stroke, but the mum would never come near us, I do understand it though, but Buster is such a love he is soooo friendly and loveable with everyone and everything he meets, I couldn't have wished for a more perfect dog (apart from the barking, he loves a bark )
Of Fern's five pups, quite early they showed their character. Certainly at 4 weeks one of the girls (Ivy) was more forward than the other. With the boys, one, Humphry, (easily the biggest in the litter) was a little bit of a bully boy trying to start fights, one was a middling sort, and one was rather docile. When we were down to 3 pups, Humphry and Ivy were noisily fighting, with the docile pup looking on, often under his favourite chair.
I chose mine from the photo on gumtree. I wanted a male and there were only two left. I wanted the golden yellow one. When I went to pick him up his brother came upto me three times. It was really hard choosing between them as I came for the other dog. In the end I chose his brother, the white lab. I'm sure I made the right choice. The breeder even admitted they were gonna keep him if I didn't buy him as he's such a people friendly dog. He's more I terested in socialising with humans than he was his litter mates. I love him to pieces.
we chose Kyko as we only had 2 to chose from & they were almost identical looking, we held them both & went for Kyko because he had a slightly bigger Buddha belly! We are still in touch with the breeder & we follow one sibling on instagram. We met up for pups birthday & it was great to see them all. Each and every one was like Kyko in that they had a great lust for life
Every animal we have ever had since I was a child, and there have been several dogs and cats(all rescue animals) have always chosen us. So when we went to chose our puppy from the breeder, we had already decided on a male and there were 3 to choose from in the litter. When she got them out of their pen, Hero didn't hesitate. He came clambering over to me and started licking my hand then climbing into my arms. That was it. Common sense told me that such a confident and outgoing pup was going to be a handful but there really was no other choice. The breeder had all the breeding and medical history for the parents, including hip, elbow and optical conditions which were all very low or clear. The whole litter appeared healthy and mum was a lovely, friendly dog. Dad is a trials champion and was away at the time. We viewed at 5 weeks and because it was some distance away from us, she sent us weekly updates, pictures and videos so we could see him progressing. Hero is now coming up to 6 months. He is bold, confident, very energetic. But he is also very loving, highly intelligent. ( sometimes too much for his own good), very quickly picks up his training and works so hard to please.....unless a bird, any bird dares to land on the ground near him, then forget about what he's been taught...it's fair game after all and we have to be alert near water - whether it's the River Ouse, a pond or simply the muddiest puddle he can find to roll in. He seems to have no fear. So think first impressions were quite accurate, but we wouldn't have him any other way. At the end of the day you have to decide what type of Labrador you want and how energetic because it seems that is a big factor to be considered. So happy choosing and having had a Lab previously you know what will suit you.
