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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Ev lives the Lower Mainland of Beautiful British Columbia, Canada where she has been training dogs since 1969. She is experienced in many methods including clicker and motivational training. Ev is an original Superdog Performance Team member and her own dogs have travelled and performed with the Canadian SuperDogs since 1984. She has also served as an A.A.C. judge ans is an original Member/Trainer with the Dogwood Pacesetters Agility Club.
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1/12/2007
Choosing a puppy by what charateristics? I have read how to pick your dog part I and II, and with these questions, have narrowed down my pick of a Welsh Terrier puppy. Unfortunately my wife has made her pick also, and we don't see eye to eye. She is in love with a female pup who will let her gently roll her over on her back and let her rub her belly without squirming. The only thing I saw with the female is when her brother and sister were done playing, she was still jumping and full of energy and quite bold; tugging on her mother continuously and jumping on her siblings. I on the other hand liked the male who played with the toys and his siblings, but remained calm when playtime was "over". Is the characteristic of rolling over a stronger indication of submissiveness, or should I not be fooled by her rambunctious personality. (earthwelshman, Florida)
First off, the age of the puppies may make a difference in how you evaluate them. Energy levels vary sometimes between pups and between ages. There is a chance that the female is 'more mature' for her age allowing her to keep her energy longer.
Did you make an effort to execute the same patterns with the male as your wife did with the female? Just watching them play is not enough interaction to make an educated choice.
Also, one visit with puppies is never enough. Mood
s change daily so you may find in a 2nd visit that the female is not as easy to roll over and the male is. Jot down your choices from the first visit and maybe make a pro'n'con list, then return for a second and maybe third visit, keeping notes each time, then go through and discuss your lists before making a choice.
Rolling over is not necessarily a 'submissive' indication; at least not as most see it. It does not mean the pup is soft or whimpy (and perhaps the reason why her energy confused you so) but rather an indication of 'how the pup will interact with humans', and in her case, on that visit, she was amendable to human authority, but still showed enough attitude to carry on with her own way of doing things.
The male, on the other hand, may have had a hard playtime before you were there to visit and thus wore out sooner. His quiet time with toys and siblings may not be the indication you are wanting. You didn't state how he reacted to humans. He may also not be like that at all in a second visit.
Who will be doing most of the training? Feeding? Grooming and Exercising? Take these things into consideration, as this person will have to deal with the personality more often. Terriers are 'busy' anyhow so don't confused 'basic characteristics' with 'individual personalities'.
Hope this helps some - more than 1 visit is recommended.
Canine Caretaker Training/Consulting
http://www.k9care.ca
"United We Stand."
http://www.standunited.ca
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