Showing priorities changing?

[BGpa]

Thanks! My flip reply, corrected...
you can call me Forrest.

How much can you also tell in temperament, as in the fearful-confident scale that @Ravenbird was discussing? And by when?

I'm impressed by the protocol that seems most common- in dobe world, that the breeder picks the dog for the buyer.

 

[Rits]

How much can you also tell in temperament, as in the fearful-confident scale that @Ravenbird was discussing? And by when?

I temperament test mine around 7 weeks old, before ear crop. They do a lot of growing around the time of the ear crop and often go through a fear period shortly after around 9-10 weeks old. As a breeder, by the time I temp test them I already have a pretty good idea on who is more confident and who needs more coaxing, who is more drivey and who has lower drive. I still like to have an outside person evaluate as they know nothing about the puppies and don't have any favorites. Puppies can behave very differently when removed from the litter, so its always good to do the temperament test with an outside person, in a novel environment, away from their littermates to get a better reading on their innate temperament.

At the end of the day though, we aren't perfect and aren't god! Thats why when a show/sport/working puppy is sold to someone it is considered a "prospect". Sometimes due to things outside of our control, prospects don't turn out. Whether it be environmental, diet related, poor exposure and training. I think though if you are producing any truly fearful doberman puppies when they are still at your house, you have failed as a breeder.

I'm impressed by the protocol that seems most common- in dobe world, that the breeder picks the dog for the buyer.

Its most common in the ethical/wellbred purebred world, no matter the breed! Breeders are matching the puppies to you based on conformation and temperament. If you are wanting to do high end competition like agility, you wouldn't want to accidentally pick the puppy with low drive and low biddability, purely because the cute puppy came up to you when you visited the litter.

 

[Ravenbird]

Add in cost of fuel and food these days, and trying to train and trial to earn titles on the back end? Thats just barely scratching the surface of costs. I love the breed though and I'm not afraid to have instant ramen for dinner at times just to afford it all.

That's me... LOL. I was talking to someone about scent work explaining the titles and Q's to get each one:
Novice level, 4 elements, 3 Q's in each element to get a title in that element, get all 4 elements to get overall Novice title = 12 Q's. Then repeat in Advanced, Excellent and Masters. Then it takes 10 Q's in Detective to get a Detective title. So on my little signature below with Ashas titles, that SWE title = 36 qualified runs, never mind the NQ runs! The higher I get in the levels the harder it gets so way more NQ's than Q's.

Raman noodles it is.