Three litters of puppies at the same time...

 

Hi! One was 7 weeks and all placed ❤ the other two don’t even have their eyes opened yet and the last 8 week old is leaving tomorrow! We have a family of 5 and all work together with the puppies and litters ❤

 

I know titles aren’t an end all, be all, but should there be any concern that their breeding dogs aren’t uniformly titled? As well as roanwood whom they seem to collaborate with on occasion.

 

Why are their dogs "exactly what you are looking for"? Have you spoken with them, have they successfully placed puppies as SD's before?

 

I have spoken with them! I asked how well their drives are (food, toy, prey), eagerness to work and please, if their offspring would make good candidates for IGP and service work and how stable and sound they are in public areas, etc... the breeder was very sweet and answered every question honestly. She said they would make fantastic IGP/sport dog prospects, and are very temperamentally sound and easy to train. No reactivity, or aggression towards both people and animals. She takes them to public areas (pet friendly, of course) and they're amazing!

 

What type of service dog? I only ask because a dog that may make for a nice IGP dog may not be appropriate for a service dog. I don't like this combo, I like the female better, don't like the male pedigree at all & the combo no thanks. Instead of balancing what is in the female they just brought in more of the same.

 

IMO, showlines make better SDs, their temperament and lower drive is better suited for that type of work, theres also plenty of nice SLs doing very in IGP, just depends on the breeder and how far you'd want to take it.

 

I agree, show lines are more fit for service work. But there have also been a lot of accomplished working lines in service work!

 

I’ve personally witnessed at least one working line doing both service and sport work. I believe he was trained first in service work, then started sport work later on. It was apparent that he knew the difference between his service work and the sport due to context cues. What you should know though is that in sport work he was polite. He absolutely competed but to my inexperienced eye he had a little less aggression and flash than the non-service dogs. I’m sure there are dogs who do both with equal vigor, but in this dog’s case his sport work was far more controlled due to the high level of service training.

Can your breeder offer better proof of temperament? My own dog has a CGC, a BH, and a trick dog title (the titles your breeder’s dogs primarily seem to have). We are working towards our IGP 1 for hopefully next year. I can and have taken her to busy parks and breweries with zero issues. However, she would fail with flying colors at being a service dog. I’d want to see legitimate proof that their dogs (and that pairing in particular) have potential to produce a service dog. Not to mention a sport dog as well.

 

Dogs behaving when out and about in public areas do not mean they will be good service dogs at all. From my search I would ask if they specifically had service dogs. And if you're comfortable you can mention what tasks you need. I talked to a breeder that had multiple dogs that went to organizations to become service dogs. Even then they were quite hesitant to tell me it was possible due to experience, the need to owner-train and so forth. They're confident in their breedings but they did let me know despite having a few litters per year, it could take another 1-3 years. And at the end of the day puppies are a crapshoot.

The breeder asked me if the dog washes toward the end, what will happen to the dog? What if your next service dog prospect doesn't get along with the wash out? Most likely if I was more committed they would ask for a training regime, what trainer I'll be working with etc. I think very good breeders take this very seriously since the handler can be in serious danger if it doesn't work.

The breeder I spoke to definitely had proof of temperament: lots of videos from many owners, name of the organization that they donated the puppies to, show of versatility. A lot of videos/pictures from 3rd parties.

 

I am very well aware of it’s more than just two nice dogs. But I also would never make a decision just from paper and not looking at the dogs infront of me. This breeding is 5-5 on Vox and Denny. I wouldn’t call this close line breeding at all. I feel as if there are dogs you personally don’t like in Armo’s pedigree which leads you to this decision, would that be correct?

 

Some of my favorite dogs are in both sides of this breeding, but there are others I'm very careful of also on both sides of this breeding, because of the issues they can bring & I don't like the combo. I think I was clear on that.