I'll ask the breeder when I visit. I assume they did have somebody testing the litter, and temperament is the most basic part of the test that I know of. I just don't think the breeder would have had somebody specifically testing the puppies out for abilities for obedience or agility. This isn't a performance breeder. I doubt she's had the puppies out playing on an agility course the last few weeks.

Not always though.... our Sammy had a stacked pedigree (obedience and field) and retrieving wasn't his thing. He was the one who visited momentarily with us and then trotted off to do his own thing.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

How old are the pups? Usually they don't do the evaluations until 7 or 8 weeks. I would hope that they would do a behavior evaluation even if they are not specifically looking at traits that would make a good competitive obedience dog. That evaluation will look at the same general traits as a more specific evaluation.

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Carolyn (A.K.A. Aunt Care) and

Creekwood Tanglefoot Selchie CD, RN, AX, AXJ, CGC, CCA, (A.K.A. Selli-Belle) Golden

Valentine Byrd McDuff (A.K.A. Duffy) Golden/Sheltie

Tanglefoot Autumn Dexter CGC (My Heart Dog at the Bridge) Golden

8.5 weeks.

I just spoke with the cobreeder and definitely feel a bit more hyped up - if possible.

They do a variation of temperament testing, I believe just all around testing for temperament - and both breeders have a committment to producing dogs that have the golden temperament. She said that if you let the temperament slide, then goes a long way toward destroying the breed. We got to talking about obedience, and she mentioned that one of her dogs produced one of Judie Howard's dogs. And how Judie had told her a few times about how she'd never had a dog more aware of his rear end than this particular dog. I laughed and told her about Jacks and class last night - where we flunked a good portion of the class because our instructor decided to focus on getting the dogs to use their rears and my dog decided to forget he has one.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

I got Jonah from a conformation breeding and I will say he can get a bit lazy or maybe it is boredom if we train an obedience exercise multiple times. I learned at a seminar that if you hold the puppy like a baby and they give you good eye contact, that is a good sign. The puppy will likely grow up wanting to please you and follow your lead on what to do next. Does this breeding have some type of canine sports titles? Are there any titles in the ancestry such as, agility, obedience, hunting?

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Be Happy With What You Have!

@Happy - looking at the puppies' standard view pedigree, there is exactly one dog who has a CDX and JH in addition to the conformation titles. If you do the 5-generation view, then there is a handful of others - mainly Kirby.

This is mainly a conformation pedigree though. Lots of dogs from Beth Johnson (Summit) in there.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

@ megora

Unless you must have puppy from the litter you are looking at I would suggest looking at Wynwood and Topmast in Michigan if you want an Obedience puppy.
While Wynwood leans towards field lines, Topmast (who is a Gaylans cobreeder) is more a combination of performance & field with conformation thrown in. Her 2012 summer breeding was super nice - Kamikaze X Chime - and some the puppies are impressing AKC judges that they train with and they are only 16 weeks old. I believe Topmast has a 2013 breeding - Ticket X Kerri. The Topmast/Gaylans dogs normally have good on/off switches.

Wynwood - I looked into them very first. But they have a LONG waiting list for the Journey litter.

Topmast - heehee. I don't think she'd approve of me. More likely than not I won't do agility and I do not have enough experience with obedience to edge me ahead of a lot of the other trainers who would be getting on her list.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

I really like this book on the topic:
It's available as an e-book.

I also like McDevitt's Puppy book. The section on what type of puppy to avoid - signs of future reactivity - is really good.

Didn't know you were getting a pup! How exciting!

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Jacqueline

"I have just met you and I love you" - Dug (Up!)

Retrieving isn't that high on my list for puppy looking. I've actually found that the higher the retrieve drive, the more challenging to teach a formal retrieve, because while they always want to retrieve, they are more likely to want to do it "their way" at first. A dog with less natural retrieve experience is starting from scratch, so you can teach from the beginning exactly what you want. Of course I wouldn't put a natural retrieve drive as a negative, I just don't think it makes teaching a formal retrieve easier like many people think.

If I were looking at a conformation litter that hasn't shown to have natural drive behind it, then I would be looking for biddability. And confidence. The only reason Conner ever got as far as he did is because while obedience exercises weren't what he would naturally choose to do, he had that "I'll do whatever you want me to do mom, because I love you!" attitude. He just didn't have a lot of confidence, which is what kept him from getting even farther.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

Megora, what's with the picture of Jacks greeting a puppy? Have you got the new pup?

I've been interested to follow this thread . . . wondering how much obedience titles in the pedigree matter . . .how much you can really tell about a 7 or 8 week pup etc.

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers