 Welcome to another edition of Dog Talkin' Coffee with me Richard Hines. Party! Where'd it come? Six. Down. Alright, today I'll be talking about how to pick a puppy properly. Whether it's a pet dog, a service dog, or a protection dog. So, I'm going to go through those three categories, which all have a beginning similar base, and then I'll discuss the differences throughout the three categories, stemming off of that particular base that we're looking for in a puppy. Alright, so, as we are going to start evaluating the litter, we want to do this individually. Meaning, we want to take a puppy out by themselves, each one individually with you, not as a group. Okay? That's a big mistake. So, when you do things as a group, puppies act differently when they're with each other. Okay? So, you may get a false read, highly possible. Okay? One-on-one, what we want to see is when we bend down, we want to see a puppy confidently come to us. Right? Weighing its tail, hopefully. And there's no hesitation getting right there to us, and getting on us, and loving us up, and... Okay? All of that. That is the first rule. When you have puppies in a group, because they feed on each other, weaker ones will follow the stronger ones, and look like they're normal. And it's only because they're following and have the support of the tougher ones, the more stable ones. So, it's very common. You pull out a whole bunch of them, and you get down, you go like this, and the balanced ones with good, stable temperaments will start just coming to you happily. And the followers just follow, and they get in there, and follow what they do, and looks normal. They get in there with you, and, you know, hang out there as a normal puppy wagging their tails. But pull out individually, and you may see a completely different thing from some of those puppies. Okay? So, we want to see that just outright confidence that they want to come and socialize. And with no hesitation, right into us, okay, wagging, happy, go lucky. What I don't want to see is a puppy hesitating, is not sure choosing between going to you and maybe somewhere else, because they're just torn between it, they're not sure if they want to go to you, they're a little timid. You know, no crawling into you, and cautiously getting into you, even if they do follow through, right, and choose you over the environment. We don't want to see, like, hesitation crawling into you, and kind of cowering in there, but they got there, then you're petting them, and then they start to wag their tail, but they're very timid and submissive, okay? Don't want to see that. For most of the public, they don't know how to raise puppies properly, and understand what goes into balancing a puppy, okay? So, this creates a lot of behavior problems later. Most aggressive dogs are fear-based dogs, and it starts like that, right? The people picking the weaker one, the submissive one, oh, how cute, all, right? Not realizing that this is going to be a nightmare a year from now. So, from raising it a certain way unintentionally, people enhance the fear and cowardice of these dogs, and then they become very insecure, snappy, possibly biters, right, fear biters, afraid of everything in the world, and becomes a nightmare to live with. So, these are your indicators, young, of how to avoid this issue. So, again, we don't want a puppy that comes out and has environment to choose over, or you, and they just choose the environment, that's first. Now, on that, you can get puppies who are just curious and are out, and it's not a temperament thing, right? They're just not interested in you in the moment, but the moment you do get to interact with them, there should be stability and no fear, okay? Another thing about a dog who separates from you and really wants nothing to do with you, I wouldn't choose that one either being indifferent, because you could get a dog who's just either alpha type, just doesn't care about you at all, doesn't care, leads his own way, and a lot of times those puppies are just, for most people, they want a dog that really wants to interact with them and love them up, right? That's why most people get a dog. A lot of puppies who are indifferent like that throughout their lives just don't really care so much about interaction with the owners. Okay? So those are the two things about a dog who's torn that doesn't want to go to you and you can tell us timid and being torn between getting away from you that's trying to interact with them or one who just doesn't care and wants nothing to do with you, and even when you start interacting with them, they're not timid, but they just don't care and then they walk away and go do other things. So a very independent puppy and that might be good for some people. Some people don't like all the cuddling and all the over-affection, they find it annoying. So that type of dog may be good for you. Just understand the differences of the behavior, the attitude towards you when they're indifferent. Fearful or just non-caring, okay? So that's the first thing. Again, the second thing we don't want to see is a puppy who's this and not sure if they should go to you and then cautiously is going to you and then maybe finally gets to you and they're in there and they're cowering and they just don't know it, right? And they're very insecure. That's already genetic defect, okay? There is a social issue there, there's a nerve problem there. Genetic fear-based issue and I would avoid that. You as a pet person want a very confident social happy-go-lucky dog, okay? That is your best choice. Another thing, I hear this all the time dealing with the public. A lot of my clients, I'm there because we have a problem with the dog as an adult. To tell it's fear-based, right? And if you ask them, you know, to get the genetic history on, this was either taught by the owners, it was genetic and taught by the owners, it is a genetic. So when you went to pick the puppy, what was it doing? No, he was sitting back there all by himself and just sad there, right? So he looked like the smart one to me. All the other puppies were trying to engage with us and had crazy and all excitable and they were just sitting there watching this thinking the other puppies are crazy. So I liked that it was calmer and just hanging there very innocently. And a lot of times I'm going to get that they thought it was the smarter one of the group because it wasn't acting like a silly puppy. So we have two things to that. It's either one or the other. Those puppies that do that are either the alpha, very tough compared to that litter and doesn't want to show itself to you like that and need you and have to go Google over you because it's the leader and it's not going to show you that kind of behavior. Or it's going to be very timid and it's not going to go there and do that with the other puppies and that's how timid it is because it won't even follow the energy of the other puppies to engage with you. That's how timid it is and fearful of social situations. So that is not good. So most of my clients, thousands and thousands and thousands of aggression cases in my career a lot of times I am hearing that that is how they picked the puppy on that criteria that he just sat there in the corner was very puppy like, calm, cutie and that's the one they picked. Big mistake. You don't want the alpha, generally and you don't want the lowest one and generally that puppy is going to be either one of those. So that one is eliminated automatically. So now also most people in the public understandably pick by look, color, spot, size, whatever it is. And understandably when you go pick a puppy you want something appealing to you in that color and you know and you want a pretty dog that appeals to you and that's normal. That's okay as a pet dog, right? If we're picking working dogs that have a purpose we need to use them for something we're looking for different qualities in that dog and the look doesn't matter, it can't matter, right? Even though we want a good looking dog too when we're picking them for performance. But as I'll get into that in a bit but for a pet person they're going oh I like the spot in the eye oh I like that foot color, oh I like he's big, I like that size you know and they're picking the one who has social issues they don't take them out individually to test these things so they get them home and they turn into something else because they're picking on criteria that has nothing to do with the dog itself they're picking the beauty show of the dog and gets a lot of pet dog people and problems and again understandable that they're looking for something appealing this is going to live with them for a long time they want it to be what they wanted that's the envision they had a beautiful dog a good presence whatever it is a certain color and this is why we have a lot of fear based dogs anxious fear aggression antisocial because this is the norm of how people pick a puppy right for their household as a pet one other thing is parents generally for pet dogs you get this all the time where it's not yes they would like to see the parents and see that they would come out and socialize with you doesn't happen all the time a lot of breeders don't have one of the dogs and somewhere else in the kennel sometimes don't get to see the parents at all they'll see them in pictures or behind the door or in the kennel not really knowing what the parents are made of what their temperaments really are and it's just the breeder wanting to put those two together because a good majority of breeds in the country are really just breeders and do it for money and are not they don't know anything about temperament or character or anything like that they just put I like that one I like that one I'm going to put them together it's going to be a good match right so a lot of uneducated breeders mostly in the pet dog industry part of it another criteria people don't look for is the parents to be x-rayed right the hips x-rayed the elbows the testing anything like that pet dog people do not ask for that criteria so as far as health goes there's none of that the pet dog people don't even think of that it's not something they unless it's German shepherds that's the only one really you will hear that even if somebody is just going to a pet breeding German shepherd place they might go you know about hips oh no the hips have been fine with no proof of that right but not generations generations but the public has heard so much about hip dysplasia in German shepherds even the uneducated public it's just one of those little nuances that they've heard around the world about German shepherds gone online and all this about hip dysplasia so that is one thing even on an educated public will ask a breeder and most of the time pet dog German shepherd breeders don't have any x-rays to prove that or have done any of that because they're not really professional breeders okay so that is another thing so there's a whole mix of things that you want to be seeing here as a pet dog purchaser okay so for pet dogs that's really what you're looking for we're not testing their drive we're not you know testing their food drive or anything like that because performance doesn't matter at all right we just care about stability of character you know or in health if possible again but that's gonna be a crapshoot once you buy the puppy because again most breeders don't do any health testing now let's go over to service dogs because now we're gonna up the criteria and service dogs and protection dogs have a similar base okay with a little bit of a tweak of character so with service dogs we are wanting everything that I just spoke about when purchasing a pet dog puppy happy go lucky no nerves no anxiety no fear any of that what we are going to add to this though now is I want to see a puppy that has very good food drive want to see a puppy that will go chase toys because when we're dealing with service dogs that I have trained my whole life in every way or exercise possible that somebody can request but I want to make the distinction here of the caliber of service dog most people in the country want a service dog or a service dog certificate because they just want the right to be able to take them to a restaurant with them take them to hotels take them on a plane they are looking for this certificate just to get a free ride right two places that nobody's going to refuse them being able to travel everywhere with them and be with them all the time no matter where they go so that kind of dog I train all the time there's no special needs there's nothing special that the dog has to do any real exercises so we don't need the food drive we don't need prey drive because we're talking about really just a basic obedience dog that has to behave in public behave on planes and all that in restaurants right basic stuff down stays sits stays walk properly don't jump on people basic training so when we're picking you know that so the distinction between the two that kind of service dog which the majority of people in the country are doing so again to have the right with their dog to go everywhere even though they particularly don't have a medical issue or need the dog to do anything special for them or even if they have a medical issue the dog doesn't need to perform anything for them because their medical issue is not that bad that there's something the dog can do for them okay so we're just going basic obedience basic behavior liveable no nonsense they're great to travel with great to go to place with and we'll never get kicked out because the dog is unruly and doesn't listen okay so that is your standard American service dog so when we pick a puppy for that type we are not looking for drive it's a basic service dog it's going to have nothing special on it so it doesn't require drive just do all the basics for a real service dog that is going to perform all sorts of tasks for an owner as a service dog hitting handicap buttons to open and close the doors fetching things keys wallets all sorts of things to go find it retrieve it and bring it back to them open and closing cabinet doors all different types of things yes there you go yes yes speed racer close good boy pull yes speed racer close yes good boy speed racer pull pull yes speed racer close yes good boy get it she's doing something you better pay attention because you're doing this too bring it bring it bring it bring it there you go good girl good girl good girl ready ready search good boy good boy so that was unbelievable the athleticism and it was will the termination that a girl that's a good girl girl good girl very good good girl a dog that has drive it has to have food drive first because teaching to play in toys is very difficult right so we need a lot of good food drive to have the puppy go crazy and want the food badly so we know that we can get them to perform high end tasks for the owner because they have the drive to work for something and then the puppies come later right so when we talk about retrieving a lot of service dog people who really handicapped need a dog to go get things and bring it back to them one of the main functions of a real service dog retrieving okay so we're testing that as a puppy throwing ball or a toy to see if they will go get it have the desire to go get it and bring it back criteria absolute mandatory for a real service dog and that is the harder for the service dog thing is making sure the toy thing right going having drive prey drive to go chase things grab it pick it up and then eventually bring it without that side if we just have good food drive but not toy drive it makes retrieving very difficult okay so that has to be taught then and taking them into a place you have to have good skill as a trainer now to make the puppy care about going to retrieve when it wasn't genetically he didn't care about running after things he just wanted food all the time was food obsessed and that you take that and manipulate them into caring about retrieving right but that takes good skill to do and I would advise to a to avoid that issue at all costs because now you're just going to have to have great skill and now you're going to have to spend time on teaching something on natural for the end when it's not necessary if you just pick a puppy who has all that from the beginning okay so that for a service dog okay again is all the stuff we talked about the pet dog we're looking for but adding food drive and prey drive to go chase objects toys ball whatever it is okay we need that to teach the high-end service dog skills for a real service dog who has to perform for an owner because without the dog they wouldn't be able to get any of these things done there might be wheelchair which we do tons of wheelchairs that people don't have the ability so very important that that is the kind of puppy you are picking okay when you're going to look for service dog tasks real service dog tasks and this drive also applies to if you are looking for a search and rescue dog right one to go find people search same criteria but they had to have the drive right for something food drive at least with this so when the people go hide they have the food and the dog is willing to go search for somebody for its food because its food drive is so high toy drive will help a lot as well so again for a search and rescue dog there has to be drive and a lot of my clients want a dog their dog or a dog they purchased from me to even if it's a pet like a service dog or a companion train dog they would like to have the bonus of that dog searching for a family member if they feel they got lost okay so we need that drive food drive and bonus would be if we have toy drive for that okay so drive comes into play again for anything of performance or work oriented right now for protection dogs need the same thing again the same base as the pet dog service dog with now the same thing as a service dog ball chasing playing with the rag we want to see the going after the rag and grabbing it and playing a little tug of war okay we want to see a little bit of a of prey aggression right don't need that for the service dog but for the protection dog we want all the above from the first two categories adding now a chase of the rag and getting tuggy with it and you know a little bit aggressive with it and that will differ to just for people to understand for the most part when we're picking puppies Malawas and Dutch shepherds when you see them young playing with rags or on a you know puppy sleeve bite pillow you're going to hear a lot of right a natural aggression when they get in that drive right real aggression even young very young German shepherds you don't see that often right rot wallers though remains you do see it quite a bit in the bully breeds right even boxers right I've done a lot of boxer puppies and they get a bit of that to go and they have a little bit of that nasty in them too but that's the bully side okay of those types generally but Malawas and Dutch shepherds have that natural tenacity because again like I spoke about in one of the best protection dogs number one are both in the world hands down Malawas and Dutch shepherds are hands down the number one performing protection dogs on the planet and that is because for a hundred and plus years genetic genetic genetic genetic genetic of just hardcore working dogs insane drive adding tenacity they want tough dogs for police working in Holland Belgium right adding these very tenacious tough genetics German shepherds I put his number two which I love just as much just a little difference in the breeding over the years the amount of time as well the sport has differentiated shepherds take a little longer to mature right so most Malawas Dutch shepherds can a lot of times general eight ten months old they have the true tenacity to get on a police force or have a protection dog for a home and they will fight somebody for real they don't need to be mature that is their maturity most German shepherds to really fight right and have that maturity to take somebody on a year and a half a lot of times to it doesn't truly come out and it happens to us all the time where we'll build the drives playfully but they don't have the fight yet and at two years old all the sudden the switch flips and now it's tenacious now they're ready to fight because they have mental maturity now in the game now it's for real it's not just tugging in play biting anymore it now we've turned they've turned the corner Rob Walters later okay so there's just a difference in the genetics and the look so a lot of our German shepherd puppies when we do this they'll go after it they'll tug on it they love to play with it that's the kind of puppy we're looking for just not generally with the tenacity that the young Malawas having the Dutch shepherds and a lot of the other breeds but that's all fine doesn't matter right German shepherds Rob Walters they're all great dogs but picking we need to see for many of the breeds chasing a ball getting with that rag and tugging on it wanting to play tug of war and really getting into it there's another test picking them up and holding them if you know like a human baby them looking up and this has been a criteria for a long time in the industry how much they fight do they want to be there and let you hold them like that passively the rule has been if they fight very quickly and just want to get out great working prospect tougher puppy then you get the middle one who hang in there a little bit fight a little bit hang in there a little bit fight a little bit and still decent right the one who just lays there sits there and just let you cuddle them and do all that and with no fight is has always been dubbed as the one that you don't want that doesn't have enough fight enough drive right now I personally don't base on that I don't go by that criteria I go by the drive of the tug of war the ball throwing food drive I'm going by that because then I'll just take that and mold it into what I want out of that dog right if it doesn't have good defense drive you know as a puppy it's not showing that like on the record all of that kind of tenacity that's all fine because as that puppy grows even genetically if it didn't have a true fight but it loves to tug and play in prey drive I will mold that dog into having defense drive later and turn the skills or the genetics he gave me of chasing a ball and having that prey drive and turn it into a true protection dog that now has the fence drive I will build it into them okay so but that is the criteria we're looking for as a protection dog different than the service dog where we want some tuggy on the rag and a little bit of aggression to really fight the rags and hold on to the bite pillows and all that kind of stuff where a service dog we don't really need that we would like to see a little bit of that because if we want to open doors you know using rags and all that it helps to have puppies that want to play tug of war even go retrievers any of those breeds so it helps not necessary I'll get them to do it as long as they have drive but I would like that also in a service dog now other thing with protection dogs for me personally I don't care right unlike the rest of the world I don't care if the parents have any titles sport titles or anything else I don't care I do buy a lot of dogs that the parents have titles on them because I have no choice right and unfortunately we don't have a society like an association of real protection dogs that prove protection which I'm thinking of creating that we can pick right from real protection dogs that do that in life either on the police department military personal protections for homes family right that are balanced stable but we know without titles and having to care about that that these genetics all this pool of genetics has that without having titles for 100 years doesn't matter so that is really my criteria so if I see two good dogs the parents are good and they're actually protection dogs and they really do it I don't care about titles I'll take a puppy from those two okay another thing we want the parents of these working puppies protection puppies to have certifications on their hips elbows health right any genetic diseases or anything like that that a breed is known for we want to make sure that the parents are clear of this before purchasing a puppy from anybody so hips x-ray the elbows the OFA certifications this should be done on pet dog parents service dog parents protection dog parents period should be done on all to guarantee quality of health and longevity right it should be a mandatory thing anybody who's breed but again in pet dogs rarely you get that so that is another criteria I have before I purchased dogs or puppies from certain parents okay so really when picking a puppy for any of the categories it's not that complicated right you just need to check some certain basic foundation things depending on what category you're picking what you want pet service dog protection dog there's criteria that's similar to all three and then little adjustments to the other ones but nothing out of this world complicated to judge okay so you get these basic things and if you're a good trainer and know your stuff you can do amazing things with the service dog search and rescue protection category right so it's just getting your base and having that clay you can mold into something phenomenal but you need these certain characteristics to be able to get there and have this genetic base to work from and to make your life easy and not have to struggle and try to make dogs do that which in my career I've had to do because people pick the wrong dogs and then I have to come up with things how to get that dog who doesn't care or have the genetics to do that exercise and it happens to me all the time so I've had to come up with a lot of things in different ways in psychology to get dogs who genetically don't have it to perform then to perform so if you know what you're doing you can overcome a lot of things like that but I wouldn't advise it start with the genetic base look for these certain things as criteria and then mold everything you want from there and things will be easy you'll get phenomenal results and it's all about genetics and picking the right puppies okay that is what it's all about genetics matter matter matter it is very important so I am Richard Hines I hope that was helpful because I've been asked this for a long time and I've just never gone through it like this and explained the process and what I look for and how I go about it and all the criteria to it so that is how to pick a puppy for all the categories until next time I'm Richard Hines and I'll see you in the next video