I particularly agree with the idea of asking to see the parents. You can tell a lot from that...their temperament, how healthy/clean they look, the surroundings.
Puddin' is from a litter of seven pups. The mother was in her basket with the babies and so mellow that after a bit of sniffing, allowed us to pet and hold the babies. The father came up and demanded that we play with him. Once he was being held, the mother wanted attention, too. She seemed to really like my husband, and stayed in his arms for a long time. Despite having 7 puppies to nurse, the mother still had a shiny, well-groomed coat.
There were two other happy little dogs there, a neutered male Yorkie and a neutered Maltese. They also wanted in on the play. It was so obvious from the cleanliness of the house and the willingness of the mother to interact with us, that these are happy, well cared-for dogs.
Obviously there are more things to check out, but if you can't see the pups with the mother in their normal environment, or if the mother seems unkempt or hand shy or worse, this tells its own very important tale. |