Need help asap!
 

Ok I am in the process of buying a show quality puppy. Now being new to showing I would like to know what sort of question should i be asking the show breeder? What things should be included in the health contract? Need help asap. Thanks

first rule of thumb how old is the puppy?

under 6 months you can just not say it be will be show as many young pups fall apart as they get older

How true this is! If I buy a show dog they are usually already over a year old that way I do know what I'm getting. I bought Cammie at 18 months and also Radar at 18 months. When I breed for my own I hold on to the promising ones for almost a year for myself and then decide.

Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

well the puppy is only 21 weeks old. She is going from Tsa-la-gi. Glenda is selling her has show quality. So should I not get her then?

here are pictures of her that Glenda sent me.

another set of pictures

I'd go see her or at least ask to see a video of her movement. Has she been shown in a puppy match? It's nice to know how they did in the ring, it helps to judge whether or not they may have the temperment for showing. There is so much to consider in a show dog that I would wait until they are at least 6 months old and have been in the ring at least once.

That's exiting news. I guess you got your job back,that's great!!! Well to me the dog looks great,but I know nothing about show quality. My pups are pets only. Good Luck!!

thanks I will shoot her an email.

i did not get my job but thanks

I agree with this. Hard to tell at 21 weeks and how they will turn out. I am a structure and movement freak anyway, I personally wouldn't buy a show quality pup until they were at least 8 to 18 months old but of course that is just my opinion. The puppy in the picture is pretty but you have to take into account the coat texture and color could change as could the body type, movement, ear set ect...I just don't like buying a show dog at such a young age ;)

Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

thanks for the advice....Glenda responded to my email and told me that she is still kinda wild on the lead right now...and she doesn't not have any videos yet. And also she is still too young to have been in a show.

We only have 1 yorkie but I show and breed papillons and have dealt with similar issues. Much depends on what you want from a show quality dog. If I wanted a dog that I knew I could campaign as a special, I would wait until the dog was around 18 months to a year. However, I do agility and obedience training with my dogs as well as show them in conformation, so I balance the advantage of getting a dog as a young puppy for training purposes versus whether or not I am going to be able to finish a conformation CH on the dog. I err on the side of having the training advantage, so I purchased "show potential" puppies that did not come with any guarantee that they would be finishable, but rather the breeders knew they had no current disqualifications (i.e. markings, current bite, two testicles for the boys, no readily apparent size issues) and felt that, based on many years of breeding those lines, that the puppies would likely be able to finish. So it is a matter of having trust in the breeder that he or she has a good idea of what the puppies' parents should produce, what the pedigree includes, etc. If they are primarily line breeding they should have educated "guesses" about the future of a puppy, but there is definitely a risk that those expectations might not come to be.

So far I have purchased 4 "show potential" puppies that I brought home at 12 weeks, from two different breeders, and all 4 are AKC CHs, a pretty big deal as papillons are getting harder and harder to finish. On the other hand, we have also shown 2 other bitches for one of the breeders, one was around 10 months when we took her and the other was around 2 years old. It was a whole lot easier to determine at those ages that those girls would be "finishable" and both finished VERY quickly.

For me, I am willing to take the risk that a "show potential" puppy might not turn out, but it IS a risk.

Very good post! There is a difference between Show "Quality" and Show "Prospect/Potential". There is also a difference in prices usually. Prospects are usually priced less than Show Quality. But there is a risk.

i dont show at all but looking at her head it looks like she is going to break into silver. It is already very light in places. but never know could go tan.