How Do I Pick a Puppy Based on Structure?
hi I’m Thomas Tanner within the smelt
Labradors and we have another video
called how to choose a puppy which
you’ve probably already watched this is
going to be more of a deeper how to
choose a puppy type video based on
structure and to explain why breeders
who show in conformation do what they do
and how it’s going to affect your dog in
the long run so what I’m going to do Sam
is start by using this picture to show
you a little puppy actually this puppy
isn’t the best example uh but he did go
on to finish his championship screw when
he was a puppy he was kind of a funny
bone puppy but just to start with the
structure I like to see a nice long net
I don’t like a real stuffy neck where
the next it’s right on the shoulders you
want some length of neck because that
really affects the forward movement of
the dog you really want to have a good
for chest which is one of his weaknesses
although as he got older and got more
muscle he did feel and right here this
is what we call good lay back shoulder
so right here as the withers and when I
feel that on a dog I feel those and draw
a straight line down and that’s where
the shoulders should be placed the next
thing you want to look at is the top
line this dog has a killer top by
meaning there are no breaks in it and
you you don’t see any dip when the tail
comes off the backs you want the tail to
come right off the back then we want to
see a nice bend in stifle okay and well
arch toes and a lot of the stuff about
the Labrador is because you want the
form of this dog to meet the function of
that dog and that’s to be a gun dog and
a dog that does retreating is going to
be leaping over things in the woods
going to be leaping off of the shore of
maybe some ponds and
so we also want to look at coat we’ll
get into that as we’re looking at the
four puppies that we have today and then
some other little bonus things so I just
wanted to start with that allowed me to
show you some of the main things I look
for and then I look for overall balance
with a dog so we’re going to start with
this little guy and what I do is I
usually try to place the front feet
first so I can see as I’m placing them
that they’re parallel on the front and I
can see the front structure and the
chest yeah
this company has a really nice like the
neck
so really nice lay back of shoulder it’s
the first time you’ve stacked them so
really nice it’s still horse I think I’m
going to set us back second ok right lay
it when I do that I’m also looking at
the back we don’t want them Hocking in
so let me show you what I’m looking at
when I do that here’s the way you want
to make sure that they’re not Hawking it
or something like that what’s important
about where your dog is put together is
that if your dog is going through life
with legs like this and moving like this
you’re going to have early injury to the
shoulder you could also have in the back
that you know walking that way it’s
going to actually wear on the point so
you’re going to have joint issues maybe
earlier on and then maybe arthritis
going on too so that’s really important
so this boy
let’s give us time okay
if you see me move something on here my
girl it’s not right let me know so we
got a great top light on this guy nice
chill right off the back love it
um the only thing I would say about this
puppy is he doesn’t have a whole lot of
length of leg for his length of body we
want to see a balance from here to here
Nyerere okay and I always do the big
coat because Labrador retrievers are
they have a second coat or undercoat
okay so I have a proper coat and then
there’s bonus things like for instance a
face and expression
alright the way the eyes are set the way
the ears are stuff this ear should come
to the corner but the inside is the ice
for instance for the proper length you
want a muzzle that is about the same my
finger here is from here to here we
don’t want a muscle that’s real short
because then you can carry boots or a
big bird and then we also look at things
like bite and bite the scissor bite
should look like that you don’t want to
even buy it for an under bite now if we
do have an even bite or just a little
swipe even bite I do find that as the
about the head grows sometimes that’ll
correct itself I don’t usually see under
bites never correct themselves so that’s
what my valuation would be at this copy
um
fresh and wise he’s adorable
so that’s up number one puppy number two
after we’re just all looking at them all
running around this morning you wouldn’t
be overly tell all these little slight
differences you guys a little more we
see the more coat already on him all
right places like Smurfs and really
place to the back this one’s a little
more balanced see that the height is a
little better on him
his height bounce with the length of his
body alright so you look at him I do
really like him we’re also looking for
something called spring a rib mess of
this really hard to see unless you’re
looking from the top and I see that and
I can feel that on either side here okay
so this guy’s coat I should show
difference earlier this one and the
other one you can just see that you see
a lot of the guard hairs that’s a dog
that’s going to have really great coat
how about same size and I always make
sure people know that in a litter if I
go back two years later and there’s one
that was being smaller than the other
ones I find that they’re the exact same
size because all the other litter mates
by the time they fill out sometimes one
just gets boxed out of a bowl because
he’s more timid the other ones are
boxing him out he’s not kidding
as much food gets a little slower start
this one same thing as the first one I
would say he’s a little short get him
under yourself a little better
just a little bit short
as far as lengths to hide otherwise he
was a little man let’s get on the back
leg they look like they’re Oh otherwise
got nice nice like the neck nice Akhil
front not as nice as that other one that
I really like so like this ones front as
much he’s got a lot of coat like that
second one well I guess he’ll set as bad
but it’s it’s acceptable okay
these guys just ate oh they look a
little bit chubby and they might look
like they’re lower to the ground than
they actually are because their bellies
are very full
this yo
you
a little shorter leg I still like the
other one better but this one’s driving
very similar to the my first pick so
let’s put them both upon a table there’s
two little taller ones you see
everything here looks good
okay let’s compare that other one back
and forth so you got that one in arm or
head
my house my photography can be heard
ways to
alright there’s that one that I really
liked all right and this one has more
code I would say this one because of
code how about you are I like it’s just
more as well I can’t see it as well
mm-hmm
they’ve got an ace for chest yeah it’s a
close call but I’d say him yeah so this
wouldn’t be my choice you can go back
and watch it again maybe that’ll help so
you can compare it all but hopefully
that gave you a little bit of how we
evaluate structure and I do want to just
show you the front before we finish what
we want to see we place those legs we
don’t want to see what we call East USD
like this all right we don’t want him to
toe in I want to make sure there’s
enough chests in here too we don’t want
them to be very close here okay that
would you so we’re looking at all
of that so thank you for listening and I
hope you learned something and now
you’re going to be a side we go dark bye
bye
