Question on buying dogs.

[Officially Retired]

Wow, Jack are u telling us you can see at a 8 week pup who's going to be the best of the litter?

Yes, I do have that ability, and have almost never been wrong either.

Guess that makes me a clueless retard.

I don't see how my ability to see which pups are going to be better at an early age has anything to do with you.

I have bred very few litters, but almost every time the ones i didn't believe in at all turns out to be the best.

Okay, if that is true, then your ability to see which pups are the best does suck.

Here are two concepts you need to grasp:

1) Other people are simply better than you at certain things;
2) You are also better than other people at certain things.

If you can't see what to look for in a pup, athletically, then don't project your inability to see what you need to see onto other people. Other people really may blow you away in certain aptitudes, just as you may blow other people away in certain other aptitudes. And, really, if you've only bred a few litters, then how can you possibly presume to believe you have the same knack for breeding as someone who's bred scores of litters ... AND kept the same family in the winner's circle for decades?

Then again im no breeder, and by your standards not even a dogman.

You are a self-admitted non-breeder, and if you don't have the aptitude to pick the right pups, then you probably won't make much of one.

That doesn't mean you don't have a lot of skill in other areas that are important.

The fact is, most people suck at breeding, which is why they can't keep the same family winning, and are always "starting over" again, and buying dogs.

Maybe if i ever become a big breeder i can gain that knowledge, but for now its always a gamble for me when picking pups. I'm very impressed with this ability to spot a good one.

There is nothing to be impressed about; it's all common sense, and it's all based on very "seeable" traits.

If you're working with a high-percentage line, and you keep it that way, then the gameness comes by default in most individuals.

By contrast, if most of what you're putting out there is quitting, then you're working with a low-percentage line. Again, basic horse sense.

Once you have that FACT squared away, then you simply have an eye for movement, balance, bone structure, reflexes, etc. --- or you don't.

I can spot an athlete a mile away; I can tell by its stance, how it does things, etc., especially within my own line.

I don't see why this is such a big mystery, quite frankly.

Have I ever been wrong? Sure. But I am right 20-1.

There has never been a year in the history of my breeding dogs that we've lost more than we've won.
There has never been a year in the history of my breeding dogs that we've "broke even."
The worst year in the history of my breeding dogs we went 57% (my first year);
It quickly rose to 75% by my 3rd year, and has been in the 80th percentile ever since ... and this has been going on for over 20 years.

Do you really think it has all been "by luck" ... or by NOT knowing WTH I am doing in my selection?

I do believe breeding is ONLY considered "a crapshoot" BY the clueless.

Breeding is an art and a science to those who can reliably and consistently produce winners.

It is all explained in The Art of Breeding Dogs, but you have to read it and GET it.

If you do read it, get it, and practice those principles, then you cannot help but succeed as a breeder ... but if you don't, you won't.

Jack