We had already done our homework regarding the breed we wanted and found a good breeder that understands the importance of the socialisation and habituation process. The brain development of puppies will vary greatly at 7-8 weeks of life dependent on how they have been raised during this early period.
We had obtained lots of information on the puppies parents and met mum and the other collies that Janine and Gareth own. Behavioural traits are passed down by the parents and puppies learn from watching how their mother deals with life. The parents will have a profound effect on the puppies future behaviour and its capacity to cope with what it will encounter throughout its life.
We saw the environment that the dogs lived in and where our puppy would be raised for the first weeks of his life. These are the fundamentals of ensuring our puppy has the very best start to life.
When we got back off holiday we went to see the puppies which had grown and were becoming active. All the puppies were confident and relaxed at encountering unfamiliar people (us) and it was difficult to choose between them.
It is very easy for your heart to rule your head, choosing the one that looks cute or the little one sitting at the back nervously looking out on the world. It was very difficult to choose as all the puppies as they were all confident and relaxed.
I look for a puppy that has a mild reaction to unfamiliar sounds such as clapping of hands or dropping of keys but quickly recover and come to investigate the sound. I also look for a puppy that has the same reaction to unfamiliar people but quickly recover and approach newcomers and are happy to be handled.
All the puppies showed the traits we were looking for and so we then looked at confirmation and markings and our gut instinct to choose our puppy. I always aim for what I call a thinking puppy that stands back assesses the situation and then investigate. This was our Drifter.
