Pat Hastings Seminar Report: Part I, Puppy Puzzle
Report by Valerie Sharp
Hello Folks
Welcome to the Pat Hastings Series. I was thrilled to be able to attend a seminar on the Puppy Puzzle and Structure in Action Seminar in Ottawa, Ontario.
So I am going to try to pass on some of the things learned from this seminar, I believe that I will be doing it in three parts, clearly this will be part one. Pat pulls no punchs so to speak, so some of the things she says are a bit harsh, but as I am following my notes, forgive the ! and Capitals, but that is the way she says things, and I don't see any point in not trying to show that.
Ok, so a little bit of information about Pat Hastings, she has in the past 20 years done structure and temperament tests on 25 thousand puppies, she has worked with 26 different breeds over the years, and has had over 250 Best in Show winners. Pat is also a All-Breed AKC judge and has done Breeding, Puppy Puzzle and Structure seminars around North America for years.
First things that she said was there are no picks of litters. In a litter of puppies that does not outdo either parent, or in a litter of puppies that come from Pet Quality or Poor Quality adult dogs, there is not a star among them, even the best in a litter of Poor pups is still a poor quality pet example of the breed..
Also if there is a star puppy, that one puppy that has that special "wow" factor that draws you to him or her, but you don't like the rest of the litter or the parents, just remember that "wow" puppy while perhaps a good choice for the Show Ring, is not a good choice for your breeding program, that "wow" pup carries in it every single thing that you don't like about that litter, parents and pedigree.
On the other hand in a good litter of pups, that are equal or even better, improve on the parents, you can have one or two or even in the rare time have three pups in a say a litter of five or six that are great examples of the breed.
No litter of puppies is all show quality!! If you are honest , and truly look at the puppies, someone is better then the others.
Second thing, when it comes to pups, it s a good idea to stop looking between the puppies, don’t compare them to each other, compare them to the ideal in the breed standard.
It is so important when you look at puppies that it is only done at the correct time, which is eight weeks of age, give or take 3 days on each side of eight weeks If you look at structure at seven weeks or younger, then you can’t see true form, and by nine weeks, it’s the same thing.. If you
are looking at buying a puppy, according to Pat if the tests was done too soon or too late, then its better to look at the parents and pedigrees and disregard the evaluation of the pup, as it not going to reflect what you can expect as an adult.
Ok, this is hard to hear but I am going to quote her:
The WORST person to do the test or evaluation is the breeder
Followed by anyone in your breed!
The BEST person or persons to do the test is someone outside your breed.
Ideally you should try and get a group of breeders together for a puppy structure party, we were lucky enough to get such a list together in the Ottawa area and I have found looking at other breeds and other litters to be very valuable, and I greatly look forward to seeing what the results will be the first time I get the chance to have the group together for an ISD structure puppy party.
So in following with the puppy puzzle, I recommend for total details, please buy the book, and the video. However in basic, any dog under 3, out of a total score of 9, would be a pet dog only and NO performance homes for these pet dogs, just plain old couch/family dogs.
Now, I know that some folks did the What? on this one, but here goes.. According to Pat, never, ever sell anything but your very best Show Quality Puppies for a performance home. If the dog does not meet the standard in structure, type and temperament, then pet it into a non-show, non-performance home.
A Top Quality Performance dog needs every bit of the BEST structure and Temperament your breed has to offer in order to be able to have a long term partnership in the Performance Ring be it, Agility, Herding, or Obedience.
Pat said this is something for every pet home to think about, if someone says, this puppy is not a good Show dog but it’s a good performance dog, to look twice and stop and ask why..
Example given, Dog does not have a good tail set, and has too steep of a slope to his angles to do well in the show ring, those very same issues will be there in the performance home, and those weakness will be the first areas to start to break down, and then as the rest of the body tries to cover from the weak spots, they will start to break down, and so on and so on.
Now this was one that was amazing to me, in its truest form it makes total sense but I honestly wonder how often we as breeders stop to think about it.
"Structure affects Temperament"
In a litter of pups we are often drawn to the first out of the box, the first to walk , the first to run, the busy pup, and we often have folks that say, this is the most outgoing pup.. well according to Pat, that is most often the weakest pup in structure in the litter.
When a puppy or a dog has a fault, it will cause them to physically move to alleviate the stress
It takes good structure to remain still. So although your favorite will most likely be the busy pup, stop and take a good hard look at your quiet puppies, the odds are good that they have better structure
Well that’s it for this part . . . more on puppies next time and adult structure in the third part.
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