Are You Rab?

We’re following the Ferguson family as they prepare to welcome a new Weimaraner puppy into their life. If you’ve ever wondered how breeders decide on which pup goes to which home, continue reading!

While Rab’s breeders (WestWeim and Trax Weimaraners) make observations on the puppies throughout the infancy stages, formal puppy testing carries the most weight when deciding which pup from a litter is suitable for which home. The Ferguson’s have children and have requested a male puppy.  They want to hunt with their pup and compete with him in field events, and possibly enter him in the show ring. Additionally, and most importantly, the new pup is to be their companion and best friend.

To meet that list their puppy will need to be confident, to love exploring his surroundings and using his nose, to naturally want to pick up and carry things, to be unafraid of sudden or sharp noises, to be social with people, and to be comfortable in the water.

Let’s get started!

A perfect pond for puppies

First, the swimming test. All of the pups had been placed twice previously in a shallow pool to get used to the idea of water. For the swimming test they were taken to a nearby lake with a shallow, easy entry, and were placed on the shoreline as a group as the tester waded into the water. Four of the pups were superstars at the water, including two males. Is one of them going to be Rab?

Next, the general tests of confidence and strength of character. All of the puppies were brought to the home of a total stranger to them. One at a time they were brought to the testing area and placed on the ground. First was noted each pup’s immediate reaction to being left there, with credit given for confidence and hunting aptitude to any pup that immediately set to moving around it’s new environment and using its eyes and nose to explore.

Most were very adventuresome in their new digs but a couple of pups whined a bit before exploring and a couple wanted to follow the person who dropped them off. Then the tester squatted down and called the puppy and invited the puppy to follow. The puppy was tested for its acceptance of handling and restraint. One female showed a very feisty side in resisting all procedures, the others quickly acquiesced.

Apple fetcher!

Next, the tester tossed an item for the puppy to retrieve and noted whether the pup readily picked up the object and what happened next.  All pups were great retrievers, but one showed a lot of possessiveness and independence in immediately running off to enjoy her new treasure in private!  Then a very sharp noise was made to check for sensitivity to sound.  100% passing score for everyone here and also in the prey drive test for chasing and vigorously tugging a toy.

Now, a very important series of tests on the puppies ability to learn. This was done directly by selecting four lessons to teach each pup individually: hold my finger in your mouth, pick up a small container off the ground, stay on a towel, and touch an extended palm in exchange for a treat. With these tests notation was made of each pup’s general characteristics of repetition tolerance, cooperation, speed of learning, intelligence, food drive, and acceptance of correction. However, an equally important factor was not how an individual training session went, but how the learning progressed over training sessions done twice per day for three days. Quite a few budding geniuses were discovered in the bunch.  Is one of them Rab?

Testing resumed the following day with a hike in the fields with all the pups together, watching them hunt and play, noting which ones showed more inclination to follow the humans and which more inclination to expand their horizons. Then, live birds were introduced to the pups as a group and then one at a time to check for nose, pointing instinct and confidence to pounce on and grab a fluttering bird. Three tested especially strongly here. Have we found Rab?

Still long enough for the photo!

After a break for napping and lunch, the pups moved on to the conformation assessment where they were posed and photographed, with notes made on their structure, coat, bite, feet, general size and bone, and presence of testicles in the males. People who do this kind of thing with baby puppies all the time can make it look pretty easy but I assure you that convincing a squirming bundle of energy to stand still for even a few seconds can be quite challenging not to mention very humorous.

Test results were summarized while puppies pestered the cat, ran off with shoes and unrolled miles of toilet paper….  then all puppies and humans collapse in an exhausted heap!

It's exhausting being a puppy!

We’ll introduce Rab in the next segment. Follow Rab’s adventures by clicking on the tag puppy by proxy!