How many times have you felt drawn to a particular pup on the day they were born or within the first week and had it turn out to be the KEEPER? Could be based on that solid "feel" , bend in stifle, front angles. Do you evaluate your newborns in the air, by holding them up , with legs hanging down and look at the angles? When they are laying on their side do you look at them like they were stacked? Remember this is at a week or younger....

99% of the time, I know my keeper from day one.

I know of a couple of breeders that pick them at birth, I have done this as well, and the 2 of each sex that I like the best are always the ones that turn out the best at 6-8 weeks. I look at them "stacked" laying on their sides.

I did have a puppy in a litter a few years ago that not only did I fall instantly in love with at birth, but every time I picked her I would cry, the emotion was that strong, she turned out to not only be my keeper but was soooo much like her grandmother in so many ways. That must have been why I had such a pull to her, her grandmother was my foundation bitch that I picked from a vhs tape that was overnighted to me at 6 weeks many many many years ago.I lost her this spring and I'm going to be breeding this girl in a couple of weeks,I'm hoping history repeats itself again!

Well with at least two people doing it, I KNOW I am not alone and crazy

Can others that respond please say how long you have been breeding. I have had about 15 litters over 16 years.

According to some people who knew him quite well, George Bragaw used to say that you should check shoulders while they are "still wet".... your next chance won't come until they are 18-24 months, FWIW.,,, I've picked at birth with mixed success, about 70-30. Knowing your lines for several generations helps, IMHO. Actually, Tricia is better at it than I am, and picking the "sleeper" as well. She's at least 90%. She has the temperament tests done within a week... I swear, she's psychic... LOL!!!!

I've done this since my first litter in 1996.
I also do the ring test to see if my girls are pregnant and I've been told that that is a little kkokie! Energy is energy.

Remind me please - how does the ring test go?

I have "wet picked" puppies in friends' litters for a while now. One of my friends is quite annoyed with me actually, because I am rarely wrong! I haven't had as much luck with my own litters, maybe I am too emotionally involved, we'll see this time around though. I can't really say that I assess for structure, at least I don't "stack" them, on their sides, or otherwise. I just look at them, hold them, (and I guess subconsciously assess them), while I dry them off, and I just "know" which one(s). It really doesn't make logical sense to me, but I am grateful I can do it. Greg maybe women have a better knack for these things?
Great topic!

Most of the time I pick my pup within the first 24 hours. I've been doing this since the'70s, when I had Borzoi.
If I don't pick during the first 24 hours, I usually don't find a pup I like.

Please tell us what is the ring test?

Can the ring test tell you how many there is? or their sex?

I kind of remember seeing someone dangle a threaded needle over a woman's wrist and it would tell her how many children she would have and what sex they would be depending on how the needle would swing. I've also heard of using a wedding band on a looped thread over the belly to determine the sex of an unborn baby. Is the ring test similar to these?

I found this on youtube: (5 minutes long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp9KxdaGCZ8

(Sorry for going off topic)

I have been able to get a "sense" at birth. I have rarely been wrong. I did have a litter last year that i felt nothing special until they were a couple of weeks old. I was very depressed. but i 2 weeks i was able to "sense" the pick male and female and now they are a year old and boy was i right.

I don't know how to explain it and i have only tried with my own litters, but so far i can feel the keeper at birth.

PAT HASTING.DOG FOLK