My 20 month old girl has been shown about 13 times. She also has 2 Rally obedience legs.

She took a best puppy, 1st in almost all classes (puppy classes and Am bred), survived a cut at a specialty but did not place and took 2 RWB but does not have any points yet. (1 RWB where I handled and other with handler.) Handler is excellent, has finished many Labradors. I know it's a tough sport, but do I just plow ahead?

Her breeder is somewhat like a mentor for me and thinks pup can finish as she is but I think she needs to mature some. Handler says she's competitive and should eventually start winning. Her weakness is her head is not all that fantastic but her mom finished and mom's head is worse.

I am thinking of taking her home and working on JH for the summer, having a litter this fall if all clearances pass, and then sending or taking her out next year again.

What would you do?

Please no flames, just looking for advice from breeders more experienced than myself.

She's young. Some feel a bitch doesn't fully bloom until one litter, or 2 or even 3. If you enjoy the performance aspect, GO FOR IT. I would finish the rally, working on the hunting, look at her CD, go another level of rally, do her clearances. She's going to wash out and only be a performance pet if she doesn't pass final clearances in 4 months anyway.

If she stays no matter what, get those other titles on her and have fun, and show her later at some FUN shows like local specialties, under judges you like.

Based on your results, I think she is doing pretty well for less than 2 years. I know it can be difficult not to see your dog win when it SEEMS that others win early and often.

I believe that the majority of the dogs that are winning at a younger age are being shown very often OR they are just early "bloomers". If you are at all breed shows, judges are not as confident sometimes to put up a younger dog and will choose primarily from the Open classes.

If you wait until she is more physically mature, has gained more muscle mass from all the work you want to do with her and maybe has a litter (assuming that is appropriate), you can bring her back out in a year and she might be terrific.

You can save up over that time to have her in the ring more often!

With my first girl, I showed her early and she was successful as a puppy, but was a bust in the 12-18 mo class, not even placing in those 6 months at all breed or specialty.

At 18 months she got her first points and now she has 10 points (she's now 3). So to me that means that she just wasn't mature enough. Lesson learned for the future generations.

I say follow your gut!

I Agree w/ "me" & "pretty good" posters. Sounds like she has lots of potential as a well rounded girl (beauty and brains) the best of all worlds. Why not take advantage of this time and work with her in performance and re-evaluate as you go. She (& you) will gain in self confidence and she will continue to mature. (JMHO)

Best of luck!

How important is field work to you? It is usually a good idea to get started with the field work while the dog is young. If you are planning to go beyond a JH you definitely should consider doing field work early rather than late.

Our Foundation girl wasn't enough when she was young. At 18 months she got her pre-lims and at 23 months we bread her. She looked so much more mature after that litter, great muscle, more bone,grew the most beautiful head, coat, just better all over and looked even better after the second litter.
Showing is expensive, do other things and then send her out later when she has matured some. I wouldn't waste my money sending her out with dogs that bloom at 6-9 months. Be Patient, it will be her turn soon enough

I meant bred her