Evaluating the Puppies

I would say that most puppies are adorable to the max and these two are maxxed out on the "adorable" factor. Sadly, there comes a time in all puppies' lives that they need to be evaluated and either placed or sold. In the case of this litter, being only two and being a "special case," we decided that we were going to keep both of them. It was just a matter of which girl was going home with Kathleen and which one was staying home with me. Both of us prefer the white and tan coloration for the breed. It is less prevalent than the white, black, and tan (black tri) coloration, so getting a white and tan female--especially one that meets the standard well enough for breeding and showing--can be difficult. I was expecting for both of us to want Goldberry, aka "Goldie."

Because Kathleen and I live a looooong drive apart, we meet approximately halfway in Monroe, Louisiana. Monroe has an awesome Chinese buffet and an IHOP, so we're set for food. There's also a Walmart, a Tractor Supply Company, and a Sam's Club, the triumvirate of brick-and-mortar dog supply-buying places, so we're set in case we need anything that we've left behind at home. The hotel is dog friendly and, since we leave the room spotless and smelling great, we're welcome to bring a couple dogs over the limit if we wish--this time we brought five (small) dogs instead of two. We were only there overnight, but we had a lot to accomplish.

What is Evaluated?

In general, we evaluate puppies to first determine their suitability to show and/or breeding homes. We are "preservation" breeders, so we focus on first ensuring the continuation of the breed in a fashion that its founders would recognize it. That means that the physical attributes of every dog intended for show and/or breeding have to be within the specifications of the written breed standard. The standard does address temperament. After all, even breeding and show dogs are pets for all of their lives and are only in the show ring or whelping box for just a short time. However, the standard is largely written to describe the physical attributes of the dog: structure, movement, coat, and color. A twenty-pound, rectangular dog that single tracks and has a long, merle or brindle coat might claim to be a Toy Fox Terrier, but it's not bred to the standard and will not be purebred.

Second, we determine which dogs will be best for pet homes. Structure and so on are still important, but for pet homes, they take a back seat to temperament. Physically, the difference between a show puppy and a pet puppy may be a minimal as a patch of color that could deceive a judge's eye or a diagonal instead of an upright tail set. However, a show dog needs a certain amount of boldness. All terriers need to show the terrier attitude, what Dan calls the "foolishly fearless" or "fearlessly foolish" outlook on life. They need to be in a building with at least a thousand other dogs--sometimes up to tens of thousands of other dogs, if you're talking about Westminster or Crufts. A pet puppy needs an "off" switch. They must be able to stay alone for many hours when their owners are at work, be able to sit in laps on demand, thrive on an occasional walk or playtime in the yard. There's absolutely no disgrace in producing quality pet puppies. The truth is, many puppies from show quality parents will be great pets for the general public. They just need different qualities for pet homes.

Finally, we have "sport" or "working" dog candidates. These dogs might otherwise be amazing examples of their breed, but they are too intense and "drivey" for the typical show or pet home. If you breed terriers to have a proper terrier attitude, even the more laid-back terrier breeds that we have, you will eventually have one or more dogs that would find pet or show dog life to be stultifying. We've all seen them. They're the "busy puppy," that moves even in their sleep. If they don't have a task or a job, they will make one for themselves, often to the dismay of the owner! Every unexplained noise in the house is either a mouse or an intruder and no plot of soil outside can be left undisturbed. A pet owner would find this dog impossible to live with. But a person who does agility or barn hunt or flyball would love this dog, as would a person who needs vermin control in their livestock barn. Sport and working dogs have the good life, getting all the bonding and "me" time that they can handle from trainers and owners, even if they are not as pampered as the first two categories.

How are They Evaluated?

As the puppies grow, we evaluate their structure. The thing about puppy structure is that it's constantly changing: one day their rear can be high, then their shoulders overtake them; their pasterns might drop if they're growing too fast; their heads are always a bit rounded at birth but flatten as they mature. The frame that they are born with is generally the frame they will have as adults, but that's about all that will remain the same. The absolute best time to evaluate puppies is at eight weeks. Except for the head being proportionally larger than their bodies (puppies' cephalocaudal growth, growth proceeding from head to tail, ensures this), they mostly appear as they will appear at adulthood.

Being preservation breeders, we spend a lot of time looking at physical attributes. The head needs to be triangular with the ears set on upright at "11" and at "1" (if you're looking at the head superimposed on the face of a clock). The teeth should meet in a scissors bite, but because puppies don't always grow in proportion, we are willing to be patient with minor malocclusions. The head and teeth are super-important for terriers, because those are what they use to do their jobs. We also look at the squareness of the dog: the length of the back between the shoulder and the tail should be approximately the same as the length of the legs. The back should be level and the hind legs should have moderate angulation. The tail should be at as close to a ninety-degree angle as possible to the spine, without a suggestion that it would curl over the back if left natural. These things determine how the dog will move. Movement is almost impossible to determine in very young puppies, because they lack fine motor skills and coordination, but puppies with good structure usually move well as adults.

In terms of temperament, we make notes about who is shy, who is outgoing, who might be too much of a terrier for a pet home. We can generally determine the puppies' adult temperament based on where they are in the litter hierarchy. Bold and aggressive puppies will grow into bold and assertive--and yes, sometimes aggressive--adults. These are the puppies that we need to be most honest about with ourselves. They are fun dogs to watch as they tear through life, but we need to evaluate whether they can develop the coping skills needed for show or pet homes. We also need to look at the quiet puppies, to determine if they are shy or if they are simply "thinking" dogs. Thinking dogs will usually reveal themselves over time by working out tasks that present themselves.

Coat and coloration are extremely important parts of breeding Toy Fox Terriers. TFTs were developed before the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Wire Fox Terrier split as breeds. On VERY rare occasions, it's possible that a TFT will have wavy or wiry patches in their coats. These patches are not allowed in the show ring, so wiry patches especially will consign a puppy immediately to being a pet. All TFTs are piebald (white with colored patches). Their bodies must be more than fifty percent white, and their heads must be less than fifty percent white. White facial markings are permitted, but only if they do not cause the head to have too much white. White markings that touch the eye or enter the ear canal are prohibited for show or for breeding. Because piebald markings are random, it's possible to get a dog that is too heavily marked or that lacks color on its head, even if you breed carefully.

Why evaluate?

Evaluation is important for any puppy. Every breeder who sells their dogs directly to the general public needs to evaluate each and every puppy for appropriateness to particular homes.

Two TFTs: How do they hold up?

Goldberry is a very nice little white and "tan" TFT. If she matures just like this, with the exception of her head roundedness and size, she will be competitive. She's very close to square, her head is a nice wedge with equal distance from the crown to the stop (that dip thing) and from the stop to the tip of her nose. Her head is a bit narrow overall for my taste, but that will change as her skull flattens with maturity. I would like to see a tiny bit more neck on her. We will need to watch her elbows as she grows, as she has the potential for throwing her elbows out and toeing in when she develops a chest. Allowing for the poor stack, her shoulders blend nicely into her flat back. Her tail set is tremendous--and is one of the things we've needed to correct in our dogs forever--although she has an illusion of a kink in her tail. Part of the illusion is caused by the placement of the white tip. Her paws are small, with "catlike" toes, just perfect for digging into small dens.

Here you can see that Goldberry has the temperament for a potential show dog. Her stance and gaze are both bold without being aggressive. She stares the photographer down, even with that "strange thing" in front of her face, but she is interested, not fearful or challenging. Her expression is open, her ears are forward, and her tail is up. These are all things that a judge will look for.

The color of her fur is a bit off, because hotel lighting is not really suited for taking pictures. (If it hadn't been raining, we'd have gone outside into natural light.) The reason the black is there in the first place is because, contrary to what you see, Goldie is a black dog. "Tan" Toy Fox Terriers are not brown dogs (genetic code: b/b). That would be chocolate--which TFTs have--but are an entirely different color. They are not red dogs with light intensity (genetic code: e/e). That would be "lemon," which TFTs do not have as an accepted color. Goldberry is a black-based sable (genetic code: ay/_, B/_), a pattern which creates a band of brown on her black fur. At times, sables "clear," losing all of their black markings, but she will likely keep a small rim of black around her patches. You can tell that she's genetically black because she has black eye rims and a black nose.

You obviously can't feel it, but Goldberry's coat is short and soft, almost like the nap of a velour fabric. The texture of her fur will change when she exchanges puppy coat for adult coat, but it's the right length and texture for her age. We anticipate that she will have the hard guard hairs that are required by the standard and will have a slight to moderate cape of longer fur at her shoulders, like her mother's.

Based on what we see here, we will be entering her in the non-licensed puppy class at the Southern Classic in May 2024.

To be fair, Rosie Cotton is a really nice little dog who takes terrible pictures. Her head is almost as nice as Goldberry's head, with the same lovely ear set and a really good backskull. If you take a good look at the face picture, however, you can see a suggestion of an underbite. Her muzzle is still a bit short, as puppies' muzzles tend to be, so we're hoping that her upper jaw will catch up with her lower jaw. An undershot bite, even a tiny one, is a show disqualification. Unless her teeth eventually meet in an even bite, she will not have a show career. Rosie got the extra neck that I would have liked to see in her sister, but it's attached well and blends nicely into her shoulders.

In her left photo, Rosie's body seems a bit long because she is standing "parked out," rather than standing with all of her legs perpendicular to the table. The picture on the right shows the actual proportions of her body, which is that square that we discussed earlier. She's already got a slightly deeper chest than Goldberry, which creates more of the "tuck up" that they are supposed to have. Her tail set is almost perfect, just like Goldberry's, with only a hint of a curve in it.

As with Goldberry, her color is a bit off in these photos. Even so, you can see the rich tan markings in her face. They are not as bold as I would like to see them, but she has at least a medium intensity for pheomelanin, the genetic code that affects the overlay of "pips and kiss marks" on a tricolor's face. The little patch of brown on her shoulder would not disqualify her from showing, even though head and body patches are supposed to be the same color. That brown is the brown on her chest--the same brown patch that a Doberman Pinscher might have--peeking out from under the white mask. If you removed that white mask from her body, Rosie would have the same brown chest, brown legs, and brown under the tail that a Doberman has. And, just because I gave the genetic codes for Goldberry, above, I'll add that Rosie would be B/_, at/_. The dashes are there because, until their Embark tests come back, we can only know what we see and not what they might carry. Rosie is mostly "B/B, at/at" and Goldberry is most likely "B/B, ay/at," but we can't be sure.

Like her sister, Rosie has a lovely and correct coat. The slightly longer guard hairs that form a tiny cape or ruff over the shoulders will present itself right at the edge of her black shoulder marking, accentuating both.

Based on what we see here, Rosie will be held for another six months, and we will reevaluate her then. If she has still got an underbite, we shall probably spay her and make a pet out of her. She may or may not go to a pet home, as it's quite probable that one of us will want to have her for nosework or another sport.

Shots and Microchips

Like a lot of breeders, Kathleen and I give our own vaccinations (except for rabies) and implant our own microchips. I will say, right off the bat, that people who are strictly pet owners should not give their own shots or do their own microchips. Yes, most pet owners are both well-educated and capable. Breeders often spend decades building unique relationships with their veterinarians. During that span of years, they might have dozens, if not hundreds of dogs pass through their hands, given that some large breeds can have ten or more puppies in a litter. If a breeder finds the right veterinarian, that person will teach him or her the proper way to perform simple, non-surgical procedures. A good veterinarian/breeder relationship will result in protocols being established for raising healthy litters and the knowledge for when to let the experts take control.

That being said, Rosie and Goldberry got their second puppy vaccinations during this trip. We also put a microchip in Melian, the little puppy who did so well in her first two non-licensed shows! She was a good girl for it, despite the needle being so big. Kathleen will take her to the vet in a few weeks to make certain the chip is properly inserted. We decided that the two little girls were too small for chips yet--a misplaced needle can cripple a dog--so we're holding off on doing them until the next time we meet.

The Other Two!

Up above, I mentioned that we had brought five dogs with us. Neither Steele nor Yaddle needed their vaccinations or microchips, as they are already up to date. Yaddle is just along for the ride, as she is going to visit with "Mama Kathleen" for a couple of months. We did get Steele up on the table to determine whether I need to take him to the Classic or not. Here in Mississippi, we call this being "a mess." He's a great dog, but he has a lot of maturing to do. I will probably take him to an AKC Open show at some point, but he's not UKC championship material right now. If nothing else, he needs some additional bulk on him and he needs to get those ears up! A little weight pull practice and some handling classes will set him to rights.

What About Genetic Health?

If there's any question about a genetic condition that will affect a puppy's life in a new home, Kathleen and I will send a genetic sample for testing before he or she is even crawling. Neither of these girls being evaluated are predisposed for genetic health issues, but we will have them tested individually before we breed them. Neither Kathleen nor I trust "clear by parentage" claims, because "stuff happens." We want proof for each and every dog that we breed. I'll be doing a different post on genetic health testing sometime in the future, where I explore that and other issues.

Nota Bene

Just a note: The misleading thing about Toy Fox Terriers is that they are tiny and that they appear to be very sweet. However, they are simply tiny terriers with a terrier's prey drive. Even dogs evaluated to be pets have it to a certain extent. It can be hidden for years and then, one day, a dead mouse presents itself of the couch. I belong to several "pet dog" TFT forums and not a week goes by without someone being upset that they dog has presented them with a dead rodent or a dead bird. They don't realize that, when they bought a terrier of any size--that is what they signed up for. If you buy a terrier (yes, even a tiny TFT or Yorkshire Terrier), you are buying a hunter.

Thanks for Visiting!

I know that this post was long and potentially exhausting, but I hope that you enjoyed it! People often have the misunderstanding that there is a strict delineation between the dogs from people who breed for show and people who breed for pets. Both sets of dogs can have excellent examples that can excel in the show ring and can have dogs that wouldn't cut it in a show to save their lives. The difference lies in the intent behind the breeding (often preservation vs. profit) and the overall quality of dogs in the breeding program.

If you did enjoy this post, please be certain to like it and maybe leave a comment on it. As usual, I will make my plea for subscribing to my posts or the possibility of a tip or a pledge. Take care everyone and I'll see you later!