This is a rather complicated process. By 8 weeks old you can start to see some personality changes but with breeding similar traits in our dogs, we find we don’t get a lot of drive differences. Meaning they tend to be very similar in their excitability as they grow up. We mainly have low-medium drives, can adapt to other animals (training of course is still needed) and can become a great companion without the extra efforts a working line dog may require. While Shepherds are active in general, and don’t forget the “land shark” phase, West German Show lines are very well known for their lower drives making them incredible family pets. While we always allow our client’s to choose (with our assistance) when the opportunity is there, we find no fault in the “last of the litter” or a fault in having only one pup of a gender etc. We trust our lines and each puppy will be special in their own right. If you get the opportunity to choose, we recommend choosing around the 6-7 week range so that others can start making plans for pick up and knowing which puppy they are taking home. We help guide you by taking videos, photos and offer insight on their behavior. Not much will be happening until after 4 weeks old when they begin interacting with mom and litter mates.
COLORING – this is a big one for our Black/Reds and Black/Tans! People can be specific in coloring and it’s very difficult to predict! That light colored puppy may get darker at 6 months old and end up very dark! Dark puppies may lighten. At birth they are all almost black in color and then lighten as they age. Whether they keep a black face, dark on the back, a more red coat etc.. Well, a lot is genetics and what the parents look like. You can see some changes by pick up time, but expect to not know for sure. We make no guarantees on final coloring! If you care more about coloring than temperament, we aren’t the right breeders for you!