A lot of puppy books start out by explaining to the soon to be owner that the whole household should agree and be in on the purchase of a new pup. If that were the case, I would have never had so many dogs in my lifetime.

My mom always picked out the family’s dogs. I got my own dog when I was about 13. Then I got my second and third dogs and then I had to get my own place!

Since then I have had over two thousand dogs in my lifetime, perhaps more, and I have loved every one of them!

Of course, you should know that owning a pup means more than just ‘hanging’ around with your pal, unless you are fortunate to live in the mountains, hilltops, and farmlands! Even then the most important thing I can think of for you to realize is, to know the laws where you live concerning dogs. It’s important for your piece of mind and so that you don't accidentally upset your neighbor. It is also important in that no one will be able to trample on your constitutional rights in owning a pet. The law states that not knowing the law is no excuse. But that is for another chapter, so make sure you read it!

Know also that a pup needs its shots so that he doesn’t get sick. It is a hard fact of life when you’re first pup dies of a sickness because you didn’t realize you needed to get the pup its shots. (When I was young I could never understand why any of God’s creatures needed shots when they all did so well by themselves.) Make sure you read those boring chapters about the health of your new pup. I’ll try to give you all the facts you need to know from a laymen‘s point of view.

So the first thing you should look for when selecting your new Shepalute puppy is not the looks and beauty of the pup or whether it has a patch of white on its toes! You better check out the pup’s disposition! But how can you tell about the pup’s character when the pup is so young?

Here is some food for thought: As you look at the litter of pups think to yourself, what will that pup be like as it matures? Make sure you check out the father and mother of the pup and if you can, the grandparents. It has been my experience that all pups resemble their grandparents rather than their immediate upline.

How do the parents act? How old are they? If the pup’s parents are three years old or younger, then you must realize that they are still pups themselves. If the pup’s parents are ten years old or older, they may still think they are pups but in reality they are slowing down. (Just something to consider.)

If the parents (the sire and the dam) are well trained, it will be hard for you to tell how your pup will turn out, unless you have the uncanny ability to be able to put aside the human conditioning and/or environmental conditioning that has influenced those dogs since their birth. Human and environmental conditionings always play a big role in the animal you see before you. If the parents have not been trained then you will be able to quickly tell how your pup will be when it matures. The untrained animal is the true character of the dog and it is the only way anyone can be absolutely sure about a new pup when sizing up the parents of that pup. (Keeping in mind the environmental conditioning that has influenced that adult dog.)

I am a witness to the judgments of many folks who were out looking for a pup and the pup’s sire and dam were well trained. The public actually does think that this new pup will turn out just like the parents! So well behaved! That just doesn't happen!

Of course you will also influence your chosen pup or ‘mold it’ out of the parent stock into the companion dog that will fit into your lifestyle. Remember that the time you put into a pup from the moment you take him home until he is at least ten or eleven months old is the most important and influential time of that pup’s life and of your sanity. Figure it this way, the more time you spend with your dog in his first nine months is equal to the obedience your pup will give you in return. I am a stay at home dog mother, so to speak, and I go for walks with my pups for my own health as well as the pup’s trainings. I get about seven hundred fifty hours with my pup before he turns nine months old.

You should not have much trouble with the Alsatian Shepalute in those troubling adolescent years. Your Alsatian pup should not be a hyper dog. Puppies will be puppies though and you must take that into consideration. They do get bored.

When looking for that special Alsatian pup make sure you handle all the pups in the litter and when you pick that special pup up, ask yourself these questions. Does the puppy squirm and cry and bite to get down? If it does it cannot be an Alsatian Shepalute!

Does it grab a hold of your neck with both front legs? You may think this is a sign of love, but it is not. It is a sign of fear of falling down or uncertainty.

If a pup shows that clutching sign, he may be a bit insecure and should be trained accordingly. Proper training can and will give the dog a more stable personality. Just note that your pup was that way and if you intend to breed him, don't! This type of pup will bond quickly and will heel automatically.

The perfect personality in an Alsatian Shepalute is a pup that is comfortable with you picking him up and wants to lick your face and wags his tail. Even one who just accepts it and is loose and comfortable is fine. As a matter of fact, I would choose that laid back pup myself.

If the dogs you go to see are kennel dogs they are pretty close to a pack formation and they are in their element both dominant and recessive. Ask to see the dog’s parents outside the kennel and on a leash so you can see how your pup might be as an adult. If the leash is dropped what will the dog do? Does the dog run off? Does he bark and run and jump around or does he settle down when talked to? He may just be excited so take your time and just watch. Sit down and observe the dogs, all of them. How does he approach you or does he? He should be unconcerned with you. He may sniff the air or sniff your jeans to find out who you are. You may kneel down or sit and he will come off his guard of you. If he is growling at you or barking at you it may be his training. Of course you do not want to see the parents then. That doesn't mean the pups will be that way. A barking dog is a shy dog. He is frightened and will usually run away. Remember I am talking about a raw dog, one that is not trained. My dogs are not allowed to bark at you when I am around. And they usually don’t. They are comfortable in who they are and they are not afraid of you. Don’t forget you are a stranger. If I let my dogs out of the kennel they would pay you no mind. If you sat and called them over they would come easily to be petted, but their sole interest would be in me and what it was we were going to do. The puppies on the other hand love to get out of the kennels and run busily around getting into trouble, sniffing things and checking stuff out. They would be excited for about ten minutes then they would sit in your lap. Where are the hot dogs? Shepalutes are not hyper when petted. They will sit there quietly. They will not squirm, cry, bite, or jump all over you. That is the quality of a dog that is easy to train and easy to control. That is a dog that will fit nicely into any family situation.

The next thing you do is to ask for a business card and the names and prices of the pups. Take notes, then go home. Think about it. Go visit other breeds and other pups. Pick them up and feel the difference. Read the standards of the breed and be realistic about the size and weight of the adult dogs as they would fit into your family’s situation. Get business cards from all the places you visit and make notes, then go home and think about it!

Please whatever you do, do not judge the pups from the attitude of the humans or the environment where the pups were brought up. Nor judge the litter by the house keeping of the owners or their hospitality! Judge the pups by the parents and grandparents and the information the breeder has. Many a good pup may be overlooked, as a pup’s total being is not that of the breeder or the breeder’s beliefs or lifestyles. If the breeder is a farmer and the pups are in the stable muddy, fat and lively, it is ok. The most important fact is that the owners know about their animals. If they do not know the grandparents or great grandparents of the pups, and the parents of the pups are not visible, run do not walk to your car. You do not need to get a business card. Do not buy that pup or even take it free!

With all the dogs that have gone through my hands as a groomer, trainer and breeder, I feel that I can tell you with certainty, that the best dog in the world is a neutered male! That is based on the lifestyles of the everyday families of today with most families living in the city. Let’s examine both sexes:

Females: They do not roam the neighborhood as a male would, they return home and don't go so far. They do mark there territory but in a different way than a male. They mark the territory to invite male dogs over and to spread the news that they are ready to breed when they come into season. They are the most docile of their breed in their puppy stage until... they come in heat, or somebody takes what's theirs. They are possessive and moody.

What if you spay them? #1. Half of their insides have to come out and God put all that stuff in there for a reason. I don't care how good a veterinarian your vet. is, I believe it is harmful and wrong to put a bitch through that. I will state that of the thousands of dogs that came through my shop once a year that 90% of the spayed females were touch sensitive on their bellies. In my opinion, it was because part of them had been removed. It is what I have seen. Some females who had been operated on twice had to wear muzzles or take sedatives to get through the grooming process. Yes, I said operated on twice! Why you ask? Because these were pound puppies that no one bothered to transfer records on. Being spayed twice dramatically changed their behaviors to where no one could pick them up or approach them.

Let’s go on. Females make better guard dogs. They call them bitches for a reason.

Female Shepalutes come into there first heat cycle at around 12 months of age. Female Shepalutes will have a strong desire to mark their territory and to round up and tease the males just as female dogs do of all breeds. Female Alsatian Shepalutes coming into heat will fight off any dogs coming into their territory male or female, as this is the place where they will dig their dens and protect their litters. They are very protective of their territory. Let’s say you do spay your female Alsatian. The personality of your dog will change a bit depending on the age the dog was when it came under the knife. If you spay a female at around five months of age, the personality change will be slight. The dog will never be a bitch. She will not be dog aggressive. She will be friendlier. If you spay late in life your female dog will settle down within a couple of months. She won’t have a desire to fight off other dogs any longer. She won’t wander at all. She will still understand marking territory but she will be more like that neutered male only with 1/2 of her insides gone.

Males: Male dogs lift their legs. Male dogs mark their territory to let all dogs know that they have arrived and that this is their turf! They have male parts that do unsheathe themselves when they get excited. They also lick their private parts more than a female does unless the female is in heat.

Male dogs have a strong natural desire to roam great distances to find the right females to breed with and they do not care where they have to go to find one. They will dig, jump or bust out to get to a female down the street. I once had a female Rottwieler who when in heat and broke down a six-foot wooden gate to get out to tease my stud Alsatian Shepalute.

At around fourteen months of age and in the Spring season, males may become restless. They may whine or howl. They are masculine and larger than female counterparts of the breed. They look more mature, poised and alert. Male dogs can get more aggressive with other male dogs than with females only because males won’t fight females most of the time because they want to be friends when the time is right. But know that a female dog is more aggressive to strange dogs than a male dog is. The male’s just let the females run them for a while, especially if the male dog is not neutered as it is part of his make-up. A male dog is curious and wants the strange dog to check him out or come over so he can see if the stranger can be mounted. A female dog doesn't care about that, unless she's in heat. She doesn't really care for the strange dog and will act tough. If confronted she may turn and run, unless she is on her own turf. The strongest and meanest male wins. That's just the way it is, but here’s the secret. Neuter a male pup before his testosterone kicks in and he never knows he is a male! Doesn't care either. His private parts stay in more and he doesn’t have to lick himself as much.

A neutered male is good looking and sweet. The real secret is the timing of the neutering! Neutered males don’t roam as un-neutered males do. Some neutered males don't roam at all. Neutered males do settle down more than if they weren't neutered. A neutered male bonds closer to a human family than an un-neutered male. The un-neutered male longs for that call of the wild, the neutered male doesn’t ever hear it.

If you have a premonition that your male pup will bite strangers and you do not wish for that character, neutering an Alsatian Shepalute early will absolutely slow that characteristic down. Mellow the dog out and make him friendlier. I have seen it. They don't care to leave the family or to pick a fight.

I personally like that stallion like animal. In a large dog, like a Shepalute, I myself would wait till about two years old before I would neuter him. Now if he is macho or on the mean side, I’d neuter him at eleven months, but know that I can handle an abusive tough dog. I also live in the country.

Neutering keeps them mentally in a puppy stage, so to speak. They haven't even started lifting their leg up to urinate until the age of eleven months or so. (Remember, I am talking about Alsatian Shepalutes. Little breeds come into adulthood much sooner. I am a witness to a male Chihuahua breeding a female at 5 months of age.)

Perhaps I am a little prejudice. Male or female, it is ultimately up to you. I must include in this paragraph that as of this writing I have never neutered any of my dogs, I do not believe in it as a religious preference. I give you unprejudiced information so that you can make an educated choice.

The most important thing I can tell you about choosing your next pup is to know the breeder! Listen to them. Do they know their dogs? Here’s a great question to ask! “How many generations have you bred?” That question alone tells me if the owners know anything at all about how to breed the dogs they have. Here is another question. “Do you have pictures of the parents and the grandparents?”

When prospective owners come to me to purchase a pup, I can tell right away if they know anything about the greatness of the pups they are observing by the questions they ask. Each individual that comes for a pup is unique in personality, as is each pup in the litter. If the pup is to be a family pet the pup chosen must fit into the family as a whole. The questions I ask perspective buyers would be:

1. Who would be mostly responsible for this new pup’s training and up bringing?

2. Who’s dog would it be?

3. What does the family do as a whole?

4. If you had an adult dog of this breed what would you require of him? What would you use the dog for?

These types of questions help me to select a pup from the litter that would fit that family’s lifestyle. I know each pup and there personalities and I can best choose a pup that will fit into the new family. Most breeders can do that.

How are their records kept? Ask to see the paper work on the pups or parents. Do they have any? It never ceases to amaze me that some folks do not care what the parents act like let alone the grandparents. No wonder so many folks who go looking for a pup for the family end up taking those dogs to the pound!

I have thirteen generations of picture albums, photos and notes of every single Shepalute I have ever bred. I even have scrapbooks of all the generations further back into the pedigrees of the pure-bred dogs I have bred with. All that is proof that your breeder knows what she or he is doing and that they actually bred the dogs they say they have.

Folk s do come over who aren't even interested in the lineage. They aren't even concerned with a pedigree. The pup itself can tell you a lot, I agree, but a new owner must know how their pup will be when grown. If they don’t understand that the pedigree and parents of the pup determine that pups disposition, then so be it. Those new puppy owners do not understand the dog world and may end up not liking the pup they chose just because they did not understand genetics. Then again you may just have that uncanny ability to pick a great pup, then you also have a gift.

Know your pup’s lineage first hand. Do not rely on a pedigree alone. That pedigree can’t tell you if the parents limped or barked too much or had bad skin problems. And if the breeder tells you some faults of the parents or lineage, be sure that this is a breeder that is telling you the truth for there is no perfect dog when striving towards the breed standards. A good breeder’s motto is to “always breed better than the last." Each pup will have its own unique faults to a good breeder. That doesn't mean the pup is faulty!

Many breeders including myself must find good homes for the sires and dams that have produced a litter or two. In my case I need to find homes for Adult dogs who have not met the required tests that in able them to be breeders. For instance a pup may look nice at a young age and as it grows older it may be too noisy per the breed standards. This means that this dog would not qualify to be a reproducer of the breed. This dog is now perhaps 2 or 3 months old. I may ask a reduced price on this pup for two reasons. 1. I do not make a habit of giving any pup or dog away free, as many new owners of free animals do not place a value on this dog. Not having a mental value of a high price on an animal makes many humans disregard that pet. In other words selling my dogs for a reasonable price makes me know that the new owner will take care and cherish that pet because it did not come easy. I have found that anything given free is not cared for as a valuable object so to speak. Sorry, but it is so.

Many of us are willing to co-own adults and/or puppies. This means that the animal is owned by two or more individuals and a price for each owner’s half of that dog is spelled out in a binding contract. That is to protect both parties if anything should happen to the dog. In my case I need the co-owned dog to reproduce the next generation of pups without overloading my kennels. This way you get the pup to raise as your own and I, as the breeder and co-owner may use the pup in the designated time frame as spelled out in the contract. This enables me to get a litter back from the co-owned bitch or to get a stud service from an outstanding male.

This is a misconstrued word. Especially when dealing with animals! What one person considers intelligence in a dog may not be so for another. Somebody once put together an intelligence test for a number of different breeds of dogs. How stupid is that? It received a write up in the newspaper and was on national television!

All you breed lovers, who lost in this intelligence test, don’t fret! Each breed of dog has its own type of intelligence depending on what the dog was bred for, and the person who designed that infamous intelligence test just proved to real dog breeders that he didn't know what he was talking about. If you are going to make an intelligence test for dogs it must only be applied within its own breed to hold any type of validity and there must be a clear and defined definition as to what k9 intelligence is.

As a breeder of the Alsatian Shepalutes, I judge intelligence in our breed as a dog that pays attention. A very young pup that understands body language has to be a calm and attentive pup. It can be no other way. That pup is quick to learn and easy to train. In my opinion, body language is the universal language for all species. (Ask for my book “Training the Alsatian Shepalute“) All Shepalutes understand body language because they have been bred with the genetic characteristics to pay attention. In other words, they are not hyper. They do not have the hyper genes necessary for survival in the wild. Is that hyper behavior, intelligence? If you live in the wild it is! But when you become a domesticated animal and are required to live in a human’s world, the intelligence level of that animal changes to fit into its new environment. Intelligence is rooted in character and is inherited. If you wish to know more on this K-9 intelligence stuff refer to Chapter 2.