Picking a pup can be one of the most exciting things you ever do. When you head to the breeder’s place (you do go to breeders don’t you? Never support pet stores), there will be a lot of activity. You’ll likely get to meet mom and maybe dad. And there will be cute little puppies running amok.

The basis of a dog’s temperament is set pretty early and you can see this in the pups based on a few things (most notably their interaction with litter mates). You should first decide what type dog you want because the type of dog you want may not be the type I want. For example, you may want an overly submissive dog. I don’t. It try to look for certain characteristics in a pup and, based on their behavior, can usually determine if the have those traits. Back when I trained police dogs, we picked up pups regularly. However, I’ve only picked out one now in the last decade.

Following are traits I look for and what I do to ascertain if the dog has those traits:

Inquisitive (and not fearful): does he run up to me or run from me? I’ll drop my car keys. The pups that run are ruled out. The ones that stop and look without retreating are curious. The ones that run up to the keys to check them out are the inquisitive ones. Stamp your feet on the ground and see who runs and who does a play bow.

Confidence: When you reach for the pup, does he turn away? How about his interaction with littermates? Does he rule the roost or is he quiet? Is he picked on by others without responding? When it’s time to nurse, does your pup get moved out of the way by littermates or is he the one diving right in there?

Intelligence: This one, you just have to watch for cues. There’s not really a test. However, avoid the one that keeps running head first into hard objects.

Play drive: Take a small ball or a wash rag. Try to initiate a game of fetch/catch with the pups with the ball. Does he take to it or run? Is he interested but cautious? Try to get him to play tug with the wash rag. Does the pup play hard or does he give up as soon as you tug back. Jiggle your keys and see who comes running or runs away.

Prey drive: Drag the wash rag along the ground. Does he chase it? Does he mouth things (yeah, all pups do)?

And remember, if you do all these tests and decide that Pup 1 is the dog for you, you may end up getting Pup 2 because your wife thinks the patch over his eye is cute.