How to Pick the Right Puppy From a Litter: The Complete Temperament and Selection Guide
Published by Boise Doodle Co · Doodle Buyer Resource Series
Picking a puppy from a litter is one of those moments that feels like it should be simple — you walk in, one puppy catches your eye, you fall in love, done.
And sometimes it does work that way. But the puppy that catches your eye first is not always the puppy that is the best fit for your family. The boldest puppy in the litter is not automatically the best puppy. The quietest one is not automatically the calmest adult. And the one that runs to you first may be running to everyone first — which tells you something about personality, but not necessarily about the long-term match you're hoping for.
Puppy selection is part science, part observation, and part honest self-assessment about what you actually need in a dog. This guide walks through all of it — how ethical breeders evaluate their litters, what temperament testing reveals, what you can observe on a visit, and how to have the conversation with your breeder that leads to the right match rather than just the cutest one in the moment.
Start Here: Know What You're Actually Looking For
Before you can pick the right puppy, you need honest clarity about what "right" means for your specific family. This sounds obvious. It isn't. Most buyers come in with a vague sense of "I want a friendly, loving dog" — which describes every puppy in every good litter and gives you nothing to work with.
The questions that actually matter:
Energy level. Are you an active family that hikes, runs, and wants a dog that keeps up with everything? Or are you a quieter household — working from home, calmer routines, people who want a companion that settles easily? The right energy match is one of the most important and most underrated factors in long-term compatibility.
Confidence level. Do you want a bold, outgoing, "into everything" personality? Or a softer, more sensitive dog that is gentle and easy to manage? Neither is better — they are different, and they suit different families and different lifestyles.
Child situation. Young children in the home benefit from a puppy on the middle-to-calm end of the energy spectrum — not the most dominant or the most reactive. A softer, more adaptable puppy handles the unpredictability of small children more gracefully than a high-drive, easily stimulated one.
Other pets. A home with existing dogs or cats benefits from a puppy that shows appropriate deference and social ease rather than a dominant, take-charge personality that will immediately challenge the household hierarchy.
First-time owner vs. experienced. A first-time dog owner is better served by a middle-of-the-litter temperament — trainable, social, not too dominant, not too shy — than by either extreme. Very dominant puppies need experienced handling. Very sensitive puppies need owners who understand how to build confidence without inadvertently reinforcing fear.
Your honest tolerance for chaos. Some families love a big personality. Some need a dog that settles. Be honest with yourself about which one you are, because a high-energy, high-personality puppy placed in a household that needed calm is a recipe for frustration — for the family and for the dog.
Write these answers down before you visit a litter. They are your selection criteria.
What Ethical Breeders Do Before You Ever Choose
Here's something important to understand: in a well-run breeding program, the selection process has been underway since the puppies were born. By the time you visit a litter at six or seven weeks, a responsible breeder has weeks of daily observation behind them.
What ethical breeders track from birth:
Which puppies are bold in new situations and which are more cautious
How each puppy responds to handling — cooperative, resistant, neutral
Social dynamics within the litter — who initiates play, who follows, who tends to resource guard
Response to mild stress — a brief startling sound, a new surface, a novel object
Recovery time after a mildly startling experience — faster recovery indicates more resilience
Individual energy levels at rest and at play
Appetite, physical development, and overall health markers
A breeder who spends real time with their litter — who knows each puppy by personality rather than just by color or collar — can tell you things about individual puppies that you could never assess in a single visit. This knowledge is one of the most valuable things an ethical breeder offers, and it is one of the things that gets completely lost when puppies are raised in low-contact environments.
Puppy Culture and structured evaluation programs — used by many serious breeders — include formal temperament assessment components at specific developmental stages. The observations gathered through these programs give breeders data-backed insight into individual puppy personalities that goes beyond gut feeling.
When you work with a breeder who truly knows their litter, the best conversation you can have is: "Based on what you know about each puppy, and what I've told you about my family — which puppy do you think is the best match?" A good breeder's answer to that question is worth more than an hour of your own observation.
The Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test: What It Is and What It Tells You
The Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test (PAT) is one of the most widely used standardized temperament assessment tools in responsible breeding programs. Developed by Wendy and Jack Volhard, it is typically administered at exactly 49 days (7 weeks) of age — a specific developmental window when the test's results are considered most predictive of adult temperament.
The test is administered by someone the puppies have not met before — not the breeder — in an environment the puppy hasn't been in. This removes the comfort of familiar faces and spaces, giving a clearer picture of the puppy's baseline responses.
What the PAT Measures
Social attraction: Does the puppy come to a stranger willingly? This measures social confidence and people-orientation.
Following: Does the puppy follow a stranger who walks away from them? This measures willingness to follow human leadership — relevant for trainability and bonding.
Restraint: When gently held on their back (a mildly submissive position), how does the puppy respond? Struggling intensely and biting indicates high dominance. Relaxing and licking indicates high submission. Middle responses indicate a more balanced temperament.
Social dominance: When stroked while in a slightly uncomfortable position, does the puppy accept it, resist it, or lean into it? This measures social confidence and how the puppy responds to human control.
Elevation dominance: When held off the ground (a mildly stressful position), how does the puppy respond? This measures response to situations outside their control.
Retrieving: Does the puppy chase and return a crumpled paper? This measures trainability, prey drive, and willingness to engage with humans.
Touch sensitivity: How does the puppy respond to gentle pressure between the toes? This measures touch sensitivity — relevant for grooming, handling, and living with children.
Sound sensitivity: How does the puppy respond to a sharp sound? This measures startle response and recovery.
Sight sensitivity: How does the puppy respond to a moving object? This measures visual prey drive and response to novel stimuli.
Stability: How does the puppy respond to an open umbrella suddenly opened nearby? This measures overall startle response and recovery — one of the best single indicators of emotional resilience.
How to Read the Scores
Each response is scored on a scale, typically 1–6:
Scores of 1–2: High dominance, high independence. These puppies can be wonderful in experienced hands but are not typically recommended for first-time owners or households with young children.
Scores of 3–4: Middle range — social, trainable, adaptable. These are the puppies that suit the widest range of families and are the backbone of most successful pet placements.
Scores of 5–6: High submission or high sensitivity. Sensitive puppies need gentle, patient handling and are not well-suited to chaotic or high-pressure environments. In the right home they can be deeply loving; in the wrong one they can develop fear-based behaviors.
The most important thing to understand about temperament testing: It is a data point, not a verdict. No single test fully captures a puppy's potential. The PAT is most useful in combination with weeks of breeder observation, knowledge of the parent temperaments, and honest conversation about the family's lifestyle and experience. A good breeder uses the PAT as one tool among several — not as a sorting mechanism that overrides everything else they know about the puppy.
What You Can Observe on a Visit
When you visit a litter, you have a meaningful but limited window of observation. Here's how to make it count.
Watch Before You Engage
Before you reach for a puppy, spend a few minutes just watching the litter interact with each other and their environment. You are looking for:
Who initiates and who follows. The puppy that consistently initiates play, takes toys from siblings, and pushes to the front is showing you dominant tendencies. The puppy that tends to follow, defer, and wait their turn is showing you a more middle-ground social style. Neither is bad — they're information.
How they respond to the environment. Is the litter in a new space for this visit? Watch how quickly each puppy adjusts. Quick adjustment and confident exploration indicates resilience. Prolonged hesitation, freezing, or hiding indicates higher sensitivity.
Energy levels. Observe who is zooming and who is content to sniff and explore at a slower pace. At seven to eight weeks, you are seeing glimpses of the adult energy pattern.
How Puppies Respond to You
When you do engage with the puppies, pay attention to these specific responses:
Voluntary approach. Does a puppy come to you on their own, without coaxing? This shows social confidence and interest in people. A puppy that hangs back until called and then comes readily is fine. A puppy that avoids you entirely or hides behind siblings warrants a conversation with the breeder about whether shyness is a pattern or a bad day.
Response to being held. When you pick up a puppy and hold them calmly against your chest, how do they respond after the initial squirm settles? A puppy that relaxes, sniffs you, and accepts being held is showing you something important about how they'll handle handling, grooming, and vet visits for the rest of their life.
Recovery from mild startles. If a puppy startles at a sound or movement, watch what happens in the next 30 seconds. A puppy that recovers quickly, refocuses, and moves on is showing you resilience. A puppy that remains frozen, trembling, or avoidant for an extended period after a mild startle is showing you higher sensitivity that deserves discussion.
Response to children (if children are present). Ethical breeders often facilitate puppy visits that include the children who will be in the home. A puppy that is curious, gentle, and tolerant of a child's movement and sound is demonstrating the social adaptability that family life requires.
What Not to Read Too Much Into
The puppy that runs to you first. This is often the boldest, most people-oriented puppy in the litter — which can be wonderful, but it's also sometimes the most dominant, the most easily over-stimulated, and the hardest to settle. "Ran to me first" is not a selection criterion.
The sleepy puppy. If a puppy is asleep during your visit, pick them up gently and observe how they respond to being roused. Sleepiness is normal — puppies sleep a lot — and doesn't tell you much on its own.
A single moment of hesitation or excitement. One instance of shyness or one burst of wildness in a puppy visit is not a personality diagnosis. Look for patterns, not moments.
The Conversation to Have With Your Breeder
If you are working with a breeder who knows their litter well — and you should be — the most valuable thing you can do is have a direct, honest conversation before you visit. Tell them:
Your household composition (adults, children, other pets)
Your activity level and daily routine
Your experience with dogs
What you're hoping this dog will be in your life — hiking companion, lap dog, therapy dog candidate, family chaos absorber
Any non-negotiables (must be calm with young children, must be good with cats, must be able to handle being home alone for X hours)
Then ask:
"Based on what you know about this litter and what I've told you about my family — which puppy do you think is the best match, and why?"
A breeder who answers this question thoughtfully, with specific observations about individual puppies and honest reasoning about the match, is a breeder who has been paying attention. A breeder who says "they're all great, just pick the one you like" has not been doing the individual observation that makes this conversation possible.
You are allowed to advocate for yourself in this conversation. If a breeder recommends a puppy and something feels off, say so. If you feel pulled toward a particular puppy and want to understand why the breeder might or might not recommend them for your situation, ask directly. This conversation is one of the most important ones you'll have in the entire process — give it the weight it deserves.
When the Breeder Makes the Match
In many ethical breeding programs — including ours — the breeder makes final placement recommendations rather than running a "first deposit picks first" system. This model exists because breeder knowledge of individual puppies, combined with honest information from families, produces better matches than families choosing based on a visit or photos alone.
If your breeder uses this model, the most important thing you can do is give them complete, honest information about your family. Don't tell them what you think they want to hear. Don't downplay the energy of your household or overstate your dog experience. The better your information, the better the match.
Trust the process. Breeders who have placed dozens or hundreds of puppies and tracked how those placements have worked out over years have pattern recognition that a family on their first or second dog simply doesn't have yet. When a breeder says "I think this puppy is your dog" — and can explain why — that recommendation is worth taking seriously.
A Note on Falling in Love With a Photo
It happens constantly. A family sees a photo of a specific puppy — the one with the spot on their ear, the one that looks like a tiny bear, the one making the face — and that puppy becomes the puppy. Non-negotiably. Irrevocably. The only puppy.
And sometimes that works out perfectly. But photos capture a moment, not a temperament. The most photogenic puppy is not always the best match. The puppy that didn't photograph as well may be the one who will sleep on your feet every night for twelve years and know when you're sad before you do.
Stay open to the match the breeder sees. The best dog you ever had might not be the one you picked from the photo grid.
The Bottom Line
Picking the right puppy is about matching — honestly, specifically, thoughtfully — the individual personality of a puppy with the real needs and real lifestyle of your family. It is not about the boldest, the cutest, the first one to run to you, or the one whose photo made you cry.
It is about finding the dog that will fit seamlessly into your actual life — and thrive there.
A good breeder is your best resource for that match. Give them honest information, ask good questions, trust their observations, and stay open to the answer. The puppy that is right for your family is in that litter. The goal of this whole process is simply to find them.
Ready to talk about an upcoming litter and which puppy might be the right fit for your family? This is one of our favorite conversations. Reach out anytime.
More in This Series:
Boy or Girl? How to Actually Choose
F1 vs. F1B vs. Multigen Doodles: What's the Difference?
What to Expect the First Year With a Doodle: A Month-by-Month Guide
What Happens After You Bring Your Puppy Home: The Ethical Breeder's Role
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