What is the difference between a pet and show quality dog

"Could someone explain what the differences are between show quality dogs and pet quality dogs. I hear the terms but I don't understand. I'm guessing that to keep the breed strong and vigorous that the breeders only breed the dogs that have the right size, coat, personality, and health, genetic traits that they want passed on. But a breeder also wouldn't sell dogs to families that want pets who had problems of poor health or extreme submissive/aggressive traits.

My dog is pet quality but he is also extraordinary. Such intelligence and charm. Tucker my adopted TT is so precious, smart, and I think beautiful. I'm not sure what would make him different from a show TT. Not that it matters whether he is show quality to me. He is perfect to me just the way he is.

Just wondering!"

Response

I hope I can shed some light on the differences between show quality dogs and pet quality as you put it. If breeders are honest with themselves they attempt to breed so that the resulting puppies meet the written breed standard as closely as possible. This should be the goal of any breeding program. Often there are very minor differences between breeding quality and non-breeding quality puppies. (I prefer these terms to pets or show dogs per se).

Some puppies have obvious faults; for example lesser quality bites or being oversized. These are fairly easy to determine. Otherwise nothing else is wrong with the dog at all. There are faults identified in any written breed standard. These faults would be of prime consideration when assessing a prospect from a litter. The extremes in quality breeding programs are not usually present and therefor the differences between puppies are often minor. Subtle things make the difference...a little better shoulder layback, better depth of chest, correct pigment, rib spring etc. The same goes for health and temperament; a good breeding program should result in these qualities across the board no matter which puppy is considered. We and many other breeders have gone through the heartache of seeing a pick puppy from a promising litter have some minor flaw. In many cases this is very minor, but nonetheless may be enough to designate him or her to a non-breeding home.

The nicest male out of our last litter, had everything we wanted to see as a result of the breeding. His only determinable fault at a young age was the lack of eye rim pigment in part of one eye. Three years ago we would have kept him, but we have had to become pickier as time goes on (you can't keep them all!). Most judges would frankly never notice his pigment, he would easily finish, and I suspect would have done quite well in the show ring because of his movement and overall structure. It is also quite possible that the full eye rim would have filled in before too long.

To some breeders every puppy in the litter is show quality. To others who are more critical only those who meet the most stringent standards remain in their breeding program. This is why pet vs. show is not always such a black and white issue. It depends largely on the breeder you are dealing with. We tell owners of the puppies placed in non-breeding homes what we consider their breed standard faults to be or why we didn't choose to keep them. In some cases breeders will find several puppies in a litter to be of very high quality. In these cases it becomes a matter of choosing the apparent best to keep in your breeding program and finding the best homes possible for the others, who may be of equal quality.

Breeders are often looking for something particular out of a specific breeding. A female may be the choice for the pick in a particular litter or a female with an improved front in comparison with her dam. If there were several quality males, they may still end up in non-breeding homes because the established goals for the litter did not include the keeping of a pick male. You might already own or have access to the same or a similar pedigreed stud dog, for example.

Genetics are the same for all of the puppies in a litter, having been pre-determined by the combined pedigrees. Quite often puppies placed in non-breeding or pet homes are of good enough quality to finish their championships. It has happened more than once that the pick puppy turned out to be of lesser quality than some of the puppies placed in so called pet homes. Some promising youngsters don't quite turn out the way that was hoped for; or as seemed apparent at 12-16 weeks old. Some second sets of teeth are of lesser quality (after having a good puppy bite). Other factors are present for breeders even when considering showing and breeding choices. Some breeders keep more extremely structured dogs for the primary reason of showiness (although I disagree with this principle, and it has surely led to the deterioration of some breeds). Some of the best brood bitches and stud dogs have not been the flashiest show dogs, and many didn't even enjoy showing, but they were sound, well constructed and produced wonderful typey offspring.

Your point about intelligence and charm applies to every TT I have ever met - pet, show, rescue or otherwise. No amount of critical analysis can take this away from them.

Hope this has not muddied the waters with respect to the differences.