Spotting well bred dogs

I often get asked -with picture attached 'Is this puppies pure bred/well bred?".  The concern is very

valid as there is ignorant breeders/backyard breeders that will 'sell' puppies as 'purebred', even

though it's not. Or it may even be a litter from 2 Saints but of very low quality, that will influence

the look of the puppies.  Big is thus the dissapointment if your 'saints' turnes out no larger then a

labrador in adulthood, and sporting very dainty feminine bone struckture, and long nose (also

sold as 'dry mouthe' Saints).  It will offcourse help to see both parents, but it's not always

possible.  Underneath a random display of mixed/badly bred Saints, vs Good/ better bred or

quality Saints.

To spot badly bred/ mixed bred pups look out for the following:

– Size: at 8 weeks a good Saint pup bitch should weight atleast 8kg's, and male pups between

  8-12+ kg's.

-Bone: legs and scull/bone structure should be BIG

-Freckles: badly bred saints often have alot of freckles on the nose, and on other white parts

  of the dog

-Mask: even though mask is the very last thing to consider, I will question a whole litter of badly

  masked dogs e.g.  especially NO masks, TOTALLY black faces  or very light masks.  Anyway,

   if you want to end up with something  resembling a Saint, best is to go for a correctly masked

  puppy.

– Curls: Saints should never have curly coats.

– Angulation: There should be good angulation on the hind legs.  Alot of badly bred Saints are

  very straight in the back  legs.

– Blue /wall eyes, and even light eyes (should be the shade of the darkest part of the coat)

– Lack of pigmentation on nose, eyelids and lips

– Only white or white and black

– Narrow nose (it should be WIDE and short)

– Absence of white on: nose rim, chest, nape of neck, over the head (between eyes) legs, point of

  tail and tummy.