The breeder should be able to do the tests for you and make a recomendation for your family. There are personality tests that breeders who register their dogs have to do and I would request the results of those to help you make your decision. They repeat them at different intervals during their development so it tells you how smart they are, a definite plus when it comes to training!
One is where they pull a blanket in front of the puppy to see if they notice or even chase it. That tells them how responsive your dog is to external influences and alertness. I'm sorry I can't remember more but you'll probably find more on a Kennel Club website.
These were some of the tests that our breeder did on her litters. My dog in my avatar ( an Irish Water Spaniel) came from her, his Grampa was a recurrent Champion, his dad was Canadian Champion three times and Finnigan's family has won numerous awards also.
As you can tell by the evil glint in Finnigan's eye, he just wants to have fun, but he learned the course for a superdogs event in one afternoon!
When we went to pick him up, we laughed because the breeder had tied a different coloured ribbon to each puppy's neck and told us ours had a green ribbon. We then went outside and Finnigan with his green ribbon ran straight to my older son, out of eight puppies! What are the odds!
My husband wanted to call him Guinness, but I said I be darned if I was going to stand on the back balcony and holler for a beer every morning!
