Toys in the kennel for a 8 week old working puppy?

Below you will find a brief description on how we selected our new female puppy, Zesta. The goals for the puppy are Schutzhund and hopefully breeding. I was looking for opinions on wether to allow the puppy to have toys in her kennel. I want Zesta to know all toys and playing come from my wife and me and working for them. I know some do and some do not put toys in the kennel. If those who have raised working puppies would please responed on wether to allow toys in a kennel I would greatly appreciate. If you do or do not allow toys then pleas specify why.

thx.
Dan Cox

My wife and I just picked up our 8 week old working female gsd(Zesta). This will be my wifes first working dog that she will train in Schutzhund. I watched the puppies progress over the last 8 weeks and we made our selection at 7 weeks. There were 5 females and 2 males in the litter. We had pick of the litter for the females.

While selecting the puppy we wanted one that had the right tempermeant. I did not want one that was the most independent or dominant of the other puppies. The one we choose was the second most dominant. There was one black female that was the first to get out of the kennel and always yapping. If you picked here up she would act like she want to lick you and then bite you in the ear or face. This particular female was going to be a lot of dog for someone. The breeder and us felt we wanted one a little more toned down female and so we selected Zesta(sable). I also felt the black female was a little too hectic and this may transfer to the schutzhund field. We put Zesta, our selected sable female and the dominant black female together and they looked like they would were going to kill each other. The went back and forth and rotate getting on top of each other and biting each other. Zesta would not back down to the domainant black female but she would also not bite you in the face. Zesta seem to have the right tempermeant for my wife and our pack.

Another reason we selected Zesta was she liked to carry everything around and she would follow you with no issues. She will get something and carry it away and play with it. She is somewhat possive and I feel this is just prey drive in the puppy. She will continously bite at your pants and chase your feet. She looks to have nice prey drive and always chasing something. She was not independent. Zesta was also the largest female of the bunch and she looked to have nice conformation as a puppy. I know some say this is not important but for breeding it is necessary IMHO.

We also had a small towel out and we would make the puppies chase the towel and then give them a bite and then regrip. Zesta would always regrip full and calm and carry. I know some say you can not tell anything at this point but I disagree. This is all genetics and if I am selecting a puppy then I feel the grip is a good place to start. So Zesta always would regrip and tug tug tug tug and we let her win. I liked the fight and the grip. The breeder felt the same way.

So anyways we made our selection and now we have a nice prospect for schutzhund sport and hopefully breeding but only time will tell.

Zesta's father is V Unkas zum Jürgenshof(SG BSP, 15 times SCH3, RH1, KKL1a, a-normal)
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/318978.html

and the mother is SG Korinna von der Huelhin Haus(sch1, kk2, ofa good)
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/380353.html