The Pick of the Litter Myth

With the spring breeding season behind us and the fall ahead of us, my inquiries have begun to pick up and with that, here is a proverbial question I would like to hit “delete” on: “How much for the pick of the litter?” This question is what we call in rhetoric a “loaded” question. It carries with it implicit meanings that are evidently agreed to by both the speaker and the listener. It implies that there are good, better, and best puppies in a litter. So, today’s myth buster lesson is simple: there is no pick of the litter. As my wise mentor once said, “I chose the best female to keep from a previous litter to be the mother of these puppies, I chose the best male to father this litter, and every one of these puppies is a winner. There is no pick of the litter. Your pick may not be my pick, and my pick may not be your pick.”