Visiting the puppies in 4 days!

Pre pickup 3 days old

Well, the day is drawing very near to our first visit to the breeder of our Golden Retriever puppy. All things going well, there will be another two visits - one when they are 7 weeks old to temperament test the male puppies, and assuming there is a suitable pup, another to pick him up a week later. They are nearly 4 weeks old right now (they were born 5th of July), so only starting to develop their personalities and a touch too young for any testing (the youngest recommended temperament testing is at 5 weeks old). However, there should hopefully be some indication of how they will grow up - I am looking for a calm but curious and confident puppy, and we may be starting to see (or not) that at 4 weeks of age.

Whether or not I can see a potential assistance dog among the males, it will give me a good chance to see the breeders setup, how she socialises from a young age, and talk to her about a whole bunch of topics, from feeding, to vaccinations, pet insurance and supplements. I also am going to ask her whether she would mind simply clicking a clicker every time she puts down a dish of food for the puppies (and leaving a clicker with her for that reason), so that it starts the association from a very young age and makes sure he won't come to me scared of the clicker. I'd recommend she starts with it fairly heavily muffled for the first couple of days to ease them into the sound. A pup whose virtually always known that a click means food/reward from nearly all their days of eating solid food is a headstart for me when it comes to training! I hope she is comfortable with the idea, although if upon meeting her she doesn't seem like the sort to be flexible like that I just won't ask. I bet she hasn't done it before with her litters, although I do know some dogs of her breeding have gone far in obedience I somewhat doubt it was done all by clicker.