Cynosport Judge Shares Puppy Advice

Meagan Skelton on picking a puppy

This article was originally published in the April 2026 OVERview digital magazine.

In addition to judging Cynosport^® this year for the first time, Meagan Skelton is a new puppy owner. Rigatoni aka Rigz or Rigatoni Pony is a 10-week-old Border Whippet to Papillon cross Meagan picked from a breeder in Florida.

Meagan shared, “Rigatoni is from a litter of 11. I spent several days with the puppies, watching them as a group as well as spending time with each one. I narrowed my favorites from 11 to five and then three. It was a very solid litter, and I feel like I would have been happy with any one of the puppies, but Rigatoni just spoke to me. I plan to do agility with Rigatoni!”

Her advice for picking puppies? “Spend time with the puppies. Talk to the breeder and get their input; they know them best. Temperament testing lots of puppies can be a great way to get information about who they are.”

Since she has two adult dogs at home, we asked if she has advice for introducing the puppy into the family.

“It can be tricky to introduce puppies to adult dogs. Rigatoni is tiny (four pounds at 10 weeks), so her exposure to my older dogs is very limited and gradual. The focus is on giving each dog attention and getting them comfortable with each other.”