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Buying A Healthy Labrador Puppy: 8 Steps

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Buying A Healthy Labrador Puppy 8 Steps

Buying A Healthy Labrador Puppy: The process of getting a healthy, pedigree Labrador puppy requires planning. Here are 8 steps you can follow to make sure you’re buying a healthy Labrador puppy in this article. New puppy buyers do not realize that there are potential problems with puppies. Perhaps the litter of puppies next door, or in your local newspaper, is not right for you. Be cautious as you embark on this exciting adventure.

Prepare in advance | Buying A Healthy Labrador Puppy 

Good breeders usually do not have trouble finding puppy buyers. If anything, waiting lists are common. Beware of puppies that are still unsold after eight weeks. Planning is key. It’s not too early to start looking for your puppy six to twelve months before it’s due.

We have created a structured approach for those without contacts in the dog breeding world to help them find the right puppy.

Buying A Healthy Labrador Puppy

Step 1. Choose the type of Labrador you want

Throughout the UK, the United States, and elsewhere, labradors have become divided into two distinct types. Dogs are bred for the show ring or as pets, as well as those bred for work as gundogs.

The two strains are called working type (or field type) and show type in the UK. They look and behave very differently. It is common to refer to working-bred Labradors as a field type (or American) and show-bred ones as bench type (or English) in the USA. They are classified similarly in both countries, whatever their names may be. It is important to know which one is which and which one you prefer.

When you’ve chosen your ‘type’, you need to find the right breeder. The first thing you need to do is find some contacts in the dog breeding industry.

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Step 2. Find a reputable Labrador breeder

You may not be able to walk into a pet shop and find a reputable breeder if you don’t have any connections in the canine world, but the effort is well worth it. Looking at your local Labrador breed club is a good place to start your search. You may find some breeders who have experience in this area. Further checks will be necessary to determine whether or not the breeders meet your standards.

Labrador breed clubs in the UK are listed by the Kennel Club. Using this list, you can visit individual clubs and view their committee members as well as their contact information.

Members of a breed club’s committee are often breeders themselves. Those who no longer breed will be able to connect you with someone who does. Look at the ‘roles’ or ‘titles’ of the members of the committee. There will be one labeled FT secretary. This person is involved with working type labradors, as the FT stands for Field Trial. The GWT stands for Gundog Working Test – again, this is a breeder of working firearm dogs.

See what activities this person is involved in by scrolling down a bit further. It is possible to find people who show their dogs, as well as people who work with their dogs. When people show their dogs, the dogs themselves are more likely to be show type than true working type.

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Step 3. Find some Labrador breeders

Make a list of contacts you want to contact. Contact them via phone or email. Tell them that you found them on the Kennel Club website and that you are looking for a pedigree Labrador puppy. Indicate which type (work or show) you are interested in. Prepare a separate list to detail any litters you may have.

Remember to ask all breeders these key questions: “Do you have a litter of puppies available or planned,” “Have any of your stud dogs been mated recently,” and “can you recommend a litter or a stud dog?”

Most often, a good breeder will have all her puppies reserved before they are born. As the second question suggests, a puppy from one of her dogs is often the best way to get a puppy. You should inform the breeder if you have a particular color preference. Unless the breeder is interested, don’t discuss details about your family, your hopes, and your dreams for your dog at this preliminary stage. When the time comes for you to choose a puppy, he or she will ask you many questions.

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Step 4. Locate a litter of puppies

There is a possibility that the first breeder you contact is not the right one. There are several reasons for this. There may not be any puppies available at the moment or they may not meet the criteria you have set for the breeder of your puppy. Nonetheless, they will be able to provide you with more contacts to add to your list. Your goal is to make a list of half a dozen or so litters of puppies that you can then look at and narrow down.

A good way to find puppies, before or after they are born, is to find a nice stud dog and track down all the female dogs he has mated with in the last month or two. Your breeder will be happy to send you photos and may even allow you to visit the stud dog so you can decide if you like him or not.

Moreover, this trail will lead you to some smaller, less experienced breeders, so you will need to do your research carefully to ensure that your puppies’ mother has the proper credentials. Next, we shall verify those credentials.

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Step 5. Verifying credentials

You are responsible for checking the credentials of the litter. This is a task that is often overlooked. Pedigrees do not guarantee much. According to popular belief, a Kennel Club pedigree is not proof that the puppy it belongs to (or his parents) has met any standards.

You should check and verify the following three credentials personally:

  • Temperament
  • Health
  • Ability

Temperament

Credentials are important, but temperament is the most important. An adult Labrador may weigh more than 70 pounds. They are large, powerful dogs that are known for their friendly nature. There is no need to take chances with a bad temperament. You will have a major influence on your puppy’s temperament, but his genes will also play a role. Both his parents will influence his tendency towards friendliness or unfriendliness, nervousness or confidence, etc.

You should never buy a puppy without meeting his mother. It would be great if you could meet the stud dog. Unless you can meet the stud dog, make sure that someone who has met him can vouch for his good nature. This may not be quite as crucial for a show champion, since any successful show dog has proven that it is happy to be handled in the most personal manner by total strangers.

Working dogs are another matter, and occasionally dogs with poor temperaments do succeed in competitions and are used for breeding.

Health

Credentials in healthcare are essential. It is impossible to emphasize this enough. The certificates or copies of certificates must be checked physically well before the puppy is picked up. Never rely on someone else’s word. Don’t underestimate the power of puppy love. Once you have a puppy in your arms, it is difficult to turn him down.

Ability

If you intend to have your dog participate in an activity, their ability is crucial. If you intend to compete in working trials, you should select a puppy that has ancestors that have been successful in that sport. To compete in agility or train your Labrador in the shooting field, you’ll need some ancestors who have been successful gundogs.

You will need to rely on the pedigree document, which should contain a bit of red ink and the letters FTCH (Field Trial Champion) next to some of your prospective puppy’s ancestors.

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Step 6.Choosing a litter

You may find it difficult to limit your choice to just one litter. It can be difficult to choose a puppy unless you have your heart set on a specific breed of dog. Despite this, there aren’t many litters that meet the right criteria in many cases. You should remove any litters that don’t meet all three requirements from your list. If the breeder still doesn’t meet all three requirements, you can narrow your choice further.

What is her level of friendliness and helpfulness? If you have difficulties with your puppy, do you think she will be supportive? Is she willing to take the puppy back at any point in his life if you are unable to handle him? You get a bonus point for that litter if you can answer yes to all three questions. This person needs to feel trustworthy to you.

How about the puppies’ environment? Especially if the breeder has many dogs, the pups should still be able to spend a lot of time with the family, even if they are in an outdoor kennel. Your puppy’s health and temperament are greatly influenced by the breeder. It pays to pick the right breeder.

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Step 7. Choosing gender

Is it better to buy a male or female dog? Some people simply prefer one gender over the other. However, generalizing about gender can be difficult.

There is no difference in training or controlling male and female Labradors. Male and female dogs can both roam on an unfenced property if they are not supervised. There was a recent study that suggested whole males may be prone to aggression more than neutered males or females, but most entire male Labradors don’t pick fights.

Females come into season twice a year, and during this time they may need to be confined to washable floors. They will also need to be kept apart from whole males with vigilance for three weeks. The cost of neutering a female is more than that of neutering a male. An older, unneutered female dog has a serious and potentially fatal condition called pyometra. All of these factors should be considered.

Compared to a female of the same breeding, males tend to be heavier and have a slightly “blockier” head. However, it comes down to personal preference.

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Step 8. Choosing your puppy

The last and most exciting step is to choose your puppy. Would you like to take home one of these gorgeous bundles of Labrador loveliness?

Taking someone with experience with you when selecting a puppy from a litter is one of the very best things you can do. Your breeder will have to be your go-to if you don’t know anyone suitable. This is another reason to choose a trustworthy and experienced person well in advance.

Sometimes, there won’t be a choice of puppies, you may be the last in line, or the breeder may insist on giving you what she considers to be the best puppy for you. Your breeder will be able to guide you in this matter if you have a choice. Even the world’s most renowned experts cannot accurately predict a puppy’s temperament or appearance at eight weeks of age. They can only tell you what you can expect from the pedigree, and that the puppy seems healthy physically.

Within a day or two after bringing your new puppy home, you should have him checked by the vet to make sure all is well. Being cautious is important. There can be serious issues with temperament and health in large dogs. The selection process must be done carefully the first time.

Labrador retriever puppies can vary in price depending on their pedigree, color, health, and appearance. The normal price of a purebred lab puppy is between $400 to $1,500, with the average being around $800.

Pedigree papers or a DNA test are the best way to tell if you have a purebred Labrador.

As you watch over the litter try to narrow it down to two puppies you are interested in and watch them. Look for any excitement, playfulness, shyness, active or lying around, or differences in color, size, or other physical attributes such as tail size, ear size, forehead and snout size, etc…

If you purchase your new Lab puppy from a health-conscious dog breeder, you may wonder why your new puppy is so expensive. The answer is simple: Your breeder has to calculate the costs of preventative screening and health testing into how much is a Labrador puppy from their kennel.

The first usage of the term pick of the litter refers to the right to choose first a puppy in the litter. In many cases, this right is in return for the stud. Pick of the Litter is a contractual and legal right to possess whichever puppy of a litter that person wants.

It is possible that the last pick may not match what you are looking for and a reputable breeder should be more than willing to tell you this and encourage you to wait for a different litter or pup. … In conclusion, having the last pick in the litter is not necessarily a bad thing.

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