Lab Puppies

Question
QUESTION: My husband and I are talking about getting a lab puppy.  They will be ready to come home in 5 weeks.  We have 3 children (ages 6-girl, 8-boy, and 10-boy) and a Calico female cat (just turned 2) already.  We have our choice of male or female and yellow or black.  What sex should we get and does color make any difference in temperment?  We will need it to be easily trained and AWESOME with our kids.  I'd like protected but not aggressively so and it can't eat the cat.  How do we do this right?  What else do we need to consider?

ANSWER: I don't think sex or color makes much difference.  Breeding does.  Field and show champions can be bred in kennels. Dogs where the mother lives in the house have the best personalities. Some kids to fondle the puppies from birth are better yet. If the breeder doesn't want the parents in their house, do you want the offspring in yours? Spend as much time with the parents as you can. Nice parents don't guarantee nice puppies, but don't chance bad parents. Of course ask about hip and eye certification.

Finding a good breeder and purchasing a puppy that will make a good pet is very difficult. Almost nobody is intentionally breeding dogs to be nice pets. Most of your so called reputable breeders are breeding for show or something. They may say the puppies they don't keep for their purpose make great pets, but the truth is that the parents were selected for other than health and temperament. Often they keep the puppies in the kennel too long and they miss the important early socialization puppies need to live in the house with people.

Next are the disreputable breeders. Puppy mills breed any 2 registered dogs they can lay a hold of looking only at the money they can make selling them to pet stores. Pet store puppies are easy to find, but difficult to socialize into nice pets, perhaps difficult to even keep alive. You will not get what you pay for at a pet store.

Backyard breeders are only slightly better. At least there, most of the breeding stock is acceptable to live in somebody's home as a pet. Unfortunately many of them know nothing about what it takes to produce quality puppies. Some of them are breeding for the selfish pleasure of vicarious motherhood, and others the same greed as puppy mills. If you don't get good answers to questions about allergies or OFA and CERF certification, go elsewhere.

Avoid puppies forced to live in their filth or that saw little outside their kennel between 6-12 weeks. At 7-8 weeks, a puppy is quick to adjust to its new home, new people, and new things. Past 12 weeks, it may never adjust to its new life as well. Even some of the better breeders hold puppies too long without proper socilization.

One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue dogs. These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may find a rescue near you starting at http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.

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QUESTION: All I know about the parents are that the mom is a 2 year old chocolate lab and the dad (yellow)is the owners best dog ever!  The mom is 80 lbs and very active and the dad is 95 lbs and is very calm and a "great companion".  I'll be sure to ask about the allergies, but are there issues if the parents are related??? I'm not sure if they are- I'm going to ask to make sure.

ANSWER: It they are related, it is at least a yellow flag.  Breeding related dogs concentrates the genes bringing out both good and bad recessive traits.  A once good line becomes diluted each time a new generation is bred with a different line.  Sometimes a responsible breeder will breed related dogs to concentrate the line.  However, most often it is done to cut corners.  If you know the formal name of the parents, you should be able to go to www.akc.org and do some checking on them.

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QUESTION: Since we have NO intentions of becoming breeders, and our ONLY intent is to get a GREAT family dog, is getting a pure breed the right decision for us or would we be better off to get a lab mix from the shelter (there is a 7 week old male in foster care right now)?  Thanks in advance for your honesty!!! Cathy

Answer
I am afraid any dog is a shot in the dark.  Many people have very positive experiences with both puppies from breeders and from shelters.  Then other have terrible experience with puppies from both.  A puppy from the shelter means you likely saved its life.  It may or may not mean trouble.  You can pay 4 figures for a puppy from a breeder and spend that much more on vet bills.  Maybe I am a cheapskate, but I can't imagine spending a thousand dollars for a puppy when my tax dollars are going to slaughter them by the millions.  

I have never bought a dog in my life.  For a long time now, my family has been fostering puppies for service dog schools.