Lab mother with hair loss

Question
Hello
We are about to buy ourselves a Labrador Puupy. We went to the breeder (AKC approved) and we saw the Puppies (adorable) and the mother. However, the mother lost a lot of hair. The breeder said that this is normal. Is that the case or could be something wrong with the dog and thus the puppies?
Thanks

Answer
A female will do a major shed before coming into season and not regrow hair on her underside around her nipples.  The rest of her body should look normal.  If she doesn't, no sense taking a chance on a puppy from that litter.

Unfortunately it is quite easy to start breeding puppies that can be AKC registered.  Despite the negative material in my profile I still frequently get questions from poorly informed people wanting to breed.  Perhaps they are too clueless to understand how much they don't know.  I am afraid many of them have no concept of selecting healthy, sturdy stock for breeding.  I have no idea how many times I have told somebody to neuter a male that was marking in the house, and was told they couldn't because they were going to breed it.  

Were the mother and puppies clean and had space to eliminate away from their nest?  Many breeders force the puppies to live in their own filth making housebreaking much more difficult.  Others keep the puppies isolated in a kennel making them afraid of strangers and other things.  There are more  ways to produce defective puppies than I can describe.  You might do better to adopt an older dog.  

Consider the animal shelter. There are many nice dogs, and you can see how they look with little or no grooming. You can also see how they behave. Look for dogs that want your attention, but are not going wild. Leave the ones that retreat to the back of their cage. Look at their teeth. Look for ones that still show a 3 lobed, clove like pattern on the front ones. Leave the ones that fight letting you look at their teeth too much. If the points are worn off the teeth, it is an older dog that may break your heart by dying too soon. Pinch the web between its toes. It hurts. It is OK for the dog to pull away or whine, but it shouldn't growl, snap or show its teeth. Think about size. In a small apartment, a Golden might knock over the lamps when it walks through wagging its tail. Since the shelter likely will kill most of the dogs, you may as well pick out a nice one.

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.