Now where shall i start lol. I have 2 yes 2 labrador bitches and would,nt change it for the world it was the best choice we ever made . I like you trawled web sites and looked for breeders and asked myself the very same questions about sex, breed standard , health ,ect ect . firstly as said by jenny bitches are easier and you dont have the whole humping the sofa cushions and any poor unsuspecting visitor that pops in . We have a friend who has a black lab male 11 months old and he had to have the chop 2 days ago because he was really going through a personality malfunction he wouldnt leave our girls alone and wouldnt listen to his owner . Our girls are golden in colour apparently they are a little calmer this is seen in the fact that so many of them become guide dogs ect they can be a little less highly strung . We know a chocolate bitch of 18 months and she is really boistous.there are always exceptions to the rule though and just like people they all can be very diferent. I looked into the differences between working lines and show lines and as far as i can tell the working dog lines are easier to train being not so deeply bred for perfection , some people advertise chunky type this just means they generally wont be so tall and are a little more rotund ( nothing new for a lab then ). Yes its worth getting the hip score low but this doesnt exclude problems such as hip dysplacia and arthritis our Daisy has ocd an irregularity in her elbow joint so she has glucosamine to help strenghten her joints , she is only 14 months old and most likely aquired it through her rapid growth stage at about 6 month onwards it can be caused through too much exercise or rough play with other dogs and you never know if they have it until they present with the symptoms ( lameness ) she is ok though she may just get a bit creeky with age but you expect that with large dogs as they get older . our girls are going to be spayed in April this cost varies from vet to vet we will have to pay £100 each dog thats with a discount as were covered by our vet insurance policy it should be £130 , but even to get a dog done will cost you about £100 . You want to find someone willing to let you make several visits you want them to have had at least there first vaccination leaving you with just the last one to do so an average wait to take them out should only be about 3- 4 weeks hip score if poss and the eye thing is make sure you look at the eye area it should be clean the eye clear no visible clouding and look for the eye lashes some labs have a condition where the eye lid rolls in causing problems but this is treatable . You must ask what they are being fed on and feed the same at home if you want to change the food you must do so over a period of about 2 weeks with a pup as there tummies can be really sensetive . be carefull what food you choose so many are just full of crap even the ones that are advertised as the best a lot of foods are made by such companys as proctor and gamble , stear clear of bakers its no good for a young pup . Pedigree isnt important unless you want to breed or show youl find the diference in cost about £100 for a dog that comes with a piece of paper , ours have papers but we never registered them we were told we could do it ourselves but never bothered it didnt interest me to get them KCR . Invest in a crate one big enough for a full grown lab they really are worth it they give the pup somewhere to call home it doubles as somewhere to keep them when you go out so you dont have poo every where and a safe place to sleep at night . Also get a book called The practicle dog listner , by Jan Fennell it will be your bible . it gives you so many reasons why certain behavior can be avoided with the right enviroment making sure from day 1 your pup knows who is boss and doesnt become a big dribly idiot. She tells you so many interesting tips about how to integrate a new pup into the home and gives guidance through lots of possible problems from bitting , teathing house training ect , she has her own web site very highly recommended . If there is anything ive missed or you just want to sound out any more thoughts feel free toget in touch you can private message me or add on to this thread . Im no expert but i do have 2 of them both well behaved and sosciable babies .
Andrea

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