How to find a good Labrador breeder?

[Watrdawg]

I just skimmed through this thread and there is a ton of great advice. There are also a lot of great Trainers in VA and NC that are close by. Look at Black River Retrievers in Angier NC. Allen, and right now I'm having a brain cramp and can't remember his last name, has trained multiple NFC's and NARC's. If you can get in touch with him he will point you in the right direction for a great pup. They will be expensive though. Also look at Dave Wilson at Gold Leaf Retrievers. Dave works trains and runs dogs in both Hunt Test and Field Trials. Dave is a great guy and will also point you in the right direction. I got my pups from John Weller. He is out of New Bern NC. John is a great guy and also a great source. I had John train all of my dogs. I got my first one from him back in 2003. My last one just passed this last Thanksgiving. All of my dogs were Master Hunters and Qualified All Age dogs. Great family dogs and they all loved to hunt!. We ran Hunt Test and Trials in the off season and hunted all during the season. I also upland hunted my dogs.

Whatever you do stay away from boutique breeders especially those advertising Silver Labs. I've seen 5-6 of them running Hunt Tests and that was the most difficult thing to watch I've ever seen. There are only 3 colors of labs. Black, Chocolate and Yellow. There will be variations of yellow out there, ie fox red all the way to white. If a Breeder is breeding for a specific color variation be wary. Doesn't mean they will be bad dogs but just be wary. Research pedigree's and look for all of the health clearances! Especially hips and elbows.

When you pick a pup definitely get into a training program for what you want to do. This pups are typically really smart and learn quickly.

 

[KurtR]

I just skimmed through this thread and there is a ton of great advice. There are also a lot of great Trainers in VA and NC that are close by. Look at Black River Retrievers in Angier NC. Allen, and right now I'm having a brain cramp and can't remember his last name, has trained multiple NFC's and NARC's. If you can get in touch with him he will point you in the right direction for a great pup. They will be expensive though. Also look at Dave Wilson at Gold Leaf Retrievers. Dave works trains and runs dogs in both Hunt Test and Field Trials. Dave is a great guy and will also point you in the right direction. I got my pups from John Weller. He is out of New Bern NC. John is a great guy and also a great source. I had John train all of my dogs. I got my first one from him back in 2003. My last one just passed this last Thanksgiving. All of my dogs were Master Hunters and Qualified All Age dogs. Great family dogs and they all loved to hunt!. We ran Hunt Test and Trials in the off season and hunted all during the season. I also upland hunted my dogs.

Whatever you do stay away from boutique breeders especially those advertising Silver Labs. I've seen 5-6 of them running Hunt Tests and that was the most difficult thing to watch I've ever seen. There are only 3 colors of labs. Black, Chocolate and Yellow. There will be variations of yellow out there, ie fox red all the way to white. If a Breeder is breeding for a specific color variation be wary. Doesn't mean they will be bad dogs but just be wary. Research pedigree's and look for all of the health clearances! Especially hips and elbows.

When you pick a pup definitely get into a training program for what you want to do. This pups are typically really smart and learn quickly.

Allen Pleasant they run a great crew of dogs

 

[Watrdawg]

Allen Pleasant they run a great crew of dogs

Thats it. I had a pup with Allen for almost year. His assistant ran him in the Derbies. We did fairly well and then ran the Qualifiers. That was as far as we got though Made QAA and rant to trials and that was it. He didn't have what it took to make FC or AFC so we ran Hunt tests after that. If I were to get another dog I'd call Dave Wilson and have him train the dog. Dave does a great job and is only about 30 minutes from the house.

 

[KurtR]

Thats it. I had a pup with Allen for almost year. His assistant ran him in the Derbies. We did fairly well and then ran the Qualifiers. That was as far as we got though Made QAA and rant to trials and that was it. He didn't have what it took to make FC or AFC so we ran Hunt tests after that. If I were to get another dog I'd call Dave Wilson and have him train the dog. Dave does a great job and is only about 30 minutes from the house.

QAA dog is still a hell of a dog better than 99% out there. I’m going to try and run a few this year probably go get our teeth kicked in but gotta try and go run with the big dogs. We are going to run the grand this fall in Nashville. Having guys like that around you is such a great resource I’m out here training by myself and asking questions to pros over the phone and watching videos to try and figure out and fix issues I’m sure I have created not knowing what I’m doing.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

try and figure out and fix issues I’m sure I have created not knowing what I’m doing.

Man that's dog training in a nutshell for sure. Just spent an hour telling my wife how my main goal with this dog is to be a better trainer than I was with the last one.

 

[Ridgerunner1]

Cougar, my wife’s uncle raises and sells them, he has built an extremely great name himself in the lab business. He’s a retired k9 officer, and probably the most reputable breeeder I know of . if you would like some info on him just let me no he’s in Virginia .