What are some good ?'s to ask breeders when looking for a pup?

[TXTECH]

Are there any specific questions that I should ask a breeder when I decide to purchase one of his pups? Thanks for the help.

[Tatyana]

You want to make sure that the parents have health clearances (OFA hips at the minimum, also OFA elbows, CNM, PRA, etc.). You also want the parents to have some hunting/retrieving titles. There are field trials titles: FC and AFC; also dogs that are qualified all age (QAA) or have all age points are a good thing. Then there are hunt test titles: MH is the highest in AKC and HRCH/GRHRCH highest titles in UKC. Anything below those titles, you really want to ask how often the dog is actually hunted.

I am sure the others will be able to add more.

[gundog]

My two cents.



First start off with a litter of hunters.

Here's what I would do to increase my chances of getting a good hunting dog. (of course clearances...but that's for any dog)
Ask yourself these questions......
Do you want a duck dog? an upland dog? What species of bird are you hunting? How often?

Then,

I would want to know what the breeder was trying to accomplish with this breeding.

I would question them about what they thought a hunting dog was and what they are trying to breed in a hunting dog. Birdiness, mouth skills, marking ability, nose, a solid running conformation, tight feet.....and the most important....brains.

I would want to see the parents hunt.

I would want to see some other of their dogs hunt.

I would find other folks who had their dogs and quiz them as well.

I'd want the breeders dogs to be "cookie cutter"....IE if they have dogs that are small and slim like a flyball player....and large and bulky....and some in between than I would have to ask myself why they were all over the board and exactly what they were breeding for. (I'm not saying any size is wrong....but i know what I'm looking for)

I'm less impressed with titles as watching the parents hunt......but it is something to look at.

I'd prefer my breeder to hunt....and I want to know what they think a good hunter is.

I would open up myself to the breeder of my choice......tell him everything I want in a hunting dog, Tell him of my personality, type of bird I hunt regularly and my training experience. Then I would hand over the money and let them pick the pup for me.

Choose the breed and buy the breeder.......is a good way to look at it.

[tkpaul]

My $.02. I would look for titles dogs, and generations of titles dogs. Once you find a kennel you like check their breedings and litters due and see if there is a stud/dame match-up you like.

Being able to see the parents work, at least the sire, would be a huge plus.

Make sure they have the health clearances.

This may sound strange, but price is an issue. I would rather buy a $1,000.00 dog than a $250.00 one. If the price is too cheap, I would question what is wrong.

Finding a good dog is not as hard as the effort to train. The training will make the difference between a poor dog and a great hunting companion.

[gundog]

of course there is nothing wrong with titles.....in fact I agree that is a place to start.

However if you are looking for an upland lab there are no titles that denote any upland skill.

They will be titled retrievers....not bird dogs.

[tkpaul]

UKC/HRC has the UH (upland hunter title) that requires 4 passes for title.

[FDR]

Before I would ask the breeder any questions I would take a good hard look at bith the sire and dam. Do they represent the breed well in terms of physical type? Remember, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and what you see is what you'll get.

Questions;
1) Do the sire and dam have current hip and elbow elavuations either by OFA or Penn Hip? You should also take a good look at how both sire and dam move.
2) Do they have a current CERF evaluation?
3) Have they been tested to carry CNM or EIC?

If the sire and dam are just hunting dogs, remember that everyone thinks their dogs are great hunting dogs. For your hunting companion, I wouldn require a minimum of MH on both sire and dam.

I'm not a Pro but, have purchased enough dogs to know that doing ones due-dilligence will save time, money and disappointment down the road.

A great place to look for a pup is on the Lab pups page on retrievertraining.net/forums/ or on working-retriever.com

[Tagen]

Read up on health clearances. You need to be an informed buyer and not always depend on the breeder to be completely honest on the health of his or her breeding stock. Say you ask - "do both parents have their health clearances?" The breeder may respond "sure, I've taken my female to the vet and he gave the OK to go ahead and breed her and the male is in good health too." Or you might get the ever famous "I've breed X amount of litters and have never had a problem come up yet, so I don't worry about doing clearances" So, it's in your best interest to educate yourself on the particular problems that affect this breed and understand what measures can be taken to give a litter the best chance of living a long healthy life. But of course, there's no guarantees either.

Here's some sites that can give you more information to some of the clearances you're going to want to see:

Hips: http://www.offa.org/hipgrade.html OR http://www.pennhip.org/

Elbows: http://www.offa.org/elbowgrade.html

Eyes: http://www.vmdb.org/dx3.html http://www.vmdb.org/dx.html

CNM: http://www.labradorcnm.com/pages/site/0-frame_site.html

There's certainly more information out there but this should give you a pretty good overview of some of the bigger problems to think about.

[FDR]

Read up on health clearances. You need to be an informed buyer and not always depend on the breeder to be completely honest on the health of his or her breeding stock. Say you ask - "do both parents have their health clearances?" The breeder may respond "sure, I've taken my female to the vet and he gave the OK to go ahead and breed her and the male is in good health too." Or you might get the ever famous "I've breed X amount of litters and have never had a problem come up yet, so I don't worry about doing clearances" So, it's in your best interest to educate yourself on the particular problems that affect this breed and understand what measures can be taken to give a litter the best chance of living a long healthy life. But of course, there's no guarantees either.

Here's some sites that can give you more information to some of the clearances you're going to want to see:

Hips: http://www.offa.org/hipgrade.html OR http://www.pennhip.org/

Elbows: http://www.offa.org/elbowgrade.html

Eyes: http://www.vmdb.org/dx3.html http://www.vmdb.org/dx.html

CNM: http://www.labradorcnm.com/pages/site/0-frame_site.html

There's certainly more information out there but this should give you a pretty good overview of some of the bigger problems to think about.

This is very solid advice. Like this post says, "Don't accept just the breeder's words on health clearences".

Also, check out the Breed Standard on AKC.org
Remember, the Breed Standard does NOT mean Show Dogs.
However, Labs do have a physical type and you do want a Lab that looks like a working Lab and is a good example of Lab Integrity.

[gundog]

UKC/HRC has the UH (upland hunter title) that requires 4 passes for title.

I realize that. In the real world of bird finding that test is pretty meaningless.

I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not how you should judge a real bird dog.

I believe a titled dog really could translate into a nice duck dog.....just not an upland dog.


I am not against testing in any way, just saying that if you want an upland hunter buy from someone who is hunting their dogs, not just testing.