Chocolate labs

[wolffeathers]

Hubby has always wanted a chocolate lab. So when we leave here(in a year or so) and get our own farm, he'll be getting his chocolate lab and I'll be getting my GSD.

He likes the "blocky" labs, yet wants a female(which works out well because I want a male). He wants a laid back dog, almost couch potato but in the same breath say he may want to use it hunting. So I suppose a "gentleman's" hunting companion?

I was looking at the English bred labs, especially those where the breeders use or at least have them "hunt tested". Hubby doesn't want a 'working' dog, he doesn't care for my working GSDs, so he wants something a little more subdued.

I haven't personally dealt with English bred labs, but they definitely have that blocky labrador look he loves, even the females. While the american field labs seem to have a more lean, athletic look and I HAVE met american field labs(huge bundles of energy) definitely NOT what hubby wants. The other issue is the American field bred labs tend to have much more "petite" females, so it's not the look he's wanting.

Am I barking up the right tree with the English-bred chocolate labs? Anyone dealt with their temperment and trainability?

(Yeah I know how some of you feel about wanting a specific 'color' but it's what he wants and we're willing to wait for what he wants.)

[longshadowfarms]

We had one years ago. She'd have been perfect for him. You're barking up the right tree. English or show bred is what you want. I HATE the field bred dogs any more. Way too flaky. I'd rather have a poor hunter that is pleasant to live with than a good hunter that is a spaz. What you want is a dog that wants to please you and then you can pretty well train them as needed. Our Jaeger wasn't a great hunter, but she wasn't bad either.

P.S. Some tease photos:

[wolffeathers]

I figured hunting season comes around about once a year, but she would have to be an inside pet the rest(except for the LGDS, our pups are primarily indoors). So priorities. It would just be nice for him to take his buddy out hunting on occasion. Nothing too competitive or hardcore.

Honestly I figure he'll fall in love with "his" puppy either way, whether she's a great hunter or not. You know how that goes, our furry companions are without fault.

I'm glad that I'm on the right track. It was rather funny actually because he very specifically wanted chocolate and most field breeders won't breed chocolates anyway. So in a round about way, his wanting that color is how I started finding the "english" or bench breeders. I've already told him, we won't get a pup from someone who only bench breeds or breeds for color/pet, they have to have some sort of field testing, even if it's just minor hunt testing. A good all-round dog. And we know to looks at hips, elbows, and eyes.( just because I'm sure it was going to come up.) :-)

[JasoninMN]

Your on the right track and if he teaches her the basic obedience commands of sit, stay and heel he will probably have all the commands he needs for decent retriever.

[wolffeathers]

Cool. Just saw the tease photos.

What beautiful pups! All three of them!

Hubby has always been a lab fan, but really only ever owned one. It was the black lab from his childhood they found starved on a golfcourse. Named her Princess and she was just one of those dogs that was heaven sent and just perfect. Sweet as could be and loved everyone but woke up the whole family one night as she chased not one but four adult men back into their car and down the driveway at 3 in the morning. (They had been trying to get in the house!) It took them weeks to stop crying when she finally passed for the family to stop crying. Even 3 weeks after her passing, my MIL tripped over a blanket in the hallway in the dark and immediately said "sorry Princess!".

I think he fell in the love with the color chocolate when he met my childhood neighbor's dog.

[lasergrl]

He wont be getting his couch potato for a couple years at least. My 13 year old english chocoloate lab is finally settling down

[Maura]

Does it absolutely have to be a Lab? A Spinone Italiano sounds like what he wants. They are an old man's hunting dog. They were bred for a hunter that wants to walk in the woods, not run. I've met a few and they are so-o-o laid back. Sweet natured, reliable, good with kids, yet still a hunting dog. It is how they naturally are, you don't have to find the right line or wait until they are ten years old to settle down.

[wolffeathers]

Maura- I'll run the Spinone by him, but I'm fairly certain he's set on a lab. Interesting dog though, I'll have to do some research on it, never heard of it before.

lasergrl- LOL That's fine, it's not so much a rug he wants as something that can be calm in the house. Hubby is a very laid back guy, nonchalante with just about everything. A high-energy, spastic, dog would drive him crazy. (He even dislikes my working GSDs that have a higher work drive, just because they come across as spastic to do 'something' all the time.) He wants something that will calmly hang around the house, but be game for a stroll around the farm(I fear for my ducks), a dip in the pond, or the few hunting trips a year. (If he were to pick a horse breed, it would be the draft horses. LOL Slow, steady, and no-worries about much).

[longshadowfarms]

Our black shown in that picture was one of the GREATs that come once in a lifetime. His breeder said that many people said that about pups from his dad. The yellow pictured was his daughter and was also an awesome hunter and fabulous with the kids. The chocolate was also a super dog but nowhere near the class of the other two. Digging up some links of lines we know that I would personally consider buying from - 20+ years of following Lab lines.

http://www.dickendall.com/ - our current Lab is from these lionnes.
http://beechcroftlabradors.com/ Very close to what our original black came from
http://wiscoy.com/home/index.html - another I'd have considered
Oops! This one below is the one we almost got but foolishly let pass. I think I pulled up the Wiscoy site while tracing lines out of Waifin - but they seem to have similar goals.
http://home.earthlink.net/~glevap/

[Maura]

It sounds like DH wants a nice Lab after it's had three hours of hard running and playing. Whose going to exercise the Lab so it will be ready for Dad when he gets home?

I tell ya, the older I get, the better a Spinone looks.

[wolffeathers]

Maura- I hear ya, the Spinones are tempting.

Hubby and I are still young'uns and would be more than happy to wear out a puppy or dog. A tired pup is a happy pup. We ride horses, play outside, fish, hike, and are outside at the barn most of the day. So when I say it would be an inside dog, it'll sleep inside and be inside with us or be inside when we aren't home, but it definitely won't be a shut in. We've had a lot of dogs and know what the realistic expectations are. Any dog turned into a shut in can be turned into a spazz. They all need some forms of exercise. We even exercise our Great Pyr/Komondor 15-20 minutes a day(he fetches! Go figure!).

My last working GSD absolutely LOVED to run on the treadmill, it was hysterical. He would run and jump on the treadmill, rear up and pound his front feet on it until someone turned it on. It made it nice for those days where I had a lot of studying to do or I was sick. Sometimes a couple games of hide and seek and a decent walk just weren't enough. That dog LOVED the treadmill. We would just turn it on and he would go and then just hop off when he was done. We never forced him to run on it, it was something he picked up. We figured if he loved to do it, it wore him out, and it wasn't used in leu of quality time on a walk or playing, it wasn't going to cause any harm.

[longshadowfarms]

Field bred dogs will need hours of work a day but a normal Lab shouldn't need that kind of exercise. When I had the three I'd walk them for about a half to 3/4 hour a day and they were fine with that though on weekends they'd get more exercise. We had a large yard too and they'd play or hang out there too, but never destructive or neurotic. They were pretty easy keepers. What impressed me about the Waifin Labs was that even the 14 yr old she had was as sound as could be. Chasing balls, running and playing with the others and not a hint of a limp. When visiting breeders I'd want to see older dogs that were sound like that in addition to the testing.

[wolffeathers]

Which breeder did you get your chocolate from longshadowfarms?

[longshadowfarms]

None of the above unfortunately. The breeder we got our chocolate from had bred out in the litter we bought from and discovered about a yr later that that male was throwing bad hips and elbows all over the place. Our chocolate had both bad. Not sure where she stands right now. She lost a huge part of her kennel to the Diamond dog food poisoning a number of years back. Her kennel was where they discovered the problem after she lost many dogs. I know she lost her entire favorite black line. No clue how her chocolate line did as it isn't one I followed much.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kresla...00616673331063

[wolffeathers]

Sorry to hear about the bad hips and elbows, it's something I worry about(watching those hip and elbow ratings).

[longshadowfarms]

That was what impressed me so much about the Waifin dogs. They had phenomenal temperament but even more impressive was that every one of them was as sound as could be even up to the older ones. That's what I want to see when I go to a breeder.