Buying a Labrador these days
Discussion
My sister has a pregnant fox red lab at the moment. The stud came from a very well known gun dog breeder so she's potentially got £30k+ of dogs in the house, they would all sell in minutes at £2k a pop.
As it happens she's giving most, if not all depending on how many she has, away to friends and family as she wants to keep them local and know how they're doing as they grow up.
She is however very worried about being burgled and the pups stolen if word gets out or she has to advertise them.
As it happens she's giving most, if not all depending on how many she has, away to friends and family as she wants to keep them local and know how they're doing as they grow up.
She is however very worried about being burgled and the pups stolen if word gets out or she has to advertise them.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Update for updates sake, she’s a cracker!
Still quite neat in size at 5 months which is good as I always prefer a smaller Labrador.
Took her to the big classic car show and it was a waste of time, couldn’t get walked more than a few yards without someone wanting to pet her.
Beautiful dog, I love the way they sit sometimes with one leg looking half dislocated! The socialisation at the car show will have done her no harm - we deliberately did such things when ours was young. Still quite neat in size at 5 months which is good as I always prefer a smaller Labrador.
Took her to the big classic car show and it was a waste of time, couldn’t get walked more than a few yards without someone wanting to pet her.
Starting to look again, our chocolate lab is almost 13 and figure now would be the time to get another before she's tool old to be jumped over 
She's a lot greyer now...
Is the advice to stay away from the classifieds, newsnow, etc. It looks like lots have jumped on the lockdown price bandwagon of easy money. I guess the puppy appeal is strong once a potential buyer is there, but I wouldn't mind an older dog, preferably a girl
She's a lot greyer now...
Is the advice to stay away from the classifieds, newsnow, etc. It looks like lots have jumped on the lockdown price bandwagon of easy money. I guess the puppy appeal is strong once a potential buyer is there, but I wouldn't mind an older dog, preferably a girl
In my opinion, the twerps paying thousands are the same twerps who’d pay thousands for anything else easily available/in demand.
Plenty of good working stock around here for the right sort of price. For reference I paid £1200 for the one this thread is about.
Now that is an awful lot more than the £550 I paid for my last gun dog but that was 13 years ago now and stuff has gone up.
Proper dog though, I could have easily paid £800 or so for one without the pedigree but when we saw the dog, we’ll you know when it’s right don’t you?
Someone else I know paid the fox Red premium, another paid even more for a grey lab-I didn’t even know they’d been invented!
The owner of the fox Red paid over twenty g for a Rolex Daytona and the grey ones wife needed a new defender.
Horses for courses.
Plenty of good working stock around here for the right sort of price. For reference I paid £1200 for the one this thread is about.
Now that is an awful lot more than the £550 I paid for my last gun dog but that was 13 years ago now and stuff has gone up.
Proper dog though, I could have easily paid £800 or so for one without the pedigree but when we saw the dog, we’ll you know when it’s right don’t you?
Someone else I know paid the fox Red premium, another paid even more for a grey lab-I didn’t even know they’d been invented!
The owner of the fox Red paid over twenty g for a Rolex Daytona and the grey ones wife needed a new defender.
Horses for courses.
People are paying fortunes now for mixes that were mongrels a few years ago
Ireland looks iffy as a source, Wales of course was full of puppy farms and seem to have gone a bit underground with puppies advertised as home animals, but then only outside...
We'll keep our eyes open. We got cadbury at 8 months old when her previous owners got her as a puppy then both went to work and realised it wasn't fair. I was hoping to get the same when lockdown was over, but seems people want the money they paid as a lockdown premium
Ireland looks iffy as a source, Wales of course was full of puppy farms and seem to have gone a bit underground with puppies advertised as home animals, but then only outside...
We'll keep our eyes open. We got cadbury at 8 months old when her previous owners got her as a puppy then both went to work and realised it wasn't fair. I was hoping to get the same when lockdown was over, but seems people want the money they paid as a lockdown premium
Do you not know anyone who goes shooting or farms? I'd say that's the simplest way of getting a good dog at the right price, The_Doc from here was putting me in touch with a few working dog litters but in the end I ended up seeing this one on pets4homes website.
Now that might be running the gauntlet but you could tell from the advert it was a proper lab, phoning the bloke only confirmed it.
Now that might be running the gauntlet but you could tell from the advert it was a proper lab, phoning the bloke only confirmed it.
We collect our pup on Thursday.
Byker I'm happy to give you the breeders details as they are heavily involved in the gun dog scene and think they are planning on having another litter in the next few months , same sire as our dog but different dam . We are paying £1800 full KC reg dog .
They are based in Newbury
Byker I'm happy to give you the breeders details as they are heavily involved in the gun dog scene and think they are planning on having another litter in the next few months , same sire as our dog but different dam . We are paying £1800 full KC reg dog .
They are based in Newbury
Yeah, we picked up our black lab on Sunday from a local gundog breeder. No paper work just a microchip..We had him pre-booked for his first jab and health check yesterday
Dad is a well known gun dog and this was the mothers first litter...We also know the sister and grandmother through friends in the area.
Paid £800 for an absolute cracker.
Chickens, meet Dexter……
Dad is a well known gun dog and this was the mothers first litter...We also know the sister and grandmother through friends in the area.
Paid £800 for an absolute cracker.
Chickens, meet Dexter……
Edited by Mr Roper on Tuesday 5th October 09:07
Mr Roper said:
Yeah, we picked up our black lab on Sunday from a local gundog breeder. No paper work just a microchip..We had him pre-booked for his first jab and health check yesterday
Dad is a well known gun dog and this was the mothers first litter...We also know the sister and grandmother through friends in the area.
Paid £800 for an absolute cracker.
Lot to be said for that ^ local / knowing / trust.Dad is a well known gun dog and this was the mothers first litter...We also know the sister and grandmother through friends in the area.
Paid £800 for an absolute cracker.
Ours have been a beaut. amazing engines in them, going for hours and hours of play together or runs out.
Yet, my Boss, keen as mustard on his shooting and gundog training has hunted high and low to find the 'perfect' dog.
That now 4 months later has been diagnosed with Medial coronoid disease of left elbow (one of the types of elbow dysplasia)
Ours are more Gindogs than Gundogs
Chipped before we bought them. Paperwork is mentioned whenever I see the fella in the pub. He will "drop it round" (3 months since)
liner33 said:
We collect our pup on Thursday.
Byker I'm happy to give you the breeders details as they are heavily involved in the gun dog scene and think they are planning on having another litter in the next few months , same sire as our dog but different dam . We are paying £1800 full KC reg dog .
They are based in Newbury
Cheers.Byker I'm happy to give you the breeders details as they are heavily involved in the gun dog scene and think they are planning on having another litter in the next few months , same sire as our dog but different dam . We are paying £1800 full KC reg dog .
They are based in Newbury
Looking for a slightly older dog than a puppy if possible, miss out that puppy stage... but maybe later if we don't find anything.
Was hoping post lockdown people would get rid of dogs when they went back to work.
Byker28i said:
Cheers.
Looking for a slightly older dog than a puppy if possible, miss out that puppy stage... but maybe later if we don't find anything.
Was hoping post lockdown people would get rid of dogs when they went back to work.
Yeah we were looking for a rescue but after scanning Labrador lifeline trust and other rehoming places there didn’t seem to be any coming upLooking for a slightly older dog than a puppy if possible, miss out that puppy stage... but maybe later if we don't find anything.
Was hoping post lockdown people would get rid of dogs when they went back to work.
liner33 said:
Yeah we were looking for a rescue but after scanning Labrador lifeline trust and other rehoming places there didn’t seem to be any coming up
We're finding that. Also looked at puppies and booked appointments now with two KC registered breeders, to be let down a few hours before because they've decided to keep the b
h, or sold them to someone else.... Very disappointing...Working my dog (WCS 2014 £550) on a shoot (W Yorks) this week and talking about price of puppies.
Keeper has a pack of dogs and has two cocker bhes he breed from every year. Last couple of years he has been able to sell pups without KC papers for £2500 each. They're nothing special and each bh has had 9 or 10 pups a litter. Not surprisingly, he has a nicer pick up than most keepers. Another friend has bred from his ESS and had to raise prices to £2000 to put off time wasters
Lads were saying prices are coming down towards pre lock down levels. A couple have pups on order at around £1200.
Labradors always seem to be about 10%-20% more than spaniels.
I think if you can wait until spring (which is better time to be taking on a pup) you should. Suspect the rescue centres will have a few by then too
Keeper has a pack of dogs and has two cocker b
hes he breed from every year. Last couple of years he has been able to sell pups without KC papers for £2500 each. They're nothing special and each bh has had 9 or 10 pups a litter. Not surprisingly, he has a nicer pick up than most keepers. Another friend has bred from his ESS and had to raise prices to £2000 to put off time wastersLads were saying prices are coming down towards pre lock down levels. A couple have pups on order at around £1200.
Labradors always seem to be about 10%-20% more than spaniels.
I think if you can wait until spring (which is better time to be taking on a pup) you should. Suspect the rescue centres will have a few by then too
Byker28i said:
Cheers.
Looking for a slightly older dog than a puppy if possible, miss out that puppy stage... but maybe later if we don't find anything.
Was hoping post lockdown people would get rid of dogs when they went back to work.
I think this is reasonable. If you get to know people who train their dogs for field trials (may be able to get contacts through breeders or local gun dog clubs, you might find they get rid of pups (6 months to a year) that aren't going to make it in competition (described as part trained). These usually make good pets as they are well bred have good basic training but a fault eg lack of drive, gun shy, hard mouth, making a noise (even a little whine of excitement) which would make them useless for competition. Triallers often retire their competition dogs at around 2 years as they begin to get their own ideas then. These might be a bit more problematic if you are not planning to kennel them is most will never have been inside.Looking for a slightly older dog than a puppy if possible, miss out that puppy stage... but maybe later if we don't find anything.
Was hoping post lockdown people would get rid of dogs when they went back to work.
Edited by oddman on Friday 8th October 08:55
All good advice cheers. Just had contact from a shooting colleague who's put me in touch with someone with pups from a working pair, they have a buyer pull out last minute so we're going to look this afternoon. 11 week old black bh
We're in Wales half the time where dogs are cheaper, but talking to people, some of those look either the puppy farm has gone 'home' when selling or there's people breeding for the first time because of the money, or we've even suspected some have been brought in from Ireland just to sell...
hWe're in Wales half the time where dogs are cheaper, but talking to people, some of those look either the puppy farm has gone 'home' when selling or there's people breeding for the first time because of the money, or we've even suspected some have been brought in from Ireland just to sell...
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 8th October 09:57
Some of the prices have reduced, other than the 'fashionable' breeds, but are still dear.
It seems that quite a few people have discovered that a) dogs can be hard work and b) they don't fit in with post lockdown life, just as many on here predicted.
Now it will be the rescue centre's problems with badly socialised, untrained adolescent dogs.
It seems that quite a few people have discovered that a) dogs can be hard work and b) they don't fit in with post lockdown life, just as many on here predicted.
Now it will be the rescue centre's problems with badly socialised, untrained adolescent dogs.
Say hello to Ziggy
We recently lost our 12.5yr old brown dobermann and the house wasn't the same without a dog. We've never had a Labrador and we're hoping we didn't make a mistake by buying the most active from the choice of 3 that were left in the litter (2 fox red females and a fox red male - we took the male), However I doubt any dog can be as much hard work as the highly strung Weimaraner we had a few years ago!
I have to say prices are crazy for dogs and a lot of people seem to have jumped onto a bandwagon of breeding their family pets just for the profit and then trying to charge £1500+ for the pups.
We recently lost our 12.5yr old brown dobermann and the house wasn't the same without a dog. We've never had a Labrador and we're hoping we didn't make a mistake by buying the most active from the choice of 3 that were left in the litter (2 fox red females and a fox red male - we took the male), However I doubt any dog can be as much hard work as the highly strung Weimaraner we had a few years ago!
I have to say prices are crazy for dogs and a lot of people seem to have jumped onto a bandwagon of breeding their family pets just for the profit and then trying to charge £1500+ for the pups.
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