Labrador Puppy

Hi,

me, my fiance and 10 year old are looking at getting a labrador puppy. We have been searching for many months and have come to the conclusion a puppy would suit us more than rescue (we originnally wanted to rescue).

When looking for a labrador puppy we have a few questions:

1. What's the average hip/elbow score for the labrador?

2. We have noticed coop insurance seems a fair price with upto 8-10k cover, would anyone recommend them? I know some companies want you to pay first then they reimburse you, we aren't too happy with that method really.

3. What would be a good size crate? People we know with labs have said just get a XL as they grow quick but I have also heard they can't get snug/comfy if the create is too big?

4. We have seen a lot of lab pups in our area for £800/£850 with an average hip score of 20, slightly more at £1000/£1100 they are mostly KC registered and the hip score comes down quite a bit. Would it be worth stretchng the extra £200/£300?

5. Would you recommend puppy training classes or has anyone done it with online courses/consistency?

6. What would you say the average spend on food is a month for your labrador and did you stick with the food provided by the breeder? If you swapped what did you go too?

7. If there are days when the puppy will be left for 2/2.5 hours would you recommend puppy pads or not? Heard mixed opinions on them.

Thanks for taking the time to read all that

Hi, and I think it's great you are doing your research.

The parents' hip scores should be under 10, elbows 0.

I don't know about co-op, but Tesco pay direct to the vet.

I'd go with the large crate, there's no reason to think the dog wouldn't be comfortable in a large one. The idea that crates are like a den has now been overturned, wild dogs and wolves don't actually use dens except to whelp. You could always section part of it off if you wanted to.

The initial extra cost is absolutely worth it to get a well bred dog. The few hundred now will be nothing compared with potential vet bill excesses - and pain and heartache - later.

Puppy classes are great - they are about teaching you, as much as teaching your dog. But it is important to find a good one. The Dogs Trust classes are getting a good reputation, or if you can say roughly where you are someone may have a recommendation.

Food - cost depends on what brand you buy. Always keep with the food the breeder was using initially to minimise the amount of disruption the puppy experiences in the move, but if you want to change, do it gradually (mixing a little of the new with the old and gradually adding more; over about a fortnight). The website www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk is a good resource.

Puppy pads - they have their place for dogs who cannot go outside because of illness etc but for puppies, they just give mixed messages about whether indoor toileting is allowed or not. So no, I don't like them for pups.

We have a lot of great resources on things like buying, crate training and toilet training here -

Useful Links & Recommended Reading

You may find some of these helpful.

Good puppy classes are invaluable, if only for training the owners. However, always follow your instincts. My pup had a rather fragile brain, and after half an hour he went into meltdown, unable to cope with all the excitement, other dogs, rewards, sit, down stand, down sit... It was a good class, but in retrospect I should have left after that first half hour in which he and I were actually capable of learning.

I changed to raw feeding, and wished I'd done it sooner. He had a fragile digestion too and had the most godawful wind and soft poos on any kibble, even the high-quality ones.

Thanks for the replies.

Think we will have to keep looking. We have found a few pups but the hip scores seem to be 5/7 for one parent and 6/4 for the other. Seems a little high?

According to Dog Breed Health, hips should be ok under 10, but it isn’t something I’m very familiar with. It’s good that they are even testing. Is it a show line or working line lab?

JoanneF said:

According to Dog Breed Health, hips should be ok under 10, but it isn’t something I’m very familiar with. It’s good that they are even testing. Is it a show line or working line lab?

Click to expand...

Would 10 be for both parents combined, or just the one?

Yoshi said:

Would 10 be for both parents combined, or just the one?

Click to expand...

Each parent should be under 10, ideally with an even-ish score. So for example, 4 for left hip and 4 for right hip would be a decent score of 8, and that is better than 3 for left and 5 for right (even though that is still 8) - does that make sense?

So yes, your 5/7 is on the high side, and the 4/6 isn’t great, even although it adds to 10.

JoanneF said:

Each parent should be under 10, ideally with an even-ish score. So for example, 4 for left hip and 4 for right hip would be a decent score of 8, and that is better than 3 for left and 5 for right (even though that is still 8) - does that make sense?

Click to expand...

Yes, thank you.

Found a lovely puppy but the parents are 4/6 and 5/7 on the hip score

@Yoshi, I edited my post while you were replying. I’m not sure if you saw the update.

Hope you find a lovely puppy soon

It's not just the clinical skeletal tests that must be done before any dog is bred from, there are clinical eye tests & of course DNA tests.
It is very important to know the gran parents/greatgrand parents/great great grand parents etc for a minimum of 5 generations have acceptable results for the clinical tests under the breed median for hips, only 0 Elnows should be bred from according to the BVA. DNA results should be normal only, but normal to carrier is acceptable if the carrier is a top quality dog/bitch.
Decide which type you want show or working, the working Labrador Retriever is much more demanding to train & really needs to be trained from day one.