Choosing a lab puppy

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JP96
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Choosing a lab puppy

Post by JP96 » Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:05 am

Hey guys, new to the forum and I’m picking up my new lab puppy at the end of the month. This is my first time ever picking out a puppy from a litter and I have plans on working him as a duck dog. Dam and sire are both duck dogs, healthy pedigrees, and there is some titled dogs as well on the sire side.

What’re qualities you look for when choosing?
What quick tests do you perform when choosing?

I know training alone is work but how do I up my chances of choosing a pup that will make it “easier” for me to work with as I am no master trainer at all!Any response is appreciated and hopefully I get some tips and pointers on what to look for.


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ex28
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by ex28 » Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:35 pm

If only there were an answer to this. You'll get a good dog as long as you've picked a good bloodline. There is no magical formula for picking the "best" puppy. Go with your gut!

fishvik
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by fishvik » Tue Oct 06, 2020 8:52 pm

Something that has worked for me. Pin the pup on their back with your index finger and middle finger on either side of their neck and your thumb and ring finger on either side of their front legs. Now without choking the puppy see much it resists you. If it just lays there, it will be a very submissive puppy. If it never quits fighting you and growls and tries to bite it will probably be pretty stubborn and head strong. If it fights for a while but then submits that's the one I'd pick. It has spunk but will submit to the boss.

Max2
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by Max2 » Wed Oct 07, 2020 4:11 am

Since you have chosen your breeder perhaps enlist their help in your first choice . They could probably give you the best decision based on your wants in a dog. Puppy pick'n for me has been difficult and after the first year or so they are totaly different from when crawling around and looking cute.

For me - the pairing of the dogs would be the most important - the pick - a crap shoot :D

Good luck ! You will do well !
Your gett'n a new pup !

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by gonehuntin' » Wed Oct 07, 2020 2:26 pm

PICKING A PUPPY


You'll get a lot of conflicting views on this, but I would never buy a pup without being able to pick it myself. First, the age. Pick it no sooner that 8 weeks and it's better if the breeder holds it until 10 weeks. You can really tell a lot about them then.

You know you want a female, so that's half the battle. You've gotten some horrible advice on them though. First, they are not smarter than a male. They are equal. Not stubborn........hmmmmmmmmm. Are you married? Is your wife stubborn? I rest my case. Females are temper mental dog's to train. If you lose your patience with one, you'll end up apologizing to that dog until she decides it's time to forgive you? Tough? They can be
tougher than any male God ever created. Having said all that, I'd never own any other dog.

Before you pick the pup, you have to mark the pup. Take different color electrical ties and put a different color tie on each pup's neck. Separate the males and females. You're not interested in the males. Test only the females. They'll always fool you at this age; the females will always be ahead of the males but they'll catch up later.

Testing. Sit on the kennel floor and see which pups crawl all over you. They probably all will. Note which ones stay with you the longest and which lose interest and wander off. Now roll one over on it's back. It'll fight and squirm around. Time it and see how long is fights before it plain gives up. Record the color of tie and time. Have three puppy
bumpers with you. Test each pup alone. Throw one bumper and see if pup retrieves it. If it does, hold the pup and throw two bumpers 180 degrees from each other. Does pup bring one back and immediately leave to get the other one? Make a note of it. Don't throw the bumpers more than 10-15 feet. If it get's two, try three. Throw them like an inverted
T. One straight out, one to each side. Turn pup loose. See if it remembers all three or only two of them. Make a note. Now introduce a clip wing pigeon with it's wing's and feet taped so it can't move around. Throw the bird and see what the pup does. Does he go right out, grab it and return? Is he afraid of it? Does he ignore it? Make notes.

See what we've done? We've found out which one is the people dog. We've found out who is the most tractable (by holding it on his back). We've found out who's the most intelligent by seeing who remembers the most bird's. We've seen who loves birds. In a nutshell, that's it. Pick the highest scoring pup and make him a great gun dog.

Last part is this. Save every cent of your money and buy the pup with the greatest field trial lineage you can find. Expect to pay $800.00 to $1000.00 for him. He'll be worth it.

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Irishwhistler
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by Irishwhistler » Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:05 pm

Once you have a pup, join a local retriever club if you have one and see if you can join up with a training group. You and your pup will benefit by the knowledge gained from other members. 👍

Mike ☘️🇮🇪🇺🇸
Last edited by Irishwhistler on Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

JP96
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by JP96 » Wed Oct 07, 2020 5:11 pm

Thanks for the replies guys! I’ll definitely stay active in the group and hopefully Im able to share my experiences from choosing the pup, to training and eventually working in the field!

oregon woodsmoke
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by oregon woodsmoke » Sat Oct 17, 2020 12:09 pm

Pedigree helps a lot.

When picking an obedience dog, I will have someone drop a metal pan lid well away from the pups. The one that rushes to see what the noise is, is the one I want. (coming back to add this, you sure wouldn't want a pup that ran from that dropped lid. Noise shy is not a good trait for a gun dog)

Two good bird dogs in this family. The English Springer litter, all ran to meet me except for the one who ran to pick up a garden glove and brought it proudly to me, and he was the one I took, and he was the best gun dog, best house pet, best companion ever. That dog was born fully trained, so easy to work with.

The Welsh Springer litter, someone pulled a garden hose across the lawn and all the pups stopped to look, but one rushed to see what it was. That was the one I took. So strong willed that one was, but trained easily and was a wonderful companion. She was so bright and alert and eager to look under ever bush to see what was there.

I don't hold with the puppy on the back test. I've had plenty of good dogs who didn't like to be turned over. None of them were hard to train. My "rub my belly" dog is the most stubborn of them all. A little independence is not a bad thing in a gun dog.

verg
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Re: Choosing a lab puppy

Post by verg » Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:13 pm

Ive had labs for years. I've tried all of the things mentioned (pinning them on back, which one was bolder etc) none of it works! :D I now pick simply for looks. I always buy from quality breedings which means they should all be good. I ask the breeder about dispositions-they know best. Once the breeder fills me in on what they think then I narrow it down to a couple and chose which one that I like the looks best of. Sometimes their head or muzzle may be shaped a little different. Whatever. But as I said, good breeding then all pups should be about same. Just no way of ever telling for sure.
Years ago I tried to pin a dog down on back and see how it responded. Did it to several pups, some fought the whole time, some gave up immediately. Finally one fought for a second then relaxed. I thought perfect! Took her. She ended being an absolute fire breather and crazy aggressive to all animals. She wanted to kill every other dog she saw. Hunted like crazy though. Another time I had first pick. So at 5 wks I went and looked and mentally picked one I thought was best. Bigger female and easy going. Came back at 8 weeks and it was the smallest and an aggressive nasty little mutt! Good hunter though too. Point is, if good breeding, ask the breeder some things they noticed about pups and go from there.

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