Hi everyone at champdogs :)
I have been researching dog breeds for a few years now and after extensive reading have concluded that a labrador would be the perfect addition to our family. I have therefore started to research labrador breeders and after speaking to a lovely lady and her family whilst on a day out at Pesky Husky (this is a fab day out if you have never been!) she recommended that I visit this website. I have signed up to the litter waiting list on here but after reading some of the discussions on the forum I have read that it is possible to contact a breeder that is planning on breeding their bitch in the future. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to go about this?
Thank you x

Excellent choice of breeds :-)

Chamdogs is a good place to start looking, as well as adding your details to the waiting list, you can search for available litters by area and contact any you are interested in through there. Here is list of all puppies on CD at the moment, you can narrow the search by location at the top:
http://www.champdogs.co.uk/breeds/labrador-retriever/puppies

There is also the Kennel Club website
http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/services/public/findapuppy/Default.aspx

Unfortunately neither of these ways are fool-proof and there will be unscrupulous breeders who worm their way onto both lists.  Check out this website, which will tell you what you should be looking for in terms of health tests that are essential for the parents of any puppy you are interested in.
http://www.lab-health.co.uk/

If it is a show-type Lab you are interested in, going along to a few shows would be a good way to see some dogs and talk to breeders.  You could also contact your local breed club (if you post roughly where you are in the country, I can tell you the details of the local club). They often have lists of any members with puppies available and breeders will have to have met certain requirements before going on these lists.

Good luck in your search, Labs are addictive :-D

Thanks CVL :)
I have already had a look at the labhealth website which has proved to be extremely informative source! We live in south yorkshire but would be willing to travel within a few hour radius if we found a breeder that we liked/liked us. The reason that I am interested in finding out about puppies this early is due to the fact that I am a teacher therefore it would be beneficial to the puppy (and us) if we were able to bring one into our family around the beginning of the summer holidays then I would be at home everyday all day for the first 6 weeks (after this time the puppy would be left for a maximum of a couple of hours a day on some days as my partner works shifts).
x

Do ask to see the paperwork for the health tested parents/litter as you can get quite interesting responses if the breeder is not genuine.

Thanks Marisa this is definately something that I plan to do. Does anyone else have any advice when contacting a breeder?
thanks :)

>Does anyone else have any advice when contacting a breeder

Yes :-)  expect an interrogation.  If they don't want to ask questions about you and the home offered to one of their precious pups, then you shouldn't be interested.  A reputable breeder will want to home their puppies with  people who deserve them!  :-)

Thanks Jean. The lovely lady I met at Pesky Husky did tell me this too and I think its great advise :) They obviously will want their puppies to go to good homes and I think this will show through their interrogation! I'm hoping that I will meet the necessary criteria for a reputable breeder as I do think I am able to offer a puppy a very good home :) x

Just to add that not all breeders will interrogate you -it depends on how much is offered by the potential buyer. If faced with a buyer that you can happily chat with and that will open up and tell you their dog experiences, their reasons for wanting a pup of the breed in question, their life in general etc etc, then there is no need to ask millions of questions as most will have been answered already -and it's often a much nicer way to find out what you need to know as a breeder. :) If I have wanted to buy a pup I have always offered almost my entire life story at first contact, and some people do the same when contacting me. It's the ones that ask "Have you any puppies?" and don't say anything else that the breeder needs to interrogate.

I would also say proceed with care, check the breeder out with their peers (breed clubs) as this is the most bred dog in the UK, and sadly many thousands are bred by less than caring breeders and on a commercial scale, and there are many pin money back yard breeders only breeding with saleability in mind.

Google the breeders name, and the kennel affix, do show and trials obedience results come up?  Go onto the Kennel Club website and input the parents details in the health results tool.

Wheat you really want to find is a breeder who is a true breed devotee, works and/or shows their dogs and is first and foremost interested in developing their line and preserving the breeds god traits, temperament and with health foremost.

Such a breeder will tell you the purpose of the litter (it shouldn't be simply reproduction) it should be about fitting members of it into their working or breeding plans.  Such a breeder will happily tell you why they selected the sire for that particular bitch, and what they hoped to achieve by doing so.  they will be working with a long term plan in mind.

You may just want a healthy puppy for a pet, and that is what the majority of puppies will become, but the litter such a pet comes from should have been bred with something more in mind.

Thanks for the advise Goldmali. I must admit I have emailed a couple of breeders and afterwards thought I had probably told them far too much about myself- but this is probably a good thing as hopefully it shows that I have put considerable thought into what getting a puppy would entail :)

Thanks that is very sound advise. I sadly know many pet owners that have bought puppies and not done their research on the breed or the breeder and then wonder why they are unable to cope.

Hmmmm.  I looked at the "What Tests" section of the Lab Health link and it does not list heart, CNM or EIC.  Are these not concerns in the U.K.? 

You will find barely any Labs doing competitive Obedience in the UK (can think of just one in fact and they are Beginners), just not a popular breed for it.

I guess the website could do with updating, but it is just a starting point to help people understand the minimum they should look for. CNM is starting to catch on but I think we're a while off for EIC. Heart testing isn't recommended as far as I'm aware, and have never seen a UK dog with results of a heart test. That website has been set up for first time puppy buyers, to help them disinguish between respoonsible and irresponsible breeders when it came to health testing. In the uk you would be hard pushed to find a litter with both parents tested for CNM and EIC at the moment, as well as everything else.

Just to update, there is a black Lab working B for the Welsh team in the Inter-Regionals at Crufts on Thurs.

Just in reply to the CNM and EIC testing, I do personally know of a (working type) labrador stud that has been tested for all the essential and recommended tests, plus the DNA tests EIC, CNM and PRA-prcd and is clear for both of those. So they are around. If he was mated to a bitch that had also had hips/elbows/eyes and DNA PRA-prcd but hadnt been DNA tested for EIC and CNM, all of the pups would show as 'clear by parentage' for PRA-prcd on their KC certificate and would never show symptoms of EIC or CNM as their status would be either clear or carrier. (If you werent intending to breed, then a carrier status would have no effect whatsoever).  So that way you could open out your search a bit.

Yes, they are definitely around Alfieshmalfie.  But I don't think it's possible to start telling people these are 'essential' things to look for when looking for a puppy, because there really aren't that many tested - not in the grand scheme of things anyway.  That's not to say the tests aren't important, just not commonplace... yet. If I were looking for a puppy, I don't think it'd be possible to narrow my search to only those with at least one parent clear for CNM and EIC.  Not at the moment anyway. 

Hi,there are some excellent breeders in and around yorkshire,I always have the show type,but you may have to wait a while as they are often sold before they are born,I have rescued a yellow girl,she is only 7 months from lab rescue north west she is from working background ,this type of lab are finer boned,poor girl she should never had been sold to a pet home as she is hyper,but I am plodding on with her,hoping my Annie will show her the ropes,there are some good quality pups on champdogs at the moment from good breeders,but you must go to your local labrador retriver shows,also dont forget crufts,9th march is gundog day.

Sheila