Hi sorry - me again
I just wanted to say thanks to everybody that has helped me in this long search for a puppy. Champdogs is a wonderful site - keep up the good work!
Next weekend we are going to meet a lab breeder to have a look at a little bitch pup, there were 5 bitches in the litter that have all been reserved for homes already. The hip scores of the parents are 3/6 and 3/6. I don't know heaps about hip scoring and wonder, is this a good hip score, I know that the closer it is to 16 the worse the score is but is this about right for a labrador?
Also is it the case that a breeder pick out for each family the pup they think is suited to that particular family/person as puppies are usually reserved in advance, The puppy we are going to see is the only bitch left not reserved but this doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with her does it?
Can anybody recommend a good book for training a labrador puppy? I have just ordered the Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey but is there another book just for labs that is worthwhile getting?
Thanks

No the first or last puppyto be picked hardly ever makes a differnce, unless it is weedy or mismarked.

Genearlly pups for show will be picked in order of showing most conformity to the breed standard based on what the pickers think how it looks it may develop. More often than not different people would pick a different puppy as pick of litter, and more often than not they often get it quite wrong.

Most breeders with pups destined to be pets onely (so working/show potetial Not relevant to them) they will try and pick tyhe character best suited to the person buying.

I have been fascinated to find that the pups I th8ink will suit the person are more often than not the one they are most attracted to?

That is the advantage of getting to know the new puppy owners well in advance.

The worst possible hip score is 106 (53/53) and the breed average for Labradors is 16 (total) so 3/6 (9 total) is actually a very good score.

Regards, John

Van,

Cannot say for sure what puppy you will get but I had all of my puppies booked by sex only as I wanted to wait till 8 weeks to pick which one I was keeping. 2 others were going to a show home , again sex had been picked. Out of a litter of 6, 3 were being picked at the age of 8 weeks for potential show. This left 3 that were all booked from a week or so but owners did not know what one they were getting. The came and visited them all.

THe 3 that went to pet home I let the people who had booked first pick in order of booking but if there was only 1 left of one particular sex that is the puppy they would get. All understood this and were more than happy.

There were no " runts" as some people call them for some reason and the one puppy that the 3 pet purchasers all liked was the one out the 6 I would not have kept for show he had the lovely puppy look with a slight fluffy coat.

The one I had my eye on for a while I stripped out ( westie) at 7 weeks to get a good look at her, when the pet purchasers saw her they thought she was ugly LOL.

So there you go.. not much help but at least a senario..

BFN Pam

thanks I do feel reassured now that the hip scores are good and am looking so much forward to finally seeing the puppy
Van