Hi
My husband and I went today to our first Labrador retriever breeder to look for a puppy. This breeder was suggested to us by another very reputable Labrador breeder. When we got there we were a little surprised at the set up. We were led outside to the puppies, we passed a caged enclosure and there must have been at least 10 fully size labs in there, there were two subsequent enclosures each containing a large litter of puppies. Is it normal for a breeder to have so many dogs? How are the dogs usually kept?
The puppy we liked had a spot of slightly raised light pigmentation just under its eyelid. The breeder said that the mother had the same thing when it was a puppy but this disappeared after a month or so and that it was nothing to worry about. Has anybody experienced this?
The mother was very friendly with a lovely temperament and good with her puppies but we did not see the father only a photograph. Is this also normal procedure?
We saw the hip and eye certificates and the KC pedigree etc, the owners were very nice and friendly and put no pressure on us to take a puppy.
Before we take this puppy does all of the above sound normal?
Please please advice needed.
Van

At no point have you said that you were shocked re. the state of the dogs or where they were living. We may not all have our dogs inside the house (I do) but by the sounds of it you seem to be impressed by the mother of the pups. Also no, you don't always get to see the sire, I don't have any dogs at mine (except for my new baby boy) so I wdn't worry about this.

As long as the dogs looked well looked after and socialised that's the main thing.

Some excellent breeders have quite a number of dogs, and 10 wouldn't be considered a large kennel, especially if a lot of the dogs are oldies.

If a breeder has a puppy a year or two and keeps each until its death then they would very quickly have 10, as they can live to 15 years.

When my youngest bitch has her litter I will have five dogs, all living in the house, and this is really as many as I can keep in an average domestic set up without kennel facilities and land, if I wasn't strict with myself I could easily have more. my girls range from nearly four years to 11 1/2 years, I don't keep males, as I would not be able to seperate them when the bitches are in season.

Also when a larger number of dogs is kept they often have paddocks/runs where they spend their time outside, and usually rotate with indoor time. some breeders keep their old dogs as indoor dogs and young ones as kennel dogs. All may be really well cared for and loved.

On the other hand you could find a breeder with one dog and one bitch kept purely to produce puppies at each season, no sign of breeding to establish a line and improve the breed.

A breeder will use whichever dog is the best mate for a particular bitch, and this is often not a dog they own themselves.

Thanks that has eased my mind slightly - We were not shocked as we went outdoors more surprised that so many dogs could be kept together like that. However, the two puppies we saw were bundles of energy. We have put a deposit down for the one we liked but do you think that the mark under the eye would be anything to worry about?
Van

When I got Kassie (GSD) her sister the litter pick had white toes on one of the front paws as she grew this disappeared and eventually went the more usual tan colour:)

Stacey x x x

Not unless you really wanted to show and it might not go away, but then I wopuldn't have thought such a tiny blemish would matter too much in the ring either. Often it is just where the skin has had a nick, and it will fill in later.

It is obvious that the breeder was very open with you showing you all her dogs Ive been to breeders places and they have dogs everywhere ususally just to stop them diving all over every visitor they even had them in the bedrooms etc..Ive know of breeders with dogs in cellars !!

On a lighter note as some of you know ive set up a small sanctuary for labradors our kennels and runs are lovely and we have 3/4 acre where they can play a man came to see a rescue dog yesterday and was perusing the kennel setup he turned and said 'do they actually sleep in these, or do you take them all in the house at night? I thought ....well wont tell you what thought ;)

Just to add my twopenn'uth, the kennel you visited sounds like a good example of what you should find. Well socialised dogs, in clean kennels, certificates on view and every chance that the best possible stud has been chosen for the bitch and not just a conveninent one. You will no doubt find the breeders will be there for you to help if and when you have problems as your pup grows, in fact just the sort of breeder all baby pups should have.