we went to look at a litter of lab pups today, and were hoping to see the mummy, trouble is she was standing in the door way barking at us, if we went towards her she would run away.
is this normal behaviour for the mum?
the pups are 4 weeks.

puppies learn from their mothers so there will be a very high chance that these puppies could grow up to be nervous and aggressive too.

If you are buying a puppy you ideally want mum to be freindly and approachable, and the pups well socialised.

It could be that the bitch was a bit shy of strangers, and she could well be fantastic with people she knows, but on the other hand, she may be like that all the time, and it could be a result of her being poorly socialised as a puppy, perhaps her mother was the same? its an ongoing vicious circle.

I reccommend you buy a puppy from someone whos dogs are freindly and confident, but if you do decide to buy a puppy from this breeder, make sure you pick a friendly, livley one which comes to you and does not try to run away as the mother does. If there are no friendly, confident puppies, walk away, its the best thing to do in the long run.

Her pups are 4 weeks old and she could be quite a guardy type of dog anyway, which is different from being nervous.  They are her babies and you are invading hers and their space!  My girl was a bit guardy and barked at the people who came to see her pups at 4 weeks, she actually went for one person which isn't her at all, she didn't bite them or anything like that but I think that she definitely thought about it!  When they came to pick the pups up at just gone 7 weeks she was all over everybody.

If it's from well known lines etc. someone might be able to advise you on here what that lines like.

But I would act on instinct.  What were the pups like?

quite sgree Perrodeagua - my bitch was very protective of her pups at this age and certainly barked at any visitors to the puppy room - once they had been in for a little while she was her usual friendly self but certainly was not happy at first. When the owners came to pick up their pups at 8 weeks she was much more relaxed ( quite relieved to see her babies go I think !). I think that some breeds may be more 'guardy' at this stage and this is not always a true reflection of their temperaments.

Yvonne W

I think it may be a breed thing, but I would be very concerned about a Retriever, or for that matter an Elkhound acting this way. 

This may be more usual for the shepherding guarding breeds, and Terriers even, but would send loud alarm signals with a Labrador.

If itwere my breed I would walk away.  I would expect the bitch to be watchful and be a little anxious when you picked up her pups, but she would have first greeted you in her normal way.  I would expect a Labrador to be the same???

In all the Labrador litters I've viewed (ones where I've not been known to the bitch) I've been greeted by wagging tails. The nervousness could be caused by two things, poor socialising when young or a rather over developed guarding instinct which is not typical of the breed.

Regards, John