After every bodys kind advice I thought I would update you with Minstrels stomach problem !

We have started feeding her once in the morning and once in the evening and this seems to have imporved it slightly. I have now stared feeding her the food dry which slows her eating down. We have again seemed a marked improvement in her ! I am sure she will always suffer but at least we can help ease the symptons !

We have just paid a deposit on a new chocolate bitch puppy which is due to be born in three weeks time so we are all very excited about the new arrival to the clan !

Thanks everybody for your advice.

Lucy

Glad minstral is getting better and you have food that now suits, but, can I ask, Why have you paid a deposit on a pup that is not born yet, and you have no guarantee that their will be a chocolate bitch in the litter. I DO NOT take deposits from people until puppies are at least 4 weeks old and I know that they are going to be o.k. I feel this is "tempting fate" none of my friends take deposits either for unborn puppies.

I hope I don't sound too ignorant, but I thought you bred like colours with like to get the three variations in labs. Is chocolate recessive? How do you get that particular colour?

My guess is that she paid a deposit on a chocolate puppy that has not been born yet so that she will obtain a chocolate puppy if there is a suitable chocolate puppy, and if not, hopefully, the breeder will give her the option of her deposit being returned or another color choice.

Personally, I don't have a problem with any breeder taking a deposit, how much they choose to take as a deposit and the conditions are normally between them and the buyer. I'm very accustomed to breeders taking deposits prior to the breeding in some cases, but definitely after the bitch shows signs of pregnancy. Some breeders will return a deposit if the buyer backs out, some will return the deposit only when the puppy is sold to another buyer, and some will not refund a deposit ever. Caveat emptor!

Don't feel taken for a ride or silly for having paid a deposit, simply be on cloud nine waiting to see your puppy.

Maybe John can enlighten us on the color breeding practices; I, too, assumed that chocolate was a recessive gene.

Hi, couldn't resist replying about my second fave breed. Yes chocolate is resessive in labs , so if both parents are chocolate, with at least 2 grandparents being chocolate and the other 2 black - no yellow for several generations, all the pups will be chocolates, hopefully of the correct colour. I believe having a yellow close up in the pedigree can give mis-marks, like stripey feet /legs or a strange body colour.

Thanks for the info! I've seen some of those stripey legged dogs in the US, primarily in the field, and now I understand why the stripes (looked kinda like brindling) occurred.

It also makes great sense now as to why the breeder took a deposit on chocolates!

Hi

The reason why I have paid a deposit now is that we can have pick of the litter after the breeder so we can get the best as possible.There is no guarantee that there will be what we want form this litter but they have another litter that might be on the way so we can wait! We want to get the best choice as I will probably want to get a litter out of the puppy in a few years time!

Lucy

I normally list enquirers in the order they make contact (unless one definately wants to show), and when the pups are born I contact folk to get them to confirm the booking by making a deposit. this way I am free to offer remaining pups to first suitable person that is willing to put a deposit down. I learnt this lesson with my first litter, I had 3 time wasters, and passed on good enquiries to other people, and then found I still had 2 out of the 3 pups to sell. But I would never take a deposit before they are born,as I think it unlucky, counting ones chickens, as things can go wrong.